Words and photos by Robin Pearson

Riding BMX indoors… Some people love it. You can guarantee it’ll be dry (pretty handy in the UK), lit up for evening sessions, and well maintained. You can often play your own music through the PA system to get the crew stoked. Also, there’s usually some kind of café or shop set up, plus often a BMX / Skate shop for hooking up fresh parts. Yes, there are many, many advantages to riding indoors.

On the other side of things, many riders find riding indoors to be a major compromise. The thrill of being out riding the streets with your friends, warming up, hitting new spots… How you sometimes feel like it’s more worth it when you have to sweep and dry a spot to ride it… And don’t even get me started on trails. Put simply, there’s that pleasure of being outdoors on your bike that will never go away. However, being realistic, indoor skateparks are pretty much the only place you can ride reliably in any weather. And thankfully, here in the UK we have an abundance of amazing indoor parks.

Shooting photos at indoor parks is never great for a photographer – you have to be careful with off-camera flashes and work strategically with the environment. Often, you end up with a bit of a jumble sale of ramps, random dudes in the background, scooter kids flying into shot… And there’s no nice natural light to balance your strobes with. It’s all a big compromise but anyway, here we are. As the clocks have changed and riding indoors on the reg is now on most peoples’ agendas, I thought it would be about time to look at some of the finest indoor moments I’ve been privileged to photograph.