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BMX- the ride of my life

By George Hill

Cuts and grazes covered my arms; I stood up after being flung from my bike for the second time trying this one backflip. More and more stones and small bits of glass stuck into my flesh every time I fell. I knew I had to land it now, if I didn’t then the fear of crashing may put me off forever. As I rose I looked at my mate Matty (who was witnessing my crashes and cringing at every attempt) and simply told him: “Third time lucky, right?” Of course, with my luck, I should’ve known this wasn’t going to be the case and as I started to flip for the third time, was quickly launched from my BMX again. At this point I was tempted to quit but decided against it and rose to my feet. I quickly picked my bike up from the ground, checked it over to make sure nothing had broken on impact and started my run up to the ramp again. As I approached the lip and started to rotate, I noticed that the speed of the spin felt perfect. Not too fast but not too slow. Before I knew it I had landed and the cheers from those around surrounded me. That end result is just one reason why bicycle motocross, also known as BMX, is probably the most important factor in my life (after family and friends of course…) and has many more reasons for being so. One of the things about BMX that many others and myself have come to love is the thriving community that surrounds it. If you’ve ever been to any competition involving BMX like ‘Nass Festival’ you’ll understand exactly where I’m coming from. There’s the constant cheering from the crowd as riders perform their tricks in style. Then there’s the excitement that everyone is experiencing as they wait for the winners to be announced. However, what I like most about the BMX community is that everyone has each others’ backs. As a BMX rider myself, I feel confident that if I travelled to a skatepark that I’d never been to before and knew no one there I could probably still get along with just about any rider that I encountered.   Just the other day in fact, I was riding through my town with a mate and when we arrived at a stair-set that we wanted to ride. As we got there though, we saw that more BMX riders were already using the spot. We ended up speaking to them and actually rode with them for the rest of the day, it was a good day and now we ride with them quite a lot. Moving on, BMX is one of the most creative sports I’ve ever witnessed. Riders are constantly coming up with new ways to tackle the obstacles (stair sets, rails etc.) that they stumble upon. Often, obstacles like walls are even used to perform feats. Even the way that a rider joins tricks together leads to creative and unique variations in lines. There are endless possibilities of things to try on a bike, which in a way, leads to endless amounts of fun. BMX also gives you an extremely high feeling of satisfaction and achievement when you land a new trick. Especially when you’re beginning, you’ll feel extremely happy with your progression because it’s (like most things) easier to improve as a new rider which means the amount of tricks you’ll learn will be greater. Progression is key in BMX and a great factor as to why people stick with it. Not only does BMX give you something to do in your spare time, it also has some massive health benefits. Like any type of bike riding, BMX improves your cardiovascular fitness, which will improve your oxygen intake and reduce risks of heart disease. It also improves strength by giving you a full-body workout from pedalling and doing tricks as well as burning an insane amount of calories (on average 500 calories burned every hour.) It builds confidence and gives the rider a sense of community but most importantly, it’s fun. You get the sense of being able to do whatever you please when riding and facing your fears just adds to the thrill of it. I personally feel like no matter what age you are, you should get yourself a bike and go out to the local skatepark and just give it a go. By doing this, you’ll find out why it is more than just a hobby to some and more of a lifestyle. The video below is from my youtube channel so please feel free to watch it and subscribe if you like the content, thanks. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCsiVJ5mZ88[/embed]  

  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life
  • BMX- the ride of my life