It all started with a wheelie.
1986 was a glorious year for BMX. The movie Rad came out. I saw tricks in this movie that blew my mind. I was going into 7th grade and I could do a wheelie and an endo (hit the brake and go up on the front wheel). This movie inspired me to take my BMX riding to a whole new level.
If you don’t know about BMX freestyle, let me share the main types of BMX freestyle with you. Check out this link for more detail – BMX freestyle trick riding:
- Vert – riders are doing tricks in the air on a ramp that shoots them vertically. They go up and back down the same ramp.
- Air – riders do tricks in the air after jumping off ramps that launch them more horizontally. Air can be on ramps made of dirt, wood, concrete, etc.
- Street – riders to tricks on any object you find in everyday urban settings (curbs, benches, buildings, handrails, ledges, cars, etc.). Riders jump on and off these items with various maneuvers, spins and grinds.
- Park – riders are doing tricks in a pre-built “skatepark”. These skateparks are often built to help riders learn experience all styles of BMX. It is also nice because riders normally do not get kicked out of a skatepark. 🙂
- Flatland – Riders are doing tricks while essentially keeping the bike on the ground.
I love and appreciate all types of BMX freestyle. The style of riding I do is Flatland. Three things that make flatland riding interesting for me are:
- Surface – Just like it sounds, a flatlander just needs a bike and a flat surface.
- Balance – Riding a bike requires balance. Adding any type of freestyle to bike riding requires a more balance. Almost every flatland trick requires a higher degree of balance.
- Injuries – It is rare to get really hurt in flatland. Common injuries are scrapes from tires and pedals, and bruises from being hit by the bike. I have broken fingers a few times, and a rib. Otherwise, it’s pretty safe. About 90% of my wrecks end up with me standing and my bike hitting the ground and grinding to a halt.
Seven life lessons from Flatland
I bet you can find areas in your life where you can relate to these. Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to pick up a bike and do a trick. 🙂
- Use Haven’t vs. Can’t – All of the tricks I can do now, I couldn’t do before. There are many tricks I have not done yet. Telling myself “I haven’t done a trick” paints a different picture than “I can’t do that trick”.
- Practice doesn’t make perfect – Flatland is a sport that takes a lot of practice. Practice certainly makes you better, but perfect is rarely our goal. Practice does take:
- Time – Some tricks took me over a year to learn, and many tricks I am still learning. There are tricks I can do almost every time, and others I pull about every tenth try. I have watched the best riders in the world fall doing basic tricks.
- Technique – I have spent a lot of time practicing, but with the wrong technique – “bad practice”. Then I must relearn the trick with the right technique.
- Temperament – Some tricks frustrate me, and get in my head. I know what I need to do, but the problem is doing it. Practice is as much mental as it is physical.
- Progress beats perfection – In BMX, progression is taking yourself further than you have ever been. While perfection is an end, progression is about continual growth. When I learn something new and progress, the bloody shins and frustrating moments were all worth it.
- Impossible is improbable – Over 20 years ago, in a parking garage in KC, a friend and I were working on a trick for a few hours. I remember he and I deciding that the angle of the bike made the trick impossible, so we stopped. Fast forward to a few years ago, I saw a guy do the exact trick we were trying 20 years ago. I smiled. Nothing is impossible!
- Some things are unpredictable – I have had break cables break, tires pop, and pedals break off while I was doing tricks. Everything I did was right. There was no way to predict what was going to happen. We must adapt, make corrections, and move on.
- Balance is crucial – For a trick to work, my body and the bike need to be aligned.
- Health helps – I ride best when I have eaten right, prepared my mind and body, and had plenty of rest.
Here is a link to my YouTube channel where I have clips of some me doing some tricks.
Comment – what life lessons do you learn from your hobby?