Leo’s BMX BD bash
I’m catching up on a few posts I’ve had in mind recently one of which is Leo’s birthday bash at the new BMX track in Burgess Park. I have tried a bit of BMX but not for years now. The last time I had a go was on the old track at Bird in Bush Rd in 2007 and that was an open day where we all took our mountainbikes. I have owned a 20″ BMX at various times but never got into the racing side of it. I did have the option of bringing my own mountainbike but decided that you should really ride a BMX for this kind of thing. Also the full suspension probably wouldn’t have been great for it.
My first thoughts on getting there were to be entirely intimidated by the sheer size of it. It’s big, really big! There’s a couple of lines for the pros that are even bigger. Did I mention it’s big? Standing at the top was nerve wracking, even though I’m pretty confident on rocky trails this seemed like it would hurt more if you came off.
I’d managed to find my full face helmet and set of DX flat shoes for the event. Both were covered in dust from the days where I owned a big 8″ travel DH bike. This was a wise choice as the helmets that were hired all stank and could hear collective coughs and splutters as each person put their lid on and smelt the stench within.
We all got given a bike from the store and a brief instruction on how to ride. Outside pedal down, elbows out and soaking up the bumps. I was hoping for one of the 24″ cruisers but they’d all been handed out by the time I was in line. I had a neat little Haro 20″ which was still good fun. Memories of how steep the head angle and how twitchy the steering is came flooding back.
We were supervised on the first lap as we edged our way around. After the first few without anyone crashing we were left to it and even given controls to the gate which was amazing. The last time I rode I completely mucked up my starts but this time I managed to track stand against the gate and push some proper force out when it dropped. A lot more cycling experience since the last go seems to have helped.
One of the nicest things about the track was the way that the straight sections were all dirt but the corners were all tarmac which reduced the feeling of washing out and I guess also means it holds up far better to abuse. The corners typically get rutted and skidded up.
Dropping in to the second corner was incredible fun with a small lip so you could push into it then scoot round the tarmac setting yourself up for the next straight. After a while we all got the hang of it and groups of similar abilities seemed to form with little races going on.
It was a hot day and having to wear long sleeves was a real pain. I only had an old hoodie so was overheating each time I went round. The course was far more tiring that you might imagine at first but I wanted to keep going and going and going. There were plenty of breaks to have a chat with people but usually not for long as there was always someone else standing at the gate looking for another rider.
After a few normal races we started mixing it up with no pedalling laps which is very hard to do. It’s a great way to improve your technique as one bad move, missed pump or grab on the brakes ruins your chances of finishing. The other one which I preferred was only pedalling on the tarmac, this also had the nice benefit of letting you concentrate over the straights and not thinking about pedalling.
I had a go on the 24″ cruisers and found them far nicer to ride as they felt like they rolled far better and were far less twitchy. At £300 for one it’s tempting to get one and pop down after work occasionally. It’s probably not a sensible idea though. The chances for smashing myself up look to be considerably greater with a little bike.
By the end of the session I was completely exhausted. I think we had around three hours there. The next morning I was so sore. My stomach, shoulders, lower back, glutes and upper arms were all sore from using different muscle groups to my usual cycling types of road and mountainbike. All that pumping and standing up on a smaller bike really took its toll. Still it was a great day out and great to do something different to the usual Surrey Hills ride or road ride round Kent.
Anyway, Happy Birthday Leo!
