Ride Like A Girl

Monday, February 3, 2014

02.02.14 & 02.03.14 Drop in Action Sports Complex

On Super Bowl Sunday Ryan and I were itching to get on our bikes so we loaded the car and headed south to go ride a skatepark I have never been to before. I have heard nothing but good things about this facility and I was lucky enough while visiting West Palm Beach area to stop by. Erma Miller met the owner at an event a few years ago and helped her get this dream into a reality. This project began in 2001 with a women named Cindi Shendell and a goal to provide a safe place for teens who need an activity area for action sports like skate boarding, biking and in line skating and where they could find community and like minded to share time with.

Cindi Shendell is the President and founder of DROP IN ACTION SPORTS COMPLEX Project. With an extensive background in sports and coaching, she has developed and pursued this creative idea to give youth the opportunity to have a different and unique park, were they can interact, share new experiences while pursuing action sports in a safe and supervised venues. We plan to establish community collaboration to help the youth build leadership skills and strong values. Cindi's first goal is to give back to the community in an "out of the box" innovative and positive way building an inclusive skate/bike complex.

We spent most of the time on the pumptrack and on the outside skatepark area. The staff quickly got the track ready to ride and we rode for most of the afternoon after a pretty crazy rain storm that just rolled thru the area. This red clay pump track was drying quickly and was ready in no time.

To be honest there was no where else I would have rather been on a Super Bowl Sunday then shredding on my bike with my team mate Ryan "The Hawk" Fitzpatrick. Check out some videos of us riding the box jump and the pump track.

From there we headed over to Abaoco Skatepark to get some more riding in for the day. We showed up a little late so we only got in about an hour of riding, This concrete park is a lot of fun with a small section and a decent box jump.

Ryan is a local at this park so as soon as we strapped our full face helmets he was out on the park just shredding. We started on the small size and then worked our way over to the box jump and more of the advanced side of the park. I had a blast riding with Ryan for the day! We got to ride 2 parks and even a pump track.

Just before leaving Drop in Action Sports Complex I was able to speak with the owner Cindi Shendell and heard about how the facility got started and some of her background and passion for action sports. Cindi is one of the people in the sport who is in it for the right reason, she gives a safe, fun place for kids to ride bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, and scooters. She likes to focus on education and understands the more people are taught they further they go within the sport. She then invited me to come out to the facility and coach some of their local kids. I made the flyer above and headed back. Cindi was nice enough to let me set up the Kid Dynamite tent and I worked with kids who came to the park on Monday 2/3/14.

I had about a dozen kids come out to the park to work with. We went over the basics on how to check your bike and safety equipment then we talked about fundamentals of riding how to bunny hop and control your bike better. We worked on the flat skatepark area first then I brought them over to the pump track for them to work on their skills.

Cool thing about the clinic was the staff all listened and observed my coaching so they could pass it on once I leave. I even had one staff member film my coaching so he could share it with the staff. Education is really important on keeping kids safe at a place like this. Kids will try things fearless and can get hurt, but with a little instruction they can understand how to get thru the park safe.

The clinic was over and I rode with the kids for a while, thankfully the light from the soccer field were on so the park had light for the pump track. On Monday's the skatepark is open to bikers from 6 till close. So we got to ride in the park and Ryan and I worked on airing out of quarters and jumping the spine. It is cool to see a kid so talented on the track share the same skills at the skatepark.

Check out more details about the Drop in Action Sport Complex.
http://www.dropinactionsportscomplex.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drop-In-Action-Sports-Complex/342118765844398

Friday, January 31, 2014

01.28.14 #BMXinSchool Samsula Academy

I was fortunate enough to stay with a pretty amazing family this week that allowed me to do a second presentation while I was over the in the Daytona Beach area. The Meurlot family welcomed me with open arms to stay at their home while I was on the East Coast of Florida. When their kids Weston and Dawson heard I was going to talk at Wadsworth Elementary school they asked their teacher if I could come in and talk to their classes.

The school was happy to hear that they could have a speaker come in and talk with the students. When Dawson approached his teacher he said I have a professional BMX rider staying at my house and I want to bring her to school tomorrow! He was so excited and the teacher had seen his energy level and wanted to get more information. After speaking with Dawson's parents they set it all up while I was doing my presentation on Monday. On Tuesday when I came into the school the Vice Principal Gail Conrad was there to greet me and escort me to the cafeteria where the kids were sitting patiently waiting for me. I thanked her for allowing me to come to talk to her students and she said "anytime I can get an athlete especially a women to talk to students I am all for it". She has a passion for keeping kids active and healthy. I then met coach Sue Carignan who was a beach volleyball athlete and was siked to meet me, we talked about the struggles you have to go through to get to that pro level. It was great hearing her stories about trying to find a perfect partner for beach volleyball I never knew all the dynamics of that sport compared to regular volleyball.

I started my talk with a brief introduction about who I am and how I got started into BMX racing. Since these sessions were a little shorter then the previous day I had to keep my energy up and talk a little faster to get it all in.

First thing I always make sure to talk about is why it is so important to wear a helmet when riding your bike. I took the pad out of the inside of my helmet so the kids could see the foam and I taught them how to inspect their helmets to make sure it is always safe to protect your head if you were to fall. Biggest thing I see with kids who wear helmets is that they don't fit especially the half shell helmets. I explained the importance of a helmet that fits properly and how to adjust the straps.

I was then able to show them my G Form pads and Novik gloves, the kids were pumped they were able to touch all the safety equipment I brought in to show them. Good thing about having kid size hands is some kids actually fit into my gloves.

The next thing I went on to explain was all the parts on my bike. This came in handy later when I was giving out goodies I asked the kids questions about my bike to see if they were listening. The kids went home with a signed post card of me, and some Dan's Comp and Kid Dynamite stickers.

In detail I described how the bike works, showed them how the gears and how to properly use the breaks. Some kids have coaster breaks at home so I would show them my hand break but also explain how the coaster break works with their pedals.

I asked kids by a show of hands how many of them had a bike at home. It was encouraging that the show of raised hands were high even with the younger kindergarten classes. I loved to see most kids own a bike now, when I grew up I knew a lot of my friends didn't have bikes and I am excited that times changed. This makes it easier to invite them to the track when their parents don't need to go out and buy a bike right away. I was very impressed that most kids knew the word BMX and what it stood for.

Teaching kids balance is really important, I explained how riding with your weight on your feet allows you to control your bike a lot easier. I showed them how you can ride with minimal weight on your bars and could still maneuver your bike easily. I demonstrated how they could use their bike bike like a strider to get used to balance before they tried to pedal. I asked the kids to remove their training wheels and work on this at home. Since it was such a beautiful day I asked the kids to go home and ride their bikes and use the tools I taught them.

I caught myself several times smiling ear to ear just feeling so thankful to be standing in front of the next generation and sharing the sport that means the most to me. I have had friends get started in this sport because 1 person came into their life made a difference and motivated them towards BMX. I would be so pumped to see more kids on bikes and at the local tracks instead of just riding hte streets. BMX bikes are sold in most major retailers and online so it is easy to get your friends, family and neighbors involved into this sport.

When the Kindergarten class came in I asked if any of them have never ridden a bike before and with a show of hands I choose this little guy. He was super pumped to be able to wear my helmet and in just a few laps he was able to ride across the stage with his feet up and was balancing all thanks to the strider bike. He already had great coordination and he followed directions very well so he was a very quick learner.

Since my visit to this school would not have been possible without the help of Dawson Meurlot I brought him up on stage and asked him some questions. He told his peers what BMX meant to him, how long he has been racing and places it has taken him. I look forward to Dawson taking my spot on this stage someday this kid just strives to be a Pro.I am looking forward to working with Dawson on some of his 2014 goals to get him where he needs to be on the path of success.

I then went into talking about goals and what kids wanted to be what they got older and it was really inspiring to hear girls saying they wanted to be surfers, skateboarders, wakeboarders, and boys saying they wanted to be hunters, football players and firefighters.

But this little girl Lydia above stood out from the rest. She raised her hand and said when I grow up I wanna be like you a pro BMX racer! I was speechless and she was dead serious with her comment. What happened later that day when she went home has completely made my trip to the schools a success. Her mother tells me she walks into the house from school and says "Mom I need a wrench can you help me, I need to take the training wheels off my bike. I had a pro BMX girl in my school today and she said I could be whatever I wanted to and I need to ride my bike today we need to take my training wheels off!" I love kids who have that sass and get really focused when they find something they really want to do. I am so honored I could make such an impact that she was that pumped to go home and tell her parents about a goal she had set just a few hours ago.

We had some extra time on one of the sessions and I was able to take a group photo of Dawsons class. I really hope to see more of these kids out at the Daytona BMX Track or St Augustine next time I'm there. It really excited the kids to get to come up and sit on my bike and interact with me.

This is a view of my set up for the talks, I was very fortunate to have a large stage to set up on to show everything. When showing the kids balance and how to ride a bike I had more then enough room to ride around and even do a feel wheelies.

Once the day was over Coach Carignan asked what Kid Dynamite was and after a brief description she invited me to come back and set up a tent to sell some of our products for the kids to purchase. I do not discuss Kid Dynamite in my talks unless asked and these talks are not about sales. My main goal for doing this is to get kids riding bikes, interested in BMX racing and building better local programs for tracks. These school visits are done on my own time and I do not charge for them. I am thankful enough to have amazing sponsors who help me afford to inspire others while still riding my bike. I make it about what matters and in BMX is always about the kids, when you focus on the new riders local programs will grow. When the local program grows the income can come in to make the track better for all and makes racing so much more exciting.

When coach heard that Kid Dynamite had cool clothes for kids she invited me to come back in the morning and set up a booth to show the kids about a brand made to stand out from the rest

The school went the extra mile to send home a flyer to each student to show their parents so their were prepared to come to school with money. I set up in the cafeteria due to the rain and got to see all those smiling faces again. This was awesome because I was able to meet a lot of parents of interested kids for the sport. Thankfully Weston and Dawson were there to help me get items for students and I was there to sign tons of autographs for all the new fans I had made the day prior.

Kids were able to check out the Kid Dynamite brand but more importantly interact with me, ask me questions and take photos with me. When signing autographs I feel it is really important to ask their name because then they know it is for them and I am not generically signing something as if I am too busy to know who they are. I like adding a special personalized touch to their request for my autograph. I remember how special it felt as a kid to get something signed.

The photos above and below are of Lydia this is the next girl pro in the making. I am going to keep in touch with her family and make sure she does get those training wheels off and that she can have the opportunity to reach her goals to be just like me and race BMX professionally. Her sister was very excited to meet me as well it was cool to shake hands with her mother, hear her story of Lydia's determination about taking off her training wheels. Parents get really excited when their kids show interest in something and Lydia is on board 100% to be the next best thing on a bike and I can not be more excited to be her motivating factor to try this out!

Big thumbs up on how the 2 days went at Samsula Academy! Got to teach 300 kids about bike safety, bike safety equipment, BMX racing, goals and how to set and achieve them. Pumped on life and how the last few days went I started to talk with some people who were interested in having me come to their area schools to get kids excited about BMX. I am going to use the next few days to get together a plan on how I can do this all along the east coast. I am looking for help with funding as well as grants I can apply for to help fund this project. So if i have anyone out there who has experience with this I would love for you to shoot me an email. cyoungrideslikeagirl at gmail.com (sorry I get spam when I do the click able address) Please put #bmxinschool for the subject so I keep all your emails organized in my inbox.

When I got all packed up I then had a long conversation with the Vice Principal Gail and she was so motivated to keep this going because of how excited all the children were about my talk. She said parents were excited when they came home that day about bikes and she feels this is a good out for a lot of kids who need something other then traditional sports. She even mentioned about having a Samsula BMX race team that could go out to the track together! She was not the first person to mention this idea to me so I am going to see what I can do to get more schools involved as a team to get more kids out to the track. We are going to do an event real soon for this school since there was so much interest. I look forward to sharing the details with you once I have more information.

If you want more information about Samsula Academy please visit their website.

www.readingedgeacademy.org

Thanks to all my sponsors who make this possible!!!
Make sure to check our their websites and Facebook pages.
Please support those who support me!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

01.27.14 #BMXinSCHOOL Wadsworth Elementry School

Looking back on the last few days I am so thankful to see where BMX has taken my life. I had the privilege of racing for 24 years and thinking about when I started and how far I have come has inspired me to reach out to kids in schools and tell them how they can get started in BMX Racing.

My journey begin with an invite to a local school from a BMX parent from Daytona BMX. Kory Bush works at a school and contacted them about me coming in to talk about BMX racing to the kids. I was so excited to hear the school welcomed me with open arms. So I got some materials together thanks to Chris Luna at USABMX to give as handouts to the kids. These handouts had information about both Daytona BMX and First Coast BMX that is in St Augustine, FL. I packed my car and headed East to Flagler County in Daytona Beach Area of Florida.

I was welcomed at the door by the Secretary Cindy Cashman and she was very excited to introduce me to the school and get my day started at Wadsworth Elementary School. I love meeting people in schools who love their job and you could see the smile from ear to ear that she loved what she did for education. Kory Bush a father of KJ Bush a local from Daytona BMX helped me get set up and ready for the eventful day. I am very thankful for his connection to this school I was able to talk to about 1,000 kids about BMX from Kindergarden to 6th Grade.

They gave me a large area in the gym to set up and I had my bicycle as well as a strider bike to show the students and some sweet handouts from my sponsors. Erma Miller was awesome enough to lend me a strider since I was going to see kindergarten classes to help them work on their balance.

Once I got set up I took a school selfie to post on Instagram about what was about to go down! Once I posted this on social media no lie my phone began to blow up! People were texting, emailing, facebook messaging me interested in how they could get me to come to their schools and I am so thankful so much interest was wanted for this. I am going to make a plan to hit more schools along the east coast this year and make sure I get back in contact with everyone once that happens.

My day started with some very attentive 3rd graders at 9am. As they started to fill the gym I could see this was going to be an awesome day with how big their eyes were for the things in front of them. Questions were being shouted as the kids were settling down about my bike and my banner hanging. My adrenaline was starting to raise as if I was in the gate at a national hoping I was not going to trip on my words.

Just like when I am in the gate I took a deep breath and relaxed, the gym teacher introduced me and I started with a big old GOOD MORNING!!! The kids responded with a big good morning in return then from there the rest was good. My confidence was full as I talked about a sport I am completely passionate about. The kids were all very respectful not to talk over me and had tons of great questions. I left them each with a pamphlet about BMX racing and how to get started an about 30 minutes of knowledge about BMX racing and bike safety.

My talks started with bike safety and the things riders need to be safe on a bike. First and most importantly a helmet, I explained how the helmet works and things to inspect to make sure their helmet is in good working quality. I also explained how to tighten the straps to make sure their helmets fit properly. I then went on to talk about pads and I showed them how my G Form pads work and why I wear my Novik Gloves when I ride to protect my hands. As I talk about my equipment I then passes them out for the kids to touch and even try on.

My next adventure began with a girl named Carly in 1st grade class. When talking about bike safety I asked the kids if their was anyone who had never ridden a bike before and little Carly raised her hand. As she came to the front of the gym I could tell she was a little nervous. As I bent down to put my helmet on her I told her what we were about to do and she was ready to do something awesome. As I explained to the class what she was about to do I could tell she was getting excited to ride the strider bike. Talking about the importance of balance when learning how to ride a bike I gave her a few directions and off she went. For never riding a bike she took about 3 laps and did awesome, even in cowgirl boots.

After the ride she gave me a big high five and with a smile that warmed the room the class gave her a big round of applause. When she returned to her seat you could see all her friends were so proud of her and I left her that day with a little more confidence then she came into school with. Once the class had left the teacher said how awesome it was to see her and how well she did on the balance bike. I told the teacher about the kids on my team and the kids who race on the tracks and she was amazed to hear little kids ride the same track I do.

As the kids got older I opened my 40 minutes to talk about goals and how to live your life to the fullest. I talked to the 5th graders and 6th graders about how they are living in the "free time in life" and how they can better utilize this time to build a better future. It was encouraging to see I had all ears when I was talking about it. Looking back on my life I see things I would have done to better my career and I want kids to learn for my experiences so they can live life to the fullest.

So at the end of each session I would reward the kids who listened the best with some great goodies thanks to my sponsor. The kids were so pumped on the large Kid Dynamite stickers and the Dan's Comp stickers and my signed post cards. I would ask them questions about the safety gear, things they need to come to the BMX Track, my career number, the parts on my bike and when they got it right they went home with some sweet goodies.

My next class was a rowdy group of Kindergarten kids who were so siked to hear about BMX! I was able to keep their attention as I talked about my bike and about the sport. Then I asked the same question is there anyone who had never ridden a bike before and I had the cutest kid raise his hand. When I brought him to the front of the gym one of the teachers were worried about my selection but he ended up being a great kid for the balance exercise. When he got on the bike he needed some instruction but once he took a couple of laps he started to figure out how to put his weight on his seat and balance getting his feet off the ground. Check out his video of him shredding on the Strider bike.

www.instagram.com/p/jsrR9ePzb9

Once he was done he was all smiles and big thumbs up for the camera. I was excited to see this kid so pumped to learn something new. I wish I had more then 40 minutes with each class I think I could have gotten this kid on board with riding a bike by the end of the day. I hope to see his smiling face out at the track soon. I was very excited to meet so many kids this day. I was given many hugs as well as high fives and it was encouraging to see so many girls siked on trying this. I invited the entire school to come out to the track and give BMX a try for free.

It was so awesome to see familiar faces at 6:30pm for practice that night at Daytona BMX. We had 3 brothers come out Xaan, Christian, and Jaden and then a kid named Alex that picked it up very quickly. I am so thankful for the locals who brought out extra bikes that night to make sure kids had sweet bikes to ride for the night. I gave each rider a little instruction and encouragement to get around the track and they all successfully completed a lap before they left for a night. I would call a successful night of practice to get 4 kids who just learned about BMX just hour before practice came out to the track. All the kids left with a new rider magazine and some information about coming back and getting more experience on the track. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side this week and with rain being on the radar it probably kept parents on the sidelines of coming with fear of rain.

Thanks to all the volunteers at Daytona BMX who made this possible! Big thanks to Kory Bush to introducing me to the right people so I could come to the school and meet so many amazing kids. I am so excited to to start this new adventure with going to schools and getting kids pumped about bikes and BMX Racing.

The kids loved my little demo's on how to ride a bike it was really cool when I bunny hopped to feel the energy of the kids and hear their excitement as they shout.... do it again!!! Huge thanks to all of my sponsors who make this all possible. Kid Dynamite for making the coolest clothes for kids, Dan's Comp for giving me amazing swag to give out to all the kiddos, and 24Seven Design Lab for making my amazing bike to show the kids. I also wanna say thanks to G Form for making pads that kids are pumped on riding these kids were really excited about the technology of the pads and they get to feel them and try them on. When kids are excited on their protective equipment they are more likely to wear it to keep them safe.

For more information about the school please visit their website http://wespanthers.com/

Thanks to all my sponsors who make this possible!!!
Make sure to check our their websites and Facebook pages.
Please support those who support me!