Because I LoveEvery Kind of Bike

I got this from the GABA newsletter, and I want everyone to read this. Thanks. This is one of those things that drives me nuts. Go to any park in this town after school hours and tell me what you see. Empty ball fields. Then go to one of the many locations where kids are known to BMX and skate and you know what packed. Go to the Santa Rita park after school and that skate park is slama jama. We want kids to get off the coach, stop writing their name all over everything, and be healthier, yet we make it difficult to do so if we do not provide the space for it to happen. And then kids go out and they get tickets for exercising and they become "bad". That's right BMXing is exercising just in a different way that is not watching the tv on a tread mill and since it is different we say oh it's bad. Duh!!!

BMX Struggles For A Home In Tucson

By Mike Hines

Currently in Tucson, Arizona there are no safe, legal places to ride BMX freestyle.

For the past year myself and others have been organizing the large BMX community

in the Old Pueblo to speak up and do something about it. In

January of 2009 I found out that the new skate park in Santa

Rita park,

at 22nd and 3rd Ave., would not be opening its gates to

BMX riders. I felt hurt, and was shocked to find out that a

bicycle friendly community like ours would not be catering

to a common user group of such facilities. I quickly started

contacting Parks and Rec about the decision, only to discover

that they were in the dark about BMX freestyle and had no

idea that BMX even rode skate parks. Being involved in

the sport for almost 20 years now, I was naive to think that

everyone knew what our sport entailed.

BMX freestyle has completely transitioned and adapted to the

urban environment since the 70’s, often imitating and using

the same ground as skateboarders. As skateboarding rose

from an outlaw youth activity, to mainstream TV, and a sport

for the whole family, BMX has always been left a few steps

behind. With the popularity of the X-games and the Olympics,

BMX has grown leaps and bounds, I can’t drive down the

street today without seeing someone hopping on and off the

sidewalk on a BMX bike. When I started riding in the late 80’s

and early 90’s there were only a handful of us and it seemed

that everyone knew each other. Now I’m lucky if I don’t

see a new face when I go to some of the local riding spots.

Unfortunately, all those local spots are illegal to ride.

The majority of riders today are riding drainage ditches infested with broken glass,

nails, and sometimes an angry bum. We travel all over town riding on public and

private property hoping to find something worth a quick session, and in the mean time

avoid security guards, police, or angry business owners. We’ve been known to seek

out abandoned houses with empty swimming

pools in the backyard, hoping to emulate the

million dollar skate parks that we are often

arrested, or ticketed for using. But, the most

important meeting we try to avoid, is the

meeting between us and a speeding vehicle.

In May of 2007, just two days away from his

15th birthday, BMX rider and beloved son,

Kory Laos was hit and killed by a motorist on

Speedway Blvd. Kory’s parents, family, and

friends were devastated, along with the local

BMX community. The Laos family is working

hard to honor their son by building a BMX

park in his name. The land has been donated, the county has approved the naming,

and approved the need for such a facility. However, there are no funds for the project

and every year it gets pushed back. The Laos family and

I have proposed a temporary dirt facility that will cost

close to nothing, where riders of all ages can practice their

tricks in a safe environment, but it has been stalled in risk

management. It seems to me that around every corner I turn

the city of Tucson and Pima county have back pedaled on

BMX. I think they have concerns of us being a liability at the

FIVE local skate parks in town, worried that we may collide

with one another, or a skateboarder. I feel that it is more of

a liability to have us on the streets avoiding traffic, getting

arrested, chased, threatened, and treated like outlaws

when all we are really trying to do is have fun, get exercise,

and for some of us bring an Olympic gold medal home to

Tucson. I also feel that the city has confused the freestyle

aspect with the racing aspect of our sport. The two couldn’t

be more different, other than the fact that they are on

similar bikes. But, would you consider mountain biking and

cycling the same? What about volleyball and basketball?

Volleyball and basketball can be played on the same court

legally, why can’t BMX and skateboarding do the same in

skate parks? Maybe sharing is the wrong message to send

to our youth. It’s hard not to get somewhat jaded from this

whole experience, when we’ve been to multiple city council

meetings, met with the assistant city manager, the director

of Parks and Rec, county officials, only to be still in the

same position we were in when we first started.

I think there is a common misconception about what facilities are needed, or would be

appropriate for BMX. We can do small projects in parks and communities all over the

city. Some can cost little to no money. Majority of the riders like riding urban plaza-style

areas that have small benches, ledges, stairs, and rails. Some of these “plaza parks”

are being built all over the northwest for skaters and BMX riders. Communities are

figuring out that they can build small areas for both sports that cost around 10-20,000

dollars. They take up about the same area of a basketball court or two and often look

like a nice area to sit and relax (if there weren’t skaters and BMXer’s zooming in every

direction). BMX can also use empty lots and build “dirt jumps” to ride on. The riders

themselves keep up the area, and build to their skill levels. We don’t need a 2 million

dollar facility to keep the BMX riders safe. We just need designated areas, simple

solutions, and open minds.

I’d like to reach out to the whole cycling community, in hopes that with enough support

from others, BMX will have a safe and legal place to ride in Tucson.

Resources: clickedbmx.com / bmxriders.org