I Have Always Been Passionate About Riding Bicycles

I got into BMX when I was 12 years old — yeah, that's way back in 1979! But my love for riding started years earlier. When I was 5, I got a Big Wheel. We lived along a bike path that runs alongside the Mississippi River, and I'd pedal that thing as fast as I could, trying — and failing — to keep up with the cyclists who passed by. I remember wishing so badly that I had a real bicycle so I could keep up with them.

By the time I was 6, I was learning to ride on two wheels. We didn't have much money back then — my mom took the training wheels off a small, cheap, fixed-gear bike so I could learn, but it never really fit me right. Once I outgrew it, I went back to riding my Big Wheel until I was 7, when I finally got my first real bicycle: a banana-seat model. A few years later, my stepdad surprised me with a blue Schwinn Sting-Ray with three speeds, and I went everywhere on that bike. I don't think my parents ever knew just how far I'd ride — my best friend and I would easily go 15 to 20 miles from home, taking off on these adventures with no real plan, just figuring out how to find our way back.

Got questions about BMX or mountain biking, or curious about what I do on my YouTube channel, ShadLife? Ask away — that's exactly what ShadBot below is here for.