PARKER, Pa. (EYT) – Anytime there’s an opportunity to represent yourself on the national stage, there has certainly been something noteworthy going on. But, even bigger than representing yourself on the national stage is representing yourself internationally.
Venango County native Zach Bowler earned the right to compete on the international stage in the sport of bicycle motocross (BMX).
Bowler will represent the United States of America in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Championships being held in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from May 12 to May 18, this year. Bowler has qualified for the event in the challenge division after resuming his career in BMX a few years back. Competitors from over 50 different countries will participate in the opportunity to add a World Championship plate to their trophy collection as well as earn endorsement deals to help fund their racing careers.
As his older teenage years and early 20s crept up on him, real-life situations made him prioritize other aspects of his life like being a father, starting his career, and even being a husband. He also had felt the burnout of racing around the country from his early teenage years and stepped away for several years. During his time away, he began a business called Bowler Home Improvements and recently launched a second business called FRR Components in which he sells bike parts both online and at showcases.
Once his oldest son was around the age of three, he took him to a local BMX racing track in Titusville called Drake Well BMX to ride around. He brought his bike and ripped it around on his own for old time’s sake. He rediscovered his passion and how much fun he had out on the track over the years and eventually began training to get back into competition shape the best he could. It had been seven years since he had raced competitively, but he quickly started getting back into the shape needed to compete.
Today, the sport of BMX racing is one that he and his son share as he is old enough to compete in the youngest age groups. They both started competing in 2022, with Bowler participating in the Gold Cup Series. This series of races takes place all across the northeast part of the United States throughout the year, and Bowler finished third in the series in the top division known as expert. From there, it qualified him to enter the national racing series. In his teenage years, traveling around the country racing is how he spent many weekends, and it even caused him to miss a good portion of school.
Even with the seven-year break from competition, Bowler discovered he kept himself in good enough shape to make this comeback. The national circuit he competed on in 2023 was also great preparation for the level of competition he would see in trying to qualify for the UCI World Championships in 2024. After a successful 2023 season and an offseason in which he attacked the weight room and stationary bike hard, he selected the Lexington, Virginia site, one of four UCI World Championship qualifying races held in 2024, to try to make the Challenge Men’s division for the championships.
Just 32 men from across the country make the UCI World Championships in this division, as the top eight from each race are selected to represent the United States. The race in Lexington took place in early February, with Bowler securing a top-eight finish to represent the U.S. in the World Championships in May.
“I always wanted the opportunity to compete on the world stage since I was just a kid,” Bowler explained. “Qualifying to represent the United States and compete on this stage is honestly a dream come true. I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’m going to represent my country in this event. The qualifying was really tough and it has me really excited to see the level of competition that I will go against soon.”
BMX racing may be an unknown sport to some, but it’s a sport that certainly deserves more recognition.
It’s been a part of the Summer Olympics since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and is considered to be the youngest and most rapidly growing part of the world of biking and cycling. A track is composed of dirt, mud, and pavement around the turns, with a typical track length of around 300 to 400 meters. The track is also no less than five meters in width, with the starting gate required to be just over 7 meters wide. Courses are required to have a minimum of three turns to meet regulation requirements.
Races consist of just one lap and are an all-out beeline to the finish. A critical part, just like in any short-distance sport, is the start out of the gate and how quickly racers can accelerate into the initial uphill at the start of the race. These races are action packed and the fastest racers in the world can reach over 40 miles per hour. With speeds such as this and the conditions of the track being difficult to control, accidents and injuries are quite common. In fact, Bowler has suffered significant injuries such as a broken collarbone and a shattered wrist with torn ligaments during his career.
But every dollar and ding has been worth it for Bowler.
The BMX racing community is where he’s met hundreds if not thousands of people who share the same passion for racing as he does. It’s now the sport he shares with his son and is one way he was able to create so many lasting memories traveling with his mom, Sherrie, during his teenage years.
“My mom is the number one person I attribute my success to,” Bowler shared. “She was the one taking me all around the country to race and was oftentimes the only one there supporting me. I didn’t really have a mentor growing up in the sport. There weren’t many people around my age and in the area competing. Even though that was the case for me, I want younger people to know that there is a track in Titusville and there are races a lot of weekends there. I would be happy to help anyone who is interested get started in the sport or answer questions that people have about what BMX racing is about.”
It’s been said that people’s 20s can many of times bring them back to their truest interests and biggest passions. Teenagers often think a lot about what others think or get burnt out of things at a higher rate than adults. This burnout was real for Zach Bowler, but his recent return to the BMX racing world has been the addition to his life that has brought back even more meaning to him. Luckily, he still has a few more solid years left in him before the early to mid-30s normal age for retirement in BMX racing creeps in. However, he’s far from worrying about retiring from this sport. He’s just enjoying the opportunity that he will have come May to represent his country in his favorite sport. Not many have the opportunity in their lives to ever say that.
