our-year-old Jim Cook held tight to the handlebars. It was to be a ride sans training wheels. Was he ready for it? Definitely. Proudly, he pedaled the bike throughout the neighborhood, nearly every day, through all seasons.

Flash forward about 35 years. Jim Cook holds tight to the handlebars, his feet balanced on the bike’s pedals. When the gate opens, he’ll pilot his bike over a course that features obstacles called things like table tops, step ups, step downs, doubles, triples and rollers.

“I had completely forgotten about it — how much fun it is to ride a bike,” said Jim Cook of Hometown. He, his wife Shannon, and their children Keenan, 10, and Gavin, 5, are completely head over heels with their excitement over BMX bicycle racing.

Just not literally head over heels. Balance is of utmost importance in the sport, from the starting area and throughout the course.

“When you’re standing in the gate — there are usually eight riders standing in the gate — you’re all just standing balanced on the pedals of the bike,” Jim Cook explained. “You’re not holding onto anything.”

“You’re usually standing there for about 10 seconds but sometimes it’s longer,” he added. “Then the gate drops and you’re racing — typically for about 50 seconds.”

As a family, the Cooks traveled to races in New York, Connecticut and Pottstown over the summer. In September, Jim raced to a second place in a Gold Cup Final race held in Kingston, New York. He had to qualify for the Gold Cup Final by qualifying in two semifinal events.

As a youngster, Cook had a paper route and saved his profits to purchase his first bike. Bicycle enthusiasm runs in the family — his dad has a collection of Schwinn bicycles. But operating a BMX bike isn’t like riding an “average” bike.

First, the seat. BMX riders don’t actually sit on the seat. There are no foot brakes and only one hand brake, and bikes are usually made of aluminum or carbon fiber.

At races, riders are grouped by age and also by proficiency level. Jim didn’t know much about the sport, but one of Keenan’s friends raced. That friend’s dad invited the Cook family to come watch a race at the BMX park in Pottstown.

“I saw other dads were there racing,” Jim Cook said. “When I started racing I was a 38-year-old novice.”

Cook explained that each rider in a race scores points according to where they finish. Riders race at the Novice level until they win 10 events. The next level is Intermediate, and a rider must win 20 events to move to the third level, Expert. Keenan finished Novice level during the 2017 season and has moved to Intermediate (where he is ranked second in the state in his age group). Gavin is ranked first in “Strider” or “balance bike” class — racers’ bikes don’t have pedals and the riders use leg pushes to move the bicycles.

“But to get started, you don’t need an expensive bike,” Jim Cook said. “You could buy a regular bike, and you’d remove things like the kickstand and reflectors to race.”

The Cooks and other BMX enthusiasts from the area currently travel to tracks in Pottsville and Scranton to ride. They hope to open the currently closed Hazleton City View BMX Park, which is part of the city’s Tri-County Park Association, which had opened six years ago but has been closed for about two years. The Park is located south of Hazleton, near the town of Jeanette.

“We hope to get it open in the spring, and we’ve been reaching out to the surrounding communities trying to get support for the project,” Jim Cook said. “It was a great park, but there are a number of repairs that are needed — there are some steps and fencing areas that need to be rebuilt using treated lumber, and we need more dirt to rebuild the obstacles on the course.”

BMX officials are already excited about having a new track. BMX has already scheduled a Pennsylvania state race qualifier and also a Gold Cup Final, which would be held Aug. 5, 2018. Races would be held on Sundays in June, July and August; practices would be held on Wednesdays, also June, July and August, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

“I know that people from this area who are already racing BMX would really like to have a local track,” Jim Cook said. “And it would also make it a lot easier for area people to give the sport a try.”

Anyone interested in donating materials, time or funds can contact Jim Cook, 570-527-2793. Given the family’s busy schedule, email can be the best method of contact, Axe2978@gmail.com. You can also join the Hazleton BMX Facebook page, the BMX USA Facebook page and www.usabmx.com.