There are over 370 BMX tracks in the United States and probably no two alike.  For the eight riders that wheel their bikes into the starting gate of any given race, they’re about to experience the thrill of a 900 to 1,300 foot dirt roller coaster that has been meticulously groomed to put a rider to the test in less than a minute.  From the starting gate riders head down the starting hill that will be high enough to generate enough speed to get things going and from there many tracks will incorporate everything from straights littered with obstacles, banked turns, to the classic double hill jump, and a whole slew of hills and bumps that will keep a rider plotting the fastest way through.  The sport of cycling offers a variety of disciplines and it’s easy to focus in on where you dabble.  So it’s interesting to me to step outside road biking or even mountain biking and open my eyes to this discipline known as BMX that is reaching all ages while validating itself to the world on the Olympic stage.

BMX FAMILY

Here’s where we introduce you to Roy Choate, a father of four who is re-entering the realm of BMX racing along with his family.  When Roy was ten years old, he was taken to a BMX race in Utah and his interest was piqued.  He started prying money from his dad in exchange for cleaning the family diner after hours and soon was banking it on a DYNO BMX from a shop known as Blue Lakes Cyclery in Twin Falls, Idaho.  The shop later became his sponsor and he began to ride on makeshift tracks constructed locally to train for distant races in other towns.  The interesting aspect of BMX racing is that it has become a family oriented sport.  It is not uncommon to see parents and their children participating on race day.  Roy has three of his kids racing with his wife providing proper team support and shuttling kids to the starting gate so they don’t miss any races.  Even though Roy hasn’t raced in many years, he is entered as an intermediate racer because that’s where he left off when he was young and apparently you don’t move down in points and rankings in this sport.  Roy is planning for races in Idaho in Caldwell, Eagle, Mountain Home, and Idaho Falls and eventually getting a sanctioned track going in Twin Falls so his family can race locally.

We know Roy pretty well around the plant here at Purely Custom as a supervisor in the building of our Fit Bikes and a few other departments and many of the locals know him as a certified bicycle mechanic at Cycle Therapy here in town.  Roy loves being around bikes, working on bikes, and riding bikes so when he told me that we were going to be outfitting his bike with some sponsorship decals and accessories I wasn’t about to let him roll out of here without grabbing some pictures and the opportunity to learn more about BMX.

I SORTA  KINDA HAD A BMX BIKE

I’ve always loved bikes, I’ve had great times creating lifetime memories and lifetime scars.  One story my family shares involves our childhood neighborhood being all abuzz about what appeared to be a crime spree.  All the bikes in our neighborhood had come up missing, people were concerned, and my three year old mind struggled to understand what was happening.  I don’t think I understood the idea of theft, I also did not understand that I was the culprit.  Sheepishly, I interrupted a heated circle of mothers ready to bring in the authorities with some insider information on the location of said “stolen” bicycles.  You see we lived on a nice gradual hill and I soon discovered that by sitting on the chain guard and reaching up to the base of the high-rise handlebars I could coast down the hill.  Not knowing how to use the brakes, there was a convenient hedge at the bottom of the hill that would work perfectly as a brake.  The process:  find a bike, coast down the hill, cruise across the lawn, crash into the hedge, ditch the bike, and head up the hill for another ride.  Shortly thereafter, my parents bought me my own bike!  I share this story because like many of you, it illustrates our love of bikes.  It also starts my life of having just about every type of bicycle made, including a meager representation of a BMX style bike.  I was sharing with Roy about building my own dirt bike tracks equipped with banked corners and dirt jumps.  It made me also recount my older brother who thought it was funny to loosen the nuts on your front wheel so it would fly off when you tried to maximize your air.  I guess that taught me to checkout my bike before every ride.  The BMX bikes we rode paled in comparison to the designs and durability that today’s bikes encompass.  We bent rims, broke frames and never imagined that someday this sort of thing might become an Olympic event.

HISTORY

According to the USA Cycling Introduction to BMX Coaching manual, the first organized race was called “pedal-cross” and soon adapted their modern infrastructure out of motorcycle motocross.  According to www.usabmx.com, in 1973 the first BMX national series and summer tour kicked off.  As this new sport was born, it was given the name Bicycle Motocross until the name was pretty much shortened to BMX.  Through the help of pioneers like Ernie Alexander, the founder of the National Bicycle Association (NBA) and George Esser the founder of the National Bicycle League (NBL) the sport was coming into structure.  Over the years, there were sanction wars that kept the athletes taking sides.  In March 1997, the National Bicycle League became a member of USA Cycling, Inc., America’s National Cycling Governing body who is recognized by the UCI, the IOC, as the National Governing Body (NGB) for American BMX Cyclists.  Since then, for the last two decades, Americans have had only to two choices for racing BMX, the American Bicycle association (ABA) and/or the National Bicycle League (NBL).  The two have finally joined the USA BMX which serves as the sole sanctioning body, coordinating scheduling and managing the U.S. Olympic BMX trials.

HALL OF FAME

“In February of this year, the sport of BMX lost a true legend, and it’s safe to say that no BMXer has ever reached the recognition, fame and notoriety that Dave Mirra has,” said USA BMX in their announcement.  Each year, only one rider per category is inducted into the BMX Hall of fame, but USA BMX extended an automatic induction to Mirra who died in February at age 41.  “Mirra truly became a household name, and put our great sport in a limelight never before achieved,” continued USA BMX, “Although his is a life that was ended too short, there is no doubt that Dave’s accomplishments and contributions to BMX, and his legacy, will live on.”

BMX RACES

BMX races are quick sprint races that are usually 30 to 45 seconds in time and the track itself can range from 900-1200 feet in length.  According to the USA Cycling Introduction to BMX Coaching, each BMX track will hold a maximum of eight riders per race; a race can consist of multiple heat races (motos) and qualifiers until they get down to the fastest in each group.  The tracks range in difficulty with big and small jumps, double or triple jumps, rhythm sections, step or step down jumps, and jumps ranging from 10 to 40 feet in distance.  The corners or turns are called berms and are usually 90 to 180 degrees.

The highest level of BMX racing is called the Elite class with male & female athletes 19 and over in age.  The UCI Supercross World Cup is the premier series with events designed exclusively for the elite class.  For Roy and his family, racing BMX is just plain fun and something the whole family can participate in.  Roy claims to have sold his mountain bike to invest in more BMX bikes for the kids and although trophies are rewarding, BMX has a program called the USA BMX Saver Stamp Program that offers riders an alternative which can help subsidize their racing efforts that can be redeemed at participating Xchange centers.

ABOUT ROY’S BIKE

Because Roy is part of the team at Purely Custom and Cycle Therapy, we wanted to make sure we equipped his ride properly with our extensive bicycle accessories capabilities.  Starting with the handlebars you’ll find custom engraved ODI rings and end caps.

Roy has a custom headset cap with his own motivational message.

Purely Custom created all the sponsorship decals to fit all the appropriate places

and of course we even placed a pair of anodized aluminum valve stem caps.

Roy has since added some colorful chain ring bolts and his bike is looking sweet, these additional accessories just take it to the next level.

Purely Custom offers plenty of ideas for accessorizing your bicycle whether it’s a BMX, mountain bike or even a road cycle.  We’ve been into cycling for a while and that has caused us to keep coming up with new ways to accessorize a bike.  Be sure to utilize some of our custom engraving that we can create on headset caps, handlebar end caps, spacer rings and just about anything that has room for a message.  Get creative, personalize your ride, and be prepared to field questions about where you got those cool accessories.