BMX - The Toughest Cycling Sport

BMX Racing:BMX was the most popular way for teenagers to
A typical BMX race consists of a starting gate inimitate motocross champions. The founder of BMX is
which 8 riders or less line up and wait for a cadencecalled Scot Breithaupt w(the "OM" of BMX) while the
to sound. Both well known federations, the ABA andmotorcycle racing documentary "On Any Sunday" is
NBL have similar cadences with Christmas Tree lightswidely accepted and credited for inspiring the whole
off to the side for riders to time their starts. The tracksmovement nationally. Although the sport spread very
usually start out with a sprint to the first obstacle whichquickly, it wasn't until the middle of the decade that the
is typically a jump or series of jumps all the way to thebike constructors started producing real BMX -
first turn. The jumps themselves can be step up, steporiented bikes. Another very important person that
downs, table tops, doubles, triples, or worse. The firstneeds to be mentioned here is Bob Haro; he is the
turn is usally dirt, sometimes paved blacktop whichperson who merged BMX and skateboarding tricks
adds a different dimension. The rest of the tracktogether and without him the whole scheme wouldn't
layout is usually made of jumps, a rythym section andhave advanced so far.
a small sprint to the finish line. Typically races last aboutBMX Participation:
50 seconds and are extremely grueling on the body. AThere is a class for everyone in BMX racing. From 5
combination of power, endurance, agility, andyrs old to 60+, both girls and boys. No one sits on the
intelligence make up the complete racer. The top Pro'sbench in BMX!
in the sport are typically some of the best conditionedBMX Injury:
athletes in the world.Being an extreme sport that BMX is, it's almost
BMX Origins:impossible to get involved without getting hurt.
Starting from California (United States) in the late 60's,