The World of Bmx (Enthusiast Color Series) - Softcover

Partland, J. P.; Donaldson, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0760315434 ISBN 13: 9780760315439

Publisher: Motorbooks Intl, 2003

Synopsis

BMX is back and it's badder than ever! This concise reference to all the spills and thrills that BMX has to offer will cover the history and resurgence of BMX plus all the popular disciplines, from racing and street BMXing to vertical and the intricacies of freestyle. Celebrate the cultural madness of BMX through this colorful, contemporary look at the sport. Packed with awesome photography, text that speaks the BMX language, and all the elements that combine to make BMX the extreme choice of millions, The World of BMX highlights all the insane tendencies of this pop-culture sport.

About this title

About the Author

J.P. Partland first swung a leg over a bicycle when he was three. Little did he know it would become a life-long obsession. When his parents dragged eight-year-old J.P. to suburbia, they gave him a used "convertible" Schwinn Bantam. It was a lame bike by his schoolmate's standards. He used it to master the town. By seventh grade, he was racing cars to school and racing friends home on a Schwinn Varsity. His first bike trip came at thirteen. Fourteen brought on his first race, an ultra-marathon event called the Pepsi Challenge Bicycle Marathon. He won the junior division, riding 230 miles over the course of a day (competitors under the age of sixteen were only allowed to ride sixteen of the 24 hours) on his Schwinn Varsity.

That Varsity eventually became his first commuter bike. He took it to school every day from the first day of junior high to the last day of high school. He has been a bike commuter to every job he has ever had. Currently, he's commuting on a fixed-gear.

A Bianchi was soon to follow the Varsity. He took it to Europe twice; once for a cultural exchange to northern France and the following year for a bicycle tour of Europe with the American Youth Hostels (now Hosteling International).

His first United States Cycling Federation (USCF) license came at the age of fifteen. The Bianchi was a sport-tourer, so it doubled as a racing bike. He joined the fraternity of racing in the dark ages before heart rate monitors existed and training methods became periodized; miles were what he was told. Miles were what he did. Solo. Without guidance from other racers, he struggled to keep up. After a decent interval of club rides with racers, training started to take shape and racing got easier. J.P. was winning races by the age of seventeen.

At seventeen, he was also a shop rat, hanging around, absorbing everything he could. The year was 1985, and some of the employees had Fat Chance mountain bikes. They occasionally did Sunday rides. One day, J.P. borrowed one, and rode around the Ramapo mountains with the shop gang. It was a great experience.

He got his category III license before turning senior. The bike shop world became a fixture upon high school graduation; he started working the day after, beginning an interest that remains to this day.

J.P.'s work has appeared in nearly 50 cycling-specific and general interest magazines as well as a dozen websites. He is a contributing editor to The Ride magazine. He is a regular contributor to Velo News. He has been read in most of the regional cycling publications, both BDS and Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and has been published in Bicycling, Bicyclist, Bike, Womens’ Sports and Fitness, Fitness, Hooked on the Outdoors, and Self. In the regular world, his writing has appeared in Outside,The New York Times, The Daily News, New York Magazine, and a host of other publications as well as on the web.

Edition details

• Publisher: Motorbooks Intl
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0760315434
• ISBN 13: 9780760315439
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96