ST. GEORGE — A 7-year-old bicycle rider from Southern Utah recently took first place in his age group at the USA BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Lincoln Schuman, a second grader at Riverside Elementary in Washington City, rode his bike to victory in the 7-year-old expert category in late November, leading the championship race from start to finish (watch the 40-second finals race in its entirety in the player above).
Lincoln’s mom Bailey Schuman said her son has been riding BMX for just under two years.
“There’s a local BMX track in Santa Clara, and he had a friend that he always rode bikes with in the neighborhood,” she said. “So we went and checked it out. He started like that in March of last year.”
Schuman said it didn’t take long for Lincoln to rise in the ranks.
After achieving 10 first-place wins as a novice, riders then move up to the intermediate level, where they must get 20 additional wins in order to move up to the expert classification, she said.
“Lincoln moved from a novice to an expert in like, eight months, which is pretty unheard of, to move that quickly,” she said, adding that the various qualifying races were mainly local ones in Southern Utah, with a few others in the Salt Lake area and Las Vegas.
“In November of last year, he got picked up by a factory-sponsored team, which is a pretty big deal in the BMX world,” Schuman added, noting that one of the owners of the Factory LSG team, Donovan Long, is the father of two-time BMX Olympian Nic Long.
“Because he did so well for their team, he’s a 100% paid for, fully sponsored rider now,” Schuman added.
Lincoln, whose racing nickname is “Laser Show,” spends at least five days a week at the Santa Clara BMX Track practicing his skills, his mother added.
“The track operators out there are Brooke and Mike Seely, who have been super great with supporting Lincoln and helping him extra training days to become better,” Schuman said. “It’s just a great community of people.
“We take him to do downhill sprints where we basically set up cones and he sprints as fast as he can. We track his max speed, so we know if he’s getting faster.”
Not only is Lincoln now ranked No. 1 in the nation in his age group, but BMX USA also has him ranked 19th across all age categories, she added.
“So yeah, we are super proud of him,” Schuman added. Lincoln’s parents are Jeff and Bailey Schuman; he has three older sisters and two younger sisters.
Earlier this year, Lincoln also picked up major victories in races in West Jordan, Bakersfield, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
At South Point Arena in Las Vegas in July, Lincoln swept the three individual races held over the weekend, his mother said.
“He won all three days, which is huge,” she said.
Capping off the year was Lincoln’s big win in Oklahoma, which Bailey Schuman said is like “the Super Bowl of BMX racing.”
Lincoln’s next competitive race is scheduled for Jan. 13 in Las Vegas. He turns 8 that same day, meaning it will be his first race in that age category.
“The whole thing starts over again,” his mother said. “He’ll start accumulating points again and work to get that national age group No. 1 ranking again, for 8-year-olds next year.”
Lincoln is more than ready for the challenge, Bailey Schuman said.
“He really just loves everything on his bike,” she added. “He’s all about his bike. I mean, he was made for it, I think.”
Photo Gallery
Lincoln Schuman after winning Grand Nationals race in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman poses with his parents and one of his sisters after winning Grand Nationals race in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman at the track at Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman with first-place trophies after sweeping the weekend in Las Vegas, July 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman at Gold Cup BMX event in Henderson, Nev., October 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman with race announcer Erick Grindle at Gold Cup BMX event in Henderson, Nev., Oct. 2, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman with first-place award at Gold Cup BMX event in Henderson, Nev., Oct. 2, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman at the Salt Lake Nationals BMX event, West Jordan, Utah, August 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman at the Salt Lake Nationals BMX event, West Jordan, Utah, August 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News Lincoln Schuman and his five sisters atop podium after he won the Utah state title at the Salt Lake Nationals BMX event, West Jordan, Utah, August 2022 | Photo courtesy of Bailey Schuman, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.