Speed Date

For someone with four successive World Stunt Riding and European Stunt Riding Championships,freestyle biker Chris Pfeiffer is surprisingly free of airs,when it comes to preparing for a performance in the searing heat. A few hours prior to his 20-minute solo routine at the DLF Place ,Saket,Pfeiffer is engrossed in assembling his bikes — a modified BMW F 800 R and a Trial bike — and assessing the surface quality of the performance arena. The 40-degree daytime temperature does not distract him,as he coolly dismantles the wooden boxes in which his bikes have been flown in from Naples ,Italy . “I am with my babies now,the heat is not relevant. Besides I have performed in Saudi Arabia earlier under worse conditions,” he smiles,dressed in a white jacket and baseball cap. Pfeiffer is on a week-long tour in India,performing in five-cities,being hosted by Red Bull. “I am surprised there is such a large fan base for my work here. I have never received so much adulation from a place I have never performed at before,” he says.

A biking prodigy,Pfeiffer’s love for bikes began when he was five when his father gifted him a Trial bike. At 40,the passion stills shows. “My father was a passionate biker and I would insist on riding with him. Soon I took control of the bikes and started trial biking near our home,” says Pfeiffer,who hails from the tiny picturesque village of Halblech,near Munich in Germany. As a biker in the 80s,Pfeiffer soon became proficient in trial biking but quickly turned his attention to freestyle biking,where improvisation is the key to becoming a distinguished performer. “I videotaped performances of French freestyler Jean Pierre Goy as a teenager and practiced his moves. In the beginning it was difficult but after a few falls I learnt,” says Pfeiffer,whose career was almost cut short by a severe injury in 1999,when he was attempting a Guinness World record,for the longest Bunny Hop with 33 people. Although he achieved the record,he was bed-ridden with a crushed right hand and knee cap. “An injury can break you or push you forward,” he says. For him,thankfully,it was the latter and Pfeiffer went on to win successive stunt riding championships.

Known for stunts like Jump to High Chair (where he jumps from the seat to the fuel tank while in motion) and the trademark No Hands Wheelie Circle,where he stands on the bike while riding on one wheel without touching the handle bars,Pfeiffer swears by safety gears. “Standing on the bike without holding on to anything,was super difficult. It took me a year to perfect,but I have seen too many injuries to ignore safety rules,” he explains. At most shows he performs his usual set of tricks with tweaks in the sequence. “I want to show my best tricks and try pushing myself to the limit to get the adrenaline pumping. I attempt improvisations even during shows and like ending with a full body flip over the handle bar (where he somersaults over the handle bars and the bike comes to a halt) to conclude the show,” he smiles.