The Great Bike Race

1998 UCI Championships Melbourne, Australia

“Wow that was some race. One for the History books. The first ever female champion of the UCI World BMX Championships and now we’ve got her right here with our own Brent Dingle. “Brent take it away.”

“Yes Rodger, you've said it, we’ve all just watched a piece of history and I have our history making champion right here. Jenni Parker how does it feel to be the first female champion in a sport dominated by men?”

“It feels really good.”

“Tell me Jenni Parker how did you get into racing?” Jenni took off her helmet shaking out her long blonde hair. She couldn’t believe how big the crowd was or that they were still there cheering for her.

“I don’t think you have time for that story” she said.

“Jenni Parker you’re the BMX world champion. I think we have time for you.” Brent looked up into the camera. “Well, Rodger am I right do we have time for our champion?”

“For our first female, history making, champion in the world of BMX we do, Brent.” Rodger Davis answered from his seat on the ESPN 2 studio set.

“Well, you’ve just heard from the studio we have the time and I for one can’t wait to hear the story of how our first female champion started her journey into super stardom and I’d be willing to bet our audience at home can't wait either.” Jenni shifted her feet. She hadn’t expected to tell this story. She hadn’t expected any of this. Taking a deep breath-

Summer 1989

Sierra Vista, Arizona

Holly Cerkinac drove faster than her usual I want to get the hell away from Bayless and the godawful cashiers she had to manage. By the time she hit her street she'd forgotten that she was tired, forgotten she hated her job. Standing on the stoop outside her front door she felt like her heart was going to burst.

“Ryan!” No answer. He was either outside, in his room with the music up or his headphones were on. “Ryan, come out here I’ve got big news.” Ryan’s door opened four inches and his brown eyes appeared in the gap. “Come out here I have a surprise for you and I’m not telling what it is until I see the rest of you.” Spinning around on one toe the way she did in dance class when she was four, she headed back to the living room. Ryan came slowly behind her and plopped down on the worn plaid sofa across from their old TV. Holding in her excitement she asked. “Honey, do you remember the contest I had you enter?”

“Yeah, the one about President Lincoln.” Ryan studied the floor between his feet.

“Do you remember what you wrote about him?”

“Yeah, I said President Lincoln was great because he freed the slaves.” She was never more proud of him than when she read the letter from the Aquafresh company.

“Well, the judges read it and they thought it was so good you won the whole thing.” Ryan looked up at her. “You won the grand prize, baby.” Bending down she grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. “Come outside, I’ll show you. I’m so proud of you.” Leaning over she kissed his cheek. “Come on.”

Outside of their small apartment she made him stand by the front corner of her Ford Escape before she went behind the rear hatch. After a moment of wrestling, she stuck her head back around the corner.

“You ready.” Ryan shook his head up and down. In a grand reveal that would have made the models on the Price is Right proud she wheeled a brand-new GT Mach One BMX bike from behind the Escape. Ryan’s eyes grew as big as half dollars. A lump filled her throat and a single tear escaped her eye.

________

In the week since his mom had given him the GT Ryan had kept it in his room with him every night. The old Huffy he and his mom found at the Goodwill three blocks from their apartment two years ago had been relegated to the railing outside their front door. When he woke up in the mornings the GT stayed against the back of the couch while he rushed through bowls of strawberry cheerios.

Riding the GT was pure freedom, the speed, the response of the pedals. He felt two inches taller every time he came around a corner, pushed down hard with one leg, and felt the wind race through his hair. It was never this way on the Huffy. The Huffy was heavy and slow. The GT was smooth and effortless. The GT was everything the Huffy wasn't.

“Hey!” Ryan looked back. Behind him was David Ainsworth his sometimes friend and most of the time tormentor. David was the kid every neighborhood had. The kid who got everyone in trouble. In the last month he’d been caught for egging old man Myer’s place, stealing baseball cards from the Bayless grocery store, and smoking.

Putting his weight over the handlebars he pushed down hard on the pedals. The GT shot forward in response. Taking a look back he smiled at the sight of David falling behind. He couldn’t believe it. With the Huffy David would have caught him easy, but with the GT things were different.

“Stop.” David sounded even further behind. Looking down at his front tire he pushed for more speed. This was his chance to finally beat David. His legs burned but he didn’t care he was fast, nobody was going to catch him today.

The GT’s handlebars swayed back from one side to the other as he pumped out every ounce of speed. Street after street block after block he flew. He was really doing it. He was beating David Ainsworth. A quick look over his shoulder confirmed it. Nobody had ever beaten David on the Haro Master before. At least none of the kids in the neighborhood or the ones that surrounded it maybe even the whole town. Squeezing the hand brake levers against the rubber grips he brought the GT to a stop.

“Hey Ryan, is that a new bike.” Garrett Barnes his best friend since their first day in kindergarten came rumbling out of his house. Garret was his sidekick and funnier than any of the comedians he saw on the late night tv shows his mom didn’t know he watched.

“Yeah, I won it.”

“Holy cow is that a GT?” Garret’s voice was an octave higher than usual.

“What’s your problem, man?” David came charging up in a wide arching power slide that almost carried his bike into Garrett. “Where’d you get that, you steal it?”

“No, I won it.”

“It looks stolen.” David was glaring at him, he shifted nervously on his feet you never knew with David what was about to happen.

“It’s not.” He took a couple steps back.

“You think your Gary Ellis?” David asked. No, he didn’t think he was the lumberjack the number one BMX racer in the world.

“I was just going fast.”

“Well, you didn’t beat me I let you go.” Garrett laughed and David shot a death look at him.

“What… He was, he was going really fast, and you were way behind.” Garrett mocked. Brave Garrett he thought but you might get popped for it.

“I could’ve caught him it wouldn’t have even been a challenge.” David protested

“Yeah, maybe if he hit his brakes.” David turned his head from one side to the other shooting glares at both of them.

“Is that what you think?” He demanded. “You think you can beat me cause you’re not on your Huffy.” Ryan looked away from David. Jenni Parker stood in the open gate at the edge of her yard looking at him.

He forgot about David for a moment. A twinge of guilt rose up in him. Jenni had been his best friend almost as much as Garrett, but since she lost her brother last winter, he hadn't had the courage to talk to her. He knew he should have gone over to her house after Brian got hit by the school bus, but he kept finding reasons not to.

Still looking at Jenni, not thinking of what he was about to say, he said. “I know it.”

“You beat me? You willing to bet that stupid bike on it” He took his eyes from her and looked down at the GT.

“Yeah, I do.” He looked up at David and held his stare.

“I want in if you're racing.” Jenni said gaining the attention of all three boys.

“You can’t race, what bike do you have?” David scowled at her.

“I have Brian’s ripper.”

“That was smashed wh”- even David couldn’t finish the sentence. Everyone knew Brian had been riding his tear drop PK Ripper when the bus came around the corner and smacked into him just before he made it to the sidewalk and safety. The bus driver hadn’t been looking where he was going, he had been yelling at two kids fighting in the back of the bus.

“I fixed it.” Jenni said quietly looking down at the pavement below her Converse Chucks.

“I heard it was real messed up.” David said seeming to lose his reservations.

“Hey.” Ryan said. David shot him a look. Gulping and holding on tight to his courage he kept going. “If we’re going to race it should be anyone who wants in.” David was still giving him a glare, but he hadn’t stopped him. That was a sign in his favor. “Any kid in town that wants in is in and the winner gets his pick of any bike he wants.” Ryan thought for a second then added. “Nobody can beat the Haro, right. So, you shouldn’t care.” He knew he had him. David couldn’t back away from a direct challenge like that he would never live it down.

“Fine I’ll take the Ripper and throw it under another bus.” Even for David that was low. Ryan thought about hitting him but fell short of actually being brave enough to throw a punch at David’s nose.

___________

News of the race spread quickly through the neighborhoods and cul-de-sacs. It wasn’t long before every kid in town knew about the race. After hot debates of where it should be held the racecourse was set. The race would start at Kings Manor Apartments then the racers would ride through the neighborhood behind it and into the empty field and dry wash that separated the houses on highway forty-two from the ones behind Huachuca Elementary school. Then they would go all the way up to Highway 92 turn right and head over to the Bayless parking lot before going down Moson Boulevard and finishing by riding back into the concrete courtyard at Kings Manor. There were already fifty kids who said they would race and probably more by race day.

Jenni Parker spent the week before the race in her backyard going over every inch of the Ripper. Every minute she spent tracing over the silver frame she thought of Brian. Thought of how he looked pulling trick after trick on it in the street in front of their house.

His best trick was a Fakie Tail whip. To learn it he woke up early every morning for a month and rode the Ripper back and forth before school trying again and again to hop the bike into the air and then whip the tail. The first two weeks ended with him on the ground each time. But the third he started landing it and by the fourth he was nailing it. But that was Brian. He never let anything beat him.

The Ripper rested upside down on its handlebars. Jenni reached forward turning the pedals around the crank with a shaking hand and swallowing back tears she didn’t want to fall. Looking through the spinning spokes to the sliding glass door of her house, she sighed. Somewhere behind those doors her mom would be staring blankly at a window or a picture of Brian hanging on the wall. She knew her mom was never going to be the way she was before Brian died, but she hoped that maybe one day her mom would remember she was still alive.

The sound of the rusted hinge on the gate at the corner of the old fence that surrounded her yard almost made her jump out of her skin. She fell back on her butt when she turned to look. What she saw didn’t make sense, Ryan Cerkinac standing on the other side of the opened gate.

“Is it ok if I come in?” She looked at Ryan instantly sad and angry. Ever since Brian died, she had been a girl with the plague, no one talked to her. She had been ok with most of it, but it had really hurt when Ryan and Garrett hadn’t talked to her. They had been her best friends.

“I’m sorry I never came by.” She looked away from him and back at the Ripper.

“You did a really good job on the bike.” He took a step inside the gate. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to go back to the way things were. She wanted to laugh and joke and ride up and down the street all day like they used to.

“I’m glad you're racing.” She looked up at him and saw he was the same cute boy he had been before.

“Do you think you’ll win?” He asked shifting his feet. “I hope you do. You were always really fast.”

“I’m going to try.” She said getting off her knees. “The Ripper is faster than my Mongoose.”

“Really, you could fly on the Mongoose” The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

“You could never beat me.” She matched him with her own smile.

“Yeah, well I got a new bike so I might leave you in my dust.”

“In your dreams Cerkinac.” For the first time since he had shown up, she was glad he was there. Looking out at the sidewalk she asked. “Where did you get the bike?”

“I won it in a contest.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I forgot I even entered it my mom made me it was an essay about President Lincoln. I said he freed the slaves.” She looked at the GT studying it for the first time.

“A nicer bike for me to beat you on.” She said in her best YODA voice.

“Yeah, if you can catch me.”

“You can't catch what you've already passed.” She said throwing her hand on her hip. Ryan looked at her for a moment before rolling the GT forward and then back again.

“Garrett and I are gonna ride over the course, you wanna go?” He rolled the bike forward again.

“If you guys can keep up, I do.” She said picking the Ripper up and putting it back on its wheels.

“More like if you can keep up with us.” He said turning and rolling the GT back into the street.

____________

Jenni Parker rolled out of bed the way she did most mornings stumbling out of her bedroom through the hall and into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. Then into the kitchen for Fruity Pebbles. Her mom was in her usual spot standing in front of the sink looking out the window and drinking coffee between sighs of despair. She had gotten use to her mom not talking or even acknowledging she was there. She wandered if her parents even talked to each other anymore. They didn’t do it in front of her. She barely even saw her dad. She heard him mostly. The sound of the diesel engine in his truck when he left for work. His heavy footsteps when he came home drunk after she had gone to bed.

Ryan Cerkinac had barely been able to sleep. This was better than Christmas. Today one kid was going to have his choice of any bike worth owning and not just in the neighborhood but the entire town. He didn’t know if he could win, but he was sure that unless David won his bike was safe. He barely tasted his cherry pop-tarts and chocolate milk before he grabbed the GT and raced out the door. Outside the air was cool and numbed his face, but the pedals felt good below his feet. He was fast today maybe even fast enough to win.

David Ainsworth woke up angry. He woke up ready to race. He had been ready for days, ready to shut Ryan up for good. He would take the stupid GT when he won and let it sit outside his house and rot so Ryan would have to ride by on his crappy Goodwill Huffy and watch it rust. Smiling at the thought he walked out of his bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen. His mom muttered something from the hall bathroom he shared with his sister. He kept going pretending he didn't hear her. It was going to be some stupid chore, anyway especially if she had already started cleaning.

When Jenni rode past the Korean Baptist Church and up on the sidewalk across the street from Kings Manor Apartments kids were already lining up to race. Her nerves hit her like a brick wall. She had never seen so many kids on bikes before in her life, she doubted anyone had. Her fingers curled tighter around the Ripper’s handgrips. This is for Brian, she reminded herself and gave the Ripper a hard pedal.

She was going to win today. She had to win today because after she did, she was never going to look back and feel sad again. She would always be able to smile when she thought of Brian, not because she won, because she had brought the Ripper back. Brian was gone and nothing could change that, but the Ripper wasn’t and bringing it back in a small way brought Brian back to.

Wheeling the Ripper up to the makeshift starting line Tom Dobson’s little sister had drawn in chalk she took in a deep breath. She needed to calm down, being nervous wasn't going to help her win. Her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. Down the line on her left she could see Ryan and David. David was already giving Ryan a hard time. Another boy way down at the end was shouting the rules for the race but she couldn’t make out most of what he was saying. For her there was only one rule, Win. The beginning was going to be the hardest part she would get jostled to the back by the stronger boys, but she would have time to make that up. Once things cleared and she could ride in the open she knew she could out race any of the boys. Each of the muscles in her arms tightened and she waited to send the pedal under her left foot down with all her strength. Any second now and the kid who lived on Marley Street would fire his cap gun and they would be off.

The sound of the cap gun startled Ryan, but he started pedaling right away. Before he could get anywhere, he felt David’s fist slam into his side. Pain shot threw him. The GT wobbled underneath him and his legs turned to rubber. He almost fell before recovering his balance at the last second. It hurt to breathe. David had got him right in the solar plexus. The GT slowed underneath him. Squeezing his eyes, he forced himself to pedal again. In another minute, his eyes were open, and he was pedaling fast. He looked for David and thought he could see him about twenty bikes ahead. He would catch him. David was the one person he had to beat. He was the only one who would take his bike.

David felt his breath fall in and out of him like a machine. The Haro was absolutely flying. Ryan had to be way behind. This was going to be easy. There was only one kid in front of him and he was gaining ground. He would blow past him when they got to the field behind Huachuca Elementary. Taking a quick look over his shoulder he thought he saw Ryan way back and he thought he saw Jenni too. Why was she even here? She should be back with her zombie mom mourning her dumb brother.

Jenni leaned over her handlebars and swayed them back and forth in perfect rhythm with her legs on the pedals turning the crank. The Ripper was an extension of her own body. The field behind the school had been good to her and now with pavement back under her tires there were only a handful of riders in front of her. David was one of them and that worried her. She had seen what he’d done to Ryan. It would be easy if he wanted to do that to her, but if she stayed out of his sight until the last minute, he wouldn’t have time. Leaning further up off the seat she pushed for more speed. They were making the turn out of the Pueblo Vista neighborhood and into the home stretch to Kings Manor. Sweat glistened off her forehead in the Arizona sun. This was her time to shine, her time to win.

Wind lifted her hair off her shoulders and held it straight back behind her. She was absolutely flying now. David was right in front of her. He hadn’t seen her yet and that was good. Another quarter mile and they would be at the bottom of the hill and cutting through the Bayless parking lot. This was it she had to make her move now. Her legs pumped like pistons. Every thought in her mind was about speed. Suddenly, fear raced through her. Right as she caught David, he saw her and worse he veered toward her. She wasn’t going to make it past. David was going to knock her down. She stiffened and waited for him to punch her the way he had hit Ryan, but then right before he would have reached her something slammed into him. She looked back over her shoulder unsure of what happened. Behind her she saw Ryan and David on the ground with their bikes tangled together. Turning back, she had one thought, the race was hers.

____________

“Well did you win?” Jenni looked up at Brent Dingle.

“You can’t keep us in suspense, Jenni Parker.” She hadn’t thought of Ryan in years but in that moment, she wondered where he was. She had never asked why he had wrecked David that day. She had always assumed it was for what he had done at the beginning of the race, but now she wondered if he had done it for her.

“Yeah, I won.” She said before turning to walk away not wanting to give an interview anymore.

“Wait, we have to know what bike you choose.” Jenni turned back to Brent.

“I chose the Ripper, it was the only bike I wanted.” She turned this time ignoring Brent when he tried to ask another question.