CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- When AJ Anaya was in high school, he decided he wanted to ride his bike for a living.
"I started riding in the ninth grade and I was really into it," he said. "My brother and I used to watch the X Games and we were big fans. I used to watch BMX Live. At that moment I knew that was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life."
After several years on the competitive circuit, he's now one of five daredevils that perform as part of VOLTA, created by Cirque du Soliel in 2017.
"VOLTA is the first time that they've had freestyle BMX in it. We're definitely proud to be a part of that. We are more on the extreme sports aspect of things. It's a really cool thing to be able to say we're the first crew to do that," Anaya said.
Anaya has been traveling with VOLTA since its inception.
"We're mixing the extreme sports audience with the Cirque audience," Anaya said.
VOLTA is under the big top in the South Parking Lot of Soldier Field until July 6.
