When Sarah Staley’s oldest son got interested in BMX — short for bicycle motocross — in 2023, she saw an opportunity few others might have considered. Her husband, JD, raced as a teenager, so the duo helped start the Misfits RVA BMX Racing Team later that year. With JD coaching the team and even her toddler on a bike, Staley decided to ask if any of the other mothers at races wanted to ride, too.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to talk to some other moms, and we should also have fun,’” Staley says. “It’s like our weekly cardio. A few of us just started racing for fun, and we still race for fun. … I think just the friendships and seeing other moms get out there has been really refreshing.”
Richmond BMX board member Sarah Staley rides with a pack of fellow moms most Sundays. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Now, Staley’s crew of 10 moms is part of the tapestry of BMX enthusiasts racing at Gillies Creek Park, usually hitting the track on Sunday afternoons or Monday nights.
“My kids think I’m super cool, even though I usually have to race with the teenage girls who are lightning speed and I usually just clean up their dust,” she adds with a laugh. “But my kids still think it’s cool that I have a jersey and I race on the track with them.”
From the asphalt curves of Gillies Creek Park to the ramps and dirt jumps beside Powers Bike Shop on Williamsburg Road, groups like Staley’s prove BMX is alive and well in Richmond a half-century after the sport’s inception.
BMX originated as a way for kids to emulate their dirt-bike idols, catching air from ramps and racing around pump tracks. The cycle sport shares many traits with the motorized version. The 1971 documentary “On Any Sunday” gave rise to BMX; although it chronicles motocross, its title sequence features kids riding bicycles on dirt tracks. BMX started in Richmond around the same time it took off across the country, although organized leagues came later.
“Basically, kids kept modifying their Schwinn Stingrays [by] taking motorcycle handlebars and making them fit,” says Chad Powers, the owner of Powers Bike Shop. “Then, Schwinn started making BMX bikes that looked like motorcycles. … They were just kind of imitating motocross, and that quickly evolved into actual BMX racing.”
Today’s BMX bikes are characterized by taller handlebars and smaller wheels and frames than standard road bikes. Rigid frames stand up to the wear and tear of racing, jumps and tricks, while gears and suspension have been completely removed. Wheel size can vary depending on the discipline the bike will be used for — BMX sub-genres include racing, street riding, freestyle and flatland riding.
BMX bikes are built for the sport, but their long handlebars and slim seats resemble designs from the 1970s, when BMX was invented. (Photo via Getty Images)
Tracks vary almost as much as the bikes but typically take the form of a dirt skills course with plenty of jumps or a pump track, which is designed for riders to navigate by moving their body (pumping) rather than pedaling. Each one can feature long, flat-topped “tabletop” jumps, high-banked turns and whoop sections — spaced-out bumps.
Richmond BMX track manager Sandi Wiley (Photo by Jay Paul)
“We run our track to get people on bikes, get people outside and loving being on a bike,” says Sandi Wiley, track operator for local racing club Richmond BMX. “That’s our primary goal.”
Richmond BMX runs two tracks — a dirt course and a pump track — at Gillies Creek Park in the city’s East End. Part of USA BMX, the group originally operated under the umbrella of the Gillies Creek Park Foundation, then became an autonomous nonprofit in 2021.
The track offers new-rider clinics and one-day trial memberships so interested riders can borrow bikes and helmets to give BMX a shot. “What makes us a little bit different from a lot of the tracks, especially within Virginia, is that you can come out and ride,” Wiley says. “[Other tracks], if you’re not a member, you don’t get to try it out. So, the kids in the neighborhood come out and ride all the time.” Riders are drawn to the tracks from nearby areas including Fulton Hill and as far away as Goochland, she says.
Richmond BMX is a volunteer organization — and volunteers are always welcome, Wiley says. “We fix the track, maintain it and run all the events. Everything you see out at the track, the jumps and buildings, how we groom it and take care of it, that’s all 100% volunteer.”
Spectators are also welcome. Richmond BMX schedules competitions most Sundays during race season, which runs from March to December. Most are local challenges, but larger events, including the Flat Pedal Pro Am on June 28, welcome professional riders who race for money and “get kids stoked on seeing the pros,” Wiley says.
Track benefactor Art Luck, 78 (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Another annual event, the Luck Cup in November, celebrates Art Luck, 78, who helped build the track in 1998. “Mr. Luck is kind of the patriarch of our track,” Wiley says. “He still races every Sunday with us, which is pretty cool.”
Luck, a Richmond BMX past president and longtime volunteer, says the track was all dirt when he took it over. “I had five or six motos [races], and it grew from that,” he explains. “I ran it for 10 years. ... I enjoyed it because of the kids. We might have a weekend of 200 kids who come out and ride.”
He keeps riding himself, he says, because “the doctor told me to stay busy working out, riding my bike, so I ride my bike almost every day.”
Photo by Jay Paul
Helping people ride is a priority for many in the BMX community.
“We’ve got a lot of families that can’t afford to buy bikes or helmets, so we always sponsor some kids,” Wiley says. “If we see kids out on a regular basis, we’ll give them helmets or let them borrow a bike, … and when they show a lot of interest, we definitely pay for their [USA BMX] membership and pay for the races.”
Steve Crandall, cofounder and program director of RADshare (Photo by Jay Paul)
The track also partners with RADshare, a Richmond-based nonprofit that promotes BMX participation, safety and accessibility. “I was impacted at such a young age [by BMX] that I want to share what was so rad about BMX with the next generation of kids and create opportunities for them,” says cofounder and Program Director Steve Crandall, who moved to Richmond in 2009. Known in the riding world as the originator of influential BMX brand FBM Bikes, an X Games judge and an announcer for the Vans BMX Pro Cup Series, he founded RADshare during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[It’s] to show people in Richmond how cool BMX is, but also create a space where kids can actually interact and participate with the pros,” Crandall says of the organization, “kind of motivate them and give them a little bit of taste of something beyond the digital world.”
Many communities are building skate parks and pump tracks, Crandall says — there are at least five in the Richmond region — but participation is still out of reach for some due to the price of the specialized equipment. “We were riding bikes down at the Gillies Creek pump track and noticed there were kids that wanted to get involved in BMX; they just didn’t have access to safe or affordable bikes or gear,” he explains, adding that entry-level BMX bikes often cost $300 to $500. “That kind of sparked the idea.”
While Crandall got started with hand-me-down gear and secondhand bikes — he says Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace can be resources for finding used equipment — he wanted to create easier access to the sport by providing free helmets and bikes. (Risk is as much a part of BMX as any sport, so Crandall, Powers and others recommend wearing a cycling-specific helmet and pads.)
RADshare also organizes BMX-related community events such as Rumble in Richmond, a semiannual race weekend featuring X Games- and Olympic-level riders; Ryan Nyquist visited last year.
“Getting [Olympic] and X Games medalists to come to Richmond to hang out with the kids was something that I felt was a little bit more important than just trying to sell stuff to people,” Crandall says, adding that his prior contacts from the BMX world helped him start RADshare. “It’s creating these experiences that kids can take something from that could be life changing.”
Wiley says professional riders visit the track on a regular basis — stars Barry Nobles, Cutter Williams and Nic Long all stopped by in 2025, and pro rider Will Grant hosted a camp at the track in April.
Longtime BMX rider Latane Coghill (Photo by Jay Paul)
But BMX is not just for those looking to go pro. “I’m 50, and I get on my bike and go,” Wiley says. “I’m not good at it, but I do it. I think that’s really the biggest thing about the whole BMX community, is that it’s for everybody. It really is a sport that anybody can participate in.”
Latane Coghill, 41, was born and raised near Midlothian and has been riding BMX since the late 1990s. “Richmond had its own little pocket on the East Coast,” he says. “The scene was very DIY. It still is, but certainly much more so back then.”
Coghill first stumbled across BMX in a magazine at his school book fair. After seeing the X Games on TV, he realized there was more to it than just jumping curbs. “I started coming down towards the city a bit more,” he says. “Guys were just building their own ramps, putting them around town in lesser-used areas. I guess you could call it underground.”
Thanks to the X Games, the advent of YouTube and, more recently, social media, BMX has grown a lot since then. “It just gets bigger,” Coghill says. “The accessibility is way more there for someone who’s younger ... or someone who may not have known about it before.
“They call it freestyle BMX because you can kind of make it whatever you like,” he adds. “If you’re not into exactly what you’re seeing, make what you want to see.”
Chad Powers of Powers Bike Shop (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Apart from the track, riders often congregate at local shops. Powers Bike Shop is one of the largest shops in the country and among the few BMX-only outlets. There’s a series of ramps outside and a BMX museum inside that displays about 400 bikes — purchased, traded in and donated — along with prototypes, BMX magazines and VHS tapes.
A BMX fan from an early age, Chad Powers started riding as a preteen in Northern Virginia. “I kind of rode BMX before I knew what BMX was,” he says. He raced for nearly a decade and turned pro before being sidelined by injuries. Not wanting to leave the BMX world, in 2004 Powers started a mobile shop in a trailer that he towed to races. Success led to larger and larger trailers and then, in 2015, a move to Richmond and the transition to bricks and mortar.
“I knew the [Richmond] BMX scene was good, … but the scene has really exploded since I’ve been here,” Powers says. “We can’t take credit for it, but we definitely play a bit part of it by having a place where people can get their stuff and feel comfortable. It’s a cool spot that brings everybody together.”
The store is known for keeping the locals’ bikes rolling without extra costs. “It’s a big way that we give back to the scene in the community,” Powers says. “If a kid comes in and wants some grips, we put them on and we don’t charge them extra. That’s pretty much across the board for any BMX stuff here.”
Powers displays nearly 400 bikes in an on-site museum. (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Powers sees growing support for BMX in Richmond. “With the new skate park opening in Sandston, we’ve sold more complete bikes than ever locally,” he says, adding that BMXers are generally welcome at skate parks. “I think more people are seeing kids on bikes and want to get their kids on bikes, or the older generation that grew up riding BMX have kids now, and they want to get their kids into riding bikes.
“The best advice I always tell people is, ‘Don’t care what the internet says,’” Powers adds. “Don’t care what anybody says about it or you or how you’re riding. The best advice is just have fun. You can have as little or as much fun on a bike as you want. And BMX allows you to do that.”
Crandall of RADshare aims to continue BMX’s legacy and popularity. “One of the most important things is for people to just get involved,” he says. “A lot of local pros in Richmond have done a lot to create shared spaces for everybody to use. … The BMX track, the skate parks and the dirt jumps are there for everybody. It’s just allowing yourself the freedom to explore and get involved.
“Richmond does a good job illustrating one of the things that’s always been embraced … that you don’t have to be a big-shot pro or career pro rider to enjoy bike riding. That’s one of the most important messages. You can just go out, have a good time and enjoy it.”
Hot Spots
Want to get out and catch sick air? Here are some local area BMX tracks and skate parks where you can ride or spectate.
BMX Tracks
1. Belle Isle Bike Skills Course
2. Deep Run Pump Track
3. Gillies Creek Park
4. Taylor Farm Park All Wheel Park
5. VMP BMX*
Skate Parks
6. Ashland Skate Park*
7. Fonticello Skatepark
8. Laurel Skate Park
9. Pole Green Skatepark
10. Southside Community Center
11. Texas Beach Skate Park
*off map
Hang Time
Whether you want to watch a race or try BMX yourself, there are numerous local options. Unless otherwise noted, these events are hosted by Richmond BMX at Gillies Creek Park.
Weekly
Richmond BMX hosts practice rides on Thursdays and races most Sundays from March to December; the public is welcome to watch races. Proper gear and USA BMX membership are required to ride. In addition, every Monday in June is $1 race night, thanks to a collaboration between Richmond BMX and Powers Bike Shop.
Weekly
VMP BMX, a dirt track at Virginia Motorsports Park near Petersburg, runs local races on some Friday evenings and most Saturday afternoons from March to October. Loaner bikes are available, and the first race is free to new members. Register at vmpbmx.org.
June 28
Pros race for cash — and Richmond BMX regulars are welcome — at the ninth annual Flat Pedal Pro Am. The event honors the roots of BMX, when riders used flat pedals rather than shoe clips.
Thru Sept. 27
RADshare will host a summer series called Community Stoke Days, culminating with a finale on Sept. 27 at Gillies Creek. (Rumble in Richmond is paused for the year.)
Nov. 1
The annual Luck Cup honors track “patriarch” and longtime volunteer Art Luck. The charity race benefits various organizations, including the local Parkinson’s Foundation and RADshare.
Nov. 8
Duel of the Decades invites riders to take a lap on their original bikes from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
November-February
Weather permitting, VMP BMX near Petersburg runs off-season races a couple days each month.
2027
Richmond BMX will host its regional Gold Cup Qualifier event as part of USA BMX; the race takes place at the Gillies Creek Park track every third year.
