I have been mountain biking since I was 11 years old and was the first kid in my school to have a bike other than a BMX or ‘Racer’. I started off riding with Dorset Rough Riders and with mates from school along the Dorset coast line and in the New Forest. I soon realized that Dorset does not have many mountains so when I was 18 I chose a University in the right place to follow my hobby; Pontypridd in the south Wales valleys. At university I started competing in the Welsh and National XC MTB series and managed to gain my Elite licence in 1999. After riding most of the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains and south Wales valleys I was given the opportunity to move to Llanberis where I have been based for the last 5 years working for Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics.

Since 2002 I have been riding the popular Meridia marathon series scoring top 10 finishes in Rhaeadr, Builth and Selkirk, and Dyfi Enduro where I finished 3^rd in 2004, 1^st in 2005 and 3^rd in 2006. I have also ridden 24hr races as part of MTBWales.

In 2006 I rode the first UK mountain bike stage race the ‘TransWales’ with Revolution Cycles owner Gareth Jones - we picked up two podium places in the timed stages and forth overall. This year I have been lucky enough to be sponsored by Gareth and Matt and I am riding the Felt RXC pro mountain bike. The bike is a hard tail with aluminium main tubes and carbon rear stays, Reda Sl forks, Mavic Crossride wheel set, Avid Juicy 7 brakes, Conti Speed King tyres and an excellent XT/ XTR mix drive train. In the 2007 season so far I have ridden the Spring Polaris Innerleithen (top 20), EBNO (10^th), Dyfi Enduro (12^th) Spring Meridia, Penrith Meridia, Builth Meridia, NPS Enduro round 2 Margam (12^th), Mountain Mayhem 24hr (3^rd), Twentyfour12 24hr (2^nd), Llandegla fireman’s race (1^st) and am just getting ready for the Cristalp in Switzerland (120km, 5500m climbing). In September I will be competing in the NPS Enduro round 5 at Coed y Brenin and Ruthin Meridia, and in October the Autumn Polaris in the Lake District.

When not racing I get out and ride around the Llanberis valley, Dyfi Forest, Clwyds, Coed y Brenin, Betws y Coed, Llyn Elsi, Penmachno and Llandegla. To give something back to my sport I helped set up Energy Cycles cycling club in 2003 and in 2005 I organised the Welsh MTB championships in Coed Llandegla. I have also done a bit of running in the not too distant past and have represented Dorset and Glamorgan in cross country and Wales for fell running.

Read reviews of bike and tyres used by Chris during the 2007 season