Sophomore Cobe Kunkel has only been competing in BMX races for four years, but he has already accomplished so much. At his last race he won all of his races and qualified for the Worlds competition.

Kunkel started racing only four years ago because he thought that the sport would be a fun way to spend his free time, meet new friends and a great way to stay fit. He practices every day with different machines to help him get stronger. He has resistance training, which makes riding the bike hard, every other day so that when he is riding the bike normally it will feel easy. He also has gait practice four times a week to practice getting out of the gait fast because that can make or break your placement in a race.

Kunkel keeps very busy during the year with all of his races. He has one national competition every month. He enjoys staying busy because he loves what he is doing, and he knows that all of the hard work is going to pay off sooner or later.

“I love racing so much,” Kunkel said. “I do get tired often, but I know that if I keep pushing through the hard times and stress I will get to a point where I am always winning.” 

BMX racers all have individual sponsors, but as a team he races for Bicycle X-Change. During the last weekend of spring break Kunkel competed in his spring nationals competition. Before the competition he practiced everyday and got a lot of rest to make sure that he was ready to go on race day. The competition was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Kunkel was there to win.

Kunkel had three days of competition and he placed first in his category every day. After the three days were over he placed third overall. Kunkel did so well at this competition that he qualified for the World Championships which is where racers from all around the world compete to see who is the best bmx racer in the world. When Kunkel found out that he placed well at his spring nationals he was very excited and relieved.

“I was happy that all of my training had finally paid off, but I was also very tired from all of the preparation and stress,” Kunkel said.

Kunkel has already been talking to colleges that would like him to join their professional teams. He would love to continue pursuing his passion for racing once he gets to college. There are also good scholarship opportunities that come with being a BMX racer in college, and that is something that Kunkel is very excited about. Kunkel plans to keep racing in his future and he wants to pass it on to his kids one day.