Too hot, too old, too slow, two-seventy?

The riding progresses at a glacial pace. Granted, it's hard to find time to ride and the dirtpark needs a lot of work done to maintain it and keep it in form. Actual 'real' yardwork takes precedence though. Somebody has to ride the mower, man the trimmer, start up the pool, clean up the dog crap. The problem is that that somebody is me. And I'm also the dirtpark maintenance crew.

But the real problem is the 360s. 360s are just, uh, like, uh, argh.

I'm working on the them a lot lately and they are coming along slowly. I can tap/pivot a 270 around but that is not what I want to accomplish. I want to land both tires at full 360 degrees. This past weekend, I kept at it, but the 3's are just not there yet. Although, it was ridiculously hot and I think I had the beginnings of heat stroke. Other than being old, slow, and overheated, I'm not sure what the problem is. I think I maybe just need to go higher? Tuck the back up more? Keep my head turned? Dunno. Sometimes I tap the rear brakes to help spin, but this just makes me land on the rear tire and pivot out. If I don't grab the brake and really tuck up, the bike comes around, but I lose my centre of rotation and start to go sideways. Any advice on 360s would be really welcome.

My bro came by and shot a few pics with his DSLR. He used to ride a lot of BMX back in the day as well. Here he is catching some air off our old 8' quarter pipe that we set up in front of our old house in Barrhaven when we were kids. So, that means that this was taken back in the mid-to-late eighties. Notice the Redline RL-20 II in Radberry. I used to have a RL-20 in Radberry. I think at one point, we were the only two kids in Ottawa with Radberry bikes. Anyway, the ramp disassembled into 3 pieces and had to be put away back into the garage after every use. It even had wheels on the back so we could roll it down to the park. Well, until the Bylaw officers would show up that is...



So, with my bro wasting some flash card space I tried to get some practice in. I had the camcorder going and I even managed to land this little 180 fly-out to fakie roll down thingy. It was fun.

Frontside:


Backside:


Here's another crappy video edit. It's nothing special, but at least this one is short. (I have also made a promise to myself to not film anything again until I actually learn a new trick.)

Dirtpark 2000 from slamigo on Vimeo.

Good times in the dirt park!

This is a hard feeling for me to describe. Everyone who rides a BMX knows that feeling of just hanging out and riding with your buddies, that feeling of wasting time, of goofing off, everybody just trying to either work on reaching a personal goal or maybe just pull something that will impress your buds. You're outside, you're young, the sun is shining, and nobody has anything on their minds except what they might try to do next as they wait ther turn to hit the jump. Now imagine fast forwarding 20 years into the future and enjoying that space of time with your kids.

My boys are 5 and 7 years old and it's a lot of fun to hang out and ride with them. The boys are just out there living in the moment, riding and having a good time. Progress doesn't always come easily though. Sometimes you fall. Sometimes you're nervous. As I keep at it I realize that it really is hard work. And I see the boys starting to try these things. They are working hard.



But we are all enjoying some sense of accomplishment. My 5 year old rode the dirt bowl for the first time. My 7 year old can actually catch a few inches of air. To be at this point in my life that I can ride with my kids is really, really cool.

Still working on getting the walls packed down harder so I can start getting higher out of the bowl. Since there isn't any vert, if you go any higher you hang up your rear tire.



I remembered that I used to be able to do can-cans. Here is a fuzzy memory of what those were like. I realize it is a bad representation, but hey, it's progress and I'll take it.



Here's another little video of the riding from the dirtpark. It won't be super exciting to anyone but it's just an awesome feeling to share riding with my kids.

Good times in the dirt park from slamigo on Vimeo.

Baby steps

The weather has been brutal. Rainy and cold and it's making life at the dirtbowl miserable. In what can only be described as a tiny window of opportunity of no-rain, I decided to try out a jump that I had never before attempted: the no-footer. I think that it is an important trick that you need to learn in order to progress.

So, on my 39th birthday, I got out the bike and tried a few. The first time I tried it, I slipped a pedal and went over the bars and rolled down the side of the jump into the poison ivy. I now have an icthy plumber's crack. Great. But I managed to land some and they really aren't that hard. My no-footers are not pretty, or high, or stylish. Yet. Right now they are actually just terrible.



But I can land them. I found them to be a neat little trick. I like them. I was really tempted to try them higher but I decided to just do baby steps. I want to get used to finding my pedals and developing some 'muscle memory' before going higher.

The no-footer is a cornerstone trick. You need to be able to do them without thinking if you want to be able to do the really cool tricks. Like tailspins or supermans. I tried a couple of whips but the bike doesn't come around quick enough. Oh well, baby steps...



Here's some of the craptacular action. Don't mess with the dirtbowl guard dog. Any sudden movements could set him off.

Baby steps in the dirtpark from slamigo on Vimeo.