ROTTERDAM BMX riders ready for Olympic stage BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Ross Wooding still recalls the first time he bolted out of TriCity’s hydraulic starting gate on his BMX bicycle. He was 7 years old and racing toward his first jump at the course off Burdeck Street when something went wrong. “I just kind of launched off of it and flipped over,” he said last week, overlooking the fateful hill. “So I got up and did it again.” More than a decade later, Wooding is riding his BMX at TriCity. But today, the 17-yearold Delanson resident has his sights on more than just a hill in Rotterdam. Wooding is vying for top billing among expert 17- to 24-year-old BMX riders across the Northeast. He’s also among a contingent of riders from around the Capital Region hoping to reinvigorate BMX racing in New York as the fast and furious sport gets its first shot at the Olympics. BMX racing will debut next year as a medal event during the Summer Olympics in Beijing and will be sanctioned under Union Cycliste Internationale, a professional cycling union that oversees competitive bicycling. The races will also take a prime-time spot during the NBC broadcast of the games, appearing at 10 p.m. on the East Coast and 7 p.m. on the West Coast. “NBC really believes BMX is one of the upcoming things. This is not going to be something like synchronized swimming shown for a couple of minutes around midnight,” Johan Lindstrom, the technical delegate for Union Cycliste Internationale, told the Edmonton Journal at a qualifying event in Canada this month. “There will be 18 cameras. Everyone is going to be blown away by the production next year.” And for BMX racing at TriCity, one of only four tracks in the state, the exposure couldn’t come at a better time. After several years of decline, TriCity Director Bill Bentley said there appears to be a recent spike of interest among children and teens. “I think more and more kids are going to start getting involved,” he said. STRAIGHTFORWARD SPORT The name BMX is short for bicycle motocross, a sport developed in the late 1960s in California. The bicycles have lean, low-riding frames and wheels that are generally 20 inches in diameter. BMX races aren’t timed, and the first person across the finish line wins. Racers are separated by age, skill level and by the type of bicycles they ride; a slightly larger 24-inch wheel is used in a subclass called “cruisers.” TriCity’s season runs from the start of May until October. But when riders get involved with regional and national competitions, racing can last all year long, Bentley explained. “Depending on where you want to go or how far you want to travel, you can race 12 months out of the year,” he said. Nights at TriCity are akin to a regular motocross competition without the buzz-saw sound of revving motorcycle engines. Instead, the sound of classic rock cuts the evening calm as the racers — ranging from 5 to 50 years old — take test runs on the 1,320-foot course. Bentley posts the racing modals — groups of racers — around 7 p.m., and the racers make a slow migration to the starting gate, a rectangular slab of steel attached to a hydraulic arm and mounted on a steep hill. The bikers lean their front wheels against the gate and await a set of recorded commands from the track’s PA system. “OK riders, set ’em up,” the speakers blare. “Riders ready; watch the gate.” Then with a loud hiss, the gate thumps down, thrusting up to eight furiously pedalling riders down a hill and up the first of many dirt slopes along the course. There’s an element of chaos in the first seconds of the race, when each rider seems precariously close to colliding with others. But as the pack approaches the fi rst of five turns — steep and paved embankments — the more aggressive riders usually pull ahead. By about halfway through the course, the race comes down to a pair of riders, with no points for second place; even before the first-place rider can finish, another modal is already darting onto the course. WELL-EARNED SCARS BMX racing has its fair share of injuries. Spills are somewhat common, as are broken arms and collar bones. Riders wear chest protectors, gloves and helmets, along with thin uniforms. The padding seems like little protection given that some riders get close to 30 mph. The riders themselves are a pretty tough breed, their arms and legs marked with scars, and some describe their racing accidents with a sense of pride. “Basically, you have to pay attention and be at your best,” said Nick Simon, who watched his season melt away last year after breaking his collarbone during a spill on TriCity’s second hill. “You have to ride to your ability; otherwise, you get in trouble.” Simon, of Johnstown, is now shooting for top-five billing in the nation in the 16-year-old expert class. Like Bentley, Simon has seen BMX racing decline since getting involved as a youngster 10 years ago. “But now, I think it’s back on its way up,” he said. Wooding, who races one class above Simon, also foresees an upward trend in the sport. He’s hopeful that the interest in BMX racing that has swept the south and west coast will become contagious in the Capital Region as the Olympics approach. “It’s a great sport,” he said. “You can take it as hard as you want.” Ryan Nilsen, 23, of Amsterdam, wouldn’t mind if BMX racing stays a low-key sport. After contending to be the top 17-year-old rider in the nation several years ago, he still rides religiously at TriCity. “It just keeps me sane,” he said. With more exposure, he’s anxious that the sport could turn more mainstream and oriented toward professional riders. He said the benefit of BMX racing today is that anyone with a helmet and bike can give it a go, much like when the sport was first created. “After all, BMX [racing] was kind of started by a bunch of kids in ripped-up jeans riding their bikes,” he said.
Good for them! I have never been there, as I never had the need. There have been times when I have driven by and it is packed. I'm glad we have something like that for the kids.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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