CHICO — It’s been a project that was years in the making, but construction on the new Silver Dollar BMX track has begun.
The track, currently located at 2352 D. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, will be relocating to North Chico near the Chico Westside Little League field and the Chico Municipal Airport.
The current location of the BMX course will be used to provide additional space for the homeless as the Torres Shelter and Valley View Apartments, a permanent housing complex for those with mental illness or at risk of being homeless, are already located in that area.
“The willingness of everyone to see this project through and do a good thing for the community and the kids has been super amazing,” said Silver Dollar BMX Board President Vince Enserro. “It’s more than I could imagine.”
The project has been able to get started thanks to donations from different construction companies and with some help from the city of Chico.
“They’re doing it because they want to see a good thing for the community. They didn’t want to see our track close,” Enserro said. “The city has not donated money yet but has committed to donating money. We haven’t had to use the money yet from the city.”
When the city first proposed the idea to relocate the BMX track, Enserro was intrigued and thought it could be an opportunity to create a revamped course.
“Our new track is going to be the best track in the world when it’s all done,” Enserro said. “No place in the world will have two tracks on it.”
Enserro said Silver Dollar BMX, a non-profit run by volunteers, is still in need of about $200,000 to complete the project.
“I think we’re probably $200,000 away from the final total goal to have this completely done,” Enserro said. “We still have quite a bit of stuff we need to organize and find funds for.”
Silver Dollar BMX has played host to several national and state-level championship races which bring in riders and families from all over the country. With two new BMX tracks being incorporated into the new location, there will be more space for more people.
“We’re going to be able to have more nationals,” Enserro said.
Enserro said the BMX community has grown every year. Riders of all ages have competed at Silver Dollar BMX and Enserro said the sport is a good alternative to traditional team sports like baseball or football.
“It’s a different environment,” Enserro said. “It’s really neat to see how these kids operate not in a team sport. My son and the other kids who are out there are learning a totally different lesson from a team sport … relying on yourself to set your goals and see your goals through.”
Enserro actually became involved in BMX when his son didn’t take a liking to baseball.
“He couldn’t catch,” Enserro said about his son. “He didn’t enjoy baseball.”
Now Enserro helps coach his son. The family spends at least four days at the track and his son has become a national champion in BMX.
Silver Dollar BMX has also hosted several bike camps to kids of all ages and special needs kids.
“In the last couple years we’ve had kids with special needs who came out to the camps and did really well on the bikes,” Enserro said.
He’s hopeful that professional BMX riders will use the course to train alongside the kids.
Currently, Silver Dollar BMX is closed to the public because of COVID-19. But the plan is to have the new track finished by Jan. 1, Enserro said.
Enserro said he hopes the project will widen the bike community in Chico.
“It’s an opportunity for us to grow,” he said. “It opens up Chico to be more of a bike community more than it already is.”
"course" - Google News
August 23, 2020 at 07:10PM
https://ift.tt/3j8Br0Y
Construction is underway on Silver Dollar BMX’s new, revamped course - Chico Enterprise-Record
"course" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35q9ps5
https://ift.tt/35rCFi1
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Construction is underway on Silver Dollar BMX’s new, revamped course - Chico Enterprise-Record"
Post a Comment