Just two years ago, Ashley Moody, 17, was the No. 1 girl in her age group at BMX racing. Then she took a year off to help build the new Santa Maria BMX off-road bicycle track behind the Elks Rodeo Arena.
If that seems like a waste of time for a top rider, she doesn’t see it that way.
“I wanted to work on this,” Moody said. “I want to get the community out to the track and help get more girls out here.”
Moody started riding BMX seven years ago after she saw how much fun her stepfather and brothers had racing.
“I just fell in love with it. I love how much of an adrenaline rush I get doing it,” she said.
Unfortunately, Moody said, she’s one of the few girls who have fallen in love with the sport. She explained that it’s hard for girls to get into BMX because they have to go straight through the beginner’s class and up to intermediate due to a lack of racers. They also have to compete against the boys.
“We have to fight,” she said.
This Righetti High School senior has even tried to drag her friends onto a bike and out to the track—with little success. Still, she said, the new track is perfect for any beginners looking to get into the sport.
“I think definitely this is a great track to practice on,” she said.
It’s also the only track to practice on. There are no other BMX tracks in the county. Luckily for Moody, she has a place to ride so close to home, in case she decides to return to competition and unleash some of her toughness on any boy—or girl—who wants to race with her.
This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2008.