Summer in Maine: Finding the Perfect Spot to Jump Your BMX Bike

Sweet lord, I miss my BMX.

I really do. When I was a young, it was an absolute boyhood rite of passage. In the same way adults freak out over their cars and such, boys used to compare their Huffy's and their Diamondbacks. Heck, if you owned a Haro, you might as well have been pro in the eyes of the other neighborhood kids. Although, it usually just meant you were spoiled, haha.

These days, since I don't have kids, I wondered if kids even cared about those sorts of things anymore. Had mountain bikes just totally taken over? Do kids still care about finding the perfect spot to jump their bike to impress their friends? I discovered the answer is yes, in the most humble way possible.

It's not just where I live. Every town has a spot.

I was walking my dog yesterday and stumbled upon this spot. The first thing I noticed was all the grass had been tamped down in a straight line. I followed it with my eyes, and lo and behold, the line led right up to a small dirt pile that had obviously been used as the ultimate jump spot. There was even a smaller jump for the less adventurous on the right, too.

Even better, several feet beyond it, there was the evidence of kids likely doing a mini burnout/skid stop area complete with all their ground out tire tracks in the dirt. I was immediately 9-years old when I saw it. I had this overwhelming sense of how awesome it was to be a kid, when all you cared about was where the best jump was.

It doesn't matter what town I was in specifically... It really doesn't. Every town in Maine, probably even America, has a spot where the kids know to ride their bikes to, for the most aerial enjoyment.  I gotta say though, nothing warms my heart more, than knowing kids are out there, still trying to hurt themselves in the name of fun. That's awesome.

Let's get it straight... A BMX isn't a toy, it's a young boy's car. Theses are toys...