Wilmington resident Ryan Nyquist to be inducted into National BMX Hall of Fame

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — After over 40 years of being on two wheels, Wilmington resident Ryan Nyquist is having his name recognized for being one of the best.

16 X Games medals, 39 X Games competition starts and 60 Dew Tour final appearances. Those are some of the career highlights of soon to be National BMX  Hall of Famer Ryan Nyquist. He will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to be honored as a Modern Day Freestyle Inductee.

“Initially I got the nomination saying that I was possibly going to be in the hall of fame and I was like ‘Oh that’s nice, that’s cool.’ Then I got a phone call, maybe like a week or two after that was just like ‘Hey man, congratulations you made it in’ and it was awesome, a bit surreal,” said Nyquist when learning he would be in the hall of fame.

Nyquist, who learned how to ride a bike at the age of three, hasn’t put it down over the span of 40 plus year. Now living in Wilmington and operating a gym and fitness center with his wife, Nyquist said all he ever wanted to do was ride.

“The idea of being in the hall of fame was never something when I was younger that I thought about as like a goal. I loved riding bikes, I wanted to be as high up in the air doing whatever trick I possibly could,” Nyquist said.

Nyquist is also currently USA’s Cycling head coach for Team USA’s BMX freestyle program. When asked about his favorite moments in his career, one stuck out to him.

“I feel like it was 1997, I got invited to the X Games. The scores came in and I was in 1st place and that was my very first X Games, competing against all these guys I had watched in videos and in magazines,” Nyquist added.

That’s when he knew he could make this a career.

“Wow I could do this, but also like this crazy fear of like ‘Wow, like now I’m the guy with the target on my back, these guys are all looking at me.’ Nobody knew who I was either, it was just like I had came out of nowhere,”

Nyqusit says at this point in his career, he wants to spread his knowledge and help younger generations.