There’s a place right here in the CSRA where BMX aficionados can ride for recreation, for sport or even for glory on one of the longest tracks in Georgia.
Blanchard Woods BMX boasts 1,100 feet of specially maintained dirt track and fits right in at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans.
A prospective cyclist or a spectator of one of Blanchard Woods BMX many events, arriving at the park and seeing the track for the first time might feel that Columbia County’s wide greenspace location, surrounded by woods and right beneath open sky, adds a stunning quality to an already immense biking track.
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Opened in 2014, Blanchard Woods BMX is operated by the non-profit Blanchard Woods BMX Parent Rider Association. Since opening, it has been the gateway by which hundreds have entered the sport, from toddlers on balance bikes to bicyclists in their 80s.
“BMX is the sport where no one sits on the bench,” said Stacy Williamson, track operator.
Williamson herself fell into the sport after her daughter was invited by a classmate to an open house at the Blanchard Woods’ facility. Now Williamson’s daughter has been racing for six years.
The track has hosted several high-profile bicycle motocross events. It is currently hosting the Summer Series, a local race series held from June through August. The races are Saturday evenings. Anyone can participate, and everyone is encouraged to join in at least eight of the 12 races.
In September, Blanchard Woods will be the site of the DK Cup Finals, the regional BMX championship, for the third time. About 500 riders from 15 to 20 states and crowds of 2,000 spectators are expected for this event.
“The response from the community has been great,” Williamson said. “We see new riders nearly every single week.”
Those new riders are coming from all over the area, from Columbia and Richmond counties, as well as Aiken and even as far as Statesboro.
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The formidable turnout says as much about what the track has to offer as does its own elaborate design. The track consists of four intricate sections called straits. The first strait is just under 300 feet long, is relatively flat and requires a lot of pedaling. Then it offers everything from rollers, to double and triple jumps, step-up and step-down obstacles and asphalt corners. The track provides adventuresome cyclists a host of obstacles and surfaces on which to ride, practice tricks or just race.
The track is regularly revamped; the first and second straits were revised in 2020 and a third revision is in the works for this year.
For more information, visit usabmx.com/tracks/1907.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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