When they're 2 years old, most children are dealing with the complexities of things such as walking and talking. Eric Posey was doing those things, too, but also working hard at learning how to ride a bicycle.
Chuck Posey noticed how much his son enjoyed being on the bicycle, something he was discussing with a business client a few years later. The man asked Posey whether he had thought about bringing then-5-year-old Eric to a local BMX track to see that kind of bicycle racing.
That conversation changed the lives of the Poseys, who eventually became a force for building and operating a BMX track in Anne Arundel County.
BMX is the shortened name for bicycle motocross, the racing of nonmotorized bikes over jumps and berms on a dirt course, and it was a sport that at age 5 Eric Posey quickly fell in love with. Chuck Posey first took his son to a BMX track in Columbia - it's now a grocery store.
But that track closed about 10 years ago, forcing the Poseys to go to Pennsylvania tracks in York and Lebanon. Chuck and Cathy Posey and their family wanted to find something closer to their Millersville home, and soon became a driving force in getting a BMX track built locally.
"I had never even heard of [BMX]," said Chuck Posey, an accountant. "But the first time I went to track, I was amazed. My son always enjoyed his bike and ... he just loved BMX."
It took about five years to build a track that has been in operation for about four years. Posey said that finding a place to put the track became the biggest issue as the county's Department of Recreation and Parks was willing to let the project take shape.
They finally found room at Severn-Danza Athletic Park - where the agency leases them land for $1 a year.
The track is 1,200 feet long and shaped, in Posey's words, "like a horseshoe inside of a horseshoe." It's a four-turn track with a series of "technical obstacles" for the biker.
Posey helped create Chesapeake BMX Inc., a nonprofit organization about seven years old with a membership of about 350 and strong volunteer corps that makes the races happen on Sundays from mid-April through late November.
Posey said that about a dozen people are needed to run the facilities on race days, not including the concession stands, and they've built a strong group that enjoys putting on the races. He said he spends 10 to 12 hours each week making everything happen at the track and with the club.
