Keelan Phillips Profile

 
 
 
 
 
Discipline: Pro BMX Freestyle / Flatland / Bicycle Ballet
Twitter: @keelanphillips
Website: keelanphillips.com & stylebicycle.com

 
 

Keelan started riding BMX in primary school when he was given a ‘hand me down’ from his brother. His dad taught a kid who raced at his school and Keelan started to go down with him to the track and race.

At 10, Keelan got his first proper bike and slowly began to drift away from racing into the world of street BMX.

With his cousin, he started to ride stair-sets, jump walls and grind rails. Slowly, Keelan started to ride less street and more flatland. He says: ‘I just preferred flatland as its more creative and each rider’s different. You can invent different tricks, whereas other BMX styles are about who could do more of something or go bigger at something.’

At the time, Keelan used to ride with five or six other guys every day. However, with age came distraction and his friends started to ride less and less. At the time, Keelan and his cousin had been riding for years, but when they met other riders they became fast friends (and still are).

In the group they began to really push each other, riding all weekend and every night after school and college. One by one though, they slowly fell by the wayside.

But his cousin still keeps it up a little and is well-respected on the local scene as a good rider. But, for Keelan, it was different: ‘I just didn’t want to do anything else, I had girlfriends and got into cars but still my riding was first, I just wanted to invent new tricks and make my mark.’

In 2003, Keelan won his first group ‘B’ contest and moved up into the pro class. The following year, he won his first UK pro contest. In 2006, he reached the pinnacle of the sport by winning his first international pro event in France.

There, he surprised the entire field by taking first in the semis and again in the final, all in the face of very strong competition from the top guys in the world.

From there, Keelan has gone from strength to strength taking victory in a multitude of international and national competitions from Hungary to USA, and placing highly in just about any and every competition he enters.

But for Keelan, it’s about more than just winning competitions. He has invented over 10 moves! He’s also busting out the old ones with huge style and grunt. One of his signature moves is the ‘no-handed nose wheelie’. ‘It’s nothing like what’s been done before’, and adding, ‘and then I did it with one foot too.’

Keelan takes his riding very seriously. When off his bike, he trains hard with free weights to keep up his fitness and strength.

Keelan now performs all over the world at all different kinds of events for the biggest clients, and also runs his team of top BMX riders ‘Style Bicycle‘ who he performs and organises events with.

 
 
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