We were lucky to catch up with Solomon Salazar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Solomon, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My entire life I’ve been surrounded by hard workers. Some of my earliest memories are of “helping” my dad while he worked on machinery on a potato farm. There were also late nights in the winter when I accompanied him while he checked on the ventilation fans in the potato storage buildings, if the temperature and humidity weren’t correct a whole crop could be lost.
There were times, I couldn’t have been more than ten years old, that I remember helping roof a two story building while my uncle was building an addition to his house. Growing up my family didn’t have a lot of money, but what we carried in spades was skill. if something need built or fixed or fabricated there was someone in the family who was more than capable.
And I was fortunate enough to learn from all of them. Auto work, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, general machine maintenance at the potato warehouses, I was there willing to learn it all from anyone willing to teach me.
The question of ethic though, without a doubt that 100% comes from my mom. She has worked tirelessly throughout my entire life, single at times, to support her three sons. And now, even as adults, there is nothing that she wouldn’t do for us within her means. She is the one who has taught me to work hard to fulfill your responsibilities. If you can get that done, there’s a whole lot that just falls into place.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am Solomon Salazar. Lifelong BMX rider and father to a highly skilled BMX kid (young man). Different forms of cycling afforded me the opportunity for a great relationship with my father and to develop an even better relationship with my son. I spent countless hours with my dad driving around Colorado and riding our mountain bikes. one of my favorite memories is how we would just pick a mountain pass and ride a bike down as fast as possible while the other followed behind in the pickup truck. And I have spent even more time with my son going around the state and country visiting skateparks, dirt jumps and anything else we could put our tires on. Cycling has provided me with a super solid relationship with the two most important male figures in my life, this is a debt I can hardly repay.
But I can try.
Currently I am a carpenter, framing and finish trimming high end remodels in Denver. While I like what I do, there is not much room left for me to improve how I do things and has become just a drone of a job, this is not how I want to spend the waning years of my life, moderate pay for high quality work with marginal appreciation.
The skatepark idea has been around for a few years now. A talk that always seems to coincide with the first large snowfall of the season. I’ve tried to get the local friends on board with the idea but the conversation always ends the same way. Everyone complaining about the total cost, insurance being the biggest detractor. In October of 2024 I decided it was time to stop waiting for help and just do it myself, damn the odds.
The vision for our origination is to provide an admission free indoor skatepark in Colorado Springs. A place where inclusivity, acceptance and support rule over all. In the correct setting BMX, and arguably all action sports, can improve fitness, self esteem and social skills among a whole host of other benefits. A free indoor skatepark situated closely to low income neighborhoods would do wonders for the disadvantaged youth of our region and beyond. This is the crux of the mission, to raise up the youth and give them the confidence and self esteem that can carry them through adulthood.
Somehow we got off to a running start and are keeping the momentum. We have a partnership with Traction Coffee Roasters and will have a signature coffee soon to help maintain income and also a partnership with Boardpusher Custom Skateboards to help with the same. I’m getting local artists and friends to supply art to be printed on the skateboard decks and will be splitting the proceeds with the artists. One of the things I’m most excited about is that our plan includes concert promotion, and concerts at the skatepark once it is finished. We have our first show coming up with some local punk bands, one of which my son is a drummer for. Traction Coffee is also hosting a few jams and contests this year and we’ve been invited to tag along to promote visibility through the brands.
Ultimately the skatepark will be about 20,000 square feet with an additional 16,000 square feet of covered outdoor dirt jumps. The piece of land we are hoping to get will have enough room for both plus the room for an additional 30,000 square foot skatepark building.
Everyone that hears about the project is super excited about it and offers to help in any way they can once the time comes.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Preparation, attitude, and persistence.
In all my years of working construction I’ve learned that these three qualities will get you much farther than if you just rely on skill alone.
One of my high school teachers (rest easy Jerry Reed) taught me probably the most important phrase that still rings true every day of my life, the six Ps:
Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance
And that’s pretty much all I have to say about preparation.
Attitude is much more tricky, is a constant argument with yourself on how you perceive the way everything is going. There is a sub-genre of punk rock where the base tenent is P.M.A. – Positive Mental Attitude. These were the bands that I gravitated towards and through their music and and messages they sing about I have been able to keep my head above water. Circumstances in life can and do get bad, very bad at times, and through the music I have learned that keeping that mental attitude up is critical. Intrusive thoughts are hard to fight sometimes and if you have the right external stimuli you can realize that things aren’t always as they seem and everything can be okay if you can just persist.
Persistence is a hard one because, at it’s root, persistence is about getting through the hard times. And there will be hard times. The difference is that if you take the first two, preparation and attitude, persistence doesn’t have to be all that tough. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep that attitude in a positive place. And if you’ve prepared yourself correctly persistence will just be natural because you’re not fixated on all the things that have gone and will go wrong. With a goal solidly in mind keeping forward momentum is easier because the distractions are less distracting, just something else to fix while pacing to your goal.
My advice would be to take these three ideas and apply them to you everyday life. If you’re prepared for what you have to do and keep a positive mental attitude about yourself then persistence and moving forward can be felt like they’re just being handed to you.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My current biggest obstacle is reputation. Although I’ve been involved in the BMX community for many years I’m still struggling to help people understand that their money is in good hands. But this is a problem that all new companies face.
The partnerships with both Traction Coffee and Boardpusher Skateboards have really helped in this area. Traction is only a seven year old company but is heavily focused on cycling, specifically BMX and mountain biking. The owner is a bmx rider and I’ve built a relationship by being a customer and getting to know him at the BMX events we find ourselves at. This year will be Boardpusher’s 20th anniversary. The primary owner is a lifelong friend from middle school, we grew up skateboarding, snowboarding and generally causing trouble with each other as teenagers so often do. Having people that I can trust and share the values of the mission with has been a big game changer.
I wanted to get a fair amount of momentum before diving into the BMX industry but I think we’re there. Once our signature coffee is ready I have planned with Our BMX, who has the largest BMX related podcast currently, to introduce the Apogee BMX to the BMX community. Then the partnerships with the big BMX manufacturers can begin.
Even though I feel like this is our biggest challenge, with the partnerships we are creating and persistence the good reputation is sure to follow. Keep moving forward and it’s only a matter of time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/apogee-bmx/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apogeebmx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567210711078
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/solomon-salazar-0522a066
- Other: https://linktr.ee/apogeebmx
Image Credits
Image credits to my son, Samuel Salazar
