Bike tricks

My friends and I spent a lot of time riding our bmx bikes. To make things more fun, we would do tricks. Being small and under a hundred pounds, our range of tricks was limited. But it didn't matter cuz we had a blast anyway. Here's a comprehensive list of our bike tricks:

The first trick that any bike-loving boy learns to do is skidding out. This is when you slam the pedal backwards and the rear tire locks up and skids to a stop. The more advanced version would be to throw in a turn, making the rear tire swing in a semi-circle as it skids. And if you got enough speed, you can make the bike turn around 180 degrees! Skidding out was rad because it looked like what you see motorcycles do on TV and in movies. It also left cool-looking black tire marks, showing that you had pulled a trick there. The best was when you skidded out on dirt or gravel, and a cloud of dust or rocks shoots out from under your tire. But this was risky because you might fall and skin your knee if it's too slippery.

My second trick was hopping off curbs. That's where you use the tapered part of a driveway curb as a little ramp and jump off. The most satisfying feeling was getting lots of air and landing on both tires at the same time. You hardly feel the impact. But when I did it badly, there would be a loud thump and the gear chain would go <clang, clang, clank> against the metal guard.

One trick that we invented was the crooked skid. This is where you ride along a curb with your front tire on the high side, and your low tire skidding along crooked on the low side. The crooked skid was so fun cuz it could go on and on, as long as the curb was. But it really tore up your tires.

The bunny hop took me the longest to figure out. When done right, both tires leave the ground and you can hop over things like parking lot stumps. I kept thinking that I wasn't strong enough, cuz no matter how hard I pulled up on the handle bars, the back tire refused to go up. Later, a friend told me the secret: you have to kick up the pedals to lift the back tire.

There was one trick that none of us could really do: the wheelie. Again, I thought it was about pulling the handle bars up for a long time, until someone told me that you had to lean backwards. So while at my friend's house, I eagerly borrowed his bike to test out this new information. I tried leaning back a little bit a few times, and I was amazed that it actually worked for a brief moment. What a rush! So I decided to go for a really long wheelie. I pulled up, leaned back, and suddenly I was looking at the sky. With a jolt of pain, I landed smack on my tailbone. I looked and saw the bike continuing its wheelie down the street. I do believe that was my last wheelie attempt.