Cycling: BMX is little bikes meeting big bumps

New Zealand's Sarah Walker is the top ranked female in BMX - a sport that began in Holland in the 1950s. Photo / APN

With the national BMX championships being held at Albany this weekend, here is the Herald's guide to the Olympic sport where little bikes meet big bumps.

1 What do New Zealand and Latvia have in common? Not a lot is the obvious answer, but they do have the world number one BMX racing cyclists in Sarah Walker, from Rotorua, and Olympic champion Maris Strombergs, a winner of his country's sports personality of the year award.

2 They start'em young in BMX. Rico Bearman of North Harbour became a world champion at an age when most kids are on training wheels. Bearman was five when he won his age division in Adelaide two years ago.

3 By the numbers ... BMX gained official international cycling recognition in 1993, made its Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008 (where it replaced cycling's 1km time trial), and will be held in a specially built 6000-seat circuit at the London Olympics. For a sport that has moved in the opposite Olympic direction, think softball.

4 Now for the scary numbers ... BMX races begin with the competitors charging down a ramp the height of a small building and hitting speeds approaching 60km/h. But wait, there's more, much more ... New Zealand's Marc Willers, the world number three, says he cracked 100km/h on a BMX bike by tailing a mate's car down a hill on SH1 ... Willers believes he can go even faster which would make interesting viewing on a speed camera.

5 Olympic style BMX is all about speed, not tricks, in races that last less than 40 seconds. Just imagine the arguments if they introduced freestyle BMX - the good ol' Olympic spirit does not always survive too well on the judging panels. Well, keep thinking, because the international cycling organisation (UCI) has initiated talks to bring freestyle BMX and skateboarding tricks into the Olympics. Scary stuff.

6 Go on, admit it. You all thought that BMX started in southern California during the 1960s when kids copied motocross. Think again ... a Dutch dude (BMX for bloke) founded a magazine with photos of kids racing bicycles over dirt in Holland during the 1950s. So, on your bike America.

7 Back to California ... the King of Cool, actor Steve McQueen, helped popularise BMX. He backed the 1971 documentary film On Any Sunday, a legendary piece about motorcycle racing which proved seminal for BMX. Brief images of kids racing bicycles on dirt led to the sport flourishing. BMX suffered a lull in the 1980s, like most things in life.

8 A popular internet forum question: can tall dudes fit on those funny little bikes? The best research says yes - a 1.98m American named Ryan Brennan has competed in the Xgames. However, BMX is a sport where the little people (comparatively speaking) get their best chance to fight back. To put it into common currency, Aaron Cruden would beat Brad Thorn, and you don't get to say that very often.

9 Maris Strombergs might be big in Latvia but the biggest BMX names tend to be the freestyle tricks dudes. American Xgames superstar Dave Mirra has even been on the Late Show with David Letterman and we all know how important that is.

10 Which country is ranked world number one in both men's and women's BMX racing? Latvia? America? New Zealand? Getting closer - Australia.