The BMX Cultural Academy is an outreach program focusing on mentoring children and teenagers from ages 6 to 17 to compete in the Olympic sport of bmx racing. Coach "Smokin’ Joe Pinckney" has been competing on the national level of bmx racing for 29 years. Joe and his teammates, including his 16 year old son “Sugar Cain Pinckney”, are working with the Human Agricultural Cooperative Non profit and the Fort Wayne bmx club located at Franke park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We are excited to provide a new form of community outreach. The program will provide a Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoon class for mentoring children and young adults at the Fort Wayne BMX facility at Franke park by the zoo. The course will teach fundamentals on bmx bicycle skills, basic bicycle repair, self-esteem, power refinement and leadership skills, goal setting, sportsmanship, nutrition, and exercise among other valuable life lessons. We will focus on children and young adults from high risk environments and mentor them into the Olympic sport of bmx racing. We want to be at the forefront of developing and channeling our greatest resources into future collegiate athletes and Olympic competitors. B.M.X.C.A. Program Outline: Pre stretch and exercises before practice and races: Hurdle stretches, jumping jacks, toe stretches, and jogging in place, are some of my favorite exercises I use to loosen up before cycling. It is also good to take 5 or 10 minutes to casually ride around on your bicycle to warm up your body. Equipment: All riders should have the proper protective equipment: Full helmets, socks, gym shoes (canvas shoes are the best and vans* are highly suggested), a long sleeve shirt, long sleeve pants and gloves are key to fundamental protection. Nutrition and hydration: Carbing up (consuming carbohydrates) with various pasta dishes for example (spaghetti, lasagna) at least 3 days before cycling events helps fortify our bodies with the desire to win. Sugar is bad, water and natural alternatives are good for the body. I drink more water than anything, sports drinks have lots of sugar and sugar causes you to tire and make you less alert especially after the “sugar crash”. Natural sweets like apples, oranges, grapes, and especially bananas are a great treat to fuel our bodies. Bananas* also help our muscles ease cramping from muscle fatigue because of the potassium, magnesium and calcium. Bike check before practicing/ races: Check tire pressure, it dissipates out of tires all the time especially if your bike has been sitting for a week or whatever in a hot garage. Check chainring bolts they come loose often* as well as checking the rear axle bolts and always make sure the chain is tight. Check handlebar stem allen bolts to make sure they're tight on the handlebars Check brakes make a snug on the bows for your brakes for the brake cable. I've slipped the cable in and lost a race like that before! Check chain and front and rear wheel axle bolts. Rider types: two types of riders: Power vs Spinner: A lot of BMX riders these days tend to be spinners who are very efficient with medium sized gearing on race bicycles. I however found that I had to run bigger gears to pace myself for the whole race. People who run big gears are considered power riders. You can win with both styles. Starting gate: Two types of gate starts: a high pedal or a low pedal start. Power Riders tend to start with a higher pedal on the start to get the Leverage to accelerate. You always start with your strong leg for example I start with my left foot. Advanced Riders learn to "sling shot" starting gates at the higher levels of competition. To Slingshot the gate is when you go backwards from the gate one or two inches for a slight second before the gate sequence actually starts moving in an effort to anticipate a faster more efficient Gate start similar to a sling shot... Jumping: Advanced riders learn to jump after lots of practice and you can too. Two types of jumps: Floaters and Poppers: Some jumps are so easy to jump that you have to push down on your handlebars to avoid over jumping to maintain control. We call these jumps “Floaters”. Other jumps require more speed and require you to “pop” or pull-up also known as “bunny hopping” off the top of lip to maneuver jump. (The Lip* is the steepest portion of a jump) Pumping jumps and rhythm sections: a Rhythm Section is a sequence of jumps down a straight away in a row one after the other. "Speed jump manualing" is when you maintain a Wheelie over an obstacle such as a jump. Speed jumping: speed jumping is when you pop a wheelie 6 feet before the jump in an effort to be more efficient coming over the jump. Turn techniques: Matt Pohlkamp turn technique: Matt was a phenomenal pro rider who I noticed, had created a unique technique for taking optimal speed into turns. His philosophy was to Stand up, Tilt your Bike Not Your Body in high banked turns we call “berms” in bmx. This allows you to carry maximum speed into and out of the turn. Braking: making sure you can reach the brake lever with one finger not two or three fingers. The brake check: brake checking is when you are in front of another Rider in a turn or approaching you turn What specifically and you hit your brakes to alert the rider that you might be stopping in an effort to protect your lane going into the turn. The high low: the Hi-Lo move is when you go into a turn at the very outside in an effort to itemize gravity thereby allowing you to go to the inside Lane after completing the outside Lane travel. Passing: Learn when to pass: Passing is a very delicate thing in BMX racing and you definitely have to know when to pass and when to wait. Pact rider versus the Leader: If you follow someone, you don't want to follow them the whole race if they mess up, they're going to mess you up because they're in front of you. We always want to learn to try different lines to pass riders. Bicycle repairs: We will take a bike from scratch and put it together in an exciting bicycle repair workshop. Positive Mental Visual Projection and Attitude: Before the Race 10 minutes before you want to take time to think about winning the race literally see yourself winning the race. Sportsmanship and Fellowship: BMX racing is a very challenging physical sport. You always want to share the railways professional practice with Federal competitors. Goal Setting: it is a great idea to say goals for yourself. Milestone making is an incredible experience when you accomplish what you visualize in your mind. I always try to push myself to learn how to take jumps for different lines. Discerning whether speed jumping or jumping is faster or more efficient for me doing the Race, these are the types of decisions that I make and I show and improve on as I practice.