Meet Ian, The Goat
Escapegoat Adventures Was Born Back in 2008
From an early time Ian knew he didn’t want a conventional job. After studying Oceanography at Uni he spent a while being nomadic, teaching Scuba diving, working as a snowboard guide and other random jobs.
Ian first moved to Adelaide in 2002, and started exploring the Adelaide Hills on his mountain bike. In 2006 he headed off to the French Alps to work for 2 years as head MTB guide for a British adventure company, and during this time was able to achieve his Mountain Bike Leaders Award (MBLA) through British Cycling, which qualifies him to guide expeditions and lead and instruct bike riders around the world. This is widely regarded as one of the best MTB guiding and instructing qualifications out there- there is no Australian standard to this level, although we have helped to develop more basic qualifications and training with AusCycling.
Ian has run Escapegoat in Adelaide since 2008, and in that time has helped hundreds of MTB riders to improve their skills, and many thousands to try mountain biking for the first time. He has also led a number of expeditions to the Flinders Ranges, annual trips back to the French Alps, and expedition groups in New Zealand and Tasmania. His passion for MTB Trail Advocacy led also to Escapegoat being the first MTB tour business to gain a licence to operate bike tours in DEW conservation parks back in 2010.
He is now one of only a handful of instructors in Australia qualified to teach MTB coaches and run Coach Training for AusCycling, as one of their founding instructors.
Ian has been an occasional contributor to “Australian Mountain Bike” magazine and Flow mtb website, a past bike maintenance instructor for BikeSA, and has also assisted BikeSA and the DEW with various trails projects. He is also a qualified Private Investigator, a keen mountain bike orienteer (2009 SA State Champion), adventure racer, and beer and wine drinker.