Sarfraz Manzoor

Sunday, August 10, 2008

BMX Bandit

It’s a sunny afternoon in Peckham, south London, and I am about to step on to a BMX bike for the first time in 25 years. This is the first year that BMX will feature as an Olympic sport. It’s too late for me to compete in Beijing, but I could be in the running for London in 2012. CK Flash runs Peckham BMX club, the No 1 club in the country, and as an Olympic scout coach, CK is looking for fresh talent. He is in luck. I hop on to my BMX, called Bronx, and ride gingerly for a few minutes before careering into the kerb. “I think I’m a little rusty,” I say. “Do you think I need kneepads?” “Not for the speed you’re going at,” says CK.

The track in Peckham is 120m long and with its ramps, slopes and table tops it is fiendishly technical. Olympic BMX riding, though, is not judged on being able to do fancy tricks - it’s all about speed. There are no points for death-defying jumps. In fact the lower you jump, the faster you go. Professional BMX riders typically spend three hours a day in the gym working on their leg muscles, followed by another three hours on the BMX track, where they focus on their riding technique.

I push forward, standing on the pedals as the bike bounces along the first three jumps. Then I slam on the brakes. “You don’t really expect me to go down that do you?” I say pointing at a steep incline that doesn’t so much slope as plunge with suicidal relish. “Just stand up on your bike and roll down,” he says. Six times I reach the slope and each time I balk. CK is getting frustrated, I am getting frustrated, the photographer who wants a shot of me not looking hopeless is getting frustrated.

To make matters worse I am joined by members of Peckham BMX club. The kids - and I have T-shirts older than some of them - fly past me in a blur of fearlessness. As they hurtle around the track I slowly master the slope. I roll down with my feet on the ground, then with one foot on the pedal and finally while standing and with both feet on the pedals.

It’s time to see what I have learned. CK has the stopwatch and as he nods I start pushing on the pedals. I’m over the first bumps, rolling down the slope, standing as I ride. I reach the bottom and pedal hard towards the steep ramp. The bike begins to slide but I push harder and heave myself towards the table-top, rolling down the other side before pedalling furiously to the finish. My shirt is dripping in sweat and I have a crushing pain in my lower back, but I did it. “In 32.6 seconds,” says CK smiling. My overwhelming jubilation is dampened slightly when five-year-old Callum completes the same track in 18.2 seconds. CK tells me that Olympic contenders would clock a time of around seven seconds. At 37, it’s possible my best BMX years may not be ahead of me and I tell CK that, despite my evident potential, I will not be pursuing it as an Olympic ambition. He tries not to look disappointed.

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