Build Your Dream – From Road to Rad with Chris Burkard

If your friends are all riding road, shake their heads, and tell you they like their shins unblemished and their tyres skinny, then show them this video. Photographer Chris Burkard has gone from road and endurance riding to a seriously rad back yard set up in no time at all. There’s hope for us all (especially those with large gardens).

‘Chris Burkard’s passion for surfing led him down a path to become one of the most iconic sports, nature and outdoor photographers in the world. After extensive long distance endurance adventures like the 950 km/590mile The Westfjords way through Iceland, Chris came home to where it all started to create his own jump trails in his backyard, bringing his local riding community back together, sharing the great moments, building his dream.‘

“I was on the road, riding 300 miles a day, doing ultra-distance distance races. It was a funny transition
because I don’t think I’ve never fallen in love with something so quickly.”

Chris Burkard

Have you learnt to jump ‘later in life’? Do you think you need to have dabbled in it as a young and bouncy person to have any chance of getting rad? Is easy access to a nice big dusty dirt jump set up the key to getting enough practice time in? Or are you quite happy with your wheels on the ground, thank you very much?

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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