Can A Mountain Biker Ride BMX | Blake's Practice Day

BMX racing, how hard could it be?.. Surely it's not that different to mountain biking. However, it's been a while since Blake has raced on wheels this small, so before the big event he heads to the pump track to get some practice in. Blake Samson gets some much-needed coaching from former British BMX champion John Twitchen. But you'll have to wait until next week to see if any of his training pays off!

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 - Welcome back you beautiful people!
00:23 - How does BMX racing work?
01:21 - Blakes BMX
02:37 - First attempt on a BMX pump track
03:57 - Blake gets some much-needed BMX coaching
04:51 - How to get a perfect start
07:38 - Learning the track
10:41 - Practice makes perfect!
12:21 - “Was this good?”

Useful Links:

When was the last time you went to a pump track? Let us know in the comments! 👇

Watch more on GMBN...

🎵 Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
Walkover - Parallax Deep
Bazar - El Flaco Collective
Curtains Down - El Flaco Collective
fly away - dreem
full train - dreem
High Rises - FLYIN
Midnight in Mischief - El Flaco Collective
move on - dreem
Pico da Maromba - El Flaco Collective
Top Floor - FLYIN
Una Noche en Lagos - El Flaco Collective

#GMBN #GlobalMountainBikeNetwork #MTB #MountainBiking

The Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN) is the world’s largest and fastest-growing online mountain bike channel and community – and your destination for the best mountain bike content in the world.

GMBN is dedicated to inspiring and unlocking your riding potential. Our videos cater to fans of every mountain bike discipline: from mile-munching cross-country (XC) riders, through adrenaline-fuelled dirt jumpers, gravity-hungry downhillers or aspiring enduro racers, and beyond.

Our ex-pro presenting team are on hand to entertain and inspire you while also providing a uniquely qualified insight into the world of mountain biking. Every week we deliver original daily videos that include:

Adventurous and entertaining features
Mountain bike skills coaching
Technical advice and guidance
Mechanical know-how to keep you rolling
A place for the riding community with our weekly Dirt Shed Show

Thanks to our sponsors:

Watch our sister channels:

[gmbn]

When was the last time you went to a pump track? Let us know in the comments! 👇

[adamweb]

The fact that Blake can do basically every MTB trick in the book and struggled with BMX shows how high the bar has been raised for other disciplines of cycling!

[benjamminworkman]

Raced BMX as a kid and now back at it as an adult, with my 2 sons. Flat out the best cycling discipline to learn fundamentals, and those bike skills translate so well to other forms of cycling and even moto 🤙🤙

[noampitlik]

The irony of the question is precious, seeing as how mountain biking was born out of us kids riding trails on our bmx bikes in the 70s/80s. Good show!

[JustMikeH]

Wow, BMX looks really weird compared to what I used to race the 1980's! Blake, you rocked it!

[markpeterson]

Brilliant timing Blake, well good Sir. I am 54 years old and will be racing my first season of BMX this summer. I am excited to follow you through this adventure because it mirrors mine and I can use all the help I can get. Great content GMBN! Keep up the great shows and pay Blake a little more $$$, he's worth it! Cheers - M

[tedthemoose]

More BMX Racing on GMBN!!! Such a great diversion from MTB, been racing a couple of years now and I love it.

[DotyString]

When I was racing BMX I was in amazing shape. MTB has the slow burn with the hills but nothing like sprinting on a DIRT bmx track.

[dumwee]

I wanna see a full race with all from GMBN!

[mead]

I just finished my first year of BMX racing! Its a great community to be a part of!

[tizer]

Great video, I used to race bmx when I was a teenager. Watching this brought back all those great feelings of practicing, racing and just having a blast on my bike. Thank you very much.

[mdc]

Started in BMX in the 80’s - harder than it looks :)

[VanPelt]

I’d like to see Blake enter a local race. So much natural talent!

[davebell]

I had an afternoon on a BMX track on my MTB. I was pretty damn fit at the time and getting along the 1st straight into the 1st berm had me at absolute maximum effort.
Different skills required.

[zethjugos]

Miss bmx racing...this is how i developed my sprinting which allowed me to frustrate a lot of roadies back in the day😅

[David-bwis]

I went the other way, I'm on the wrong side of 50 now but raced BMX on a Local/West Midlands level back in the early/mid 80s, I was OK, I spent more time off the podium than on it, I rode a Mongoose Super Goose and my last bike in the mid 80s was a Diamond Back Harry Leary, and I've got to admit the BMX's today look strange to my wrinkly eyes. I jumped on my first MTB in 1990-ish, I had a Carrera Quatro Comp, then a GT Avalanche in 93..Then the 90s took over and I spent more time in hedges in Ibiza than on a bike, skip forward 20+ years and I went and bought my first (Mid life crisis) MTB; an 2022 Intense Primer, couldn't ride it at first, had to learn a whole new way of riding, with suspension and 29" wheels. I thought because I could ride BMX over jumps etc it would be the same, yeah not gonna happen, I suffered bumps, bruises and good crashes, but eventually got the hang of it...I still crash, a lot...But It did amaze me how much had changed over the years, from bikes to techniques.

[cvdavis]

At 53 years old I still go to the local bmx pump tracks. I enjoyed watching this video.

[SavageAudits]

BMX Racing is where all of the best MTBers come from.

[Stravromula]

I am thoroughly impressed. I've been racing my entire life, over 50+ and the way you handled a 20" bike on your first try is commending. From jumping doubles to balancing in the gate. Nobody gets that right on the get go. As for manualing, where to start, that usually takes people two years to get the hang of. I also find that if you don't have the technique before you hit puberty you will never get it. Great job! An American racing in France for over 25+ years!!!

[AmvC]

Whoever planned/edited this one: very well done. The stomach pains when standing in the starting position really came through!