MTBMXers

WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY KYLE EMERY-PECK

You would think that, having grown up in Marin County—the birthplace of mountain bikes—and seeing groups ride by my house by the dozen on the way to the trailhead every day, I would have taken an interest in the scrappier, bigger brother of BMX. Ten minutes from my doorstep laid an almost unlimited source of singletrack, ranging from slow, tight switchback turns filled with roots to fast berm’d, white-knuckle slashers. But when I was a teenager, I just wanted to ride BMX, and that was it. I somehow turned a blind eye to mountain bikes. Street riding at the local community college and grade schools had enough to keep us entertained. When we got bored of that, we had an ongoing spot to build jumps behind the sanitation plant off the bike path. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a large, dedicated crew. When we were old enough to drive, that just meant exploring deeper for street spots and abandoned pools. I got into photography, shooting my friends grinding their first handrails and 360ing their first doubles. I kept shooting BMX constantly for the past thirteen years. Now that I’ve gotten more into riding MTBs, I find myself wanting to shoot in this space, too. In this article, you will find BMXers who ride MTBs photographed by a BMX photographer. Read about their origins and why they ride big squishy bikes in the woods.