Top images by Scott Rettino // Bottom images by Harry Dennis. Riley wears Oakley Jawbreaker with Prizm Road lenses available here.

Riley Wolff is an athlete who’s become accustomed to pushing his body to the ultimate limit.

Having picked up his love for cycling while rehabilitating from a running injury, Riley now practices both disciplines with fierce determination. He’s even successfully attempted Everesting, where cyclists climb and descend a hill for 8848 meters, which equates to the height of Mt. Everest. It’s no small feat, and a testament to his physical and mental abilities.

What makes Riley’s story more intriguing is that when he’s not on the bike or running around his hometown of Melbourne, he’s shooting other athletes behind the lens. Being photographers ourselves, we don’t know how Riley manages to balance this all without collapsing from exhaustion, but he seems to be holding up okay!

We chat to Riley about the relationship between cycling and photography, Everesting and his Stewie Griffin tattoo. Read on below:

How do you find the transition from running to cycling?

Transitioning between running and cycling is actually really doable for most athletes. I had a pretty good tank as an endurance runner and knew how to suffer I guess. There’s a heap of examples in both sports of men and women that start in one discipline and move to the other. Brendan Canty is a Melbourne guy that was a great junior runner before switching to cycling very late, maybe only five years ago. He now rides for Cannondale on the World Tour.

Is the running scene as social as the cycling scene? Which is more physically demanding ?

The running scene isn’t as social, no. I think that comes from people’s desires to chase a PB; everyone has their own goal in running, and most people are too puffed to chat much anyway! That said, I’m discovering a new social side to the sport through some work I do for Nike Run Club. Basically I get to take people running each week and help them get more into the sport and get more out of it. It’s actually really cool to see what they get out of it; sometimes we get wrapped up in our own stuff that we miss cool shit happening around us. No one there cares that I’m a cyclist or a photographer or whatever, to them I’m just the guy from Nike that’s helping them do some running.

They’re both bloody hard sports. People say World Tour cyclists are some of the toughest athletes in the world. They’re riding 6 hours a day for 3 weeks on the limit. But for the average punter I think its harder to be a good runner than cyclist. I’m sure every cyclist disagrees with me! Running is so hard on your body, and you don’t get any breaks. On a bike when you’re going downhill you take the pressure off the pedals. If you do that running you fall over, so the effort is constant when you’re out running.

Do you think there is a negative stigma around cyclists in Australia? Is it increasingly dangerous to ride?

Yeah, there’s a huge negative stigma around cycling that just doesn’t exist in other parts of the world. I can’t really explain it but when people get on a bike there’s a section of society that treat us like we’re not even human. People that would shake your hand in the pub abuse you and swerve at you on your bike, and it’s just crazy. I think it just shows a lack of maturity and a misguided sense of ownership over the roads.

Other countries don’t seem to have the same issues. I was just in Japan for a few weeks and saw 70 year old women and 8 year old girls riding either on the road or the footpath, riding sensibly and gliding along. Some selflessness from both cyclists and motorists would be great for everyone in Australia. Cyclists certainly need to be aware of what we can do to improve community perceptions of us.

It’s definitely getting more dangerous to ride in certain areas and you have to think about where and when you ride certain areas. But it’s like driving – would you stop driving just because you might have an accident? Would you never fly anywhere because you could have a plane crash? Fuck that, live your life.

Who is your favourite cyclist to shoot in the Pro Peleton? Who is your tip for the Tour de France?

I really like shooting Nathan Haas from Dimension Data. He works his ass off and is a quiet achiever. He’s a really good bloke too. As for the Tour, Chris Froome is the boring answer but it’s hard to bet against him. I would love to see Nairo Quintana, a little Colombian from Team Movistar get up, and obviously Australia’s hopes are with Ritchie Porte. I think everything would have to go flawlessly for Ritchie to get up and that rarely happens in the Tour.

What’s the hardest thing about shooting cycling? Is there a big enough market in Australia to make a living from being a cycling photographer?

It depends on the race. On point-to-point races the hardest thing is staying ahead of the race and getting multiple opportunities to shoot the peloton. With road closures in place you can spend a six hour race pinning all your hopes on 3-4 photo opportunities. For circuit or loop courses the hardest thing is just the opposite; finding a unique perspective! I would say to photographers that are new to it; you don’t need to be inside the barriers to get good shots. Good race photos are about a good eye and capturing some emotion. Most of my best shots happen without a media pass, mostly because I get them taken off me!

There’s plenty of cycling photographers making a living from it in Australia, but there’s very few that are making a good living from it, and even then it requires a lot of time spent following races in Europe and being away from family. My favourite photographer here is Beardy McBeard (Marcus Enno); he’s undoubtedly the best shooter in Australia and will spend probably five months of the year overseas.

If you could pack your bike bag tomorrow and go ride anywhere in the world, where would you go?

That’s easy, Japan! Great mountainous landscape, the friendliest people, good quality roads (yeah, cyclists go places and look at how smooth the roads look) and good food. The coast of Southern California comes a close second, I’ve ridden there before around San Diego and it was heaven.

Take us through your mental and emotional state during your gruelling 18 hour Everest. Were there any points where you thought you wouldn’t make it?

Everesting is fucking hard. I did it with a mate down on the southern coast of Victoria in Walkerville. We started at 1:00am in complete darkness and I remember hearing and then seeing wombats and other wildlife going across the road metres from our bikes on the descents. To ride a bike for 18 hours with only a couple of breaks for food is just ridiculous. By the end of it you’re just so sore. Not aerobically exhausted, just muscle fatigue and sore muscles from sitting in one position for so long.

I remember crushing peanut butter sandwiches non stop, that’s probably the only good memory from the actual ride! Doing something like that does teach you a lot about what our bodies are capable of. 9 times out of 10, our head gives up before our body.

After Everesting, what else is on your bucket list in terms of cycling?

Things on my bucket list for cycling now are more aligned to adventures and experiences. My priorities have shifted to be about documenting the amazing stuff my friends and I get to do, so really it’s all about exploring different parts of the world that people don’t commonly get to ride through, and thinking outside the box when it comes to planning rides. I love punching through a local loop with mates, but there’s nothing like finding yourself in the middle of nowhere exploring some of the greatest landscapes you’ve ever seen.

Tell us about the Stewie Griffin tattoo on the leg. If you could spend a day hanging out with any character off Family Guy, who would it be and what would you do?

Haha, there’s not a huge story behind Stewie Griffin – he is wearing a pretty neato duck suit though. A few years ago a friend of mine, Hal Hunter, was tattooing at a shop near my house. I had a free arvo, and so did he. I went into the shop and I was deciding between this or a Homer Simpson in his undies. I think I made the right choice. I do have some questionable tattoos; I’ve got a Rilakkuma (the male equivalent of Hello Kitty I guess) and a Biggie Smalls.

As for Family Guy, I would definitely pick Stewie or Brian – can I choose both? There’s a really old scene where Stewie is grilling Brian about a novel he’s been writing. Every time I think of it I lose my shit.

What are some of the similarities between photography and cycling, if any?

Photography is a huge part of cycling and I think it comes from an appreciation for nature and light and colour. When we ride, we’re all trying to find our favourite roads or the most scenic area. We’re feeding that part of us that gets off on the beauty of nature. Photography for me is similar; I look back at a shot and look for colour pops or nice curved lines or good depth of field. For me, it’s also about chasing perfection. It’s the biggest thing with my photography; I’m chasing a perfect shot. I don’t know what it looks like, and even if I take it I’ll never realise, and it’s the same with riding. I want that perfect day with the perfect group of mates on the right roads.

What’s on the cards for Riley for the rest of 2017?

Well right now we’re in the middle of cyclocross season, so I’m shooting a lot of that. I’ve got a lot of ambition to establish a strong name in that sport, I love shooting it. I’ve got a heap of commercial work for brands and teams on the way as well which is awesome. You get to direct and control the commercial work more than a race!

I’ve just joined a new team Over Yonder Racing as well. It’s an amazing setup, some of the best photographers and creatives in Australia are on the team, so I can’t wait to go on some big rides with those guys.