Where did the whole riding bikes thing start for you?
My dad was a trials motorbike rider, I guess it was just pretty inevitable that I’d pick up a bike and start following down that road really.
Did you start with Moto trials then?It was a bit higgledy piggledy really, but it all sort of went together. I got a little trials pushbike when I was younger, a Montesa. I used to go around with my dad, trying to emulate motorbikes. Going over rocks and all that jiving. And then I guess I grew out of it and didn’t think ought of it, but it was always there. Then a mate got a trials motorbike and I started using my dad’s bike a little bit. Started doing really well at that, it didn’t take me long to get up to speed, I was probably around 15. Did some nationals and enjoyed all that sort of stuff. Basically the turning point to start riding pushbikes again was when a load of lads that were riding motorbike trials, said they were doing this pushbike trial. We turned up and I went into the tent where you sign on and they asked what course I wanted to do. I’m just like, ‘hardest course, why wouldn’t I’ and walked out. The Martins (Martin Hawyes and Martyn Ashton, the original and biggest names in UK Mountain Bike trials) were there and they were like, ‘who’s this little knob head?’ It turns out I am a knob head and they realised that right away. My dad came over and goes ‘have you seen the sections? You don’t wanna ride that one’. I took my dad’s word for it and then I won the easier one that I rode. So the first time I tried pushbike trial, I won that category and I thought ‘this is good, I fancy a bit of this’.
Did the Martins have much of an influence on you back then, were you inspired by what they were doing?Absolutely, in a massive way really. The second or third event I went to, they saw a potential in me as a rider. Because they practiced together, they had all this language about different feet forward and all that crap and I turned up and was so straight to the point about riding, I’d never really analysed it. So they started telling me all this stuff that overcomplicated everything. They were all going to World Championships that year and Hawziee was like, ‘you should go’. And I was just like ‘world what?’ sort of thing. They pushed me into getting out there and doing more stuff really and they always have done. They’ve always been people that I’ve rung up and said ‘what do you think of this and what do you think of that?’ They’ve always looked after me and been very influential.
You’ve done well at those comps over the years, what titles have you got on a pushbike?
I think six times British Champion. I never got a podium at World Championships for some reason, I tried for about eight or nine years, I don’t know why, probably just not good enough. Potentially I think I could have done it if I really put my head down and got into it.
Do you reckon you had the right attitude for competitions? I remember seeing you at one in Fort William and it seemed like the other guys were going specifically for the points but that you were more concerned with doing it in a fluid and stylish manner.I think at the start of it all I was aware of style, but it wasn’t really something I would think about. As I got a bit more into it I wanted to do everything right and maybe I was trying too hard to clean everything and I’d take risks all the time. I’d just be like ‘fuck it, I wanna do it proper, I wanna clean it and just show everybody who’s boss’. I probably lost a lot of points from that. Then again I thought that if I keep banging away enough at some point everything will start working. Sometimes it would work and you’d think ‘fuck yeah, I’m the boy’ and then other times… Perfect example was at World Championships, I was riding really well and the Martins were there and said, ‘look Chris, nobody’s getting through this, you’re doing well, this last one, safety.’ And I just stood there and thought ‘fuck this, I’m going for this, I want the glory’. Threw it all away. It were cool though. It’s twice as hard to make it look good and get the points. I just wanted to make everything look silk. I think that’s still in my riding now. That’s a big part of what I want to do. Make things hard for myself just because I want to make it look nice.
What made you stop competing at trials?The last trial I rode was just really disheartening, I weren’t taking it seriously enough and things had changed. The trials always seemed to be wide lines and that’s probably the reason I did quite well. I specialised in finding different lines. Everything got really restricting, it was more about weights and measures, i.e. how high you can side hop, what you could front touch. Not about, ‘I can ride my bike down that hill, I don’t need to go on the back wheel’. I didn’t feel like I was having fun. I think if you’re not bothered about whether you’re doing well or not, it’s time to give up. Don’t get me wrong I love trials, it’s my core. That’s what I enjoy riding most, still is, but you know, I ride it on my own terms.
What got you into riding fixed wheel, did you want to do that or did someone make you?It’s a funny thing really, because if I look at the timeline of when I picked up a fixed bike, it sort of saved me in a roundabout kinda way, as silly as it sounds. It wasn’t like I was burnt out, maybe I just needed to find something different to do and Nick Larsen (boss at Charge Bikes) who’s been a massive part of my career behind the scenes, said ‘you should do a fixed video, cause it’s going mad.’ Got hold of one off Mongoose and it went really well. I couldn’t believe how many people were watching the videos online.
Did you do it to show up their scene or were you even aware of what was going on with that?No, it might have come across like that, as I like to poke people’s ribs every now and then. I guess that’s just my personality. It’s quite funny.
It seemed like that a bit, you did call it ‘One Gear, No Idea’?Well it pretty much was, I wasn’t aware of the scene. I didn’t intentionally do it, if I’m on a bike I want to do it the best I can. And obviously my background comes through no matter what bike I pick up. There’s always going to be an element of interesting lines and technical riding.
