Growing up in East Providence, Rhode Island, things weren’t always easy for BMX rider Kevin Robinson.
The BMX star had to constantly battle changing weather conditions and the difficulty of finding a ramp or a skatepark in his hometown. Often he would drive hours just to enjoy what he loved. Robinson had the motivation to stick with the sport and at the age of 20, he went professional.
In the beginning it was a struggle for Robinson and after 11 X Games appearances, he had little to show from the ESPN sponsored event other than three bronze medals. Plenty of riders would have been happy and content with those medals – but not Kevin.
Perhaps 12 is his lucky number because in 2006 Robinson’s hard work and perseverance paid off when he won gold in Big Air at the 2006 games in Los Angeles, while becoming the first to land the double flair (two backflips with a 180-degree twist). It opened many doors for Robinson – who claims it was the greatest moment of his life – but now, almost seven years later, the four-time X Games gold medalist is busier than ever.
We recently spoke with Robinson – who has been busy preparing for the upcoming X Games – on his foundation, his new protective clothing line for kids and his future commentating for ESPN.
How long have you been riding competitively?
I’ve been a professional for 21 years.
Growing up in East Providence were there a lot of places to practice; did you pick up on biking easily?
No, there wasn’t. That was the battle growing up in New England. You know, especially dealing with the weather element. A lot of times the outdoor ramps people had would be covered in snow and we’d be out there shoveling the ramps off and trying to ride with full winter gloves on was always a challenge. Seemed like skateparks would open up and then not long after they’d close again and you’re just always trying to find a place to ride. Sometimes I’d have to drive two or three hours just to ride a ramp but you know, it’s a passion and it’s something I love and I was willing to do anything to do it.
Has that changed in the area at all, has it kind of…?
Yeah, I mean places like Rye Airfield up in New Hampshire, which is an amazing park and Highland Mountain Bike Park has a great training facility. I’m actually breaking ground early this summer on a 35,000 square foot training facility right here in little Rhode Island.
Is that going to be for your foundation?
No, it’ll be a regular business open to the public but we’re going to do a lot of after school programs, we’re going to have tutors, different indoor programs and I’ll do a program through my foundation with kids from my hometown of East Providence.
Can you tell us a little more about your foundation?
Yea, the K-Rob Foundation is a non-profit and it helps deserving children of East Providence to get involved in athletics. If a family can’t afford to sign their kids up for football, we handle things like that. We actually just paid for both [local] middle schools’ baseball and softball leagues. We paid for their hats because they didn’t hats for their teams. So the K-Rob Foundation just bought all their hats. Things like that, plus just having free community events. We have our big family fun festival on June 8 and we encourage people to put down technology for the day, come out, be active, introduce yourself to your friends and neighbors and just become part of your community.
How important is it to influence children into being active? With video games and stuff like that today it can be tough to get them outside.
I think it’s crucial! We’re in the era now where so many kids are just sucked in front of the TV and they’re playing video games. The TV shows their watching, a lot of these reality shows, they’re all negative-based you know, people are becoming famous for acting inappropriate. You can now be rich for acting like a moron on TV and I don’t understand it, I really don’t. I just think we, as adults, we’re the ones leading our kids and it’s up to us to show them a positive direction.
Speaking of children, we heard you have a new protective gear line called Grindz, can you tell us a little bit about that?
I started Grindz because I found that with a lot of kids these days no one wants to wear pads, you know, like it’s uncool to wear pads. You know, my big motivation is with my son, Kevin Junior. He goes out and rides and I’m like, “Yo Kev, put your pads on.” And he’s like, “I don’t want to put my pads on, Dad.”
So I thought, well how great would it be to come up with cool, stylish pants that have built in pads and then I can just say, “Yo, Kev put your Grindz on.” Then he has his pads on and his riding pants on. It worked out because I really wanted to make cool, fashionable pants that had pads built in, making it more about the fashion on the outside and then what’s on the inside that counts.
And have you worn pads throughout your career?
I’ve worn pads every single day of my BMX life. You know, if you don’t need to wear pads then you’re not trying hard enough. Why would I want to spend more time injured than on my bike? It’s about wearing pads and protecting myself, protecting my joints and if I crash I’m thankful I have those pads on because I get back up and I keep riding. I don’t understand the concept of it. I just had my 44th minor surgery and that’s with wearing pads all these years. There’s a reason I’ve been able to have such a long professional career, and it’s because I protected myself.
Do you think some of those injuries were avoided because you wore protective gear?
I think that some of the injuries could have been avoided with better padding. In the early years the pads just weren’t designed the way they are now and if we had the technology back then I definitely think we could. The helmet being the first and foremost important thing, I’ve been knocked out unconscious over 25 times with a helmet on and I can’t imagine not having a helmet on. Pads save your life. Everybody falls on their hips and everybody hits their knees. It’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s just when. I want to do all I can to encourage the youth coming up to protect themselves.
What can we expect from you moving forward, anything big coming up?
Well I have my Too Deep event and I’m doing all the X Games this year. I’m actually heading to Brazil in a couple of weeks for the first X Games. This year I have four X Games – the Brazil stop, the Barcelona stop, the Munich stop and then LA. I got the first stop coming up and I’m looking forward to that.
I do a lot of motivational speaking as well. I travel to schools, spreading an anti-bullying message and delivering a positive lifestyle. The same with businesses, and I do a lot with the military. It’s been a lot of fun!
You mentioned the X Games. Going back to 2006, what was it like when you finally captured that gold medal in the Big Air event?
It was more than the gold medal – it was the fact of pulling the double flair. To feel my tires hit that ramp and knowing I was rolling away with all that hard work from years of trying a trick and all the negative comments from people telling me it’s impossible and just believing in my heart that it could work and never giving up. That moment is what people live for, you know what I mean. When you have that moment, that moment of success, that moment of accomplishing something you’re trying to do, there’s nothing else like it – no amount of money, no award, no medal.
Do you consider that the biggest trick of your career?
Oh, Absolutely. You know, I definitely, definitely do. It’s one of – it probably is – the best moment of my life, as far as my career. Other than the birth of my kids and marrying my wife, that’s definitely one of the best moments of my life.
You’ve done a little bit of commentary in the past for ESPN, is that a direction you see yourself going in the future – when you retire from the sport?
Oh, I absolutely will. I’m commentating again this year. I’m commentating both vert events at the Brazil stop and at the Barcelona stop. Next year I’ll probably get a lot more calls with commentating.
I try to stay as absolutely busy as I possibly can.
Ed is an MMA/Extreme Sports contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller, and subscribe on at Facebook.com/CraveOnlineSports.
Photo Credit: Grindz
(Top photo): Getty
