11 BMX

Horn Park, Winn Road, London

Enjoyment - 80%

Success - 35%

Will try again - Yes

First timer's recommendation – Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, other riders will be more helpful than you think. Wear a helmet.

My brother-in-law Jamie is an inspiration to me and many others. After suffering a life-threatening brain injury in 2011, he has fought back courageously, and so it was an easy choice to ask him to guide me through my first bike-related sport, especially one as alien to me as a BMX.

I was never in the BMX/skateboard crowds are school or college, we were more like the in-betweeners who played football, or as someone called us once ‘the cool tracksuit gang’, which I think was a compliment. I apparently rode a BMX as a child, but certainly not one with pegs on the wheels, and it likely had brakes for the front and back. So getting on to one at the age of 31 and attempting to ride some basic ramps was pretty daunting, even with an expert on hand.

We went down to the park near to where my sister and Jamie live in Lee, south-east London, and mercifully it was almost empty, bar a few roller skaters, one of which helped a lot in demonstrating how I could ride down from the top of a ramp without ending up in casualty.

One thing which is clear when you meet Jamie’s friends is that the BMX community is a strong one, with riders across London and the UK knowing each other, and local groups staying very close from childhood through to seeing their own kids on to bikes. It’s maybe because riding a BMX in its purest form doesn’t have an obvious competitive element to it that there seems to be a desire to see others do well and to help and encourage, rather than just go off and do your own thing.

I am at least 15 years too old to take up riding a BMX, but I would definitely have another go if Jamie trusted me with his bike again.