Local level BMX. Where did every top BMX freestyle rider or BMX racer come from? Well besides just popping off of a little curb and seeing what it was like to catch a “little air”, most of us went out and dug up some little dirt jumps in an abandoned field. The 21st century version of this is a new phenomenom called a pump track.
It’s my opinion and yes I know what opinions are like (feel free to talk that up in the forums…), that it’s the duty of us older riders with connections to get out there and start selling the idea of small, medium or large pump – free ride tracks to local townships. These do not need to be sanctioned as there are many examples of these already in existence all over the country and world. I’ll be going into detail on ways that we should begin to go about this in other diatribes on the site later on but I figured planting the seed early on in the genesis of this place was the best thing to do. These facilites are great not only for BMX riders but can be sold as good, safe places to ride mountain bikes as well. We all know how EVERYONE has one of those now. Let’s face it America is seriously hurting for places for people to get up off the ol buttocks and get out and ride. A nice free flowing pump track designed correctly can be good fun for an absolute beginner and when done right, can be challenging for even top riders. (AA Pro Jason Richardson has a kick ass pump track in his yard, landscaped and everything)
You can also say if we want to find new riders to get Olympic Gold on this:
We need to start building places for them to start out on. Let’s face it, your typical new school BMX racing track is too intimidating for an absolute newb to BMX. 5’+ tall jumps, paved asphalt turns… Get some experience on a local pump free ride track, learn to handle the bike, then off to a race track or freestyle park, either way, we pull people over to BMX.
Who’s with me on this? Head into the forums and let’s try to hammer it out!
NJBMX.com “Home Of The BMX Generation”
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