The Rise (and Fall) of Cisar

He was in first when he crashed.

Steven Cisar was leading the U.S. Olympic trial race, the race that would decide which three Americans (of four), would be going to Beijing.

Then another rider came a little close.

There’s a controversy over whether they bumped, but the 20-year-old La Crescenta native got too much air on the next jump and ended up crashing on the landing.

But Cisar didn’t make any excuses.

“I was really confident because I was in the inside lane,” Cisar said. “I got a good start and was leading into the first turn. I came out of the first turn with more speed than I have ever had right there, and I jumped too far on the step-up jump.”

He came crashing down and with it went his dreams of being the Olympics in 2008.

The earnestly optimistic Cisar took this remarkably well, getting back up, finishing the race.

But this wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Cisar was supposed to go to the Olympics.

Cisar has been BMXing since he was 6. He’s been in tournaments around the world and made the U.S. National team about a year ago.

He’s experienced a great deal of success, too. After turning pro when he was 18, he successfully finished in the top six at the UCI (International Cycling Union) BMX World Championships.

At the 2008 World Championships, Cisar came in second place, his best finish yet, just behind Latvia’s Maris Strombergs and he was hitting his stride heading into the Olympic trials.

All that time spent at Whittier-Narrows BMX course, all the training he had done, all the hours he had spent doing nothing but biking and working on his bike, the time spent traveling, all of that was supposed to be rewarded in Beijing.

The cost of all this — being in BMX — was Cisar’s relationship with his father after a fight that was ultimately about something easily forgiveable, but was about something much deeper.

Cisar’s parents divorced when he was six. There wasn’t much to it, just that they couldn’t be together anymore and it was young enough in both Steven and his sister’s lives that it wouldn’t affect them deeply. Both his parents remained active in his life.

His father, Martin, decided that he was going to bond with his children through bike riding — BMX and motocross, more specifically.

He taught them both how to ride; how to take care of the bikes. His girlfriend at the time and future wife, Susie, drove the two children to the park for practice. At the age of 8, Steven was considered an expert racer at both BMX and motocross.

When Cisar got a little older, it looked like motocross was going to be his future. He was really good at it, getting national recognition at 13. It seemed like that was it, no more reasons to discuss it.

But when he was 16, he found out the Olympics were going to have BMX in 2005, he told his family he was going to switch back to BMX.

“We had a lot of faith in him in motocross,” his sister Jessica said, “and it kind of broke all our hearts when he gave that up and became independent with BMX.

“It took over his life.”

Regardless, this was his dream.

When his father expressed his concern over the switch, there was an argument.

Cisar moved out of his father’s house and into his mother’s in Altadena. He set up a bike station in her garage and lived there when he wasn’t training with the national team in Chula Vista.

Things cooled down and the two stopped talking pretty much altogether.

Ever since then, it’s been brooding, like lingering storm clouds that never rain.

“Steven’s more on his own,” Martin Cisar said, with a touch of lament. “I haven’t seen him in a while, unfortunately.”

“My father is not in [the biking part] of my life anymore,” Steven said.

Cisar didn’t rest much after the Olympic trial race. In fact, he went back to the U.S. training facility in Chula Vista almost immediately after and trained with the Olympic riders.

He’s not down. The crash may have cost him his chance, but there will be more chances. And his main goal right now is to spread love for the sport that he works so hard in.

“I will just keep on working myself to progress the sport that I love,” Cisar said. “I want to help build my sport to what it should be. The Olympics are for sure in my future. I can’t wait for it to start rolling around again.”

Cisar has a lot on his plate now and he’ll finally get to spend a little more time doing things off his bike.

“[Right now], I got my sponsors, family, girlfriend and friends on my plate,” Cisar said. “I’ll be representing my sponsors at upcoming events and I’ve been preparing for stateside national races and upcoming UCI supercross events.

“My goal is to have some good consitent races, and land on the podium.”

And on his shoulder is a tattoo, a reminder to himself, from a Bible verse:

“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

Off on the horizon is the 2012 Olympics in London.