BMX boys (and girls) have a lot to have fun on these days

Had a bit of a mooch about the 'new' Bicycle motocross (BMX) track at the National Cycling Centre yesterday.  You have to say that the whole set up there is superb.  Back in the day when the Velodrome sat there in splendid isolation, it looked, well, pretty bleak.
The Manchester Velodrome is by no means the most beautiful building in the world but the addition of the new bit really adds some critical mass to the whole area - you feel as if you are actually somewhere rather than have just stumbled upon the disused husk of a giant something or other.

Starting ramp

Anyway, the BMX centre looks like great fun. In keeping with the tradition of describing places in relation to familiar things - like football pitches, london buses and Nelson's Column - the whole area is about the same size as a football pitch and about as high as Nelson's Column.  You should now have it's dimensions indelibly fixed into your mind.

First and final turns

I never owned a BMX as a kid, I stuck with the Raleigh Grifter until I got my first road bike.  A few mates had them though with one coming a horrendous cropper in an incident with a teddy bear and a mag wheel - I can hear the cries of anguish to this day.