[WLF] PRO-Files: Chris Riesner - 04
RIDER: CHRIS RIESNER
RESIDENCE: SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA
GARAGE: 2016 KTM 250XC // 2014 KTM 350EXC
RIDING TYPE: ENDURO - OFF-ROAD - DUALSPORT
CHRIS RIESNER // RIDING HISTORY:
I grew up in a small town at the base of the Sierra Nevadas surrounded by farmland. When me and my neighborhood buddies were really young we’d go mudding in our go karts and build up bike jumps in the orchards. After outgrowing the go karts and getting a taste for a moto on my friends Honda xr100, my parents came through on my birthday . They tricked me saying that we were going to go pick up the old farm trail 90 that was having work done. When we got there a xr80 with with my name on the little hanging tag was there waiting for me. I couldn’t believe it.
The red pig that started it all
After hammering on that bike for a few years I saved up money from working on the farm and bought a cr80. I got into TT flat track racing with my long time riding buddy T.Haas. Later I ended up buying his ktm125sx and did some desert riding for a bit but at some point I ended up getting into FMX. My buddy Matt from school got ahold of an old metal ramp and we built a massive landing on the side of his parents walnut orchard. We had a really good crew that all lived within riding distance of Matt’s house. We would ride every weekend and started building a bunch of crazy ramps on each of their properties. I remember one setup used a dog house as the main structure with a combination of plywood and dirt for the transition, it was pretty sketchy.
got out of moto’s early in high school right around the time that brands like SRH started to blow up. I stopped playing organized sports like soccer and baseball and started spending all my time riding BMX bikes. It was many years of riding skateparks and trails all over the West Coast and even some cross country trips with my buddy Waylon’s company Compound BMX(now Sanctuary BMX). I got a job working at Woodward West over the summers and all that continued up until the end of college when I went on a solo cross country trip in my pickup truck with self-converted camper.
While visiting my cousin in Chicago I ruptured my spleen doing a transfer hip at the slippery skatepark. With multiple weeks in trauma care both in Chicago and California it was months of pain where I basically had to sit up (not even lay down to sleep) and if I moved or even laughed there would be consequences of tremendous pain in my chest.
It was a strange two years preceding that where I went through something of an identity crisis not having BMX to fulfill me like it always had. I explored all kinds of different things like sewing custom hats, woodworking, making/playing banjo and guitar, whittling spoons, hiking and camping.
Trama care. Cross country road trip ender
While visiting my cousin in Chicago I ruptured my spleen doing a transfer hip at the slippery skatepark. With multiple weeks in trauma care both in Chicago and California it was months of pain where I basically had to sit up (not even lay down to sleep) and if I moved or even laughed there would be consequences of tremendous pain in my chest.
It was a strange two years preceding that where I went through something of an identity crisis not having BMX to fulfill me like it always had. I explored all kinds of different things like sewing custom hats, woodworking, making/playing banjo and guitar, whittling spoons, hiking and camping.
It was after a continuous push to get a moto from my good buddy Dirty Mike (who’s really into building choppers) that I got a plated XR600R. I ran that thing all over the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Sur and Sierras carrying my camp gear, banjo, fishing pole ect all on the little rack. I was really enjoying the freedom of cruising dirt roads and going wherever I wanted, seeing a lot of land that was new to me. Slowly I started going on moto trips with my buddies who had 250’s and after a year or two of enduring the crazy arm pump of riding that big hog on single track I ended up getting a ktm 350EXC.
PRESENT & FUTURE:
All last fall, winter, and spring I was camping out and riding that 350EXC at all the different OHV’s within a 3-6 hour radius of Santa Cruz. In spring I got out of my comfort zone a bit and road a few enduro races for the first time. Enduro racing has been an awesome experience because it’s such a non straightforward format with what they call time keeping. I love how much strategy there is to learn. I’d look up info on the internet and not really find anything but then go to the races a day early and get an abundant of knowledge from all the vet guys. It’s truly a test of your endurance and I’m looking forward to trying out some more come rain season!
I also just made a new bike purchase. After a ton of research, trying buddies bikes and talking to other riders on instagram/forums I decided to pull the trigger on a ktm 250xc. It was a really tough decision between the 200 and the 250 but other than that I knew I wanted to get on a two smoker this year. They’re so light, nimble, reliable and just have something about them that puts a smile on my face thinking about flowing through single track on em. So I’ll be dialing that bike in, getting the van and camp kits ready and anxiously waiting for the rain!
In the months to come I plan on getting out some new runs of product for my companyTrail Bound co. Continuing to document our crews travels and putting more time into making videos and informational content. Balancing the weekends of riding I would like to keep learning and experimenting with woodworking and doing larger furniture pieces, instruments and sculptures inspired by the places and feelings I get from riding and exploring.
RIDING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
I’m not really apart of any traditional clubs or orgs other than being apart of AMA D36 for enduro racing and maybe some random clubs that required membership fee’s to ride a race or dual sport ride. With Trail Bound co I’m mainly just getting the boys together for weekend camp trips but have been noticing that my riding buddies have expanded quite a bit through the @Trailboundco and other awesome instagram pages like @WLFenduro and @california_dual_sport_riders. In the future I might try to put on an organized Trail Bound woods ride if there’s any interest, we’ll see!
[WLF]
MESSAGE FROM THE TEAM:
'Treesner' and his crew have been an inspiration & support to the entire WLF community. Chris blends style & natural moto-skills seamlessly. Trail Bound co has always been about the positive vibes of the outdoors and offers a very cool platform to check out like-minded people. It's been great getting to know Riesner and even cooler ripping the trails with him. Make sure you follow this guy. That's if you can keep up.
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