William Nealy by Ernie Ezis

"After the Outside article on mountain biking appeared in the Spring of '79, my friend Bruce and I acquired a couple of old Schwinns and proceeded to demolish both the bikes and ourselves. Our favorite activities were high-speed pedestrian slalom and staircase riding on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. And drinking beer.

In short, we were bad boys in need of serious punishment."

Welcome to the life and times of William Nealy, bad boy ambassador to the sports that hurt and punish. If you are unfamiliar with the man and his work, I suggest you turn the TV off, leave the skis unwaxed and let the dog go hungry; get one of his books and read it instead.The excerpt concerning the bad boys is from Nealy's The Mountain Bike Way of Knowledge, a cartoon self-help manual on riding technique and general mountain bike craziness. There seems to be a certain subgroup of the population that has been genetically programmed, or maybe misprogrammed, to find punishment. They like to go fast, they like to be on the edge of control, they test the laws of physics with their bodies and toys.

As children they went down the playground slide headfirst. Now that they have grown up, they sky dive, they ski, they skate and maybe they read this ezine. Whether they know it or not, they live like William Nealy. When you read one of Nealy's books, you begin to feel that you know a great deal about the author. That is not unique, many artists have lived lives that were inseparable from their work. I sensed, however, that the connection between Nealy's work and his life were much more intimate and direct than normal. That suspicion was confirmed when I asked him how much of his cartooning was based on true life experiences. He replied, "All of it." If a pictures is worth a thousand words, the following cartoons should tell you a lot about William Nealy -- a man whose art is almost as crazy as his life.

THE INTERVIEW

How did your first book come about?

I had been drawing river maps in the mid to late 70's of the rivers that I was paddling

and I was selling them on a small time basis to pay for the [kayaking] habit. A Michigan publisher approached me via Bob Sehlinger about compiling the maps into a book. That was Thomas Press. Then Thomas Press decided to get out of the outdoor publication business, so Bob Sehlinger, Holly Wallace and I formed Menasha Ridge Press.

Are you working on anything right now; are there future books that we can look forward to?

I'm working on about two books right now. One is a guide to the adrenaline sports; so people interested in . . . sky diving, kayaking, rock climbing and other sports. . . can find out how much it costs, what to expect, the little initiation rights, how to be cool and what not to do.

Adrenaline sports? That's interesting. A doctor I know recently drew a casual connection between an adrenaline-driven "paddling habit" and a "heroin habit."

Exactly. You're an endorphin junkie, dude!

You are involved in at least two sports, kayaking and mountain biking, that are experiencing explosive growth. There will be a lot of pressure on the resources, the rivers and the trails. I understand that there are mounting confrontations between mountain bikers and hikers, do you think the continued growth can occur peacefully?

I think so. Some of the sports that I've been involved in have really exploded. I think it's good. These people are going to learn about rivers and they are going to learn to love rivers. These people are going to learn to love single track trails in wild areas. There are a lot of people being exposed to the outdoors . . . the outdoors have always been sacred to me.

What if the rivers and trails get too crowded?

The (growth) horizon will be lateral into different activities. I'm experimenting with arboreal recreation. You know, climbing in trees and stuff.

How did you get started doing that?

Just a weird serendipitous thing. A friend of mine, who is a tree surgeon, and I started talking. Hell, we like to climb . . . we're four hours from a good [rock] climbing area . . . let's start climbing the trees!

So you're playing in the trees?

Yeah we're playing in the trees, we're gibbons.

So you think there will be a lot of cross over between the "adrenaline sports" that will alleviate some of the overcrowding in any one particular sport?

Exactly.

How did you feel about the ICE T incident, when they took the jet skis up the New River Gorge?

I'm pretty much down on that kind of crap. But some of my outfitter friends have run motor rigs up the river at 21 feet and that's pretty daring stuff. It's always been a live and let live sport and I don't want to condemn anybody . . . but it's not for me.

When Kayak was published (1986) the politically correct movement was just starting. I don't want to say that your work is politically correct but there seems to be a gender sensitivity that was uncommon at that time; in 'Kayak', women are portrayed in hero roles and seem to be the ones practicing good judgment. It's a really non-traditional and flattering presentation of women for that time.

That was very much intentional. I was fortunate enough to paddle with a lot of really good women boaters in the old days and they really impressed the hell out of me and a lot of them were a lot better than me.

So you had genuine respect for the skills of the women you saw on the river?

Oh yeah, "big ovaries" . . . there've always been mighty women paddlers from the get go.

What was it like in the old days? Who were your mentors?

Back at that time (1975) paddling was a bunch of small groups of very strange people. It's kind of hard to explain now. I was with a group of paddlers from Birmingham that were sort of "outlaw paddlers." They didn't get along with the Birmingham Canoe Club. They weren't "clubbers." We were vulgarians . . .It used to be very regional too. If we would go to the West we would paddle with boaters and they would take us on really hairy stuff and if they came South we would take them on really hairy stuff. It was definitely some bad boy gunslinger shit. I sometimes jokingly comment that the paddling community is the community of the walking mentally ill. It's really strange. That's the way it was when it was really getting started.

It was just a bunch of strange people that would meet on Saturday and Sunday in the middle of nowhere and go boating. I mean really weird people. It was strange. A bunch of weirdoes. I fit right in!

Have you ever had people come up to you after reading one of your books, blaming you or your writing for something that happened to them?

Oh yeah. I've been in a couple of parking lot, put-in and take-out rumbles.

If you could put together a dream trip where would you go, who would you take, what would you do?

That's hard . . . but it sort of isn't that hard. My dream trip . . . . in the last 10 years I found that I like to paddle alone. I'm not one of these real bad boys that like to paddle really hot stuff. But I like to paddle class III up to Class IV solo.

Interesting. The American Whitewater Association ran an editorial piece concerning this very topic in a recent issue of American Whitewater. It's against the rules.

Yeah, it's against the rules. I have never played it up in any of my books because I don't want to be a bad influence. I don't want people to start doing it.

So you feel a sense of editorial responsibility concerning the stuff you publish?

Exactly. There are a lot of rivers I haven't mapped because I didn't want them ruined or I didn't want the karma of a lot of dead people.

Given that sense of editorial responsibility it would seem that you might have a large pile of very funny cartoons that were left out of previous books for exactly that reason?

A lot of that material is going into the adrenaline book . . . I'm going to come out from under the curtains and say it's a warrior society and it's about death and strength and spirit.

You mean we're not as far removed for the evolutionary struggle as we suspect?

Precisely. We were abo's [Nealy-slang for aboriginies ] for about 100 times longer than we've been people who wear suits and go to work.

What about pressure on your privacy?

Once a year I'll go to the Ocoee or Nantahala or some public event like that to meet with the people. The rest of the time I'm sort of hiding out.

One of the things that I like a lot about your work is that there is a self-deprecating humor and there's a great deal of humility in it. Kayaking is a very macho sport but you were very forthright saying that it's okay to walk big drops . . . why were you able to champion that idea given all the macho attitudes in the sport?

I never really made my name as a hair-boater. I've paddled some hairy stuff and I've paddled with some really great boaters. But I was a cartoonist who boated. I was out there just about getting killed same as them . . . but I thought that one of the really neat things was that you could walk and not lose face. Even if people knew you could technically do it, if you had a weird feeling (and elected to walk), they would respect that.

Well, to your credit, I have been on trips where people have picked their boats up and said, "Nealy walks it, I'm walking it." You've made it cool to have the brains to do that.

Yeah, there are some rapids and some drops . . . I was always expecting a lot of people to die at Iron Ring . . .

Do you carry Iron Ring or do you run it?

I have run it and I have carried it. Mainly carried it. It's one of those things where I have to look at it on the day that I'm there and make the decision at that time.

What is your primary sport, do you consider yourself primarily a mountain biker or primarily a boater?

That's hard to say. I guess I am primarily a mountain biker simply because I wrecked my back in the 80's and I can't really boat that much anymore. I go out and boat and I'm still in the game but I really can't do it seriously anymore. To be a serious kayaker you have to boat a lot . . . hundreds of miles a year. I spend more time on cartooning and philosophical skills.

I really like the epigram to Kayak, "You will pay to know what you think?" A friend of yours said that. Can you talk a bit about the influence that your friends have on your work?

J.R. "Bob" Dobbs is a cult figure in his own right. He is the deity of the Church of the SubGenius. These people are really whacky and I happen to be a reverend. I can perform weddings and stuff. SubGenius is vulgarianism taken to a religious extreme. Can you describe the basic tenets of your beliefs, contrast it with the Catholic church or something? The basic tenets are; have fun, drink beer, don't have a regular job . . . you know, just a basic fun hog existence.

Fun is good and there is salvation in that form itself?

Exactly.

Given the fact that your cartoons are based on real life, I know you've been trashed quite a bit, have you ever been seriously injured?

Separated a shoulder, hit my head a couple times saw some stars, aspirated some water and almost drowned a few times. I was sort of one of those people that should have worn a helmet all the time . . .and I didn't. I should've been in a combat suit and a helmet since I was twelve. I don't like to get hurt but I've been hurt a lot. You are going to break some bones and you are going to lose some friends to the river gods or the gravity gods. I never quit boating and I never quit climbing because of something like that. I always thought that if you died boating or if you died climbing that would be the greatest thing in the world. I've almost been killed doing all these different sports. I've been near death, but that's not such a bad thing. It's so intense and you're so clear. Your focus is incredible . . . all these dead circuits from our abo' days come alive.

You do wear a helmet now, don't you?

I've always worn a helmet kayaking but not mountain biking. I wore what we called "the Appalachian safety helmet," a redneck cap or bandanna. I didn't start wearing a helmet in mountain biking until 1988 or 1989 and I started mountain biking in 1978 or 1979.

I characterize a lot of your work as "enlightened common sense." It's like you made some common observations but that you didn't stop where most people do, you kept thinking about them. Can you explain that process?

Almost everything that I've ever written or drawn has been for myself. That's the way I learn. These books and maps and everything are really compilations of interesting and unusual things that I've encountered while riding or paddling. When I return from a trip I'll diagram or draw it and try to figure out the dynamics . . . What was that that just ate my ass? I've never been a real gifted rider or paddler, although I think I am the ideal person to write for the average guy because I'm sort of a clumsy guy. I'm not Michael Jordan or one of these super boaters. I learn by increment and by accident and by smashing into things twenty-seven times. I just take good notes.

Another quality that I discovered is that William Nealy is a man that really enjoys the process of learning. His work is laced with some studied references to geology, physics, hydrology and philosophy. He is a curious man, into the concept of the eternal student. He doesn't just get on a mountain bike, ride around, and wipe out. He gets on a mountain bike, rides around, wipes out and then wants to know why. He also finds pleasure in the details of the learning process that others seem to overlook.
Although he may appear to be an unlikely instructor, Nealy's best works are self-help instruction manuals for kayaking and mountain biking. In fact, I recognized and avoided some of the first river hazards that I ever encountered thanks to his work. A lot of the "adrenaline sports" have a relatively high knowledge barrier. Mountain biking, climbing and kayaking require some very specialized equipment and knowledge; knowledge that can be very difficult for the novice to acquire. You can make all the mistakes yourself, (as the JR "Bob" Dobbs epigram in the front of Kayak reads, "You will pay to know what you think.") or you can turn to Nealy's books for the wisdom you desperately need. Having myself paid a great deal to know what I think, I definitely recommend the latter course. You are still gonna get trashed, but there's no need to get trashed too much.

Ernie Ezis / March 1995

The Books of William Nealy