From Homeless Teen to Red Bull Mega Star Who Jumped Over a Moving F1 Car

0:00You just jumped over a Red Bull Formula One car that was racing, essentially. You created a bowl underneath a hot air balloon. The guy that gave me the parachute was like, yeah, mate, it's designed to save your life, but not your legs. And I was like, nice one. I lived in a skate park in a warehouse for eight years, shared a bed with one of my mates. I was like, I had rats running over me. I was like, you have no idea where I've been living. I went through hell in there, but I went through hell and back to ride that bike. How old were you at this stage? 14. Yeah, because that's when I first, that's when I left home, probably.

0:28I can honestly say that I've not heard a story like that before. I'm Spencer Matthews, and you're listening to Untapped, where incredible athletes and inspirational people show us how we can all untap the potential within us. Chris brought to the studio one of the most remarkable stories I have to say I've ever heard. From homelessness to BMX Red Bull legend, let's get Untapped with Chris Carl. Chris, thanks so much for joining me on Untapped. Yeah, it is. So you've made a career out of pushing BMX to its absolute limit. What goes through your mind when you're attempting something that say others might find too risky?

1:09Pretty much I dream up of what I'd love to see someone do and like what is absolutely nuts out there that no one's thought of. And I'd love to see someone do it. And so I'm like, well, why can't I be that person that goes and does it? Why can't I be the first person? Like we're all made of the same stuff. So why is it not me? and then I'll just like sketch it up, send it to like Red Bull or whoever. And I'm quite lucky because a lot of the time I seem to get the green light, but you almost need to be careful what you send because before you know it, you're doing something that's absolutely horrendous.

1:39What do you think separates you from, shall we say, for argument's sake, call it normal people? So we'll get into some of the incredible stunts that you've pulled off, but most people just wouldn't accept it as acceptable. you know you've created a bowl like a half pipe style bowl underneath a hot air balloon and BMX'd how high were you? 2 ,500 feet but I don't know I feel like as a kid I've always been creative and I feel like you're in school you're brought up to be what do you want to be? it's either like a doctor or teacher or builder or something like that whereas me I was I don't know I always looked at the bigger picture like I was never interested in that stuff so why do I need to go and do that?

2:21The only thing I was passionate about was bikes and I could express myself especially with the sport that I chose and there was no rules in it so I think that's what kind of drew me to it because I played a lot of football but I'd go to a match and I'd get put on the bench and I hate all the rules about it so then on my bike, when I'm on my bike I make the tricks up there's no one telling me to get down from there I do this and that, it's just me and the bike so it's the freedom of getting to do that and I kind of just chose that path from a very young age where I just thought, screw it I'm just going to concentrate on ride my bike and the things that make me happy.

2:55And I think a lot of people in this world get caught up on, hung up on being told what they should do. And that's the crew you're going to have. But it's like, nah, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be dancing, skateboarding, like art. Like as long as you're passionate enough about something, it doesn't matter where you come from or your upbringing or your background. You need to live it and breathe it. But for me, that's what I've done. I chose BMX from that young age. That's all I cared about. And I just, I went to hell and back to ride that bike and turn it into what I've done. What age were you when you realized you had a talent for riding uh yeah when i realized i had a talent i was probably i don't know i feel like i never really realized i just i just had a dream and i just kept like wanting to learn tricks like me and my brother would watch like it was vhs tapes back in the day and we'd watch like all the videos from america and stuff and it's like i'd watch that study that and then i go to the skate park and just try and learn what the pros were doing and it's just second nature just like yeah they're doing it so why can't i and yeah just go and do that and you're talking now about kind of creativity in the sense that you're inventing tricks, you're inventing things to do that haven't been done before.

3:59Is that a relatively new side to what you do? Or did you always have that creative flair? I've always been like, I'm always pushing for what's next. As soon as I do a trick, I'm like, right, what can I add that into? So for instance, a flair is like a backflip 180 on like a quarter pipe. And I can do wall rides. So I was like, well, why don't I do like wall ride like curb wall ride to flare so I was like the first person in the world to do that which is just like combining two kind of mad tricks but stuff that I'd love to see and it makes total sense in my head so I'm surprised no one's done it yet and stuff like that so I just go and do it but yeah like I just try and ride the world my way see the world through my eyes I feel like even when I'm going to be like a 70 year old man I feel like I'm never going to be able to switch off like even like in the Uber coming here I'm looking at roofs and roofs that I can ride along and rails I can grind And then they're like, I go on holiday with the wife and the son.

4:49And I just can't switch off. I'm like looking at spots on the beach. I'm like, I wish I had my bike here. So I'm like, when's that ever going to turn off? It's probably not. No. So where is the line? So what's your relationship like with fear and risk? Because I mean, some of the stuff I've seen you do is crazy. You just jumped over a Red Bull Formula One car that was racing, essentially. So who came up with that? That's me again. Like, I've only got myself to blame for these ideas, or myself to thank. But yeah, like, fear is always there. But I honestly go into some of these projects, and I just lie to myself from the get-go.

5:29I'm like, I'll do that, sure. And I remember, like, a good story is me in Dubai, where I went on top of the Burj Al Arab hotel, and they've got the helipad there. And they took me up there, and they were like, is there anything you reckon you could do on your bike here? and I was like, yeah, if you get jokingly, I was like, if you get me a helicopter, I'll jump out of a helicopter and you build me a landing ramp and I'll jump out of a helicopter into the landing ramp then over the stairs on the red carpet. And that was like a joke. Like, honestly, like a joke. And I flew home and a week later, they called me saying, yeah, it's been signed off.

5:59So come November, you're jumping out of a helicopter. And I was like, oh my God, like this is, what have I said that I'd do? And like the whole year, I was sweating having to do that. Were you not expecting, so you were actually joking? Yeah, I was generally joking about it. and I'm scared of heights so it's like it's just a nightmare but yeah but sure enough I've done it and I'm a strong believer in that like as long as you say something and I could visualize it and I'm a strong believer in that as long as I can visualize it I can do it and I'll from start to finish like honestly you should see my sketches I'll send you some I think of these ideas and I'll like stick man drawings but to go from that in my head I will visualize it from the very start over and over and visualize doing it and doing it and doing it until it is reality and it comes to do it.

6:43I feel like I've already done it. Please do follow and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening so that you don't miss new episodes. We have truly incredible guests every week and you don't want to miss them.

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9:01Have you ever genuinely considered bailing on a trick when you've seen it for the first time? So like, you know, for an example, you have that idea, right, I'm going to jump out of the helicopter into a landing ramp, onto the top of the Burj Al Arab. Like, when the door to the helicopter opens and you look down at the ramp, how did you feel? Have you gone like, no, actually, you know, this type of thing? I was actually strapped to the outside of the thing, which is horrendous. So from the get-go, I was like, because I had my bike on the little step, I was strapped to the outside of it and it took off.

9:33I was like, it got to a point where we got, like it's scary on takeoff, but then it got to a point and it just felt like it was fake. You know, you're that high up and it just doesn't seem real, like what it's like in a plane. But yeah, sometimes you do think kind of what you're doing, like especially with the balloon, with the skate park floating around. I remember just like standing on top of that and looking around thinking, I cannot believe my BMX has taken me here. I had two helicopters filming that and my friends are hanging out with helicopters and I'm just floating 2 ,500 feet up above the motorway just thinking, how is my bike taking me here?

10:07How do I get to do these incredible things that I do? I noticed that you were wearing a chute for that one. Were you worried about falling off? Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah, obviously, because it would have sucked if I didn't have it and I'd have fell. but yeah like yeah with that one I had to have a parachute just because if I went over the side obviously I'd have been dead but it's I remember though they told me I had to have that and I didn't want to have it on because it weighed more than 20 % of my own body weight and so trying to do tricks and flips it felt like someone was grabbing you and trying to rip you out of the bowl so I really didn't want to ride with it but yeah they wouldn't let me on without also as well it was minus 7 when I was up there it was freezing so we filmed that in like in winter and it was grim And I only had half an hour up there to land all those tricks.

10:55So yeah, that was another project though. You think these ideas, you think they're going to be easy. But there's a reason why no one's done them. It's because they're not easy. They're insanely hard. When do you come up with these things? So what, you know, I'm sure the answer to this question varies, but when are you at your most creative? Like you're lying in bed thinking, are you running or what's the deal? Like what happens? What does your wife think about it all? Yeah, she thinks. I don't know. like she's super supportive about it but I think she also thinks probably I don't know something wrong with me or something I don't know something not right but there never has been it's just like yeah I'm just doing it on a bigger scale than what I always have done but yeah these ideas come to me in the strangest of places like a lot of the time if I'm flying somewhere or if I'm out hiking with the dogs or on a run or like the balloon idea came to me start a lockdown when like I was used to traveling the world and obviously couldn't go anywhere so I was like I'm going to use this downtime as fuel and think about the gnarliest project that I could do but it's like what is that?

11:51How do you think these ideas? So I was like daydreaming, walking my dogs up the hill behind the back of my house. And it was a super nice day like today, blue sky. And I was like, I just came in. I was like, oh my God, a floating skate park. Like imagine that. And then I thought about, oh, like what could fly that? And I was like, a Shunik helicopter, because that could lift it. But then I remembered Dubai was like jumping into a tornado. So I was like, there's no way that I could do it under that. And then I thought, oh, hot air balloon. So I put it in my notes so I didn't forget it. Ran back down the hill, sketched up, sent to my rebel manager seven months later we were doing it so but yeah like these ideas come to me sometimes it's strangest times like I could be in the Uber there just like daydreaming about stuff and think of one or sometimes at night I wake up in the night and just think oh my god that's came to me now and I'll just I'll need to put that in my notes because I've had it before I thought of an amazing idea in the night and I've not noted it down and I wake up and I'm like what was it?

12:42What was it? I just can't think about what it was so I feel like me and my friend Danny McCaskill are the exact same wavelength like it happens to him in the strangest places. Do you have like a book? I do, yeah. Full of ideas. I've got a notepad, yeah. It's like, well, a sketchbook. I've had a few of them over the years. I wish I could show the cameras. Honestly, some of them are horrendous, but some of them are great ideas. Your relationship with risk and fear is pretty exciting and interesting. You're certainly not slowing down. What's on the horizon? And do you have like a huge, big, hairy, audacious goal?

13:16you know something that you know is kind of completely crazy that you've had in the locker for a while but you haven't actions yeah for me i'm just like i'm i've always obviously i've got like massive goals and like i want to i want to do i feel like i'm not done my field potential yet you know i mean i feel like i'm just scratching the surface i've done some mad videos but there's so much more out there i'm like itching i don't know what it is yet it's like i'm always thinking what's next what's not been done why can't i be the first person to do this but yeah for now though So it's like these videos that I do get millions and millions of views.

13:49And I get so much out of that. I've got not just me riding a bike. It's a big team behind me. And some of my best mates that all build on my course and film me. So it's like super lucky to live this lifestyle. But these videos also inspire the kids that have came up to me and said they got like a BMX or mountain bike just because they've seen my videos. And like there's hundreds of messages of kids that have done that. and if I can inspire people to get on these bikes and get out and start doing what I do, it's opened up, it's created who I am as a person that's riding that bike. And it's gave me the life that I've got all through riding that bike, which is crazy.

14:22But like I say, I'm also about pushing this, making a sport as big as I can, so pushing it outside the core scene. And that's what these videos do. And that's what I'm passionate about. So if I can keep doing this for years and years to come, which I plan on doing, then I'm super happy doing this. but there is, I feel like there's not one that I'm happy with yet. But will it ever come? It's like you're happy with something for like one day, if that, and then you're already thinking, why didn't I do this? Or what can I do next? Who was it, would you say, that inspired you to break down your boundaries?

14:52Like I feel kind of that you probably don't perceive boundaries as real things. So like, you know, one thing that we talk about a fair amount in this show is that people have perceived boundaries. They're told they can't do things so they don't try. And, you know, it's that classic, I could never run a marathon. I could never build a business. You know, I'm not a runner, so I can't run type thing. You know, and there are all these mental blocks. You don't appear to have any of that. It feels to me like, you know, you just envisage something and you just crack on and do it despite nobody ever having done it before.

15:30do you find that when you break a rule like that and you do something for the first time that it then opens up you know hundreds or potentially thousands of other riders to to follow in your footsteps and do the same and if so who inspired you to think that way for sure because all it takes is like one person to go and do it and then it'll just yeah all it takes is like one person be the first to do it and then the rest will follow so yeah but for me i've just i hate being told no like i remember i went i didn't really go to high school i went to first year and my teachers there were like you can't do this you can't do that you could do so much better if you're stuck in at school this and that and it was always like like I don't know what you're doing that bike's never going to amount to anything this and that and and it is I mean the stuff that I get to do is unreal I feel like I'm living my dream so yeah I hate being told no and no is just not even in the vocabulary really because it's like nothing's impossible so nothing is and that's the way I've lived my life and that's the way I've got everything that I've got and yeah like I've just listen to myself and if I want to do something just visualize it and go and do it did you have a role model when you were younger yeah like I had like a a lot of like writers that I looked up to and still do they're actually some of my best friends now these guys but yeah like I guess just take a little bit from everyone and just kind of crack on in my own way create my own path but yeah like I've never that's an incredible realization isn't it to be kind of best pals with your childhood heroes yeah yeah it's weird like it's super weird like staying at their houses and stuff and it's like yeah it's just mad but yeah cool so your brother rode you got into it young you became a nike athlete when you were 14 years old can you tell me a bit about your childhood and how you arrived at that milestone yeah sure yeah so originally i'm from small town called stranar which is like southwest scotland it's so far away like the middle of nowhere and uh there's not much there's a skate park like free ramps um but yeah i'd ride my brother and stuff like that and his friends and then from there I'd get the train up to Dumbarton which is near Glasgow it's three and a half hours away um but I'd go with him and his friends we'd have and it was an indoor skate park the biggest in the UK one way you'd go three and a half hours yeah one way mate how often um maybe like once a week or once a month actually once a month it started as um so be like once a month me and my brother and his friends we get the train through there so yeah three and a half hours there but when I got there it was like heaven like it was an indoor skate park so if it's raining you're inside and I couldn't believe it like massive ramps um but yeah and then I was in there loads of riders as well um so yeah and it would be three and a half hours on the way home and I guess because I was riding my brother was really good like really good and his style was incredible I wish they kept riding because he'd be better than me like he was proper style was unreal my brother and his friends were always older than me and so they got into they could drive cars and start drinking and stuff and I couldn't because I was still a baby pretty much so then there was no kids that were my age that really shared the same passion I did for bikes in that small town so I kind of took it into my own hands I didn't really have many friends at school because no one shared the same passion so at the weekend I'd get the train up by myself that three and a half hours and I'd get to the skate park in Dunbarton and I'd meet kids that had shared the same passion I did I'd say my friends are there and they'd be like oh why don't you stay with me for like two days so my mum would give me a day off school which was so nice of her and she'd make up an excuse saying I'm not well but then that day would turn into two days and then three days and then she'd be like where are you but I missed the train I ran out of money so I can't come home and I just didn't want to be at home because my life felt like it was there and at home I didn't have anyone that shared that same passion and no one the same age as me that I was into that and so I kind of felt alone at home and then yeah sure enough like a week would turn a week off would turn into two weeks off school and I'd be up there just like couch surfing around like the sketchiest areas.

19:19Like I couch surfed all around Glasgow, like a place called Blantyre. I'd go to the skate park and there's like chavs there and they'd throw darts at you, like actual darts at you and try and get you out of the skate park. And then I lived in Blantyre at my friend's mum's house. How old were you at this stage? I'd have been 13, 14, 14. Yeah, so that's when I first, that's when I left home properly. So I was 14, yeah. So I was 14 years old. It's pretty, it's quite heavy stuff. Like, that's pretty, like you're young to be doing that. Yeah, but I felt like I was a little man. Like, I felt like I was just like, I don't know, I just felt like I could go and do all this stuff.

19:55But yeah, I remember like the first gnarly thing was, I was living in Blantyre and my friend's neighbor got murdered. It was like a semi-detached house flat situation. And we went to go back that night and we couldn't get in the house because the house was taped off and it got murdered. And yeah, I was like, oh my God, this is absolute mental. But from there, then I couch surfed around again, all over, honestly, like everywhere. pretty much outstayed my welcome with everyone everyone's super nice to me but i'd stay there for like months at a time and then um also the police were trying to take myself and my parents to court because my attendance was like it wasn't there it was non-existent well at school yeah at school yeah because i was 14 at this time i didn't go to high school like i went for a couple of months at the first year and then it was like that was like i just left but i was like but i remember thinking i was having a conversation with my mom just saying like like can everyone just leave me alone like I wish everyone would just like just let me go like it was so annoying but I did feel bad though because I went home one time I remember my mum crying like she just broke down she's like I can't do this Chris I can't keep making up excuses for you and I was like I felt so bad and I still remember it so clear and that's when it kind of hit me like what am I doing but the passion to ride that bike just outweighed everything I just and I had no choice like that was all I wanted to do so yeah and like I said I was riding more and more so I went to a competition in Sheffield when I was 14.

21:11And the guy from the manager from Nike was there. And he was like, Chris, I really like your style. Would you be up for riding for Nike? And I was like, wow. I didn't actually believe the guy at first. And then, yeah, sure enough, all these packages started turning up to the skate park that I'd ride every day. We got them sent there. And then all my friends were getting hooked up with shoes and stuff. I'd just give them all shoes. Or trade them for money or something like that. Because I didn't have any. It's a really... remarkable story. Like I'm thinking now just as a, with my kind of parent hat on, you know, I've got three young kids that like if one of my kids were to become like so in love with something that it was just their kind of, their part of their soul.

21:57What do you, what do you do? Right. I think it was made complicated in your case by how far away the park was, right, from where you lived. I think that was probably one of the main reasons that it was very difficult to have you do both, I suppose. But how did your mum feel at the time? You mentioned she cried, which made you feel bad. What was your relationship like with your mum? By the sounds of things, having just heard that, she was supportive of you, of course. But I mean, that feels... I've not heard a story like that before, by the way. That's an incredible, it's a really kind of, it's quite a moving, deep thing.

22:38Yeah, it gets worse, actually. Well, it gets better. But yeah, like, yeah, it was, yeah, I just felt, I felt ill when she was crying. Like, you know, I'd seen her and then I realized what I was doing. Like, it's all right, me going away, having fun riding my bike, but then you don't see, being that young, you don't see what you're doing to your parents. And she's still working at the school, having to make up these excuses for me. And police are trying to take my family to court. and I don't really see any of that because I'm away doing my own thing. But yeah, it felt super bad. But my mum and dad were like so supportive.

23:08They were like, they'd let me kind of go away and do that because a lot of people think that I was neglected or that, but I wasn't. My mum and dad were the best mum and dad in the world and it says a lot for them just to let me go and do what I'd done. And they were supportive. But yeah, so like I say, I pretty much outstayed my welcome, staying with people. And then when I was 15 years old, the skate park that I'd always ride the guy that owns that, Chick Mealy, I'm really best mates with his sons and he was like, if you want Chris, you can live in the skate park. So I was like, what, live in that?

23:39Like it was like every kid's dream. I was like, oh my God, mate, yeah. So I was like, I slept on like a two-seater couch. Didn't have any money. He bought me a sleeping bag. It was so cold in there as well and the place, it was so scary. It was used in the water to build parts of airplanes and then it was used as a distillery. Then it was derelict for a few years and then it was a skate park so it was like an e-rebuilding but um yeah I remember I had some brutal nights in there and the things that I'd hear and it was just so scary but I lived there for a year by myself and to be honest it was hell I went through hell in there but I went through hell and back to ride that bike but I had no money to eat I didn't have any clean clothes I didn't have a washing machine or anything like that so I was stinking and then I was living on Sweeties so like candy and stuff out of the cafe um and then like a couple times a week the guy that owned the skate part would cook me like a hot meal so I was eating that um I also lied to my mom and dad for like two years that I was living there they didn't know I was living there they thought I was living with someone else and I was living there illegally um but it was the coldest of the coldest winters there was rats in there that were the size of cats I'm actually completely like blown away by by this story yeah it's pretty norelly but um can't imagine it's common nah not really nah Nah.

24:56Honestly, it was probably the best childhood. It was gnarly, but it was probably the best childhood I could ever have. So not having a mom and dad to tell me what I could and couldn't do. So I'd ride till like four in the morning sometimes. And a few of my friends would come and stay at the skate park some nights. And it'd be the best time ever because we'd ride till whenever we want. Have beers or whatever and this and that. So it was pretty cool. And then after a year living there alone, one of my friends moved in. And then we moved to a room through the back because before I was sleeping in the office, in the front office.

25:23so I moved to a room through the back which was like dingy ass we had like a pool dancing thing in there as well super gnarly, horrible it was like a movie scene but me and him slept in there and we shared a two-seater pull-out bed couch thing and then he had no money either so we were sharing like underwear and I was still sponsored by Nike at that point so they were giving me like shoes and stuff so at least I had like clean, some clean stuff but we were like sharing my underwear and stuff proper gnarly and then yeah and then I ended up working in the skate park like behind the cafe like serving some food and stuff and I'd get like a lot of money but we just share the money.

25:59I just share it with everyone. I never really had it so I didn't really care. On the freezing cold like really dark grim nights where you're in there on your own and there's like rats and stuff running around and you're kind of feeling I imagine like pretty detached and lonely at times as a young person. did you ever think to just go home? Nah it just wasn't an option it was just not an option to go home it was just it was as bad as it was like those nights I knew the next morning was coming around where I was going to ride my bike and everything doesn't matter I'd have the best time on that bike so it outweighed how much hell I had to go through that night so it kind of outweighed it So when you're living in the skate park and you're young it's probably one of the most well it's probably one of the most challenging times in your life but also you're climbing that ladder professionally you're sponsored by Nike are you earning money at this stage?

26:56Yeah so like I like I say I moved in there when I was 15 I moved into the skate park and when I was 16 um started riding for a company called BSD and they like make my bikes and he started paying me like a hundred pounds a month and I was like oh my god someone's actually paying me to ride a bike and then I was like flying to Australia so I started traveling and I was like only a hundred pounds a month I was like to go from having nothing i was like this is unreal and i'm doing what i love but i was like still living in the skate park traveling around the world and yeah i just can't believe i remember me and my friend were joking on a flight going to australia i was like i can't believe we're getting paid to do this even though even though it's 100 pounds it was almost like there's a weird magnet pulling like me and the boys like it's almost like the lost boys because there's all my friends are from all over the uk so and we all have like kind of pretty gnarly upbringings background stories.

27:42So I would be living at a skate park and friends would come up and stay for a weekend and then it would just like suck them in. Like it was crazy. Like a weekend would turn into a week for them and then they just wouldn't go home. And then at one point, it was 12 of us living there illegally. And we built like rooms through the back. We had a hot tub room as well, which is horrendous. It was like, oh, I should have seen this thing. It was like soup and it had skin on the top. I think at one point, we had like 15 of us in it one night. Horrendous. So in this little room with no windows in like through the back, horrendous.

28:11We'd like tattoo each other in there. We'd Friday night fight each other. We'd put boxing gloves on and we'd fight each other, have Friday night fights. Was that around the time that Fight Club was released? Yeah, pretty much. But yeah, it was pretty loose. Like it was gnarly, the stuff that we got away with. It was so gnarly. I could go into detail, but probably shouldn't get arrested. I mean, you're a far cry from all of that now. Can you give us an overview of what success maybe feels like to you now? Yeah, I honestly can't believe the things that I've got for riding that bike. But yeah, like I say, I was living in that skate park and then I got paid a little bit of money and that almost fueled the fire to ride more and smash it more and think, actually, I can do this as a job.

28:55This can happen to me. So from there, I just kept riding in Nike Tournament Pro at 17. So I started getting paid and that was decent money. And I was like, this is absolutely mental. This is crazy. I can't, well, it still wasn't loads, but it was a decent amount. And then, yeah, and then from there, Red Bull came on and I signed with them. And that was like, that was a dream. That was, it was my 19th birthday, actually, when I signed with Red Bull. And that was in Madrid. I came for that contest and they presented me the helmet there and stuff. It was like probably one of the best days of my life.

29:24And yeah, and then I was on Red Bull and it's like, it was just, it just, it just accelerated quick. Yeah, I mean, from when I started making money at 16 to like, then Nike Pro at 17, it just went, it just accelerated. and I was riding for other brands as well, but they were the main ones. And then from there, I'd done a video, my first big video with Red Bull was called Kaleidoscope. And that was like, they literally gave me a warehouse and was like, dream up like your dream skate park. And so I dreamed up like this crazy skate park with all these like crazy spinning, moving ramps and trampolines and stuff and funnels.

29:55And I worked with like Ridley Scott. It was like a movie set on it as well. And usually on these videos, I'm just ready to go. And I'm like, you ready guys? Just shout and like, off I go and do it and we'll just film it. Whereas this time we had to go on like cameras rolling and ready and action Chris. So I'd have to go on action even if I wasn't ready and like having to do stuff. But that for me was like my first big one. I partnered with Sony on that as well. But I made like I made money on that one because of the partnership. Made like 60 grand on that and to go from having nothing like still didn't have much money I thought like nothing.

30:28So that was like the most I ever had and I went and I always said if I ever made any money I'm going to buy myself a house because I never had a house. Like growing up I never had anywhere. So I'm going to secure myself now. And I've always got somewhere to fall back on tomorrow or what happens. So I pumped all that money into the house and I got it. And I remember my girlfriend's dad coming around the house and all I had was a mattress on the floor. He said, you can't live here. And I was like, well, I can't. He's like, you got nothing in here. Like, you got nothing. And I was like, well, I was like, you have no idea where I, I lived in a skate park in a warehouse for eight years, shared a bed with one of my mates.

30:56I was like, I had rats running over me. I was like, you have no idea where I've been living. I was like, I can live here. This is a dream. I can't believe I own this. and then I'd go to the old folks home and because they were thrown out sofas I'd take the sofas from the old folks home and I'd use them and I'd just accumulated stuff in my house it was free from getting it off people but then from there like I say I never had any money so I just kept blasting that in the house and then now I live where I live now which is like a super nice place in Helensburgh and it's like it's on the coast but I'm beside Loch Lomond and it's like so nice but yeah but I owe all that in my life through riding through that bike and through all that and it's just just fuel to fire like from everything that's happened and the way it's worked it's like I'm so fortunate for everything that I have and I owe it all to my sponsors and believing in me and just like just the passion of doing it I even went down to my high school that I never really went to and done a talk to the same teachers that are still there taught me and like I turned up there and done like a talk to all the kids there and stuff so that must have been a really nice full circle moment felt great it felt so good like I honestly like I'm not one for rubbing in And then anyone, but like, they told me like, can't do this, can't do this and that.

32:02And I just bought myself this ridiculous world, but I bought myself like, never really spent money on anything apart from my house and stuff. And I bought myself a Jeep wagon. And I turned up in that and like parked it right at the front. And it's my place, my name. So it's like, absolutely. I'm not one for being big headed. This is hella shame telling this story. But I told my brother, because he didn't like teachers at school or that either. He's like, I bet they loved you turning up in that. And I was like, yeah. So I went down, not to rub it in or that, but I was super nice with everyone there.

32:28but just to show kids there as well that it can happen and like doesn't matter where we're from because there's nothing down there. I mean, every time I go down, there's more shops and stuff shutting as well. So it's like, it's just, there's not much down there, not much hope for kids down there. So go down there, I've opened up a new skate park there and stuff like that. And I'm always doing stuff for the communities. So yeah, just to go and give them a nice talk and yeah, tell people to get up and get it done.

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34:59I think you love your bike about like a similar amount to how much I love my children. Yeah, probably, yeah. Like, honestly, I've been sat here literally thinking, I don't love anything as much as Chris loves his bike. It's pretty nuts, yeah. And then obviously, I love my children, I love my wife, I love my family, but that's about it. I've certainly never had any kind of relationship even close to that relationship that you have with your BMX. Yeah. I even got, this is nuts as well, I got my first tattoo when I was 12 and I got BMX tattooed in my arm up there. Yeah. I was 12 years old. I haven't even started high school yet.

35:42That was like primary seven or something like that. And that was in my mate's house. my brother got tattoos they were all tattooing each other and I was like I'll get one so I just done that but but yeah but that's how much I love it but like yeah but like you say like that um but that bike it's like I love it that much because it's it's created who I am as a person it's gave me the lifestyle I have and the family that I've got and the things that I have done the people I've met the the cultures and stuff that the stuff that I've experienced it's all through riding that bike and I've been through like some of the craziest places like uh like I've been all over the world like and it's all free riding that bike and like even this now chance you and stuff it's like it's mental without that bike i wouldn't be doing any of this like so i owe it all to bmx and the special brands that support me and keep the dream alive but that's that's why i love it and i live and breathe it and i don't know what i'd do without it and i don't i just can't visualize anything ever ending like it's just so i'm so in it what would you say was the greatest moment of your life so far?

36:38I had a son. I just had my son, so that's probably, yeah, that's definitely, it's definitely up there. There's a few other ones, but yeah, like I had my son, so that's like, special one. I never thought I'd be a dad really, yeah, so it's like, it's pretty cool. I just feel like, obviously, my dad's been the best dad to me. Obviously, I left when I was super young, so I feel like I just want to give him everything that I've had and like, just give him whatever he wants. But people say, you can't do that because you're going to spoil him, but I'm going to bring him up properly and he's not leaving at 14.

37:09He'll be staying in the house. That's what I was about to ask you actually. I was about to say, if your son turned out to be like you and develop a love and infatuation for riding and left home and left school, would you let him? My wife would kill me if I say it. You'd want to let him though? There's no right answer by that. I think to be honest, I think it's really refreshing to hear somebody talk so passionately about what you do. You know, as a father, I would very much advocate to keep my kids in school if they wanted to leave school. Whatever, that's me. But I don't judge what you did at all, or your parents for that matter.

37:55I think it's really interesting. I can honestly say that I've not heard a story like that before. I think it's really fascinating. I appreciate it. you've heard a lot of stuff no I have I've honestly I was confused and enamored by what you said I just found the whole thing really interesting yeah it goes deep that story as well like real deep but yeah if he does want to leave and do that I feel like I would support him just because honestly I thought you said your wife will kill you you just said it anyway sorry Kaylee but yeah but it would like it really shaped me like cut me as a person like it really did like I feel like I grew up fast and I got no qualifications no nothing like nothing at all and yeah it's like it's really yeah like I feel like well even when I left home I could hardly read and write but I can do like all my emails and stuff like that it sounds ridiculous but it's like yeah like it's just the people I've met and it really made me appreciate life and the things that I think to go and have absolutely zero to have honestly nothing to then have the stuff that I have now and the houses and whatever and cars or whatever, like all free riding that bike.

39:09It's honestly unbelievable. I think I'll probably know the answer to this already, but did you ever see it as a risk? Because from where I'm sat, if you weren't a legendary BMXer, then it would all be for nothing. Yeah, definitely. There was definitely a little bit of doubt that it might never happen because stuff like that just never happens to a random kid from Strenra. but then I was like but then we're all made of the same stuff do you know what I mean me and you and I and everyone else it's like doesn't matter where you're from your background your upbringing what you have what you don't have I was like like I say the passion overweighs it all and I just live it and breathe it and I think just positive thoughts of what I wanted and the way I wanted to ride my bike was and the videos I wanted to do was just it was all I had in my head and I just kept working there was no other route out of it like that was it What do you think that is?

40:00Like you know we've interviewed G Atherton and other Red Bull athletes who clearly have less regard for risk and fear than say I would. Yeah. I feel like, I don't know, because I don't know what, it's so hard to find out what it is. I'd love to know what it is. But you don't have any. Yeah. No, I am. I am scared to do stuff, but I just like, no need to do it. I said I'm going to do it. So I'm going to need to do it now. And it's just like, literally sometimes I just hit a switch. I'm like, oh, here I go. I just need to like do stuff. So yeah, but yeah, believe in it. So believe in yourself. But I feel like seeing how good my brother was, he was like the best rider ever.

40:36And then he broke his ankle real bad and then didn't really get back into it. And then he did. And then he crashed the game, broke his collarbone. And then that was enough just to put him off it. Whereas some people get broken really bad and can't get back up and crack on. Or some people get broke off and it's not for them. They'll go and do something else. And I've seen that a lot, not just with my brother, but a few, I've seen a lot of riders like that and a lot of people come and go. So I feel like it takes a different breed to be able to, not that you don't care about your body, but just get back up and crack on with some stuff if you can.

41:09That's it. And it's just about, I don't know, the buzz that I get of getting away with something where I nearly die or I actually land something and I'm like, I cannot believe that I just landed that. I'm never doing that again. It's like, that's what I chase. And I feel like that's probably what it is. How dialed in are you when you do these big tricks? So, you know, you hit a ramp with stuff in mind, obviously. Firstly, how do you know where you are with it in the air? I just like, I see these things on like the X Games and stuff. And I'm just like, how on earth does that bloke know how many times he's spun around in the air?

41:46I feel like it's honestly all I've ever done since I was a kid. So it's like, I feel like sometimes like touch wood, I'm like a cat. Like spatial awareness in the air is like really good to think. I can jump off my bike upside down and I can see where I'm going to land and I'll just tuck in a ball and land on my feet and run away. A lot of the time I get away with it. I've actually done some stunt man work on Tomb Raider. A lot of people don't know this but I was like a stunt double for Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. For her? Yeah, for her. I was dressed as her hair and makeup. I was in there for hours getting on my tattoos covered.

42:19The Alicia Vikander version? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm in that and I get hit by the car. She gets hit by the car. That's me that gets hit by the car. but they brought me in on that but like I say like my spatial awareness I feel like I am a stuntman because it's like I've just been crashing all my life since I was 10 so I've been crashing for like 23 years and it's just like you're so used to it so you just know where you are and it's like that's why you can go and get yeah I could go and get hit by a car five times or like whatever else so have you spent much time in hospital? no touch more wood again you've not?

42:49nah like I was about to say it could have been quite nice bed, meals nah yeah should have done it back in the day when I was homeless. Yeah, no, like I've been super lucky when injuries like all I've done is broken my ankle, broke my toes, broke my thumb. Broken your toe? Yeah, well my big toe. That sounds alright, doesn't it? It wasn't, it was actually kind of grim that one and it took ages. How have you broken your toe by that? You're wearing shoes and stuff. Well I was wearing shoes, yeah, but I think it was like the bar end of the bike, like I jumped off on like a flip and then all the weight on the bar end just went straight onto it and it was just like, and then I took my sock off that night.

43:26The thing was massive and completely, completely black. There's nothing you can do to just tape them. But I've done that. I broke my ankle. It's almost hard to like, to fully understand. So you trailblaze new tricks that have never been done before. Like you pull off stunts and tricks that you're surprised that you land and you've not spent time in hospital or anything and you've broken your toe. Well, yeah. Toe, ankle, ribs, cartilage in my knee and ligaments. But that is lucky. That's not a lot at all. It sounds lucky considering what you put yourself through. Yeah, considering it's been a long, long career.

44:03So compared to like some of my friends are like broken back, necks, femurs, like abs. I've seen some horrendous stuff happen in front of me. And I was like, I'm so like, I don't know what I'd do in that situation. What's the hardest trick that you've ever pulled off in terms of like the ability, the difficulty to replicate it? Probably not even a trick really. It was just a whole thing. It was the floating skate park. Like it was swinging like a pendulum. So you're riding that and it was like riding as if you were like drunk or something. It was like horrendous. Like that's the closest thing I could put it to.

44:38It was like riding as if you're like drunk because like you hit the other side. Not that I know what that's like, but you like hit the other side and the thing was like, you need to compensate, you need to pull back or if not, you're going to case it. and it's just like I was getting motion sickness I had to take motion sickness tablets so to even do tricks on that alone that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do that's why you're wearing the parachute because if you get up and it moves yeah then it moves a little bit then I'm going and you're at two and a half thousand feet you said so you've got to pull straight away yeah and you've not got an accelerator free fall license you say no I've got nothing I haven't even done I've done one skydive in Dubai and it was a tandem so if I went over the side the guy that gave me the parachute was like yeah mate he's like it's designed to save your life but not your legs he's like and I was like nice one but it takes 10 seconds to deploy because it goes off automatically at a certain speed but you don't have 10 seconds you've got at two and a half thousand feet you've got like two, three seconds yeah because 10 seconds you fall a thousand feet and I was like oh my god so but I was like I could also pull it so I'm not going to wait around that's one thing I was scared about was like scared in case I pulled the ripcord while I was riding on the bike and then I got sucked out because it went off so obviously you would prefer to be riding without a heavy chute on your back they for legal reasons and for your safety need you to wear it like what is that what is that conversation like can you take us into how that was yeah it was pretty gnarly because my rebel manager I was like I didn't want to he was like you need to ride with a parachute on but I was like people are going to think that I'm going to jump out of it so I kind of didn't want to ride with it on but he was like we're not letting you in there without it because obviously if you go out the side and you don't have one, then it's going to suck for everyone involved.

46:21Well, I think it's certain death. Yeah, it would be. So yeah, I was like, well, because as well, it really restricted my riding. And one of these videos, I want to be riding at my best capabilities, really, and pushing the boundaries. Whereas with that on, it was so hard to do anything. It was just someone pulling you the whole time. So I kind of really didn't want it on, but I obviously had to have it on for obvious reasons. And to be fair, if I did go over I'd be so glad that I had it because if not you're just thinking what an idiot why didn't I take the shit but yeah so but like these things are like they were calculated they don't let me do anything that's like too risky although these things are when you come up with a crazy idea it goes to Red Bull they risk assess it and then it comes back to you signed off or what's the process can you override any of it or can you say listen I feel comfortable with it we're good to go yeah pretty much like as long as I'm comfortable with anything I really want to do as long as it's well it's all dangerous isn't it you could die doing it but yeah whereas yeah but we honestly we calculate these things down to like the finest like little thing so as all although it looks wild obviously it is but it's so calculated and there's a reason why we wear the hats because we are like in the day it's our job to get these things right and they're just believing in us that we're going to do it they believe a lot in us as athletes to make these dreams turn into reality but yeah everything's everything gets signed off, everything, the risk assessment, all that stuff.

47:48I don't need to deal with any of that. Thank God. But yeah, and then, yeah, just do it. And just recently, you are, just to top off the interview, you jumped a speeding Formula One Red Bull car. Yeah. Who was driving that? How did that come about? Obviously, you came up with it, but, you know, was there any concern that you might take the bloke's head off? Yeah, like, this is another one that I sketched up and it was just random. I actually had this, like two years ago this idea and then then they were like do you want to do it this year I was like yeah 100 % so yeah I was like to be honest I thought this was going to be super easy I always think they're going to be easy and not scary but um yeah sure enough I never thought about timings timings had to be perfect and I had to my reaction time when I hear that beep go off as I was going like a beep which is like six second beep but the car triggers my beeps and the car is so loud it's the loudest car they've got and it's screaming up the tracks I'm listening to these six beeps and then my reaction time had to be with 0.2 of a second every time, which is like, supposing there's only a small part of the population that have a reaction speed like that.

48:53I never thought that was my name, especially everything I've done. But yeah, it turns out I was on the money with it, which is interesting because I didn't think I was going to be able to do it. But I managed to do it, but I swear that's been the scariest project I've done yet. Like to have that car screaming towards you. And the cool thing was as well, it was David Coulthard that was driving it. and he's actually from the same Dumfries and Galloway where I'm originally from, like that same part. His mum's from Stranra, which is where I was brought up. So me and him were talking about that. And he's a nice guy, proper nice guy.

49:22So it was cool to do something. Yeah, I've always wanted to do something to do with Scotland and especially me and him are both from there. So it's like just super nice to do that. But I was worried for him as well. And he says it was like driving a car towards someone and especially into the ramp is like, it shouldn't be done. and you feel like you're just going to, like it's not going to work because obviously he's coming and I hit that ramp, but the car's so far away. You just need to trust that the speed's going to go under. But mentally, I never jump over anything moving. So it's just, you're trying to trust these timings.

49:52I remember like everyone at Red Bull, my managers and I were like, you need to trust that this is going to work. But I was like, it doesn't look like it's going to work. Whoever's done the math. But I was like, it just doesn't look like it's going to work. The maths did math in the end. Yeah, it did. Just had to trust it. And literally, I knew there was only two outcomes of that it was either going to be a serious serious serious bad one that I probably wouldn't have got well wouldn't have got from so you're literally jumping like long before the car is there yeah and then knowing that hoping that I'm going to clear it and hoping that my timings are the same as they've always been imagine if it wasn't right and the car just plowed into you and then like you wake up in hospital the bloke who did the math yeah yeah you're getting it you'd be angry you're getting it but but that's why they're the best team and like I see these things are so calculated but I was never so happy to land on the other side and just like a pedal and just threw my bike I was like this is why I do it like sometimes you forget why you do it because just before you do these things there's a horrible feeling but it's kind of nice but it's not kind of is but it's like why am I doing this and then it's like but then when you land it it's just that's why you do it and that's why I'm going to continue to do these things Congratulations brother thanks for coming in Legend thanks for having me Spot on Legend thanks mate Thanks so much for listening.

51:05We hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you want to hear more incredible conversations with extraordinary people to help unlock the potential within all of us, then please subscribe, follow and review the show wherever you're listening or watching. Thanks again. We'll catch you next week right here on Untapped.

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