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| They’re all bicycles, but they’re 4 very different sports | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Martin Cizmar, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| February 28, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Not so with these grown-up bikes. These cycles aren’t for cruising your neighborhood, they’re made for midair flips, flying off boulders and weaving through traffic. When you’re taking on sports like that, you want wheels to match. We searched for the Valley’s cycling subcultures and found four riders who have next to nothing in common other than a passion for cycling. The bikes they ride also come with a lifestyle. Weird clothes, incomprehensible slang, shared hopes and fears — the whole shebang. So if you’re looking for a new bike, and want something more extreme than a beach cruiser, read on to find where you might fit in.  DOWNHILL JAMES VAN VORST is in risk management and lives in Mesa. Van Vorst, 39, is known as “Short-bus James” because he owns a shuttle he uses to take downhill riders up the hill at South Mountain Park. With full suspension systems and rock-solid frames, downhill bikes look like dirt bikes without engines and are too heavy to pedal uphill. You’ll find downhillers at: Geronimo Trail at South Mountain Park (10919 S. Central Ave., Phoenix). You’ll know them because they’re wearing:Motocross-style helmet, full body armor. A bike will cost you:"$1,500 used on Craigslist, up to $4,000 to $7,000 new.” You know you’re awesome when you can: “Clear an entire downhill run without crashing or stopping and your wrists aren’t burning from holding on for dear life.” Worst nightmare while riding:"Catastrophic equipment failure. Say you’re doing a huge jump or a huge drop and your front wheel collapses or your front fork snaps in half.” To learn more, talk to: “We all kind of hang out together, there’s no formally organized club. Anyone you see out on the trails will talk to you. We’re all pretty nice.” Other cyclists say: “We’re crazy. People see us out there with the full helmet, with the body armor and they say, ‘How can you do that?’ ”  BMX RYAN COWLING is the owner of Kore Bike in Tempe. Cowling, 34, is a veteran BMX rider — small bikes, gnarly dirt tracks, skateboard-style tricks — in a sport dominated by the young. Every year the kids get better and the tricks bigger, he says, and even the craziest tricks someone’s doing now will be passé in a year or two. You’ll find BMXers at: Chandler Bike Park (450 E. Knox Road). “It’s packed all the time. In the Valley there are 20 skate parks, at least, and that’s the only totally bike park where no one will kick you out.” You’ll know them because they’re wearing: “It’s so individual, but wearing a hoodie with the hood up is big right now. And tight pants. The fashion changes quick.” A bike will cost you: $300 or so. You know you’re awesome when you can: Do a tail-whip (front tire stays still, rest of the bike spins). “It used to be like, wow, but now every kid can do it. It’s still pretty impressive.” Worst nightmare while riding: “You’ll jump off your bike and blow out your knee. It’s actually better to break your leg than blow out your knee.” To learn more, talk to: Chandler BMX, (480) 963-1053 or chandlerbmxracing.com. Other cyclists say:“They kind of frown on it, they say it’s a kid’s sport. They have no idea what’s involved.”  ROAD RACER JEFF BIEVER is an architect who lives in north Phoenix. Biever, 46, rides with Strada Racing Club, a local road racing team. Like Lance Armstrong, he peddles for hours across flats while trying to preserve his strength for a punishing climb, all the while worried someone in front of him will tumble, wrecking the whole pack. You’ll find road racers in: North Scottsdale around the Pinnacle Peak/DC Ranch area. You’ll know them because they’re wearing: Team jerseys, tight pants. A bike will cost you: “$800 if you mind your p’s and q’s.” You know you’re awesome when you can: “Finish in the top five in a two-hour road race.” Worst nightmare while riding: Someone in the pack crashes, causing a pileup. “The big fear is someone doing something stupid in front of you when you don’t have enough time to get away from it.” To learn more, talk to:The Arizona Bicycle Racing Association, azcycling.com. “They can help you find a local club with riders near where you live.” Other cyclists say:“We’re boring. Where are the potholes? Where are the jumps? How can you just go out there for three or four hours, don’t you just get bored to death?”  FIXED-GEAR BEN KO is a hairstylist who lives in south Scottsdale. Ko, 30, started riding fixed-gear bikes in Washington, D.C., where some of his buddies worked as bike messengers. On a fixed-gear bike the pedal is chained directly to the hub, so there’s no brakes and no cruising — when the wheels move, your feet do, too. It’s almost as dangerous as it sounds. You’ll find fixed-gear riders: Around Tempe, downtown Phoenix at First Fridays. You’ll know them because they’re wearing: The bike messenger style — hip clothes, the iconic bag — isn’t big in Phoenix, where there are no actual couriers, says Ko. “There’s really no particular look.” A bike will cost you:“You could get a basic prebuilt bike for $350 to $400, but a good bike probably runs about $1,000.” You know you’re awesome when you can: “Be 100 percent comfortable on the bike, being able to control the bike in any situation. We’re talking about something so, so new, there’s not really a standard.” Worst nightmare while riding: Getting hit by a car. “I would say a third of the people we ride with have had some sort of run-in with a car. I’ve already been hit by two cars in Phoenix; I never had any problem when I lived in Washington, D.C., and I used to ride everywhere.” To learn more, talk to: myspace.com/hotcitydestroyers or Domenic’s Cycling in Tempe. Other cyclists say: “Everything from admiration to total disgust. Some people think that it’s really reckless, that it’s dangerous, and some people respect it.” Contact Martin Cizmar by email, or phone (480) 898-5695 |
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