Some more emails

We get emails here at Singapore BMX on a pretty regular basis. Many emails ask for information as there is very little information about BMX in Singapore. I remember when I wrote a post here about Singapore BMX YOG team manager and asked the question if the fella ever road BMX, I got this email

BMX is a specialized sport and should not be just covered under a general term like "cycling". If you look into history of track and road racing, you will find most of the fastest guys around, are ex bmxers, and also downhill mtb and 4x... Again, ex or even current bmx champs.

The committees need to open their minds a bit and be flexible. BMX is here to stay. Treat it well.

I thank the author of this email and I do agree with him 100%. I am sad to say that some of the people pushing BMX in Singapore have never ridden competitively in BMX at all, let alone raced BMX. One of the guys out there is doing it purely for the money and hoping that it will help his business. He knows who he is.

I got this other email today and it was a bit disturbing:

I was cycling around bedok at night towards th bedok interchange skatepark when i accidentally knock a lady,i then immediately stopped and apologised with all my heart and have a feeling that i feel guilty when suddenly a man whom i think it was her husband insulted me even though i also said sorry to him and so since he insulted me i immediately cycle of as fast as i could from the site and because of that ichange into a skater instead of a biker(please advice me on what to do)

Poor kid. He apologised but got scolded for it. But then again, I do not know about what happened as I have only the email to show for it. But I am willing to bet that he was riding on the pavement.

Guys, please do not ride on the pavement. They are for pedestrians only. Respect the pedestrians first and foremost as they have every right to be on the pavement. If you must cycle on the pavement, cycle slowly and always say "please" and "thank-you" to pedestrians who give way to you. Co-existing with pedestrians is the first step towards a harmonious society.

And last, but by no means least, I got this other email that day

i require some help. im doing some research on BMX and MTB Scene in Singapore. Mind helping me out?

I'll drop you a few topics, hope you could help me out. would be very helpful getting info from someone who is from the scene.

Hope you could help me answer my questions.

I basically need to know the BMX riders hangout venues, like underground skating/Public/Parks.

Next would be the famous skating shops.

Skating Teams/Group.

Events Past/Present

Hope you can help me out.

Helped him out I did. I was able to answer most of his questions.

That is about it for today. Happy BMX-ing!

Like after the YOG BMX

Someone sent me this image. It came off BMXNEWS.com and it is sad. Is this what will become of Singapore's YOG BMX track after all is said and done? Will there be money pumped in to maintain the track? Will it fall into disrepair? Considering the fact that many of the BMX riders spent their own money on tools and gave up a lot of time maintaining the track because there was no interest at all, will it resemble the China Olympic BMX track? We all hope that BMX in Singapore will not wane after the YOG but will the track be abandoned? Only time will tell.

From a reader of our blog....paranoid android?

I would like to go on record to thank this gentlemen who posted something in the blog. And I can say that his sentiment is shared by many.

Ok, this is how I see it. I'm sure I'm not alone. Singapore seems to have this paranoid mentality that portrays: If we build the track early, people might use it and enjoy it. Now we don't want that do we... I'm actually surprised it isn't being demolished after the games due to it being a "safety issue - someone might get hurt". I'm super keen to ride this track, but I'm expecting to be hit with hundreds of conditions of use. "Must not leave the ground", "Do not go above 20km/h" And so on... Sounding so negative, but it's how it is.

I actually went to check out the track a month or so ago, I was swamped by security and their CANNOT word when I asked about having a look... It was right there, still CANNOT. Please I said, I just want to look at it... CANNOT. After 10 or 15 minutes of talking to the slowly calming "security" guy guarding the gate like it was Buckingham palace, he allowed me to look at it under his supervision...

Lets see how it goes after the games...

You are right about that. The Games are almost at a close. You can bet we will be keeping a very close eyes on the proceedings.

The aftermath of the BMX in YOG

Yesterday was raceday at the Tampines BMX Track as far as the YOG was concerned. We had two riders, a male and a female in the BMX category. Both failed to make it but at least they had a taste of Olympic glory. They tried and did their best. I am sure all of Singapore is very proud of them because they gave their best. I was a BMX racer. I know what it feels like to race in competitions. These two riders took part in an Olympic competition. Let that sink in...an Olympic BMX race. Imagine all the butterflies-in-the-stomach moments. The pressure is on you. You feel it. It is dang near impossible to get the feeling that our two riders felt. Alvin and Nasthasiah, we are proud of you. You two did your best and we know that.

Now that the cycling part of the YOG is over, let us look at what we have. Will we be having BMX races again? I think so. I hope so. Will we be having better coaches than what we had? I hope so too. From what I heard, the coach that was coaching them had NO BMX experience. I do not think he has even ridden BMX competitively. Then there are the ones who want to cash in on this BMX fad that has been fuelled by the YOG. Have you guys ever raced before? Ever lined up at the gate with six other riders? I doubt so. The saying goes...a bad leader is worse than having no leader at all. The same thing can be said about teachers.

The track will be there. Whether or not people pour money into it to maintain it is another factor. Over $300 million Singapore dollars was spent on making this YOG possible. What is a few thousand dollars? We need to keep the sport alive. We need to keep the hopes and dreams of the BMXers alive. This is not 2005 when I was very bluntly told, as VP of BMX in Singapore, that there was no budget for BMX and that they were only going to concentrate on road and mountainbike. I just wish that these so-called sports people would not walk with blinkers on.

There is hope for BMX. I know there is. We will keep fighting for it. I have seen the fire in the eyes of the young kids when they race. I see myself in them, as young kid over 20 years ago, on my BMX bike. It meant the world to me then and it still does.

I will say it again. We are proud of you two, Nasthasiah and Alvin. You made history.

Singapore BMX riders won't be on the podium

Not my words exactly but the words Jeff Ang in today's Straits Times sports section. You want to know why? It is because we had zero support for BMX back in the day. Our local riders had to maintain the track, using self-bought shovels. At one time, as VP of BMX in SACA or the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association, I was told that they were channelling SSC funds (which was literally pittance) towards mountain-biking and road-biking. They did not really care about BMX. It was left to me and a bunch of dedicated volunteers to make it happen.

My friend Gugud's daughter, Nadia, deserves all the praise she gets. She tries and was riding since she was a young girl. Not too sure about Alvin Poon though but if he can ride BMX, he has learnt to ride what, in my opinion, is one of the hardest bike sports out there.

But the problem is, the YOG bike team manager is not a BMXer. That is why I say, God help us.

YOG Bike Team Manager a BMXer?

Is the Singapore cycling team manager a BMX rider?

I was asked this question by some Australian media guy covering the Youth Olympic Games. So I made some enquiries and found out that this guy Daniel Loy is not a even a BMX rider. I wonder if he knows about BMX and what it encompasses. Also there was a rider mentioned in the Today Online newspaper yesterday as being a BMX rider, someone named Alvin Poon. Now that is strange...I have never come across this guy riding in the races that we organised then, back when I was VP of BMX. Maybe he was too young to take part then but isn't that where the BMX skills are picked up? From a very young age?

And people ask why there is so little interest in the Youth Olympic Games. Read the Today Newspaper's article. BMX has been active in Australia for a VERY long time. Yep, they pretty much, as the article says, have it covered.

Runway Cycling 2010

Went to the Runway Cycling yesterday. Did not see much BMX bikes there, at least, not like last time when we participated in the cycling while riding our BMX bikes. But I did hear that there was a BMX static jump display so there was some BMX after all.

We had a talk with one of the guys at Dirtraction and it looks like we will be working with him, advising him and generally helping him with the BMX side of things in Singapore. It is looking good and we feel comfortable working with him.

On the humorous side, we got this email from someone in India

Hi, I need few BMX riders for my show in india. You think can we work anything out? Please call or mail me if you think we can work out something..Money is good!!

I would have thought that he would have gotten in touch with the BMX clubs in India. In any case, we sent him an email, asking him what he needed and how we could help. Guess what? No response.

Oh well. It would have been great though!

2011 UCI BMX Permanent Number System

Received this email from the UCI today. All UCI BMX riders, please take note

Dear Madame/Sir, The UCI introduced on 1st August 2006 a permanent number system for Elite Men & Elite Women. With this system, riders can choose a “career number”, which they have the exclusive right to use for their entire Elite class career. This will give riders a possibility to market themselves and to give media and spectators an easy way to identify riders. Now for the 5th time, riders are given an opportunity to apply for number not yet occupied.

Rider’s which number has expired (not scored any UCI points in the last 2 seasons) will become vacant again. Rider’s may re-apply for their number, although it will be subject to the normal procedure mentioned in the UCI rule book.

The National Federation shall submit a list of all their (Elite Men & Elite Women and Juniors moving up) riders born 1992 or earlier, wishing to receive a permanent number before July 15, 2010.

If you need further information, please don’t hesitate to contact the UCI office.

Opening of the Tampines BMX Track

There was a race today at the Tampines BMX track and I am happy to say that we now have a track that we can call our own, even though it was pretty late. But at last I can rest because the dream, at least for me, has come true. I can now fade into the shadows and rest happy because I know that in some point in my life, I have been there and done that. Don't get me wrong. I am not retiring from BMX. I intend to keep BMX alive by re-living the old-school of BMx

To those guys that are running the BMX stuff in Singapore...hold the torch high. Do not give up. Don't fall for the idiotic preaching by some of these so-called BMX consultants. These cretins were not around when we were pushing for BMX in Singapore but now, when all is said and done and there is fame and money to be made, they are coming out.

And to the next batch of young riders out there...practice hard. You now have a world-standard BMX track. Make use of it and treat it well. Make Singapore proud!

NSAs to get more funds for YOG

I read here that "The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) is set to release the third tranche of funds from the $6.2 million pool set aside by the Singapore Youth Sports Development (SYSD) Committee to help these associations gear up for the YOG."

What? Only now? When the games are almost at our doorstep?

Back then, do you know how much was set aside for BMX races? Practically ZERO. Yes, you heard it...practically zero. Funding from SACA was set aside for road and mountainbike only. All of us volunteers had to literally dig from our own pockets to fund races that happened only four times a year. We did not even have prizes for winners. we had to beg like crazyto get funds for medals and trophies for BMX races.

As for the track. Boy, that was a joke. So many back-breaking hours were spent digging the track, getting it prepped for the next BMXrace. And now, when the YOG comes here, we get a brand new track. So what about all those years when we were imploring SSC and SACA for funds and we got pittance? Some people seem to have forgotten about that!

Well, now you know.