Rone’s Wild Ride
RIDING AHEAD
Like Rone, many of those kids will be black, and he says that’s good not only for the BMX scene, but for all young people. “If blending skateboarding and BMX with the hip hop culture helps to build racial tolerance then it can only promote a positive youth culture, especially in the black society,” he says. Even when the skateboard rap trend dies down, he expects, the kids who got involved will be in it for the long run.
Half of the kids skating today are black, and those who are white use black-kid slang. There are a lot of “yo’s” thrown in with “dude” and “bro.” For the most part everyone’s all dressed the same: Tight jeans, DC sneakers, colorful bike frames. Tyrone’s friend and fellow Animal BMX team member Ruel “Wormz” Smith has been BMXing for years and is lead singer in an indie rock band, dreadlocks and all. Half of the Animal team is either black or Latino. At Millennium, Rone and his friends and teammates dominate the park, weaving in and out of the ramps while intimidated kids wearing oversized helmets clear the path.
While jumping over a box with his bike, one of Rone’s friends gets his foot caught in a pedal, and he falls and cuts open his hand. Blood pours down his arm. None of the guys bats an eyelash. This just happens when you BMX, and it has happened to everyone here. Rone himself got hurt in October while riding in a BMX contest at Asbury Park. Now his wrist is sore, but he doesn’t complain. This is just part of the job.
As the bitter winds of the cold comes off Brooklyn’s harbor most of the skate park clears out, but Rone and his friends stay behind. They made the two-train ride trip from Flatbush and are willing to bear through the beginnings of winter’s chill. Rone never stops to complain about the cold.
“I like to ride when the park starts to clear out,” he says, looking down at one of his many bikes. Today his handlebars are tan, but usually he rides his navy blue bike covered in Yankees logos. He has three BMX bikes, and his selection of parts is vast. Rone picks and chooses the colors for his bike at his leisure.
He grabs his short, chopped black dreads and looks around. The park worker comes over to tell Rone his friend went to Coney Island Hospital to get his hand wrapped, then leaves the bike in Tyrone’s care. But Tyrone doesn’t want to go home just yet. After all, he made the journey all the way from Flatbush.
