I was the kid who took apart his birthday presents just to see how they worked. Why did they make it like that? What else could it do? I was endlessly curious, and before long I was building my own creations. The process of refining a design until every detail felt right fascinated me. So when mountain biking became my obsession as a teenager, it was only natural that those two passions merged.

It took years before I was in a position to build my first bike frame, but that didn't stop me filling notebooks with sketches, ideas and designs. By chance, I ended up working in a bike shop alongside a frame builder who one day announced he was selling all of his equipment. I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time I was starting my own bike shop, so frame building remained a spare-time pursuit, quietly evolving over the next decade.

Today, that "spare-time" hobby has become the focus of my life. Driven by an obsession with refinement, I've spent the last few years developing a purpose-built bikepacking frame. That design has carried me to multiple podium finishes, including the Silk Road Mountain Race, and with every ride it edges closer to what I consider the perfect bike. Once that journey reaches its conclusion, I look forward to turning my attention to the many other bikes that still exist only in my head.