
Ryan Torrance: Good dude, big heart, absolute loose canon on a transition. Or maybe more a controlled canon? He kills it plain and simple and is always a treat to session with.
In celebration of the third stop of the Fl-Bmx series, we thought we’d do a quick catch up with Ryan considering the Sarasota Payne Park is his home territory. Here’s a little insight. See you next weekend…
Ryan Torrance
24 years young.
Erie, Pennsylvania

1. The Payne park went from having a stringent no-bike policy, to being open to bikes 4 days a week. I believe the new manager had something to do with that? Seems like he’s been doing really good things to support the scene?
It’s been a rough battle with the county. It started with 2 days a week and they still seemed to not like our scene showing up at the park. Mike Wailing, the manager of Payne Skate park of Sarasota has been sticking his neck out to the county to show that we are all down for the same cause, and that is to just have fun, progress and enjoy extreme sports to the fullest! Given that there have been a few hiccups along the way with people trying to get us kicked out: we have a new helmet rule at the park, thinking that would drive away many riders. But we keep up the persistence and were still here and now have more days to ride!

2. It seems that over the course of the past 15 years, the sarasota bmx scene waxes and wanes. Right now, like it was 15 years ago, its killing it: tons of dudes riding bikes. You guys stoked on your scene? What do you appreciate about it?
I love the scene here in Sarasota. Like you said, it dwindles a bit here and there but most of the time there’s a great group of riders here and I’d like to say an amazing style that comes out of our city. All we really have here is concrete so no “Payne” no gain. And all of the riders here seem to have that persistence to just get back on and keep killing it.

3. Besides Payne, what are some of the staple spots in the SRQ? What else do you enjoy cruising?
There aren’t too many amazing spots as much anymore but don’t get me wrong, if you look you will find. One most memorable street spot I’d say is a big curved kinked brick ledge behind Sarasota Ford. I want to say it’s a 8stair flat 8 stair and it’s been worn down to perfection for bmx bikes! There are also multiple spots in the Marina jacks area by the water: curved staggered manual pads, ledges, tree rides, etc. Final spot I would have to recommend would be Sarasota high school’s big stair sets, handicap hops, rails, ledges and much more…but we all know how long those rides tend to last before we get kicked out!