By Like any good, serious cyclist, I’ve done my share of bad-weather riding. And all those hours spent pedaling through rain, cold, and wind gave me plenty of time to realize something: Riding in bad weather totally sucks.
I know, I know—there are a wealth of platitudes that other, judgier cyclists have stored up for people like me. “There’s no bad weather only bad clothing,” and “harden the fuck up” come to mind. But here’s the thing: While bad weather rides can be a exciting novelty and an exercise in toughness, too many in a row will suck your soul out, squash it like roadkill, and leave it on the side of the road to freeze.
So, it is with great joy that I tell you this: There is a better way to ride through shitty weather than to head to an indoor BMX park.
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4 Great BMX Bikes
Redline Redline Proline BMX
GT Pro Performer 29
Fairdale Taj 27.5
SE Racing OM-Duro
Instead of pedaling in the cold and rain until your skin feels startlingly like that of a long-dead corpse, you can work on your handling skills, stay warm and dry, and still feel badass—at your local indoor BMX park or skatepark.
Generally built in some kind of former warehouse, indoor skate parks feature a combination of bowls, ramps, rails, and maybe even a foam pit. My local one is called Penn Skate and has enough features for me to terrify myself for hours. There are sections for skateboards, scooters, and BMX bikes, with terrain specific to each.
I’ve spent years racing road and mountain bikes, but I had never been to a skate park before one recent winter. That’s not uncommon for “serious” bike riders like myself. For one thing, the tricks you try in a skate park don’t seem relevant to the riding I normally do. I’ve also prioritized “getting a workout in,” which to me means riding for at least an hour continuously. I didn’t think that the short, start/stop bursts of activity common when riding BMX could actually contribute to my fitness and skills.
So when a friend and frequent skatepark rider invited me to come check it out, I’ll admit I was skeptical—and a little intimidated. The crowd that hangs out at the bike park is different than that on my local trails. they seemed tougher and more badass, and I suspected they’d be definitely less friendly to some noob doing timid circles around the floor and casing all the jumps. But that winter, with the sun setting at 4 p.m. and temps dipping into the “oh HELL no” territory, I decided it was time to face my twin fears of grievously hurting myself and being laughed at by teenagers. I dug out my knee and elbow pads, procured a Redline Asset 20” BMX bike, and schlepped on over to the park.
It didn’t take me long to realize how wrong I was about most of my reasons for never going before. Here’s what I learned about BMX in my adventures over the next weeks.
It’ll make you a better rider.
While practicing turning at the top of a bowl doesn’t feel directly applicable to, say, clearing a rock garden, it helps more than I realized. Case in point: All the best technical riders I know have a background in freestyle BMX. And learning how to maneuver your bike in weird ways always improves handling, and helps you hone that precise timing you need.
Personally, when I tried to bunnyhop without being clipped in, I learned how wrong I was about what I thought my body needed to do—and how much I was relying on those clipless pedals to keep me connected. So I started from scratch. I still haven’t nailed the motion with flat pedals, but I’m on my way and getting better than I was before.
You’ll get full-body fit.
BMX, as a rule, requires fitness. That wasn’t a surprise to me—I expected that I’d need some muscle to nail jumps, spins, and rhythm sections. But the amount of cardio conditioning required was a wake-up call. (It became glaringly clear when I found myself panting after just a few turns pumping through the corners of the bowl.)
On the whole, the experience was like mixing an interval session with strength work. I went home feeling fully wiped out, like I do after timed efforts, and was sore for days after.
Everyone is just there to have fun.
All the riders I encountered at the indoor BMX park were really, truly nice. The dudes catching big air on the 15-foot quarter pipe assured me that, “You can just pedal through here! You won’t be in our way at all!” And on my first time there, I didn’t know how to drop into the bowl, so I just slid down the side to the bottom.
Unbeknownst to me, I ripped a giant, four-inch hole in the seat of my pants while doing so. And no one said a word, so I proceeded to ride for another hour with my ass on display to anyone who wished (or did not wish) to see. I didn’t find out until I got home hours later. This would normally cause an internal embarrassment meltdown for me. But when I noticed, I laughed until I cried. Reader, I was GLAD that I didn’t know! If I had, I would have been too embarrassed to ride any more, and would have missed out on all the fun.
You’ll ride longer.
For me, riding in bad weather means ticking down the minutes until I can turn around and head home. But at the indoor BMX park—with its roof, and lights, and warmth—I didn’t even think about when I “could” quit. I ended up riding there for far longer than I would have if I had gone outside. And I went home grinning—and already thinking about when I could go again.
Great Gear for the BMX Park
Taylor Rojek is an associate features editor who has been writing, editing, and testing gear with Bicycling and Runner’s World since 2014. She was nominated for an American Magazine Award in 2017 for her work on the information-packed feature “How Cycling Works.” She has a depth of experience in both sports—she’s split the last two decades between racing on foot, with distances ranging from 800m to 26.2 miles, and on all kinds of bikes, including road, mountain, and cyclocross. This year, she’s moved away from the starting line to focus on training her dog Rosie to join her on the trail. She balances that activity with her current quest to bake—and eat—perfect homemade bread.
