16-Year Old Aussie BMXer Killed in Car Wreck

Sad news from Oz today, as details of the death of 16-year old Ebony Dunsworth are reaching North America. Ebony was out at a party with friends Sunday night and, at the end of the night, decided to alter her original plans to ride home with a friend’s mother and, instead, continue the evening fun. She sped off into the night with four male friends (three from the party and a fourth who arrived after who was, apparently, the driver).

News reports are conflicting as to whether the driver was 20 or 23 years of age, but what seems certain is that the driver was driving recklessly–so much so that the group was seen arguing on the side of the road as to whether the driver should be behind the wheel at all. Reports of the incident had the vehicle traveling at speeds approaching 90MPH.

Minutes later, as Ebony was talking to a friend in a nearby car on her cell, the driver’s apparent recklessness and excessive speed through a roundabout would cause the car to flip, tear the roof off the vehicle, and catapult Ebony clear of the scene, where she was found unresponsive and was later pronounced dead by EMTs at the scene.

The driver and the other passengers survived, with various injuries, but were all expected to recover.

Ebony was a member of the Knox BMX club, and had raced in the club, as well as on raced the state and national level, since she was seven.

Trevor Dunsworth, Ebony’s father, said of his daughter in an interview with Australian media:

“She (was) a very sensible, clever young lady. Obviously she’d had a couple of drinks and it all becomes fun, the responsibility is gone….She was doing very well at school. And mate she was just a rager, like she loved having fun, she was really into life and enjoying life.” he said.

Tuesday Morning he said, in another interview,

“There’s always going to be peer pressure, there’s always going to be alcohol and there’s always going to be speeding drivers, but if this saves even one other kid’s life, I am going to push it as hard as I can,”

Mr Dunsworth said Ebony was allowed to go to the party, with the understanding that she would get a ride home from friend and her mom at 11.30pm.

But when the parent came to pick them up, Ebony said she wanted to stay, and said she’d get a ride home with someone else.

Mr Dunsworth said that was the decision that ultimately killed his daughter.

“We can’t blame anybody else – she knew better but after a bit of alcohol it all becomes fun,” he said, adding “We don’t know if it was alcohol or peer pressure or both (that contributed to her decision to get into the car).”

BMX. How to look after your BMX bike

Hello and thanks for looking at the BMX article. In this BMX article I will be talking about looking after your BMX, something you should do a lot, and something that needs to be done properly.

One of the major and most common things that affects bikes is rust. Rust is when the metal corrodes, most likely because of moisture, either caused by rain or dampness. So where the BMX is stored plays a vital role in keeping it healthy and working. Keeping it in a dry place is a must. Even though this is not always possible, in some places, because of wooden sheds and other things, a BMX is small remember, and so can easily be stored inside the house somewhere out of the way.

You should always check your bike before going out riding on it. (If you have any) are your brakes tight? Is the bottom bracket tight? Are the wheels moving freely? Are the tires pumped up properly? Are there any cracks in the frame? Once the entire bike is checked, and working, you can then go riding. One thing you don’t want to be doing is riding on a loose part, as that is a major cause of the part degrading faster and needing replacing.

Make sure that you regularly oil and grease your bike, if possible, after every time you ride it. Have oil and grease make for bikes, although more expensive, it does its job, and does it well. It is very worthwhile to spend the extra £10, as it will save you much more than that in the long run. Oil the chain, the freewheel, the sprocket and all of the nuts on the bike. Grease the bearings inside the bottom bracket and the headset, although this doesn’t need doing every time you ride it, at least once a month will keep it in good shape.

Your tires should be pumped up to about 50 psi, this is a good pressure to use as it stopped the rim hitting the floor on hard landings, which could seriously damage your rim, and it will run over most things on the floor un stopped. If you don’t know what psi your tires are at, you need a good pump. About £15 will get you a big pump, with a pressure dial and several attachments.

And another thing that often gets looked over is how to wash your bike. Don’t at all costs use a jet wash. Jet washes are bike killers; they get water inside sealed bearings and give them a lower life. If you have to use a hosepipe, stay away from the hubs, and the bottom bracket. Ideally, you should use warm, soapy water with a sponge to get everything off it, proceeding to oil and grease it after. Dirt is not something you want clogging up the small hard to reach areas of the bike.

To end this article, I am just going to say again, it is worth spending good money on the things you need to keep your bike in good shape; it works out cheaper in the long run.

BMX. Bunny Hop

Ever wanted to be able to bunny hop but never been able to? This BMX article will be teaching you how to.

The Bunny hop is one of the hardest to master, yet most used trick in the whole of BMX. It is the art of “jumping” from flat ground, in order to clear obstacles or to ride without stopping to get up a curb. There are two different kinds of bunny hops, and depending on where you go, you will see each type used. Each different bunny hop has its advantages and disadvantages, for example, the style of bunny hop where you take both of the wheels off the ground at the same time is good for spinning 180’s on ramps and jumping off curbs, whereas the style of bunny hop where you lift the front wheel first, then the back wheel gets a lot more high, and so can be used for getting over obstacles.

So, to the point, here is a guide of how to bunny hop.

This first guide will be about where both wheels leave the ground at the same time.

Right, the first thing you want to be doing is to be travelling at about jogging speed, not too fast and not too slow, with a lot of room around you. You will want to be ready to jump. Bend down towards the bike, ready to spring up, and them with your toes pointing towards the ground, jump up, pulling the front up with your arms and the back end up by pressing backwards against the pedals and jumping.
This will bring the bike up underneath you. Bear in mind it will take you many tries to get this the first time, as you will need to gain strength in the muscles you use to bunny hop. Also, the most height you will get from a bunny hop like this is about 6”, this is mainly used for getting air time off ramps, not for clearing obstacles.

The other type of bunny hop is when you lift the front end up first, into a manual, then spring off the back wheel as high as you can lifting the bike up with you.

First of all, you will need to know how to manual, you don’t need to be able to manual for a long time, just enough to lift your front wheel up. The higher you can bring up your front wheel, the higher you will go when bunny hopping. To get the manual at the beginning of the bunny hop, lean back and pull up, whilst pressing down on the pedals. Once up, point your toes towards the floor again and whilst pressing back on the pedals, jump and try and bring your feet as far towards your bottom as you can. This is the best way to generate height.

This type of bunny hop is the hardest to master, and even harder to get high and good, but is the best type you can learn.

BMX. How to do a rotation in the air

Hello and welcome to this new BMX article about how to do rotations in the air.

Want to get your airs looking stylish and amazing people? Add some spins to them. Don’t know how? Carry on reading.

Spinning is one of the scariest, yet most rewarding and good looking forms of tricks there is. They are very hard to learn, because if you don’t go for it first time, you are very likely to fall. Unlike with any other trick, you may not always be facing forwards or backwards, trying spins can be uncontrollable when you start and are very difficult to control.

There are 3 parts to doing an air rotation, the spin initiation, the air control and the landing. Each of these parts needs its own explanation, although most of the spin is covered in parts 1 and 2. The thing that you need to remember when spinning is that even if you do fall, you can get up and try again. The hardest part to this trick, as with nearly every other trick, is to have the confidence to try it in the first place. Just remember, after your first time trying it, you can always try it again a lot easier.

The spin I am going to be looking at is the 360. For the set up for this trick, the best place to try it is on a fun box, with a transitioned ramp going on to flat. Make sure that there are no rails or anything in the way, so it is just the ramp and the flat on top. This way you don’t need to go too fast to get the air time, and it is not a fast landing, because it is flat at the same level of the lip.

So, to the 360; you will want to approach the ramp at just about jogging speed, head for the middle of the ramp, so long as it is wide. You will need to know which direction you are going to be spinning in. If you ride right foot forwards, then you will generally spin to your left, and if you ride left foot forwards, then you will spin to the right. The initiation of the spin is the hardest part. You need to carve in the direction you will spin on the ramp, not too much, about 45 degrees. When you take off the lip, look over your left shoulder and spin your shoulders. As long as your head and shoulders are spinning, the rest of your body will follow.
When you have taken off the lip, you should be around 90 degrees spun, keep looking over your shoulder until you can see the spot where you want to land. Making sure all the way through your bike is level and underneath you. Once you have your landing spotted, you are pretty much guaranteed to land there, and ride away clean, but obviously not the first time, to get it perfect takes practice.