Nationally Ranked Bmx Racer Will Detour To Befriend Kids
Brenda Gildehaus loves the competition of bicycle motocross racing. But there is something else that takes her out to the Spokane Valley BMX racetrack time and time again.
It’s the children who race there.
Gildehaus, a North Side resident who has a sociology degree from Whitworth College, has taken it upon herself to reach out to as many children as possible.
“My mom says that the reason my brother Nick isn’t in trouble and into drugs is because of Brenda,” said young Lisa Branson. Lisa’s older brother Nick is a racer as well.
Gildehaus often takes Nick and Lisa along to the Valley for races and practices.
Last week she took Nick and Lisa to Burbank, Calif., for the BMX World Cup races in which she placed fourth in overall competition and finished No. 2 in her age category.
Gildehaus is the No. 2-ranked female racer in the country.
“One of the best things about the World Cup was the fact that Nick and Lisa were there,” Gildehaus said. “I really think that kids today need friends - not even role models so much as just some people they can count on to be there for them.”
Like many children today, Gildehaus was raised in a household where both parents worked long hours to support the family. When she sees a child who looks like he or she needs a friend, Gildehaus is often there.
“After I first met Nick at the track, there were periods where he wouldn’t show up for like six weeks at a time. With both of his parents working, he often didn’t have a ride to the track.
“I just started taking him and Lisa when his parents couldn’t.”
As for Gildehaus, she took to the bicycle at a young age not so much for the sport of it but for transportation.
“I guess I grew up pretty hard,” she said. “My father worked 70 to 80 hours a week, and my mother didn’t know how to drive.
“I would always ride my bike to baseball practice or whatever other activities I was involved in.”
Gildehaus started racing at 12, stopped at 15 and got back into racing 10 years later.
Although she works as a sales representative at Midway Cyclery and Fitness in the Valley, her bosses are more than accommodating toward her race schedule.
Also supportive of her athletic endeavors were her parents when she was growing up.
“They knew that I was athletically inclined,” she said, “and they always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do.”
They even encouraged her to compete against boys.
“There was a lot of ‘tomboytomboy’ stuff from some guys, but I was driven by that competition,” Gildehaus said. “For the most part, people always treated me really well because I think they respected the fact that I always gave 100 percent.
“You sort of had to fight, but I loved racing so much that I saw past it.”
With that mentality, Gildehaus and her husband Jerred, who is an avid runner, have passed on a competing spirit to their 4-year-old daughter Stevie Marie. Standing just 3 feet tall, Stevie Marie is already a bike racer like Mom.
The 5-foot-3 Gildehaus is tackling other projects in addition to being mother, wife, racer and counselor. She is now in the process of helping the BMX racetrack upgrade its course.
The non-profit track is always looking for donations to improve the state of the current course. A site for a new track is also being looked at.
Financial donations are always welcome, but BMX is looking for more practical things. Like dirt.
“If anybody out there has some dirt they want to dispose of, let us know,” Gildehaus said.
In the meantime, she will continue to ride and ride some more.
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