Winter Season Passes and Winter Season Pass Books end April 14th. Come get your last minute sessions in before your pass runs out. All Winter Season Pass holder’s bikes must be removed from bike storage on April 14th.
Want to continue your membership to the park? With our new Monthly Memberships, you can now keep in shape, dodge those rainy days, and spend more time having fun on your bike without the commitment! Keep your membership as long as you’d like or cancel anytime. Call in or ask the front counter staff about enrolling in our new monthly memberships! For more information head to this LINK.
The Rickey Bates BMX Banned Together Charity will award it’s 4th annual scholarship to our Summer Bike Camp! They will be picking two riders to go to one week of our summer camp!
Every rider 16 years old or younger will get a raffle ticket each visit to the park in the month of May. At the end of the month the two lucky riders will be picked and notified. Any questions about the contest email Mike@thewheelmill.com.
UPDATE JUNE 6TH:
The big winners for 2018 are Julian Zucco and Jasper Shelly!! Please email Mike@thewheelmill.com to line up your week of camp!
Shake off the dust on your BMX Gate starts and get ready for the 2018 season! We have just a few gate practices left. Practices will run Wednesday 7-8pm and Sunday 2-3pm through March 28th.
We’d like to thank South Park BMX and Westmoreland BMX for making Gate Practice possible!
We were lucky enough to host a contest with Brian Kachinsky and Van Homan. The contest went totally off and was one of the best contests we have ever hosted. Check out all the action in Ride BMX’s coverage.
On January 13, 2018 The Wheel Mill was packed with 73 female cyclists and six coaches. We came together for the Ride Like A Girl Weekend with a common goal to get more women on bikes. Each coach taught fundamental classes as well as specialized lessons on different areas of the park. The park was closed to the public so the riders can have full focus without distractions and never feel they are in the way. The energy was great, starting off Saturday morning getting riders’ bikes dialed in. Once the coaches introduced themselves and got everyone pumped for the lessons, we broke out into groups. We separated the fundamental classes by New to MTB\BMX, Beginner Fundamentals and Advanced Fundamentals. For a large group event like this, it is important to make sure riders understand basic fundamentals before having them ride the park. Then after the fundamental classes the coaches broke off into areas of the park to work on specific skills.
This was the third year for this event and this year was the best yet! Thanks to all the amazing coaches and sponsors who came together to make this event possible. There are many women’s events all around the US–why is this one so unique? Having the park closed to the public for two days on a busy January weekend is extremely helpful. Many women feel intimidated at bike parks when it’s crowded. This creates a fear barrier and can make it unsafe to ride. We eliminate the fear with clear coaching and constantly keeping riders within their skill level to decrease chance of injury. We also have coaches dedicated as a whole in making the scene better for women from both MTB and BMX backgrounds. Special thanks to the owner of The Wheel Mill and the staff for believing in the mission to get more women on bikes, we truly could not enjoy the same experience without the park being closed.
Sunday we had 59 riders attend, and with a similar schedule from the day prior, ladies worked on making sure all their goals were met before the weekend was over. Another day filled with coaching, rooms being filled with laughter or cheers from a rider completing something they have been working up the courage to do. The best times are spent at the end of each coaching day in the lounge as a group. Each rider was encouraged to speak out loud to the group about their experience and what they have learned or overcome. The room was filled with emotions as each rider shared the best moment of their day. Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged, and stories that made everyone laugh is why this weekend is so special. For some this is the start of something new in their life and for others it is the start of a successful season now they are riding confident instead of in fear.
We will be having a Summer Ride Like A Girl Women’s Weekend June 9th-10th with coaches Carley Young and Karen Brooks. This event will be indoors on Saturday and outdoors on Sunday. Karen Brooks takes MTB riders to Frick Park and Carley Young takes riders to the Westmoreland BMX Track.
Thanks to coaches who made this event possible: Carley Young, Karen Brooks, Cory Coffey, Hillary Marques, Nina Buitrago, and Kathi Krause.
Thanks to all the sponsors who make this event possible:
The Wheel Mill, Ride Like A Girl, Ink Division, Aero Tech Designs, Fischer Nutrition, Dirt Rag, Pro Bikes, Hammer Nutrition, S&M Bicycles, Shadow Conspiracy, One Feather Press, Etnies, 343 Graphix, Dans Comp, Bike Pittsburgh, Specialized, Pedros, DC Designs, Kink, Deluxe, G-Form, BMX Training, Over the Bar Café, Empire, No Wear, Fit Bicycles, Subrosa, Jaunt.
Words by: Carley Young and Karen Brooks
Photos by: Murphy Moschetta
Want to stay in racing shape? We’re starting BMX Gate Practice in our Pump Track this January. Gate Practice will run until to April. Come and get some gates to stay in shape this winter. First gate night will be Wednesday, January 10th. Regular riding rates apply for gate practice.
We would like to thank Westmoreland BMX and South BMX for lending us the equipment to run gate practice.
Gate Schedule
Wednesdays – 7:00pm-8:00pm
Sundays – 2:00pm-3:00pm
***There will not be a gate practice on January 14th due to Ride Like A Girl Weekend or on February 25th due to Uncovered BMX Contest.
