Shanaze Reade: ‘Just get up there and go for it’
BMX is the most readily accessible side of cycling for children, something Shanaze Reade found out long before she became a multiple world champion as a junior, before moving seamlessly through to the senior ranks to take the world title in Taiyuan, China last year.
Shanaze began riding down her local track in Crewe at the age of 10 on a bike hired for £1, wearing jeans and trainers.
“You can get a serviceable BMX for next to nothing, so it’s probably the most affordable way into the sport if you are young,” she says. If your clothing is loose and your bike works, the only must-haves are a helmet and a pair of gloves.
While BMX racing takes place on purpose-built tracks, you can go out and practise basic skills or simply mess about pretty much anywhere away from busy roads, making it one of the safest ways for children to get into bike riding.
“The age group structure means kids can race when they are really young,” says Shanaze. “And you don’t have to go to a track. You can do the training where you like – a garden, a park or a backstreet. I do some of my training on the street behind my house.
“It’s not only an Olympic sport, but an action sport. There’s a thrill about it, an adrenaline rush when there are half a dozen other riders on the track.” And the thrills are not restricted to the riders. BMX makes spectacular watching as the riders whizz out of the start gate like unleashed greyhounds, zoom down the start ramp, fly over jumps and zip around the banked track.
With none of the baggage or history that goes with track or road racing, BMX shares a laid-back feel with the other cycling newcomer of recent years – mountain biking. “There’s a really good social scene in BMX,” says Shanaze. “At the races, we never stop talking to each other. It’s like one big happy family. We all support each other: young kids, teenagers, everyone. I remember one race when I fell off and knocked myself out. Within seconds everyone was rushing over to see how I was. It’s fantastic as a kid to be able to let your competitive instincts develop in such a warm, friendly environment.”
Amid the friendship are thrills galore. “You get a real rush of adrenaline when the gate drops. You’ve only got 45 seconds to get to the other end, to get it all out. It’s a power sport that calls for skills and nerve as well … You don’t have to go mad doing endurance training. You can just get up there and go for it.”
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