Scott has been part of the biking scene for ages. From the beginnings of the EWS to being a GMBN presenter he’s done a lot. We caught up with the content creator for a chat on riding, filming and life.

Scott Laughland has been a name in the mountain bike game for close to two decades. First racing downhill and enduro, later as a presenter at GMBN. However since 2017 he has been working hard on establishing himself as a pro rider and video content creator. 

Currently his YouTube channel has almost 79.000 subscribers, and he has been all over the world creating some very high quality content. From dream build videos to riding epic destinations like Israel and the BC North Shore, his edits bring a bit more to the table then the traditional GoPro POV Vlog style you see with most YouTubers.

We took some time to sit down and have a chat with Scott on how his life evolved from riding to racing to filming, what’s it like being a dad and what it takes to be a world class content creator. 

Hey Scott, thanks for finding some time for us. I hear you’re pretty busy these days?

“Yeah man, it’s full on, non stop with me lately. Lots of cool projects and lots of filming going on. After this interview I have another call and then I’m rushing off to photoshoot. But it’s great to catch up, it’s been a while!” 

Yeah, last time we spoke was in Finale at the EWS when you just decided to make the move from GMBN to doing your own YouTube channel. That was back in 2017 I think. But before GMBN you were already racing on the EWS circuit right?

“Yeah those were the glory days! I was part of the CUBE Action team with Nico Lau and Greg Callaghan and all. It was epic as the EWS was something totally new. They had some awesome venues and courses.”

Good old times! You were pretty quick at the time too.

“Well to be honest, I always have the feeling I never really reached my full potential when racing. There were a bunch of factors in play and looking back I could have done some things differently, but hey hindsight is a wonderful thing.” 

If only we all could travel time! So tell us about the GMBN gig. 

“Yeah, that was a great opportunity. My contract at CUBE ended and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue racing either, but I did want to continue riding of course. So at some point Neil Donahugue who i’ve known for ages from DH and enduro racing gives me a call if I wanted to join on a trip to Malaga Spain. It was January, which is not the nicest of months for riding in Scotland so I obviously said yes.

Those two weeks were amazing and with Marc Beaumont returning to full time racing, there was an open position for a presenter at GMBN. So I jumped onto that and before I knew it I moved to Bath and was creating videos with the GMBN team every day” 

“Fast forward to 400 videos later, I made the decision to return back to Scotland and start my own YouTube channel. I really missed Scotland and although the work at GMBN was a lot of fun, I wanted to focus on creating high quality edits and really develop my own style of content.” 

So you moved back and got to work. What was it like starting from scratch?

“To be honest it wasn’t really from scratch. In the previous years I built up a nice network within the industry, and I managed to set up some great deals with Shimano, Schwalbe, Fox, Komoot, Pro Components and Scott bikes. 

So I had some awesome support from the day I started. Really stoked I am still working with these brands to this day, I mean, Scott from Scotland on a Scott how funny is that? The joke is unreal and the amount of comments and DM’s I get on that is unbelievable.

As time progressed I was able to add some really cool brands to that list too like Unior and Thule. I feel really grateful for that support because if I wasn’t sponsored by all these brands I would have basically gone out and bought their stuff!

It’s also nice as I have a really personal relationship with all of the brands and they really let me get involved with giving product feedback and help out with the product development side of things. It’s great to make some comments and suggestions, and then see them become reality on the final product! I’d love to do more of that actually.”

How about the whole video creation side of things?

“Oh when I came from GMBN I didn’t know anything about the whole creation process, so basically that summer was the first time I really picked up a camera and started to learn how to edit and stuff. It was a massive learning curve for me, but I really enjoyed it actually. I watched a ton of YouTube tutorials and it inspired me to bring the quality content you see out on YouTube to the mountain bike world.”

I see your videos are not the standard POV style stuff, how many people does it take to create a Scotty Laughland edit?

“Well it depends a bit on the video itself, but on the Scotty’s Scotland Showcase series I had the guys from Sleeper.co Glen Thomson and Max Rendall filming it and Johnny Cook doing photography. Glen was doing the majority of the editing and colour correction as well.

They would send me a rough edited version where I would make some comments on what I wanted to have differently or changed. Then I would get a more polished version, and usually that was spot on and could go straight on to YouTube.” 

That’s a pretty big operation! 

“Yeah this year we stepped it up a bit. I always had someone helping me with filming, but this year was the first time I really just focussed on the production and directing it all, while the others were doing the filming and editing.”

Wow. Great to see that progression too. So currently you have a whopping 78k subscribers, how hard was it to reach those kinds of numbers?

“YouTube is really algorithm based. In the beginning I was just pumping out the content, really making sure I was posting at least two videos a week. That really made a difference as it got picked up and promoted by the algorithm straight away. 

After a while though, I started to up the production level a bit. Taking more time to create nicer content and really focussing on the details to make a higher level production. But then the algorithms really weren't working in my favor. Views started to go down and it’s a really hard game to be in. 

On one hand I want to bring out the nicest content I can, but then there is the numbers game telling you people are not appreciating all that work you put into it. It gets in your head sometimes! You can start doubting yourself, the content and what you’re doing and stuff. It’s hard!” 

Would you change your style to get more views?

“No, not really. I really believe there is space for both styles, I mean I often check the video’s of the POV style YouTubers just when I want to get a feel for a destination or what a trail is like. But in the end I am just in love with the more cinematic, edited and polished content. 

The thing I am working on now is just to try and speed up the process so I can create more content, but still keep the same high quality. It is hard to imagine but making a nice edit just takes so much time. From the planning of where, when, which trail and camera angles to use and editing. 

Sometimes we spend a whole afternoon or even a whole day getting a specific shot. I want it perfect and that just means shoot a scene, walk back up, check footage, try again, walk back up, try again and again until you get it right. People don’t notice the work that goes into a shot but they do see the quality of it all. And then there is all the gear to haul up onto the mountain sometimes up to a point that it really affects the joy of riding too.”

Yeah I totally know what you are talking about. Tech trails combined with a big backpack are not a good combo! Tell us about the gear you’re currently using.

“We have a GoPro on hand for the simple POV stuff which is always nice to use in an edit and then there is the proper camera. Currently I am using the Sony A7SIII and have all the lenses too. The 16-35mm wide angle, 24-70mm and a 70-200mm tele lens. Then there is the tripod and gimbal to make sure there's no wobbly shots and the Mavic Air 2s drone to get those cinematic overview shots. 

Actually over time I really started enjoying photo and videography like I used to enjoy mountain biking. Whenever I make some money I really enjoy going out and upgrading my gear and getting that new gadget for my camera setup.” 

Awesome. Yeah camera stuff can be just as costly as the bike addiction. So it’s clear that creating takes up a lot of your time, but 9 months ago you got yourself another full time job as a dad. How are you enjoying that?

“Oh yes! It’s amazing. My daughter is at a great stage right now where she loves to interact. She wants to be picked up and played with all the time, tries to imitate the noises I make and all. It’s so much fun but also a lot of hard work. I really underestimated how much work it is being a parent but the reward is so high. Just to see her face light up as I walk in is so precious, I can’t explain.”

Did you manage to take her on a bike ride yet and do you already have the Kids Ride Shotgun seat waiting for her?

“Not yet, I had a little knee injury the past few weeks so I was off the bike, but we have a two day ride planned where she will go in the trailer. I have got this Thule chariot setup and ready to go and I can’t wait. The weather has been super dry in Scotland so conditions will be perfect.

The Kids Ride Shotgun seat will definitely happen, she just needs to grow a little bit more though. I think you can use those from about 2 years old or something when they’re a bit bigger and stronger. But for the chariot it’s easy, she gets in and chills out and enjoys the ride!”

Awesome. So as we found out, there is a lot to being a creator from planning to shooting to editing and being a dad. Can you tell us what your average day looks like?

“Yeah there are many tasks on the list to tick off, so my days are quite varied. Usually I start off whenever my little girl wakes up. That is usually between 5 and 7 in the morning. We get her dressed and ready, have some playtime and then I catch up on some emails. 

When it’s time for her to get a little sleep I will crack on with some editing or talk to my sponsors or potential sponsors, maybe work on some proposals and scripts for future edits.

Generally I try to go on a ride every day, even if it's just a small one. Just being out and pedalling really does me well both physically and mentally to be honest. And then there is always some maintenance or bike cleaning to do. So yeah a lot of variation and trying to balance it all.”

So currently life is more or less back to normal, but the past two years have been really challenging for everyone. How did you handle it all?

“Oh that was really really hard for me. That first lockdown was terrible. Of course you weren’t meant to go outdoors even and those first 6 to 8 weeks I didn’t ride my bike at all and that really beat me down mentally. 

I had four really awesome trips lined up to Europe and the US which of course all got cancelled. The bike industry had a bit of a meltdown where people got laid off, budgets got cancelled and everything was up in the air making the future really insecure. People started to work from home, so communication got delayed, it all was a big challenge mentally but also financially as all what was planned went out the window.

Once things started opening up a bit more I thankfully was able to get out a bit more and spent a lot of time riding in Scotland. It really made me realise how beautiful Scotland is and how varied the terrain is and all. That’s something I really learned going through this period is how happy I am in Scotland.” 

Yeah, you started a Scotland Showcase series highlighting the best riding spots which are amazing to watch and a great guide to riding in Scotland. 

“Thanks, yeah it really opened my eyes on the diversity we have here. The mountains are not as big as Switzerland for example, but the main thing I noticed is the vastness of nature up here. In the alps there is always some human built infrastructure you can see like a building or gondola station or something like that, whereas in Scotland there is so much nature as far as you can see.

And with this project I also wanted to focus more on giving back, becoming a dad made it even more clear that we need to put in the effort and work to move to a more sustainable lifestyle. I decided that all the Co2 emissions created for this series needed to be offset, and to make sure my little girl (and everyone else) has awesome trails to ride when she grows up I will be donating all the money I make from the YouTube monetisation to various trail building associations.”

Awesome. Yeah it’s mega important to become more aware of our impact. I see you’re also working with DMBINS. Can you tell us what that is about?

“Yeah so Dmbins stands for Developing Mountain Biking In Scotland, and an association that oversees the trail building and advocacy associations, they’re trying to ensure mountain biking is accessible to everyone and promoting mountain biking in general, also from a mental health perspective. It’s a great thing they’re working hard on progressing the sport and promoting Scotland as a world class destination too. It’s a really exciting time for Scotland and Mountain biking.”

Really cool to see. So the future is bright but what can we expect from you in 2022?

“Well obviously I will continue to create my edits and the way it looks now this year I will finally be able to travel more. There are some really cool trips coming up to really unique destinations. I will be working on progressing on my filming and editing skills, really raising the bar on that front. Basically just keep learning. 

Besides that I have started riding a gravel bike last year, which I am enjoying massively. It is such a different riding experience. It really enables you to cover a lot more distance in a short time compared to mountain biking which is really cool. I haven’t even started exploring the whole bike packing thing either, so hopefully I’ll be doing some of that this year too.”

That sounds amazing, thanks so much for your time. 

If you want to keep up to date with what Scotty Laughland is up to give him a follow on the Instagram and YouTube:

- https://www.youtube.com/c/ScottyLaughland
- https://www.instagram.com/scottylaughland/
- https://www.facebook.com/scottylaughland

If you want to know all about riding bikes in Scotland check out the website of DMBinS:

- https://dmbins.com

 

By Jarno Hoogland
Jarno's life has revolved around two wheels ever since he swung a leg over his first BMX at age 4. After a BMX and DH racing career, he moved on to work for bike shops, distributors and brands before ending up in the editors seat at IMB. Based in the ultimate testing ground in the Swiss mountains, he runs his guiding operation and makes sure every IMB issue is filled with top notch content.

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