Break out some gloves, a helmet, and that small-ish bike stashed away in the corner of the garage: It’s BMX time.
The sport, which can best be described as a group of bike riders rolling over hills and berms at incredible speeds, has found its way to Santa Maria—and it’s just in time for a BMX revolution. At least that’s what Mike Porter, Santa Maria BMX director and the man behind the course, hopes will happen.
His timing is perfect. After years of planning, the track has opened right before the Olympic games start on Aug. 8. This year, BMX racing will premiere for the first time as an Olympic sport.
Ideally, it’ll go like this: Kid sees BMX on TV, thinks it looks fun, heads out to the Santa Maria BMX track for a first ride.
On opening day, just two weeks ago, kids, moms, dads, and teens were out doing loops on the track. Most had BMX or mountain bikes, and more than a few sported full helmets, the safety equipment of choice for BMX riders.
“It’s kind of funny,” Porter said. “We have the new kids coming in, then kids in their late teens and early 20s, and the dads who say ‘I can do that’.”
That the track is opening now is also the result of years of work in the form of trying to find a location and getting the city and county permits to get the darn thing built.
Porter first approached the Santa Maria YMCA about building the track near their skateboarding facility. Initially, he said, they seemed interested but the project never got off the ground. Then he tried the Elks.
“They were kind of lukewarm to it,” he recalled. “They said, ‘Okay, you can do it if you get the permits’.”
He didn’t realize it at the time, but he later thought that that comment might have been the Elks’ version of a test. If he could navigate the complicated mess of county permits needed to get the track built, they’d see what they could do about a location.
Porter had no luck with the county on permits, he said, until Joe Centeno stepped in. The fifth district supervisor heard about the project and decided to help.
“Things started happening then,” Porter said.
They broke ground on the track in October of 2007. At first, it was just Porter and his kids working on the track, and then help arrived.
“We came out here, and there’s Mike with his landscape rake and shovel, trying to build it on his own,” said Santa Maria BMX board member Chad Hinkle.
There are more volunteers now, including some of the Elks members who, Porter said, got a lot more enthusiastic once they saw how many local riders were interested in the track.
“Everybody seems really excited and just happy to see something like this for the kids,” Hinkle said.
In 2003, the last BMX track in the county, this one in Goleta, shut down, Porter said. That makes Santa Maria the only local place to ride. Porter is expecting riders from Paso Robles to Santa Barbara to be reporting to the Santa Maria BMX track each Saturday for races, as well as during the week for practice.
“We actually have a quite a few top riders in our area,” he said.
If all goes well, there may be even more in the future.
Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien brings up the Olympics whenever she can. Contact her at sthien@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2008.
