In Worthington, tucked behind a kempt grassy landscape of standard backyard detritus and outdoor furnishings, cushioned lawn chairs and an above-ground pool, is an undulating race track befitting the small town’s biggest bike enthusiasts.

It’s a gateway from the residential to the extreme, and it’s Jason Grave’s dirt paradise: a nearly 20-year project carving mounds of earth into a sinuous loop of jumps and pump tracks, and thawing and resurfacing the track once winter temperatures abate.

For the last six years, the track has hosted a band of middle-school-age bikers for several sessions of a two-week summer clinic in Graves’ backyard, where kids are free to ride the track, rest under a tented canopy, and learn from one another.

“When we first opened the shop 15 years ago, we instantly noticed that kids gravitated to us. It’s hard to own a mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar shop, but you can’t get this online,” said Graves, who owns Full Circle Bike Shop in Florence.

Graves first conceived of the track by referencing the blueprint for Woodward Camp in Wodward, Pennsylvania, the golden standard of race tracks, which Graves calls “BMX heaven on Earth.” His own clinic has grown through word of mouth, and he has progressively adapted the track to suit his 16-year-old son’s handle on riding and racing BMX, or bicycle motocross, bikes.

Jonah Graves, now a deft racer, competes against similar age riders on the national level.

While none of the adolescent bikers pedaling through his dad’s backyard are particularly interested in the scraped forearm and aching chest that’s keeping the younger Graves momentarily sidelined from the sport, they ride the loop with the same fierceness and relentlessness.

They not only hone their own individual mastery of BMX bike racing, but on the track they’re introduced to a complimentary notion of camaraderie and competition, a concept the high schooler said is considered foundational in the BMX community.

“It’s not an alone sport — everyone’s willing to help, even if that means your bike broke down and they let you ride their own,” he said.

Biking injuries are not uncommon in BMX; Jason Graves recalled having to rush a clinic participant to the emergency room last year after a rough fall, resulting in no serious injuries.

But Graves emphasized that parents who send their kids to BMX clinics and camps are cognizant of the risks associated with extreme sports, and know that this is not a passive pastime, but an engrossing and enriching one for thrill-seeking tweens and teens.

“So many camps are like an extension of school, there’s no summer for those kids. Here, it’s like the opposite of that, there’s little structure, we just ride bikes,” Graves said. “If your kid likes to ride bikes and play in the dirt — that’s what we do here.”

The ground rules of the clinic, he spelled out, are quite simple: Don’t walk on the jumps, and, if you don’t dig, you don’t ride. Shoveling dirt and, consequently, the shared responsibility of maintaining a communal track, are so ingrained that Graves awards a golden shovel to the camper of the week.

But the clinic’s unspoken rules see the light of day in Graves’ keen eye for helmet-averse riders and in participants’ understanding that they should ride at their skill level, which includes avoiding the 22-foot jump Graves designed for advanced riders.

“You’ve got to be cooking to ride that thing,” he joked, noting that many of his competitive riders are on the way toward riding more daring courses and challenging obstacles.

Jayden Mahoney, a fourth-grade prodigy who competes at the expert level, boasted recently about beating his longtime rival at the Billerica BMX track. “I was on him for like low-key two years,” he said.

The 11-year-old is off to vanquish bigger and better foes in his category.

BMX checks all of Mahoney’s boxes for a fulfilling athletic experience — “I want leg-power, I want muscle, you know, you’ve got to have dedication and drive,” he said. But he isn’t mounted on his bike in Graves’ backyard just for the competitive edge of rote practice, he said.

He’s content that “it’s a hangout,” and to Graves that’s enough of a compliment.

“The thing about BMX and why so many kids like it is that you make your own fun. No one’s ever on the bench,” he said. “It’s nice when it’s small and intimate, the clinic, there’s space for everyone on the track.”

Graves also builds BMX tracks for hire, including a coming construction in Topsfield.

Visit his shop at https://www.fullcirclebikeshop.com/.

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