When I was 13, I went on a BMX track for the first time.
I’d ridden a bike for years, and loved little jumps and banks. The track was fully groomed, it felt like heaven.
An hour into it, I remember racing down the start of it, flying into the turns, and hitting this table top jump. I landed with my front wheel slightly shifted, and completely ate it. The handlebars winded me, and I was out for the day.
Maybe I wasn’t ready? I really had no idea how to navigate this thing, which was used for competitive BMX riders.
Should I have waited a few more years?
It turns out, that waiting until we have the right answer, the right thing to say, or the polished skillset is a mirage.
It’s through the entire trial-and-error process that we develop. The jumps are fun, but the crashes are part of it too. All we can hope to do is keep the crashes small enough so that we can stay in the game and continue to learn the jumps.
