My goal in BMX racing when I was a young duder was to earn a #1 plate in my ABA (now USABMX) district.
Back then with 2 sanctions you either raced NBL or ABA, the 2 big guns on the block. With the ABA every single race counted and you earned points for every main event you made. After realizing I was ok at cruiser racing, I set about racking up points in the 1984 season and by the end of the year had achieved what seemed to be an impossible goal when I was first starting out at BMX in 1979…a #1 plate. I then promptly graduated High School went to work and became a freestyle BMX rider with no more need for points or plates…to an extent. I also realized the insanity of chasing number plates, every year you had to start over and do the same thing again! The very definition of looniness! I look back and think how funny it was that I went from hardcore racer to freestyle go almost overnight. Good times though and lots of lessons learned…many of which are recounted in the book I wrote: The Average BMXer, A Tale of the BMX Generation
