Chris Brown ciclista: una carriera tra successi musicali e passioni per le biciclette
Chris Brown dovrà pagare 12,9 milioni di dollari all'ex donna delle pulizie Maria Avila, rimasta gravemente ferita nel 2020 dopo l'aggressione del cane da guardia del cantante nella sua villa a Tarzana, Los Angeles. Il tribunale ha riconosciuto anche 885 mila dollari alla sorella della vittima per danni emotivi e 50mila al marito. Brown ha ammesso la negligenza: l'animale era libero e lui lasciò la proprietà prima dell'arrivo dei soccorsi, per evitare i media. Secondo quanto emerso nel procedimento, la donna stava lavorando nella proprietà dell'artista quando è stata attaccata dall'animale, addestrato per difendere il giardino della villa. Brown ha sostenuto di aver avvertito la donna del rischio legato alla presenza del cane. Allo stesso tempo, però, ha ammesso la propria negligenza: l'animale restava libero nella proprietà e il cantante non aspettò l'arrivo dei soccorsi dopo l'aggressione.
Chris Brown resta uno degli artisti R&B di maggior successo negli Stati Uniti. Esploso nel 2005, a soli 16 anni, con il singolo Run It!, ha costruito una carriera discografica imponente: dodici album pubblicati, otto dei quali diventati dischi di platino. Accanto ai successi musicali, però, la figura di Chris Brown è da anni associata anche a numerosi problemi con la giustizia. Il caso più noto resta quello del 2009, quando il cantante fu arrestato per aver aggredito l'allora fidanzata Rihanna. Nel 2014 Brown violò i termini della libertà vigilata e fu incarcerato per quattro mesi.
For those curious about how to get into the bike industry, it always begins like this: get a starter position sweeping floors at a bike shop. Well it ain’t just sweeping floors. Rather, it’s tire changes. Chris Brown was one of those guys. In high school, he began working for a local shop in Jacksonville, Florida, and aside from looking after customers on the sales floor, he was charged with that menial task of changing flat tires. “Boy, I remember how hard it was to change those things, and how much they just wore out your thumbs,” Brown recalls with a laugh. While the bike shop is just a steppingstone job for bike enthusiasts, "Thumbs” drove his passion for bikes into a career. Brown went from shop rat to sponsored athlete, and now sits as one of the most senior managers at Litespeed-a brand he’s always had a reverence for.
Ironically, Brown’s plans as a young college racer weren’t building a career with the most advanced titanium bike maker in the world. Rather, as with many young cyclists, the dream was to race pro. And he was good. While studying at UNC-Asheville, Brown attacked the inviting trails around Brevard and the Blueridge Parkway. He started the cycling club there and fed the stoke for riding. “I got a road bike for cross training, and we had Mount Mitchell there,” he says, “but with all the trails here, I got into a good mountain bike racing series. He also turned out results, with elite class cross country wins, taking second to then top pro talent Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski at one race. He was getting the vibe that maybe going pro and hitting the NORBA pro series might be his future. “I was honestly thinking that it might be my career path,” he says. “ But so many of the NORBA races were at altitude in places like Colorado, and altitude just kicked my butt.”
In the late 1990s, Brown pivoted to the regional road crit scene, joining the Southeast regional Cane Creek/BMW/Litespeed road team, and hit the local industrial park circuit aboard a Litespeed road bike. It was his introduction a brand that he-like many-pined for. “I mean, Litespeed even back then was the pinnacle of titanium bikes,” Brown said. The relationship also afforded him the chance to engage with the Litespeed design team. Brown met Litespeed lead engineer Brad DeVaney (who still runs the department at Litespeed today) and engaged with him with feedback on ride quality and handling. “In the late ‘90s I worked with Brad on headtube angle and wheelbase tweaks on the Tanasi mountain bike. It was cool to be able to provide feedback they could use,” Brown recalls.
The Litespeed team took notice. In 2000, Brown was offered an entry level customer service position at Litespeed. It was music to his ears. “I knew making a career as a pro mountain biker was gonna be a long shot,” Brown says. Brown cut his teeth, at the same time keeping his riding volume high, with lunch rides and the occasional after-work ride to keep his legs sharp for the weekend crits. As the years passed, he move into inside sales, and had input in every aspect of Litespeed’s business, from events to design to working with magazine editors to marketing. “Peter looked to me to take on a higher role, and five years ago he moved me into the same manager position. Today, his decades of experience as an elite mountain bike, road and now gravel racer (he placed 2nd at Unbound Gravel in 2019) allows him to relate to customers when explaining the capabilities of any of Litespeed’s models. He occasionally gets out (or jumps on Zwift) with Cary, his wife of 21 years and a former collegiate basketball player at UNC Asheville, and many weekends now are spent with their two kids, age eight and four. “I still enjoy riding and doing my lunch rides, but the weekends are about the kids,” Brown says. “We’re not pushing them into biking, but there are great smaller-level trails around here in Chattanooga, and they enjoy mountain biking. Twenty years later, it’s not lost on him how much he’s seen as the brand he once lusted after is one he keeps in his stead. “I love that I can try to inspire riders to experience the bikes as I’ve experienced them over the years,” Brown says. “We have so many new customers, but also a lot of repeat customers with two or three Litespeeds, coming back for a new gravel bike, or upgrading to a model with disc brakes. “Cycling has been a large part of my life, but I never thought I would become a sales manager with the biggest brand in titanium, with one of the most multi-faceted bike companies in the industry,” he adds. Be careful what you wish for.
| Anno | Evento | Dettaglio |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Esplosione musicale | Run It! debutto |
| 2009 | Problemi legali | Aggressione a Rihanna |
| 2014 | Libertà vigilata | Incarcerazione di quattro mesi |
| 2020 | Incidente cane | $12,9M a Maria Avila |
Be careful what you wish for.