KV Bike Park breaks ground

Gordon Larsen drops a load of dirt at the KV Bike Park during last Wednesday’s “movin’ dirt day” in Kernville.

Cathy Perfect
Kern Valley Sun

Chris Brayman was burning up his cell phone last Wednesday as he called for volunteers to prepare the KV Bike Park grounds for construction.

“We are moving dirt,” was Brayman’s mantra as dump trucks pulled up to drop their loads of fill dirt, which is being donated by Tony Talbot of Kernville.

“I’m excited,” Brayman said. “We have businesses –Sierra Septic Construction, Larsen, Jack Price, Onstott Construction, Keeling Construction, Nagle Earthworks – who have donated their equipment and volunteered their time.”

“We just like to help the community out,” said Gordon Larsen, as he dumped a load of dirt. “That’s why I came out today,” he said.

Eric Bress, a nationally recognized builder of BMX tracks from Denver, Colo., has been tasked with constructing the KV Bike Park. The track will be sanctioned by the American Bicycle Association, which hosts events across the country. The new BMX track will approximately 1,080 feet in length and require approximately 2,000 years of dirt to complete.

Earlier this month, Bress completed a new track in Safford, Ariz. “Construction should take about seven to 10 days to complete,” Brayman said. “Then we have to have everything signed off before we can officially open,” he added. “I have about $5,000 to spend,” Brayman said.

Motocross BMX has been around since the early 1970s, but has only begun to grow in the area significantly in recent years.

BMX started in the early 1970s when children began racing their bicycles on dirt tracks in southern California, drawing inspiration from the motocross superstars of the time. The size and availability of the Schwinn Sting-Ray made it the natural bike of choice, since they were easily customized for better handling and performance.

The 1972 motorcycle racing documentary On Any Sunday is generally credited with inspiring the movement nationally in the US; its opening scene shows kids riding their Schwinn Stingrays off-road.

For the first time, it was featured as an event at the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.