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17/01/24
We are proud to welcome Kriss Kyle to the Halo team in 2024.
To welcome Kriss to the team, we caught up with him to have a chat about joining Halo, where he comes from and what he has planned in 2024. Check out the full interview below.
First question is for people who do not know who you are, who are you?
My name is Kriss Kyle and I am a professional bike athlete from Scotland.
You started riding when you were 10, what was the thing that sparked you to get really excited about riding, obviously BMX was the starting point but what was the journey like?
I first got into riding BMX through my older brother, my parents would take me out to the skate park to watch him ride. And I was like, fuck, it just looked like he was having the best time ever. I just wanted to be part of that. So, for my 10th birthday, I begged my mum and dad for a BMX and to my surprise I got one, it was a Harrow 360. it was a 16 inch, and I couldn’t believe they got me it. I was like, holy fuck, this is amazing, and I was just hooked from then on.
I do not think my brother was too stoked because he is four years older than me and then, I was hanging around with him and then all his friends. So, I was constantly hanging around with him, but it was amazing. The whole freedom of it was what I liked about it, no rules. You can just express yourself and decide how you want to ride. Just make up whatever trick you want to do.
A few years went by, and my brother and his mates got into cars and drinking, I was younger so didn’t get into that. So, I just carried on riding my bike and then started travelling up to unit 23 skatepark in Dumbarton and that was like the Woodward camp of the UK for me. I was like, holy shit, an indoor skatepark was like unheard of in Scotland. I was blown away. I remember an eight-foot quarter pipe felt like it was about 50 feet tall. It felt like the mega ramp quarter or something. I started travelling up there on my own at 14, it was the only thing around that was inspiring. I’d get the train at the weekends by myself, and I remember it being scary because coming from a small town, I was having to get the train to Glasgow and then change in Glasgow, pedal through the Glasgow city to a different train station, then get the train to Dumbarton where unit 23 is. I started doing that and making friends with riders there as we were all into the same thing.
I would daydream when I was at school about riding, I remember being in class as well and I was just thinking about riding, and I just thought I’m going to do that and then my mum would call me and tell me off. It was tricky because my mum was a teacher at the high school and my dad was a janitor as well, and my brother-in-law was my geography teacher, it was a nightmare. Anyway, so I would go riding and then my mum would find out and she would get in trouble and then I would get in trouble, but I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong because all I cared about was biking. It was bad but all I cared about was riding.
To cut a long story short, I would spend so much time at unit 23 eventually my parents let me take a day off school a week and I would stay up there and ride. Eventually 3 days turned into 4 and then a week and then 2 weeks. I felt terrible for my mum as she had to make up excuses for me, I just wanted to be left alone by the school and go riding. Eventually the school just let me go and I moved up to Glasgow and couch surfed for a while and eventually I moved into unit 23 full time, it was a hard time, living on sweets and sleeping in a freezing warehouse. It was scary at night, but then the next morning would roll around and it was amazing, all my friends would roll in and it was go time.
I was lucky though, when I was 14, I went to a backyard jam and someone from Nike was there, so when I was 14, I got picked up by Nike. It was insane! Then when I was 16, I got paid by BDM to ride, it was the dream. Flying out to LA and Australia to ride bikes. It was unreal a kid from a small, tiny town in the middle of nowhere could make it. It only happened to people in America, it was the dream. Then time went on and I got picked up by Red bull and I was on Nike for over 10 years. It was a testament for pursuing the dream and just wanting to ride.
At Unit 23 was there any rider that really pushed you. The one rider pushed you to the next level?
Well, there was a bunch of us at Unit 23. When I was a kid, I always looked up to Chaz Mailey, I always looked up to him and tried to copy his style (I think I have told him that over a few beers, but he does not really know) I still ride with him most weeks.
What got you into Mountain biking.
Some of my mates started riding mtb’s and from that I picked up a cheap mtb and I just remember heading out into the hill behind my house and thinking this is fun. I quickly picked up a better bike and I remember thinking it felt like street riding in the hills. Just looking for spots and trees to blast off. It was a breath of fresh air, there is no one there to tell me to stop riding that and get down, like riding through town on a BMX. I could just explore. I am learning it all over again, it is so different, just trying new things and re learning tricks. I am just hooked on it.
You came to Halo and the first wheelset you asked for was a mini mullet. Was that to bridge the gap between BMX and MTB?
Yeah, I wanted something tight and that could take a beating and was fun and nimble. It just made sense, it’s great to join the Halo family and build the relationship.
What training do you do for big projects?
Just put time in on the bike, my theory is just ride and you get better. No gym work or things like that beat just getting out. We all know what we can do and what we cannot. 90% of the time you cannot try the stuff but until you are standing on the edge of something mad, then you just must do it. I mean they let me jump out of a helicopter in Dubai, how do you train for that? It is all in the mind and I just ride as much as I can and just visualise it until I am ready.
What are your main goals for 2024?
I have a few ideas. It has always been a dream to build my own line at a bike park, so I am in talks to get a jump line going up in Scotland. The rough plan is a downhill dirt bowl with loads of features and some big jumps. Then we would be to have a Jam and then open it the public.
Then project wise I have a few BMX projects and then I have a few mad ideas I want to pitch to Red Bull. Something up in the tree’s, imagine Go Ape for bikes…just need to work that one out. Then another big series that I am super excited about…. more on that one soon.
When it comes to ideas and plans for videos, how does it go in terms of ideas, planning, filming and then release? How long does it take?
Well, the hot air ballon idea, I was walking the dog, came home and sketched down a bunch of ideas. I sent them off to Red Bull and then 3 months later I heard back, and they were like ‘would you actually do this?’ and I said yes. Then it took months of planning and because I wanted to film in the UK, we had to wait for the weather and the correct windspeed, so it took about 2 years in the end. Realistically I send Red Bull about 20 ideas a year and only a couple make it to the video stage. I love making videos because once it’s made and it’s out there, it’s there forever, it inspires so many people to ride, that’s what I love. Making amazing videos with my friends.
Side question I want to know. In the hot air balloon was there ever a discussion about not having a parachute?
The original idea was for me to learn how to skydive and then at the end of the video to jump over the side. But because of timing and the number of hours needed to learn to solo dive there just wasn’t time. So, I went in with the emergency parachute, which was super heavy which made the video harder, but I did some training with a weighed vest, it was hellish. The whole video was amazing, it was a kids dream come to life. Things like that make me think I am living the dream, to be honest it’s like when you are a kid, and you build a ramp outside your house but now it’s just on a massive scale. Luckily a lot of the crew around me are the same people from when I was growing up, it’s just the same only bigger which is amazing.
Finally, some rapid-fire questions.
Favourite rider of all time?
Chase Hawk and Brandon Semenuk
If you went to the garage right now which bike, would you pick up?
The MTB, I rode BMX yesterday.
If you could ride anywhere in the world again, where would it be?
Maderia. It’s the best place I have ever ridden my bike.
Craziest ride or moment while riding?
Riding down a water flume in Dubai, I always dreamed of riding down one when I was a kid, so I was stoked to get to ride down one.
Biggest crash?
I have been super lucky. I broke my ribs on ‘out of season’ and hit my shoulder hard. I have only had a handful of injuries.
That’s it. Thanks for joining me and welcome to the Halo team, we can’t wait to see what 2024 bring for you.
