Did you know the start ramp of a BMX supercross track is eight metres high – that’s the height of two male African elephants!

The amateur start hill is 5 meters (16.4 feet) tall.

Alise Post, a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team, was denied a spot on the 2008 Olympic team because, at age 17, she was too young. While she would not have been too young to compete in many other Olympic sports, the minimum age for an Olympic BMX racer in 2008 was 19. In 2007, she was the UCI BMX world champion in the cruiser class, or age 15-16 girls. She won the national championship for elite women in 2010, and the junior elite national title in 2009 and 2008.

Are BMX bikes fast? The average top speed of BMX race bike is 35mph (56 kph) descending a starting race ramp. The average top speed for a mountain bike is 30 mph (48 kph) when riding downhill, which is 5 mph (8 kph) slower than a BMX bike

Their simplistic design makes it as easy as possible to ride them in intense riding environments such as skate parks or pump tracks. Other features that define a BMX bike include its lightweight structure and thick and steady tyres for durability and stability whilst riding.

BMX racing was born in Palms Park, Los Angeles in the 1969, when motocross rider and park attendant Ronald Mackler met a group of children who wanted to race their Schwinn Stingrays bikes.

BMX stands for Bicycle Moto-X and began as the bicycle equivalent of motocross.

BMX bikes have just one gear and just one brake. So there’s no switching gears down a hill or up a hill, and probably little time to do that anyway. The bikes are uniquely designed because they must be strong enough to handle the landings following a jump and light enough to help a rider build up speed.

Unlike road-racing bikes, which generally have wheel diameters of 26 or 27 inches, the BMX bikes have smaller 20-inch tires. The BMX bikes are smaller than road bikes — or the bike you might have hanging inside your garage — and the smaller wheel size puts riders closer to the dirt.