Throwback Thursdays: Ciaran Perry Interview

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Lots of people messaging me about Ciaran Perry’s riding, and I dug back to my interview with him from 2009, his riding to this day is still relevant. Enjoy this one if you missed it the first time from the FM blogspot days….


intro/interview: EC

Ciaran Perry is the first of the ‘isolated’ interviews for my blog, it’s great that in a country as small as ours, there’s still amazing riders that I haven’t ever met yet. Throughout the UK and no doubt every other country in the world, there are pockets of riders or individual riders that help push the artform forward at their own speed, not inspired by trends, but their own personal aspirations.
Ciaran’s 23 years old, and lives in the South west of England, in Taunton. Not too far from where the NASS event happens.
No doubt many of you have seen Ciaran’s videos on global flat, Vimeo, you tube, if you haven’t theres a few videos within this two part interview, an awesome rider, with a real creative flair. Read on.

Your quite far removed from the rest of the UK flat scene, how did you get into riding? I’m always interested how riders get exposed to flat?
Well I used to skate for 3 years + before flat and was first exposed to flat at I believe the first ever NASS. Phil Dolan was doing a show with GT, I remember being massively intrigued by what was going on, it just looked so different and so fresh. I think even then I percieved it as being super creative and pretty much limitless ironically as a skater I was full into flatland skating but without the influence. I never knew who Rodney Mullen was or even saw flatland skating till pretty much after I had finished with it, it was just my natural style, so it was transitional to move to flatland. It was the perfect sport, my love for bikes and the creativity I enjoyed in skating all came to one with flatland. So yeah, Phil Dolan and the first issue of Ride (UK) I ever owned, which again had a Phil Dolan interview and Jimmy (Petitet) and Alex (Jumelin) interview in were my first exposures to flatland.

That shows the importance of flatland being in the magazines really, and also flatland in contests, that also really proves worthwhile when something I was involved in inspired somebody to get into flatland. Now your into flatland and fully involved, I guess you don’t miss the magazine coverage and everything has moved online pretty much? What’s your standpoint on lack of flatland in the magazines?
I can’t really say I was ever much of a magazine buyer anyway, they were more like if I happen to be going past smiths I’ll have a look to see if there’s anything worth purchasing, so for me whether flatland is in magazines or not is no direct concern, but now we are all online I think it’s positive for a number of reasons.
Firstly its easier to reach a broader audience online which is clearly a big thing, its also free online to both access and create so the concerns of covering costs aren’t so great, but also outside of that, the internet is fast and everyone now is contributing like a family, if some jam comes down you can guarantee someone was there and will be reporting it online within a day and then it will be talked about and to be honest the only negative I can ever see is the lack of quality in online videos compared to professional DVD work from Bobby and Chad, etc, but I think slowly that’s improving also.
At the end of the day flatlanders aren’t film makers so they just want to see the riding, which is a shame because the art of film making and presentation is important to. The end of magazines isn’t a negative though, it’s merely a focus shift to a more accessible online format, it’s basically made the most underground riders able to show off their stuff if they want to.

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Thailand Trip by Sietse Van Berkel

Text: Sietse. Photos: Schogn, and Sietse.
Love this shot of Sietse mid pivot switch foot steam captured on a night session.

My plan is to go to Japan for Flatark in December 2023 and Chimera A-Side in January 2024. There is a 2.5-week gap between the events, and I have decided to stay in Asia during that time. I need some sun, to get away from the Netherlands, and time for myself after a challenging period. I quickly decide on Thailand: curious about the culture, food, nature, and I think it’s easily accessible for the relatively short duration. I know Toon from various events in the past years, and I message him that I will be in Thailand during that period. Off we go!

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2023 Flatmattersonline Year End Award Nominees Announced!

Hello everyone!

It’s time to announce the nominees for the 2023 Flatmattersonline Year End Awards in Reader Choice (You at Home) and Editorial Vote (Me at FM HQ!). Congratulations to everyone who got nominated, and thank you to everyone who took the time to vote.

– Effraim.

READER VOTE:

RIDER OF THE YEAR:
Julien Baran
Yu Katagiri
Jean William Prevost
Yu Shoji
Kio Hayakawa

EDIT OF THE YEAR:
Jean William Prevost: Comes in waves
Dane Beardsley: About Time
James White: White Noise
Sebastian Grubinger: Finale
Viki Gomez: 20 Years on red bull

FEMALE RIDER OF THE YEAR:
Carin Hommura
Aude Cassagne
Jeanne Signeur
Louise Signeur
Leticia Moda

CONTEST RUN OF THE YEAR:
Yu Shoji: Uci Glasgow final
Kio Hayakawa: Chimera Round 3 final
Yu Katagiri: X Games final
Yu Katagiri: Flatark
Jean William Prevost: Huffjam

LINE OF THE YEAR:
Dane Beardsley: Last trick in About Time.
Yu Katagiri: Flatark Best Trick.
Kio Hayakawa: Xft upside pedalling Uci Glasgow semi final.
Yu Shoji: Crack jump to Saturn spin.
Takato Moriya: Backwards pedal junkyard full flip line.

EDITORIAL VOTE:

RIDER OF THE YEAR:
James White
Jean William Prevost
Yu Katagiri
Yu Shoji
Kio Hayakawa

MUST WATCH EDIT OF THE YEAR:
James White: White Noise
Jean William Prevost: Comes in Waves
Sebastian Grubinger: Finale
Takahiro Enoki: Heresy
Dane Beardsley: About Time

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION:
* To be announced next Sunday.

BREAKTHROUGH RIDER OF THE YEAR:
Yu Shoji
Ren Oshima
Jijejije Bmx
Takuji Izumi
Takatora Hishkawa

BRAND OF THE YEAR:
Heresy BMX
Four Pegs BMX
IGI FLAT BMX
Ares Bykes
Nous BMX

*The 2023 Flatmattersonline Year End Award winners will be announced next Sunday (28th January).

Flatmattersonline 2023 Year End Awards: Line of Year Contenders

As promised, here’s a glimpse of some contenders for the Flatmattersonline 2023 Year End Awards. These are just a few highlights from FM Instagram and standout edits. The complete list would be too lengthy.
Check out #flatmattersonlinelineoftheyear2023 on instagram for more videos. Happy voting and enjoy!

The 2023 Flatmattersonline Year End Awards: It’s Time To Vote! No

It’s that time of year, the Flatmattersonline Year Awards for 2023 are upon us. The readers of FM have around a month to vote, so plenty of time for you to consider your votes for Rider of the Year, Edit of the Year, Female Rider of the Year, Contest Run of the Year and the most difficult one but a fun one to break down, Line of the Year. As always have fun with it!

Reader Choice:
Rider of year
Edit of Year
Female rider of year
Contest Run of Year
Line of Year (video highlighting some of the contenders dropping in a few days, stay tuned!)

Editorial Vote:
Rider of year
Must Watch Edit of year
Outstanding Contribution
Breakthrough Rider of year
Brand of the Year

How do you vote?
Send your votes through to: effraim@flatmattersonline.com – entitled Flatmattersonline Year End Awards 2023.
Please vote only by email, it gets too complicated with DM’s, facebook messages etc.

When’s the Deadline for voting?
Voting closes Sunday 14th January.
VOTING NOW CLOSED!

Nominees announced:
Sunday January 21st

Year end award winners announced:
Sunday January 28th.

Please note:
Voting only counts via email. Plenty of time to go through edits over the new year, and look back via the site on the highlights of the year that will follow over the next few weeks, take your time and good luck and most of all enjoy the process of voting!

Flatmattersonline.

Have a good Christmas everyone, and happy new year!

Thanks to everyone who supported the Flatmattersonline 15th anniversary merchandise launch, appreciate the love!!

Effraim.

15 Years of Flatmattersonline

When reflecting on 15 years of running the site, my initial thoughts trace back to the “To scuff or not?” article on the Blogspot site. Contemplating how much Flatland has progressed—advanced tricks, evolving techniques.

Up steps Mark Ward during a session at my flatland school, Mark is a fellow rider and designer, who’s worked with Greystoke BMX, Haro Bikes, and Dale Holmes racing brand Dvide recently. He proposed a futuristic series of drawings for Flatmattersonline Merch, offering a glimpse into where Flatland might be in another fifteen years that somewhat aligned with what I was thinking of to celebrate the anniversary. Continue reading

Repo: FA Battleground Contest + Official Edit

Text: François “Fan” Debroux.
Photos: Glenn Mehltretter & Robert & Ruben Castillo, Kevin Cunningham.

Massive thanks to François for reaching out with this awesome repo following on from Barre’s Oya Street Jam repo. So good to have people all over the world contributing towards Flatmattersonline!

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Repo: Oya Street Jam.

Text: Barre Neirynck.
Photos: Barre Neirynck, Djou Nien.

I hit Barre Neirynck a message after I saw a few photos on Instagram,. Whats this event Barre? I don’t know much about it, it looks amazing. Barre came through with this repo, shouts to Barre and Djou Nien for helping out with photos. Nice to get a repo back here on Flatmattersonline. Enjoy this one!

TRAVEL DAY.

It all started last year when I saw some footage from a underground contest on a island thirty minutes away from the west coast of France!
Between Normandië and Bordeaux.
The vibe was so dope, that it sparked my interest to know more about this event.
The name of the island is Île d’Yeu, and is organise by Etienne Taraud and crew, the event called Oya Street Jam! With a resident population of only 5000 people, community style.

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Watch the Top 3: UK National Championships at the Backyard Jam

Last weekend, the British Cycling National Championships took place at the Backyard Jam taking place at Junction 4 Skatepark in Darwen, Lancashire. Check out the top 3 runs from Matti Hemmings, Lee Musselwhite and James White.

Next stop the UCI World Championships in Glasgow, next week.

Thanks Nic Newman for filming.

Aude Cassagne: The Flatmattersonline 2022 Female Rider of the Year Interview

Interview: Effraim.
Photos: Aude/Stephane Bar.

What an impact Aude Cassagne made on flatland in the latter part of last year, it really is mind blowing to think she rocked up at the UCI World Championships in Abu Dhabi essentially cold on the contest scene, and the same week was announced onto arguably the best team in flatland, Heresy with an amazing edit (and she’s already dropped a fresh edit this year!). I wanted to know more after, Aude was voted Female Rider of the Year. Read on…

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