By Rich Brown
rbrown@joplinglobe.com
At 16, Blake Lamb has suffered more injuries than a Vietnam veteran.
The Joplin High School student has broken both ankles, both arms, two ribs and a few fingers.
And, no, he has never played a down on the Joplin gridiron, gone elbow to elbow in an Eagles’ basketball game or banged bodies on the JHS soccer field.
In fact, Lamb’s extracurricular activity that has inflicted such abuse takes place far from the Joplin High School campus. Three to four days a week you can find him at the Bridge.
A diehard BMX rider, Lamb practices and competes fervently in bicycle motocross.
His battlefield? The Bridge’s Autumn Ramp Park. His goal? To be No. 1 in his sport.
Ever since beginning BMX competition four years ago, Lamb has excelled, winning five events. The most recent and most important came on Feb. 11, when he won the Monster Energy Drink BMX Tour Contest at the Bridge, thus giving him a sponsor (Monster Energy Drinks) for the first time.
Lamb competed in a field of 40 riders, ranging from 12 years old into their 30s, to capture the title.
“I get free gear and energy drinks,” he said. “Right now I compete mostly in local contests and it is about riding and having fun but when a contest comes around it gets down to being serious.”
Little did Lamb know that when he got a bicycle for his 10th birthday that it would lead to this.
“My cousin David Green got me motivated and pretty much got me really into BMX,” he said. “I started going to the Bridge every day. I used to be a bad kid and this helped me get out of trouble.”
Lamb said when he started riding, he thought he was doing it just for fun.
“Then, I started improving a lot,” he said. “And the Bridge manager (Jeremiah Anderson) told me to start riding in competition. I was about 11 when I started winning stuff, improving and getting to meet pros. All that got me more motivated.”
Lamb said his first tough competition came about three years ago in a BMX freestyle event called the Jo Mo Pro.
“I did pretty well,” he said. “I placed third in intermediate. I was competing mostly with 14- and 15-year-olds and I was 13.”
Then, at 15, Lamb said he started making big strides and improving immensely.
“I rode in the second Jo Mo Pro and won the intermediate, breaking two ribs in the process,” he said.
Between his 15th and 16th years, Lamb said he mostly had third-place finishes. However, during that period, he competed in a local Dallas event that he won.
Lamb has set his sights high, planning to turn pro even before he finishes high school.
He said his mother and father, Sharon and Rick Lamb, have given him a lot of support.
“I will have to step up my game to go pro,” he said. “I have made a little bit of money but if I go pro I will make enough money to help support me and my family.”
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Blake Lamb flips over stunts on BMX
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