Steve Crandall needs no introduction for readers with a background in BMX. As the founder of FBM Bikes, one of the most respected and influential brands in BMX from the mid-1990s through 2020, Crandall has left an indelible mark on the sport’s identity, values, and community. Today, his focus has shifted to RADshare, a Richmond, VA-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting BMX accessibility and encouraging youth participation through community-based initiatives. Today Crandall joins The Radavist to report on the fifth annual Rumble in Richmond. Watch the video below!
For anyone not familiar, RADshare is a non-profit aimed empowering today’s youth through action sports. More specifically, we try to provide access to under-resourced kids by providing free helmets, bikes, and by hosting BMX-related community events.
The event site where we held our fifth Rumble in Richmond, Gillies Creek Park, is a primarily volunteer-built and -maintained public dirt spot, made possible by a small group of dedicated locals, with support from some of the homies at James River Park System. Building and maintaining any kind of trails can be a challenge, and if you add a week of hectic thunderstorms all the way up to the eve of the Rumble, you can imagine what kind of mess presented itself to us. The last-minute torrents of rain almost shut us down, but the larger BMX community came together from far and wide to pitch in, lend a hand, and build fun for everyone. Riders from all over the country got out of their cars, road worn and already dirty, grabbed shovels and rakes, and by noon the entire park was buzzing with excitement as the sun peeked out from the clouds. No one was a spectator. It really illustrated some of the best parts of the cycling community, in some ways we don’t see often enough. The question wasn’t, “Is the event gonna be cancelled?” It was: “What can I do to help?”
There’s no way we could’ve pulled off the fifth iteration of the Rumble without everyone’s help. One example: our Pro-Am event featured a kids’ jam that gave young riders an opportunity to ride with some of today’s top pros on the pump track. The pros also picked winners and handed out prize bags to everyone who rode. Another example: a women’s session hosted by Nina Buitrago to encourage more riders to get involved, followed by the big jump fiasco at Richmond BMX (next door to the jumps). Seeing a ten-year-old kid do his first backflip on dirt, being cheered on by an Olympic coach with 16 X- Games medals, was a sight to behold, and the big show hadn’t even started yet.
One of the things unique about this event, which takes place in downtown Richmond Virginia, is the total lack of boundaries between local kids and international celebrities. Anything goes, a 12-year-old novice can ask Scotty Cranmer for an autograph while he’s next to the jump filming his brother Matty, and Mason Ritter is telling an up-and-coming ripper how much speed he needs to hit the big jump. The amount of parents riding with their kids was also pretty cool to witness, especially when a dad named Ryan towed in his 14-year-old son to hit the Rumble jump. You could see and feel the fear turn to excitement as Jameson Nyquist cleared the gap and the crowd went haywire. His dad went on to win the event, and donated all of his prize money back to the non-profit.
We gave away bicycles, close to a hundred helmets, countless high-fives, and lots of big smiles. We even had a foot race for free bikes for the kids; they just had to try and catch Ryan Nyquist as he cruised down the first straightaway. Lots of good times and rough crashes were shared throughout the day. Lots of laughter and unbelievable riding, making such a huge impact on so many young riders from all walks of life, but what felt so good, at least to me, was seeing so many people actively participating in making the Rumble in Richmond such a meaningful and memorable day for so many.
The Rumble really is a celebration of bike riding culture and BMX, on so many levels, and it also serves as our annual fundraiser.