Ocho Rios, St. Ann Sanchez Hubbard is passionately pursuing his dreams in Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) riding. It shows every time the young rider does a trick or teaches a child how to ride.
A rider, a coach and a daredevil, the 26 year-old is in the midst of cultivating a vibrant bicycling culture in Jamaica. “BMX is a sport. A lot of Jamaicans don’t see it that way, but persons are getting interested. There is potential and I have a lot of ideas,” says Hubbard.
BMX in Jamaica has found its roots in Oracabessa at the Eden Garden BMX Park where the Caribbean’s first BMX track was officially opened earlier this year by the Oracabessa and Digicel Foundations. Hubbard, a coach of the Two Wheels One Love (TWOL) programme that teaches bicycling and principles of love to students in St. Mary, is at the centre of the BMX development.
Hailing from Ocho Rios, the BMX rider has been involved in cycling since the age of 16 in a number of ways. A coach to over 250 students in the TWOL programme, Hubbard is also the head of his Team Extreme – a group of eight BMX freestyle riders. “Team Extreme is a group of guys who love BMX and we’re making it into a business, doing events and videos,” Hubbard said.
While freestyling (stunt riding on BMX bikes) is his major love, for which he has won awards at the All Star Bike Show, Hubbard has been practising BMX racing competitively on the Eden Park track. An avid mountain biker he is also a tour guide for Single Track Jamaica, a tour company that provides destination riding in the Blue Mountains and beyond for mountain bikers.
“What I am doing is my dream job,” says Hubbard. “This is what I love doing, showing persons a different side of Jamaica and teaching others who have flourished under my wing. BMX riding is positive, it teaches focus, determination and responsibility, it’s a lifestyle.”
Armed with two mountain bikes, two BMX cross country bikes and a growing crew of riders, in the upcoming years Hubbard is ready to take cycling to another level.
“We need a park in Jamaica,” he observes. “We have the only BMX track in the Caribbean which is an amazing start, but we also need a park so that we can bring riders from overseas to Jamaica to compete. This is where persons would learn to ride and I want to be at the forefront of that.”
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