BMX Pro For A Week Summer Camp

Our team is working closely with the American Camp Association and drafting a plan to operate BMX Pro for a Week Summer Camp based on their in-depth Field Guide for Camps on Implementation of CDC Guidance*. The safety and well-being of our campers, your children, is and will remain our top priority. Assuming that the state of California and our local area continue to relax restrictions and as more facilities continue to open, we are considering running a few weeks of BMX Pro for a Week Camp beginning in July. We are working to identify tracks in San Diego County to host the camps. We will of course have specific camp guidelines to ensure health and safety and will seek consent from parents to conduct daily temperature checks, as another preventative measure. Stay tuned for more updates. Hope to welcome you all back out to the track soon!

* Field Guide for Camps on Implementation of CDC Guidance acacamps.org

Phoenix Winter Nationals

Even though the domestic USA BMX season started early January in Las Vegas, the Winter Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona this past weekend was the first, big team outing of the year. 

This year’s team has the addition of 15x Peter Choat from Bakersfield who had a solid showing in Phoenix with a 2nd on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday. Super stoked Peter joins us and even at a young age already brings a great vibe to the team in the pits. 

Connor Eaton, Brooke Craft and Derin Merten all raced the World’s qualifier Friday night and all made the mains, with Brooke winning and all three of them securing a place in this year’s UCI World Championships which will be held in Houston, Texas in May. 

Brooke also backed up Friday’s win with a 2nd and 4th for the weekend’s Nationals, with Connor Eaton making 3 out of his 4 main events and Derin Merten rocking the flat pedals and making her class main both days. Maddie DeSantis unfortunately crashed in practice last week and couldn’t make the trip to Arizona but should be back very soon. 

All in all a great outing for the team. Big thanks to John Buultjens at Haro for coming out and supporting the team and hanging out in the team pit all weekend. Note of thanks to Haro Bicycles and all of our sponsors that continue to support not just our team but also all of our programs. 

Haro, Cliq, Dale Holmes Racing, 100%, Barona Casino, WD40, 3dyn Composites Inc, Dvide, ODI, Box, Tioga, HRP Designs.

Grand Nationals – Tulsa

It’s crazy to think the 2019 season is a wrap and in the books and we’re are already planning for 2020 for all of our teams and programs as we speak. Last weekend, the full Haro Factory team headed out to Tulsa, Oklahoma to finish up the USA BMX season at the River Spirit Expo during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Payton Ridenour continued to top off a great year winning her class both Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Brooke Craft making the NAG 5 Challenge Main event Saturday night and another main event appearance and National number 4 for the year.

Connor Eaton placed 3rd at Friday’s Race of Champions, Cam Mason put it in the main and Maddie DeSantis also walked away with a podium Sunday night with another consistent, good year for Maddie.

Derin Merten didn’t make the main event in Tulsa but still had a solid year.

Big thank you to Tommy Craft and Haro’s John Buultjens for the team support all weekend and having a good Haro Pit presence for our crew and of course, a big shout-out to all of our team sponsors this year for making it all happen.

Haro, Dale Holmes Racing, Cliq, 100%, WD40, Dvide, 3dyn, Composites Inc, ODI, Tioga, HRP, Box, Gaerne.

Payton Ridenour – UCI World Champion

As we head into the USA BMX Grands later this month, which is also the final race of the year – it’s already been a fantastic year for Payton Ridenour. With her first year in the Junior Women’s class, Payton has been banging out National double wins all year and a solid 4th place at the UCI World Championships in Zolder. Last month, Payton became the first official UCI Red Bull Pump Track World Champion in Switzerland earning the coveted Rainbow jersey.

YMCA Summer Camp

We’ve just wrapped up another summer season of BMX Pro For a Week Camp. We ran 9 weeks straight with our biggest numbers in 6 years! We had the opportunity to work with more than 400 local shredders this summer and we’re excited to welcome them back.

Many thanks to Kasandra and Tyler Brown at Chula Vista BMX for working so well with us all summer long. These two run a top-notch track facility. We’d also like to thank Rylinde Cole, Brooke Craft, McKenna and Derin Mertin, and Sasha Bright for their efforts in working with the kids all summer. Special thanks to all of our camp sponsors: Haro, 100%, Barona Casino, WD40, 3dyn Composites Inc, ODI, Tioga and Dvide.

YMCA Summer Camp Season

We’re at the midway point in our YMCA BMX Pro For A Week Summer Camp Season 2019 down at Chula Vista BMX in San Diego. We’ve already exceeded our expected number of campers and are happy to share we have an overall 82%+ retention rate on campers. It’s great to see so many familiar faces coming back to hone their skills while also welcoming so many newcomers too. We’ve seen an increase in the number of girls signing up, which is great for the sport. It really boils down to getting more kids on bikes and we’re on a mission to do just that.

Dvide Photo Shoot

Shot of our guy Dr. Jason Richardson during our recent DVIDE shoot this week with Justin Kosman. Dr. J has been an instrumental part of our after school program, Ride to End Obesity, with his presentation on inspiring young people to be kind, active and happy. For more on DVIDE check out dvidebrand.com.

BMX Pro For A Week YMCA Summer Camp

It’s more than just a bike; it’s building a healthy lifestyle, helping youngsters to be aware of their surroundings, promoting great brain development, helping to alleviate anxiety, increasing academic achievement, preventing obesity and disease, creating happier kids all while having fun. Let’s Ride!

Our BMX Pro For A Week YMCA Summer Camp Season kicks off June 17th all summer long through August 16th at Chula Vista BMX. Email daleholmes99@gmail.com for more info or hit our BMX Pro For A Week link for YMCA sign-up information.

Ride to End Obesity

As we kick-off our 2019 Ride to End Obesity season, underwritten in large part by Barona Resort and Casino, we continue to celebrate our expansion and ultimately our ability to reach more young people with the positive message of staying active, eating well while introducing them to the sport BMX. We are excited to continue our partnership with San Diego-based, HARO Bicycles. Haro has uniquely been a long-standing leader in the cycling industry while also investing a tremendous amount back into the sport and our local communities.

Today, 30% or more of San Diego’s children in grades 5, 7 and 9 are overweight or obese according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Obesity is also one of the leading causes of preventative death and disability. EDUCATION is the key. Our Ride to End Obesity Program doesn’t just educate children and their educators on healthy habits and the dangers of obesity but also inspires our children to make positive changes. We are excited to add an additional element of STEM education into our programming this year too. Kids will learn how working on bikes and conducting their own safety checks can inspire ideas in engineering and product development. The Ride to End Obesity program will operate in both Poway Unified School District and also in the San Diego Unified School District through or partnership with Toby Wells YMCA.

PC: Justin Kosman