Why BMX is better than video games

The kids are alright in Boston

21 07 2019

A recent Boston Globe article’s headline says it all,

“Since I got my bike, I’ve stopped playing Fortnite“.

Kids are rediscovering how fun bikes can be, cruising with their friends and popping wheelies…and they’re doing it all on cruisers.

As the Boston Globe article sees it,

It is their vehicle, their tool for youthful freedom, the glittery thing that for whatever reason kids have latched onto. If they don’t have one, they pine for it, falling asleep at night dreaming of the glorious day they, too, will be able to go cruising.

Not only that, the allure of a youthful freedom machine has them putting away the Fortnite and motivating them to get out and hustle to get their rides. The article describes the effort two brothers went to to get their riders:

….hustling for more than a year to get the bikes. They saved the money they got for birthdays and communions. They spent four days painting a porch. Nathan [one of the brothers] got straight A’s on his report card.

It almost brings a tear to your eye….kids getting stoked on bikes and getting them motivated to work for what they want.

If that’s not impressive enough on its own (which it is, really)…the article also mentions that kids are hanging out at the bike shop shopping for new grips and tires because “no one wants to run stock”.

Could this new wave of kids getting stoked on bikes bring back BMX parts back to the local bike shop? If so, they’ve upped the ante on their “alrightness” to another level….

Pic: Boston Globe

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Tags: Boston Globe, cruisers, Kids are all right, Kids on BMX bikes, Wheelies, Why BMX is better than video games
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The kids are all right

29 08 2012

Doesn’t seem like a day goes by that there isn’t a news story talking about the state of kids today.

How they’re not active and more concerned with video games and texting than getting outside and doing something active.

While there’s a grain of truth to all this, it’s also painting a picture of today’s kids with a broad brush.

Case in point, I was cruising around the neighborhood this past weekend and stopped for a drink near a parking lot that a young kid was riding at.

I stopped to watch him ride for a minute.

He was bunnyhopping on to, and off of, a concrete median.

He just kept at it…experimenting with what he and his bike could do. Going a little further or a little higher with each approach at the median.

No one was there to push him. It was just him and bike.

This kid had more self-motivation than some adults that I know.

And don’t you think he’s going to be messaging his friends later that day and bragging about how far or how high he could bunnyhop?

I wouldn’t doubt it in the least.

Sure, his friends might be at home playing video games but this kid on the bike is probably going to be the reason at least one or two of them picks up a bike or skateboard.

It makes me think, that despite what the media says, kids today are going to be all right after all.

Postscript: Further to the point above, check out Ryan Slusher, age 9, uncorking his first backflip at the Battle of the Bay competition in San Francisco, CA. ..We might have the next Mat Hoffman here.