Dwayne MacLeod, the 17-year-old BMX rider, would probably not recognise Dwayne MacLeod, the father and tow-truck driver, but they’re not so different. Dwayne is still that 17 year-old at heart. The indoor BMX ramps, pool table and multiple BMX bikes are sure signs of that. However, he now shares his games room with his three-year-old son who has a few of his own age-appropriate toys.

BMX has changed a lot since Dwayne first jumped off his skateboard and onto a bike in 1991 and started taking on the Wellington urban landscape one broken bone at a time. Dwayne explains that when he first started out “there were no parks, no ramps” and that “anything you had, you built yourself, and you’d normally have them for a couple of weeks and then the council would come and tear them down”. It is a far cry from all the opportunities that riders have these days. Opportunities that, to a great extent, have only come about due to people like Dwayne, who was one of the early BMX pioneers in this country.

In true pioneer style, Dwayne was one to always push the limits on his bike, broadening the horizons of what was possible. Early in his career, he was heavily involved in developing ramps at Chaffers Park on Wellington’s waterfront. He fondly recalls turning a 7-foot quarter-pipe there into a jump. The pipe was pushed up against some old loading docks and a massive down ramp was built with some pallets from The Warehouse. Not many of the locals were crazy enough to use the jump because of its sheer size, but Dwayne has always fed off the danger that BMX poses.

Competing in the Planet X competition in Australia once, Dwayne lived every man’s worst nightmare. After completing a double-flip and landing between two mats, where bean bags were supposed to break his fall had they been put back in place correctly, his feet flew off the pedals leaving him straddleing the frame of his bike. This 14-foot drop basically straight onto the crown jewels did not deter Dwayne, who had definitely pushed his practise run a little hard. He had every intention of getting back up there and landing another in competition, especially as he was one of only three people in the world at the time to be landing double-flips. That was until he found he was “basically pissing blood”. Looking back, Dwayne philosophises that you have “got to take the pleasure with the pain” because that is what makes the good times so good.

It’s not all blood, guts and nuts though. A little wine used to help. About 13 years ago, Dwayne and a few mates started up Monday night wine rides. Beginning at New World in Thorndon, a bottle of wine each would be downed, before setting off for a ride around the city. All of a sudden, the tricks that usually looked so difficult didn’t seem so hard any more, “you got a hell of a lot more tricks done after a bottle of wine”.

Events such as this and his cutting-edge riding ability meant that Dwayne used to be a bit of a cult figure in Wellington. Now, he says, he could walk into town and no one would know who he was. Long gone are the days of Xair and TV appearances. No longer do all the riders know each other and party together because new clubs and parks have sprung up all over the place. Dwayne doesn’t have as much time for riding these days either, with ‘bubby’ taking up most of his spare time. It won’t be long though before ‘bubby’ is following in his father’s footsteps I am sure. He already has his own dirt-bike with trainer wheels, and any kid who has a BMX ramp as a slide will grow up with a taste for riding. With dwayne being a long time advocate for Haro bikes, we can only assume Junior will soon be riding the same brand of steed.

But if you think that Dwayne has traded in the adrenalin-saturated life of a charismatic BMX rider for the quiet life, you would be sorely mistaken. While the boyish antics may be long gone, the life of a towie is definitely not tea and crumpets, well not the way Dwayne does it anyway. Dwayne was initially sceptical about getting into the tow truck business, fully aware of the negative image that they can often have as “f…..g wankers”, especially considering his “anti-confrontational” demeanour. That was clearly the attitude of one disgruntled client who decided to hold a knife to Dwayne’s throat over a $100 tow bill. “There was no talking to him… he just wasn’t having a bar of it”. The guy pushed open Dwayne’s truck door, leant across and put his knife to Dwayne’s throat as he asked him, not very politely, if he would move the truck so he could get his vehicle. Dwayne said “na”. He then put his hands up to push the knife away, and as he did, he thought “damn, this is sharp”. Dwayne clearly did not lose his “nuts” in that double-flip incident.

The tow truck business did have its up sides when it came to Dwayne’s BMXing though. One of his first trucks had a jump made up that used to fit on to the back of it, “we could just cart it round on the back of a truck and set it up, we did a lot of shows like that, you would actually jump over the back of the truck”. Just the perks of the job.

So would the dare-devil 17-year-old Dwayne recognise the Dwayne in front of me now? He might be surprised that he has a young son, that he doesn’t ride as much anymore, and that he now helps the council drag things away, but I don’t think that Dwayne would change a thing. After all, it is only a few years until his son will be challenging him on the BMX ramp, which he happily contemplates will keep him young. If he has one piece of advice it would be “make the most of what you can while you’re younger and get out there and do what you want to do before you’re too old and you miss that window”. Somehow, I do not think Dwayne has quite passed that window just yet. The pile of Haro bikes around the place and his willingness to pull back flips withouth thinking  twice are good signs of that.