I raced my first international race in Italy in 1992 at Padova which ironically is not far from where our frames are now being made. When I was 15 I started a Saturday job at Custom Riders, our local BMX shop. I did a bit of everything there from building bikes to washing the windows.

After leaving school I started a Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship at a local CNC machine shop. I did a day release scheme for 3 years and got my HND in Mechanical Engineering. At that time in the UK, unfortunately, manufacturing was in decline and jobs were becoming very limited.

I went to Custom Riders to buy some parts for my bike and they offered me a job as manager of the shop. I accepted and worked with the Directors there to turn it from a local BMX store to one of the leading shops in the UK and Europe.

While I was at the shop I continued to race and also started working for British Cycling as a Regional Talent Coach working with young riders to improve their skills. This lead to me writing a few of the units of the BMX course; which are now used by the BMX coaches today in the UK to gain their coaching qualifications.

Working at the shop gave me a great insight in the industry and I am using this base to build ‘Pure’. One of my main skills is bike mechanics and wheel building – I have built wheels for many of the UK’s top riders including two Olympic athletes and an X Games rider.

I started riding for the EA Pure BMX Race Team about 4 years ago now. The Team Manager and I looked at the BMX frames out there in the market, and there was nothing at the time that we thought fitted the bill for the riders on the team. So we started to look into the possibilities of making our own frames, built for the purpose of BMX racing.

From these initial discussions the Pure Bicycle Company was born. I have now been riding and testing our frames, along with our team riders, for the last 3 years and in 2011 I finished 3rd in the Masters class.

I hope that reading this gives you a bit of an insight to my history and experience in BMX and the cycle trade. Thanks for reading and see you at a track soon.

My interest in racing bikes started following an accident which resulted in a shattered knee and ended my football career at the age of 16.

Following that I studied and gained an ONC & HNC in mechanical engineering at Pilkington’s in North Wales, and I continued studying Structural Engineering when I moved to Bedfordshire.

It was at this time I started designing various structures for scaffolding and event companies who I was working for at the time.

Shortly after I set up scaffolding, access and events business which has grown to be one of the largest and most respected in its sector. From this business, a separate design and manufacturing business was born specialising in access, event and safety products. An interest in property and construction resulted in further business being set up developing commercial property.

During this time I maintained a keen interest in road and track racing and also the design and development of these types of bikes. I still compete in road races and time trials and train regularly on the track.

By sheer coincidence, we stumbled across a BMX track in Milton Keynes when my son Ethan was 3 years of age. He was keen to have a ride around. A guy call Pete Kirk was at the track and invited Ethan to take part in a novice race the following day. That’s all it took, he was hooked and BMX took over!

My interest in bike design resulted in me looking at the relatively low tech BMX race frames which were available at that time. Shortly afterwards and after many hours of design on the computer, the first race frame was produced as a prototype and the Pure Bicycle Company was set up. Such was its success as a ‘Pure’ race bike, a current World Champion at that time contacted us to see if they could race it!

Initially the business was just a hobby of mine until Rich Townsend suggested that he would like to make ‘Pure’ into a proper business and take it forward. ‘Pure’ continues to grow and is building an enviable reputation for quality and innovation in BMX race bike design.

2012 will see the range grow and include its own branded components and accessories.

http://bmxtalk.com/blog/chris-christensen-worlds.html

We arrived on Thursday afternoon at the venue and enjoyed the Italian sun until the training started on Friday. The training went well and I had a good feeling with the track. The only problem I had was the gate.

On Saturday I chilled the whole morning with some German friends. Until the Championship races started in the late afternoon, it became very windy. I qualified easily for the final with the positions 1,2,1. In the final I hit the gate so bad that I came into the first turn 8th. I managed to ride the rest of the track very smooth and fast so that I was 5th before the last turn. As I took the inside lane in the last turn I passed two more riders and finally got 3rd at the finish line.

The next day it started to rain and the turns and gate became very slippery. I finished the motos with 2,2,2 and was qualified again for the final. During my break, I watched some races of Junior and Elite men, where I saw, that every rider who took lane 2 on the gate slipped away and went on the track 10-15 meters behind the other riders. As I could choose the lane on the gate as 4th rider, the places 2,5,6,7,8 were left. So I could choose between the “bad 2” lane and an outside lane. I hoped that my new tires have a good grip and choose lane 2. I didn’t had luck with it so I also slipped on the gate. As one of the last riders I came into the first turn. I showed again some technical track skills and passed a few riders until I was 4th before the last turn. With a good “high-low” move I passed another rider and became again 3rd.

So I made 2 podiums and I’m happy with it, even if I had the chance to win. Let’s see what the next races will bring. See you all in Orleans for the final Euro round.

And many more videos from the past races.

We are now all looking forward to racing outdoors for the rest of the national series!