Saturday May 31st - New Rider Clinic

Thanks to all of you who came out and braved the winds and soft track conditions to get your first full swig of BMX Brew.

Also, thanks to the volunteers -- who helped prep our track, which had been swamped the night before by a formidable shower which moved through the Franklin area -- as well as those of you who helped run the clinic.

Track Operator and greeter extrordinaire, John Mittelstadt, introduces the instruction crew and provides some basic overview of the sport of BMX.




Bryan Dickerson (with beard) explains the many benefits of additional safety gear. Though only a helmet, long pants and long sleeve shirt are required by the ABA, Dickerson also wears elbow pads and a chest protector, and, at 40 something, can still hang with and beat a bunch of the kids half his age.

Tim Eiring demonstrates the proper technique to roll over obstacles, using his arms and legs like the big shock absorbers on a monster truck while keeping his upper body relaxed and his head still and level.


The young lady in the image above asked me a couple of times if I've ever crashed my BMX bike. "Sure" I told her, but not so much lately. She told me that she had crashed twice in the day of the new rider clinic. That's pretty good I told her, and offered a high five. I remember a friends dad who tried to take up the sport as an adult back in the late 80's and he used to pretty routinely crash twice every lap. But, he stuck with it for a couple of years and had a lot of fun racing despite those early frustrations. Stick with it, kiddo, and you'll be riding clean fast laps in no time flat.


This young guy was one of a couple of "spinners" ... the classic 16" BMX bike seems to be geared so that parents can keep up to kids at a walking pace. That easy gear is a bit of an enemy at a BMX track, however, where a little more speed actually helps the kids get over obstacles. Not to mention, the amount of revolutions these little guys make just to get around the track must be comparable to a stage in the Tour de France. Since each rider rode about 20 laps each, I'm guessing these little grommets slept well on Saturday night.


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UPCOMING EVENTS:
Practice - Thursday Night - June 5th
First Race - Saturday - June 7th