Mike Spinner never thought he'd be taking his spins on the Action Sports Tour Dew Tour as a professional BMX rider.

He was good, one of the best in the neighborhood on his BMX bike, but ...

"I never thought I'd become a professional. I graduated from high school a year and a half ago and was going to have fun over the summer and then look at college," he said in a phone interview from his home in Coral Springs, Fla.

TV and a decision to enter an amateur event changed his plans. He is, now, one of the up-and-coming stars on the extreme BMX tour. He is, as one official said, "One of the best ... and he's young."

Spinner is, in fact, the first BMX rider to make his 20-inch bike make three complete spins in the air before landing (called a 1080) in competition.

He's also the first to do a 720 with a tail whip and a 360 with a triple tail whip.

These are tricks never before landed by the cadre of pro talent in the extreme BMX circuit.

All of which puts him up there as one of the riders to watch in the BMX competition coming in the AST Dew Tour this week to Salt Lake City. Competition will start Thursday in the EnergySolutions Arena and nearby locations.

BMX riding became popular during the 1970s in California, although its roots go back much further.

Riders try to put together the best possible run by spinning, flipping and grinding on a park-style course made up of spines, ramps, miniramps, wall rides and box jumps.

Judges look for overall flow, originality, use of the course and linking tricks as well as difficulty of tricks when scoring a run.

Hit one of your signature tricks, admitted Spinner, "and keep doing your best, and chances are good you can win."

His signature tricks are, as noted, those he did "first."

Spinner remembered riding his bike with friends while growing up, then, after seeing tricks on TV, trying and hitting those tricks.

"I said to myself, 'I can do those tricks.' I'd try and they would work after the first few times," he noted.

"I decided to enter an amateur contest and won. They then sent me to Orlando as a pro to compete in the Dew Tour. I qualified first. That meant I beat all the pros. I got hurt in the finals, but they still sent me to Camp Woodward."

The camp, in Pennsylvania, is the training ground for all the top BMX riders. There he practiced his tricks and then went out on tour.

"Some guys will hit a trick once and then try it in competition. I have to try something over and over, 100 times in the foam pit to get it right or find out what I'm doing wrong," he said.

"Oh, I've fallen. I've tried the 1080 maybe six times on a real ramp and pulled it twice. You risk getting hurt and maybe missing the Dew Tour. But those are the risks you take."

Oddly enough, as his name implies, Spinner, he prefers to do "spin" tricks. In fact, all of his big tricks are spins.

He said that everyone has their own special tricks, which he has stayed away from, and has come to specialize on his spins.

Now he has his fleet of sponsors backing him up, as well as a special talent that has taken him into what he called "a dream come true." Which, in this case, is the extreme competition on the Dew Tour.

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E-mail: grass@desnews.com