From a little greenhouse to a hot tub and picnic area, an east Richmond home is like a treasure trove of recycled items.
But the highlight of resident Ron Mercer’s home is his 52 feet long, 10 feet tall BMX vertical ramp that he built out of recycled material.
Mercer, a 55-year-old professional BMX rider, started extreme sports and “going off jumps” at five years old and always wanted his own BMX ramp.
And he did just that by building his own in five and a half years out of recycled wood and wooden sheets made of Kevlar fibre composite material – pressure-resilient material specifically for extreme sport ramps – in his front yard.
Materials, however, don’t come easy and that is why sourcing and using recycled material is important, according to Mercer.
“Sheets are expensive and can cost about $300 per sheet and there are 74 sheets in total for this ramp,” he said.
“Everything is made of recycled material with some as old as 20 years now that needs replacing soon.”
Despite being a BMX rider for 50 years and having endured two concussions and a spinal injury, he still finds joy in riding his bike on his homemade ramp, even though he no longer competes.
“It’s just such a great experience to be still able to ride and still have the confidence to ride because it takes skills, safety knowledge and a lot of confidence to start,” he said.
Mercer’s main message to everyone who is interested in extreme sports is helmet safety.
“Our main focus is to educate people on helmet safety and show people how cool helmets are. We want to create some hope for people to say you can still have a long-lasting career in extreme sports even with serious injuries.”
Mercer is planning a touring stunt show to focus on extreme sports safety and proper training.
Meanwhile, he also wants to share the importance of recycling with the community.
“There are a lot of materials that can be recycled and reused for other things, if not they would all be wasted,” said Mercer, who has also built an outdoor garage and a moveable bowling lane with his wife using found materials.
“There’s a limited number of recycling facilities, especially wood waste, that are working with recycled materials now.”
