Collegiate Times

Terry Adams spins on his back wheel in front of Squires Student Center.

Racing through the United States on a 40-day college tour, BMX flatland specialist Terry Adams rode into Blacksburg last week to show off his award-winning tricks and interact with Virginia Tech students.

Sponsored by Red Bull since 2003, Adams has been riding professionally since he was 15 years old. He has appeared in four X Games competitions, snagging a gold medal in 2005 at the Asian X Games. Based on his competition success, he also received BMX Magazine’s Number One Rider Award in 2005 and again in 2008.

Adams has also been deemed the “ambassador of the flatland” for the type of riding he practices — the flatland style, as the name implies, involves freestyle bike riding on flat smooth surfaces without ramps or grind rails. 

But Adams isn’t just a celebrity in the biking arena — he has made TV guest appearances on “Glee,” “Master of Champions” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” 

The Collegiate Times sat down with Adams to discuss his campus tour and career.

COLLEGIATE TIMES:

What is your campus tour all about?

TERRY ADAMS:

This tour is for Red Bull — it is a pretty big tour. I am just going around finding the best spots to shoot some photos, talk to students and do some riding. It is kind of a guerilla-style promotion for Red Bull. It is a cool thing that Red Bull does to promote their brand, bringing in their athletes to do what they do all over the place.

CT:

How do you like Tech so far?

ADAMS:

It’s pretty cool, pretty laid back. There’s been good weather. If it is really hot it can be frustrating — when students are walking around and they are sweating, the last thing I want to do is ride my bike. It worked out the past few days.

CT:

How has the student reception been thus far?

ADAMS:

If we can find the spots, which we did, where people are playing basketball, or a spot off to the side where students can watch me ride, those are kind of the key spots where people can see what is going on. 

CT:

What inspired you to become a professional rider?

ADAMS:

I guess just being a kid looking in the magazines and wanting to be the guy in the magazine — (to) be the guy that was winning the contests. Obviously when I was young I wanted to be a pro rider, but I didn’t think I could make a living out of it. The day I realized that being a pro rider meant getting endorsements and sponsors was the day I realized, ‘Oh, I don’t have to get a job.’ So then I really started pushing on the business side of things.

CT:

You became a professional at such a young age. How did school fit in for you as a kid?  

ADAMS:

The last grade I attended in school was seventh. I was homeschooled through high school and then attended a university in my hometown at 15. But I only went a couple of semesters, and I was traveling quite a bit at times so I stopped going. Taking as many trips as I was doing, even back then, it was kind of difficult to focus on anything else.

CT:

Do you look back on your childhood with any regrets, or are you happy with the way it turned out? 

ADAMS:

I am pretty happy because even though I didn’t go to high school, with me riding a bike all the time, I was able to have some older friends and do a lot of traveling. Being 15 years old hanging out with 35- and 40-year-olds was definitely a cool experience. I am still pretty good friends with everyone I met, so that is pretty
cool.

CT:

Who was your greatest inspiration when you were younger?

ADAMS:

When I was younger, anyone who was making a living, anyone  had sponsors, anyone who was on television or in the magazines doing their thing — it was basically everything I wanted. I was basically looking at them and trying to follow everything they did.

CT:

Do you have anyone you look to now that you are older?

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A version of this article appeared in the Aug 22 issue of the Collegiate Times.