Bruntwood Park BMX Track - Get Involved

Yesterday I popped along to my local park in Cheadle to check on the progress of a project to re-build a derelict BMX track back up to a serious standard. I've ridden this bit of gravel loads of times and was going to be taking the girls there in the summer ( especially after Immy enjoyed the Strider Sessions at the British Cycling Track ), but it has certainly seen much better days.

It was a low key affair with a very keen council representative selling the idea to the locals and a rather impressive representative from North West Mountain Bikes, none-other than Rick 'Ricky Bobby' Clarkson ( him of Steve Peat's mechanic fame ). There was even a random appearance by Syndicate rider ( and local hero ) Josh 'Ratboy' Bryceland , who gave the plans his (unofficial) approval. To be honest the support from the local riders was rather thin on the ground, but big things grow from small starts and hopefully as word spreads the riders will come out of the woodwork ( and those chaps at NWMTB are perfectly placed to get people involved )

So what is planned? Well from the drawings it looks pretty impressive, a proper race ready BMX track, with plenty of whoops, bumps, berms and whippy tops. I'm a little concerned that due to those lovely Local Government cuts there is no money for a warden, but if built correctly it should be relatively easy to keep clean and tidy ( and hopefully the local skids will realise it is better to have a track which you can ride, rather than something you trash because you haven't got the latest XBox game )

This is before:

And this is what is proposed:

Whilst I am not the biggest BMX race fan, two wheels is still two wheels and look at how much fun this track could be!

So I signed up to be a volunteer. Not sure what that means yet ( and the organising team/person doesn't yet either! ), but I am one of the many guilty bikers out there who have ridden trails all over the UK and not spent enough time building/maintaining them.

Oh and if it does go ahead then I think I can justify another bike?

NB: It was raining/snowing so used Polaroin for the images....just 'cos they look like token retro shots.The originals and some panoramics are up on my Flickr.

I should have bought a BMX

Ok, I admit it, I have never owned a BMX. Even with a starring role in ET and whilst my school chum Simon had an awesome Silver Mongoose, I was still riding a trusty Grifter. Then, what seemed like years later, my other school chum, Tim, got a Puch Mountain Bike ( one of the first in the UK and yes made by the company who make those little moped things ) and any interest I had in BMXs went out the window.

The Mighty Raleigh Grifter

From the Grifter, I followed Tim ( yes, one of the original 'Tims'), into the world of Mountain bikes with a Peugeot 'Safari' and then through a succession of Marin's, British Eagles, Treks and other stuff. I used them to ride the trails along with commuting 10 miles to work ( remember when one bike did it all? ). I never really missed not having a BMX.

The Marin Hawk Hill - My first bike with Front Suspension

Many years later I started work at Afour ( which became Sole Technology UK ) and I was once again exposed to the world of BMX with the brand Etnies. But even with being involved in the UK premier of the mighty 'Grounded' BMX film ( as a side note this introduced me to the Black Keys, so I will always be grateful for that ), I stuck to Mountain Bikes, whilst Etnies, at the time, focused on it's skateboarding portfolio.

Grounded -find it on some download site?

Roll on a few years and I found myself a couple of weeks back at Manchester BMX track riding for the first time a small wheeled beast. Yes I am now 35. This I now realise was far too late. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but instead of hanging around New Deal Skates trying to be good at skateboarding through osmosis, I reckon I would have been better off learning to jump a BMX. Call it heresy, but I have never been that good on four wheels.

So why write about this now when clearly I am all about two wheeled action these days? Well last night on my little Blackberry screen I watched this video.


  Just check out the entry at the 2min mark. THAT IS INSANE!
Now I am not saying that I would ever have been able to ride like this, but I might at least have been able to learn how to bunny hop properly without SPDs!

So what can I do? I'm never going to be able to jump a big like these guys but with Sprog No.1 now riding her first pedal bike and Sprog No.2 not that far behind, I am going to make ruddy sure that both of them spend some time on BMXs....

....now I wonder if I can buy a Grifter on eBay?