
Pic: Rob Dunnet
By Annie Ellison
Published: Dec. 27, 2013
Jackson Goldstone’s feet are dangling about a foot off the ground.
He’s laid back on the couch in his BMX racing clothes after conceding to eat some dinner. He’s been practicing tricks in the half pipe his dad built in the back yard since he got home from school.
“My favorite part is being in the air. It’s just like ‘whee!’”
The fourth grade Squamish Elementary student’s room is plastered with BMX race decals and several trophies taller than he is stand in the corner.
Jackson’s not your average nine-year-old. And he’s one of the top-ten mountain bikers under ten in North America. Oh yes, he’s got more than 4,500 ‘likes’ on Facebook.
Mostly he just loves mountain biking.
“My favorite part is being in the air. It’s just like ‘whee!’”
This year he won the Sea Otter Classic — the largest bike festival in the USA —for his age category in mountain bike racing.
When Jackson was three, he would sneak out of his bedroom early to watch videos of his favorite rider, Danny MacAskill.
“I knew how to type in D-A-N on YouTube,” he says.
On a trip in California, his dad Ron Goldstone spotted MacAskill’s trademark Red Bull helmet and orange bike. MacAskill already knew who Jackson was.
The little guy is easy to spot in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. His curly blonde hair pops out from between his full-face helmet and his goggles.
“Mom won’t let him cut it,” says Goldstone’s sister Bailey.
She’s one of the best riders in her age category too. And their mom, Miriam Bailey? She’s first in Canada for her age division in BMX racing.
“It’s just so much a part of us,” says Ron.
It wasn’t easy for Ron to find a bike that was small enough, but high performance enough, for him to progress on. He would assemble parts from multiple bikes.
“For a few years he rode franken-bikes,” Ron says.
He teamed up with Portland’s Brian Stanton to start building full suspension bikes for kids. And so Lil’ Shredder, one of Jackson’s major sponsors, was born.
Being a mountain bike wonder kid doesn’t come without at least a few battle scars. Before Jackson was old enough to start losing his teeth naturally, he’d already lost five.
“I’d hit the bowl in Brennan Park a hundred times. I came in and just went over the handle bars,” says Jackson. He pulls out his upper lip to show off the scar.
“I lost two teeth. I found one but I couldn’t find the other one.”
Jackson’s dream is to win every event at Crankworx in Whistler: from dual slalom to whip-off and Joyride.
For now, Jackson will attend Squamish Elementary and bike in his spare time. But in the future, he’ll need a way to train and go to school, says Ron.
“We need a program like that here,” says Ron.