Congratulations to Bert Ribul winning the Sundet Flatland Evening contest in Sweden yesterday. Hopefully there will be some video soon. Thanks to Anders Milberg for sending in the photos and news.
1st Bert Ribul
2nd Erik Laev
3rd Andreas Lindqvist
4th Anders Milberg
Bert just posted a shot (bike on the left) of his new ride. Together with Martti, Bert has been working on this Junglerider flat/street frame for quite a while now. Stay tuned for more news on this one.
Every so often, we see flatlanders trying flips into foam. Here is the latest, check this short clip of Bert learning flips, and he looks to have the rotation pretty good…
Text: Effraim
Almost daily I get new ideas for the site, in the case of reviewing 2012 I felt the “Defining moments of 2011” didn’t really do the whole year justice I felt like I skipped a lot, in doing so, this article quickly turn into a bit of a monster!
How do you reflect on such a good year with just “Defining Moments” I thought to myself?
I do believe 2012 was one of the best years for flatland that I can ever remember.
So I started documenting all the edits and articles/news as I always do, this time I used the loose criteria, did they make me go back and take numerous watches/views.
I realised pretty quickly that this idea was a monsteras I hit rewind on some many edits, but much like when I’m riding, once I get an idea for trick/or article I stick at it until it’s done.
Two months later, staring at all these video references/notes, after much gnashing of teeth, re-edit after re-edit, here I am with Part 1!
I started brainstorming ideas best to showcase the year as concisely as possible.
This is what I came up with:
This article will come in three parts, Four months summary at a time, with a bibliography.
Let me know what you think in the comments. I am interested to see what people think. Hope you enjoy my breakdown! Anyway, enough of me rambling, let’s crack on!
Welcome to Part 1 of 3 for my review of 2012. Hold tight!
As early as January 4th, One of my favourite riders to watch, Stephan Hearn dropped an amazing ESPN profile edit dropped which kick started the year off nicely! Stephan’s riding since his Create part has always amazed me! 2012 has seen a lot of new faces come to the forefront which is amazing and much needed for our sport/artform. On January 14th, Kensuke Hamai from Japan dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with effortless switches which further pushed the foundations made by the likes of Nathan Penonzek, Raphael Chiquet and more recently Yohei Uchino.
Working on interviews as I have said many times is one of my favourite parts of putting together FM, first up for the year was Athens stylecat, Jody Temple, who kindly put together a really nice edit for coincide with the interview on January 18th. The year seems to have flown by, as this edit feels like it dropped a month ago.
On January 19th, Quentin Pelorson from France dropped some bombs on the Grenoble scene edit, the forward karl step to halfpacker (11.27) still has me hitting the rewind months ahead, I hope in time this guys riding gets the recognition it really does deserve. Really excited to see how his riding develops this year!
After the well received FM exclusive edit on January 20th, I dropped the first big interview of the year, with Jody Temple. This is most certainly well worth going back over and reading again, plus some awesome photographs to boot!
Also on this day, the first major jam of the year took place in Zuma Beach, So Cal. The One Love Jam saw a reunion of some flatland legends like Dylan Worsley, Day Smith, Brian Tunney, Cory Fester, Chad Johnston, Ed Nussbaum, and many more shredders. The One Love crew added a highest bunnyhop event that helped attract more riders and sponsors, and of course fun! Good times on the West Coast!
On February 6th was a great day for flatland! Tomoaki Yoshimura dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with his amazing two footed scuffing technique on forward puppets, Tomoaki had a great year featuring a lot across every flat website/blog on the planet. Hope to see more creative riding from this guy in 2013.
Also on February 6th I dropped the second big interview with Flatland legend, Simon O’Brien, I feel like sometimes this dude and what he’s done gets forgotten very quickly, as he’s out there in Australia, but as it turns out later in the year he featured a lot more. As we would later in the year find out.
Also, Adam Kun teamed up with his friend Tom at Sevisual to show the world his new brakeless style. Like I said February 6th was a good day!
On February 11th, Alex Jumelin joined forces with Matthias Dandois to kick start his year with a bang, 2012 was one of Alex’s most productive years yet, and this edit at his work/home riding spot in Paris set the tone of the year.
On the same day, Aleksi Ritsila dropped his Welcome to S&M edit, all I can say is Wow! Go watch that again. I wish the flatland world could see more of this style cat, but on the flipside it’s kinda nice getting brief glimpses of his awesome riding.
George Manos came over to the UK in February, and filmed a few FM exclusives at my indoor spot, but the real treat came on Feb 18th when he teamed up with the talented film maker/videographer, James Smith. The black and white tone and darkness of the edit captured George’s personality and minimalistic riding style perfectly, go watch that edit again!
Two days later, as we all recovered from Georges amazing edit, Tom at Sevisual got together with spanish style cat, Viki Gomez whilst he was over with Adam Kun for a contest in Madrid to film a sweet part in Madrid. Viki won the contest on home soil..
March always starts with the Toronto contest, now that the Circle Cow contest is no more. Toronto really is the first big contest of the year, and the first chance many of us get to see what the heavy hitters are up to for the year. And of course Canada has always historically helped breed some of the worlds best flatlanders. In 2012, Moto Sasaki took the win from Czech’s Dominik Nekolny, the result was uber close, a real tough to call, with how Dom ended the year at Texas Toast you wouldn’t bet on Dom going back this year to take top honours in Canada.
Whilst George Manos stayed at my house, I asked him if he would write an article about his thoughts on originality in flatland, on March 2nd, we released his thoughts and philosophy, entitled “Originality – a hidden identity” that gave you the flatland world some insight into this talented riders world.
Four days later, Bert Ribul had me thinking “is the guy that could step up and be the next big thing?”, so many crazy brakeless switches with nuff style, as I remember this is the first post I ever “stickied”, I may have got carried away with the amount of time I kept it stickied for. Bert’s edit was one of the best of the year, and certainly helped his invite to the Red Bull Circe of Balance later in the year. And 2013 looks like being a good year already for Bert!
On March 15th, Jean William Prevost dropped an amazing “Spring Cleaning” edit, killer back wheel pedal pivots, turbines, and so much flow, the edit had many saying “If he can hold it together he will win a contest…”… They were later proved they were not far wrong on that prediction….
On April 6th, one of the best edits of the years dropped and surprised the world, embracing the old, but making it new, John Yull’s “3 years” edit had me screaming at the laptop numerous times, it was great to see John back firing, John flipped the old and made it new! Killer foot jam decade variations, power mowers, the list goes on! As we all know John this year is working on his part for Same Thing Daily 3. Really excited to see what John has in store for us.
Hiroya Morizaki came out the blocks hot in 2012, winning the first round of the KOG, dialling in his no scuff mega spin whopper combo, everyone knows that no one rides like Hiroya, when the man is on, as I said on the Red Bull COB live feed, “get out of town”.
Shortly after the KOG, of course it was time for one of the best contests of the year and Round One of the World Circuit series, Jomopro. On the eve of the contest, April 9th, Fat Tony dropped an amazing practise edit which was really the first time we saw a lot of the japanese riders in 2012, and wow, Yohei Uchino stood out, as it turned out. Ucchie put his previous demons from the Jomopro contest to bed, and stomped his way to a well deserved win.
On April 10th, the news broke that Flatland Fuel’s Pat Schoolen was recovering from an operation to remove a tumour, thankfully Pat recovered well. But this news certainly shook the flatland world for a minute.
On April 11th, I dropped the story of the trip to the One Wheel Motion TGM jam in London, which certainly let a few of us know that Sam Foakes was back on it, and not slowing down anytime soon.
A day later, OGBikeCo released an amazing edit of the underrated Peter Sarlos, go back and watch this edit, Peter absolutely kills it!
2012 was a great year for Jim McKay, and the first main edit he dropped was the best trick contest edit from the Jomopro contest, we all marvelled at Hotoke’s insane front wheel line, not to mention Terry’s winning combo.
Also on this day, James Smith dropped the hilarious “The downfall of flatland parody” that followed on from TCU edit, James certainly ruffled a few feathers with this one, but in my opinion it is always good to reminded not to take yourself to seriously me thinks.
On April 28th, we broke the news that Alex Jumelin and his family would be moving from their home in Paris, France to New Orleans, USA. Certainly a career defining moment, and complete change in lifestyle.
Two days later, Jim McKay released an amazing edit entitled “Outside Jomopro 2012”, all to often after contests all thats available to see are the runs, Jim’s take Outside the contest, hit the nail on the head. An absolute treat with amazing riding from the likes of Viki Gomez, Hotoke, Dub, Matthias Dandois, and many more. Oh yeah that edit? Go watch it…
Part 2 to be continued Monday, does anyone see why this quickly became a monster? ….
Bibliography Part 1:
January
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/stephan-hearn-espn-profile
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-kensuke-hamai-2011
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/one-love-jam-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-flatmatters-exclusive-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-interview
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-grenoble-scene-edit
February
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-tomoaki-b-yoshimura
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-simon-obrien-interview-2
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/monster-energys-adam-kun-brakeless-session-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-winter-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aleksi-ritsila-sm-bikes
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-in-london
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-sevisual-in-madrid
March
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-originality-a-hidden-identity
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-bert-ribul-winter-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-william-prevost-spring-cleaning
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chase-gouin-memes-to-an-end-response
April
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-3-years
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hiroya-morisaki-wins-kog-round-1-2
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pro-flatland-bmx-riders-warming-up-for-jomopro-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pat-schoolen-recovering-from-operation-to-remove-tumor
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/diary-of-a-trip-to-the-1wm-tgm-jam
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/peter-sarlos-og-bike-co
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jomopro-2012-best-trick-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-downfall-of-flatland-parody
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-moving-to-america
Big news just dropped on the Simple Session instagram. Estonia’s Bert Ribul joins likes of Yohei Uchino, Matthias Dandois, Terry Adams and Viki Gomez on Red Bull! Congratulations Bert!
Intro/Interviews: Effraim
As I began reviewing the year, and realising just how many good videos/contests/interviews/scene edits there have been. It hit me that in addition to my review it would be cool to get the opinions of some of the riders/and industry heads that have made these highlights happen. Theres a real sense of things are on the up this year, read on for part 2 of this 2012 Highlights article.
This powerful edit Matt dropped on September 26th illustrates what he’s talking about below perfectly! Go watch it again!
Matt Wilhelm: I think the highlight of the year for me was just continuing to push myself and ride for fun. I’m kinda done with that whole contest thing, which I’ve been doing at the Pro level since 1999. For me it’s just all about pushing myself, and this was a great year for that. Plus all my nagging injuries have magically disappeared. For me the best feeling is just having an empty parking lot, dialed bike, and good health.
George Manos: The highlight of this year regarding flatland should be for me the Red Bull “Circle of Balance” contest.You might think it’s an obvious choice since I participated in this, but my answer still would be the same even if I didn’t have anything to do with it. Through the years this particular event was presented as the most prestigious among others ,focusing exclusively on flatland and showing the proper treatment and respect to all the effort the riders put in their craft. After some years of absence it was back this time, all the hype built until its execution made it highly anticipated and in the end paid off for the riders and spectators all over the world.As a rider even in my craziest dreams I never thought I would have a real possibility to witness this from so close-let alone ride in it-and to be a part of it ,and feel the energy and tension,the excitement and fun in setting a spectacular show like this was like a wonder and an experience that i will be happy to remember not only for this year but also for years to come.
Chad J, backwards carved pedal 5 at the LBC Underground. Photo by Jeff Z.
Chad Johnston: Agreed, 2012 has been great year! The highlight for me isn’t just one moment, it’s all of them combined. After having to be off my bike for six weeks this last Spring I wasn’t sure I’d even get any productive riding done. After a short time I was back to where I was before, and soon after I was progressing and filming things that were in my head during my down time. Being able to ride and progress on a regular basis and capture some of it on film motivates me to continue and makes this another great year for me! Thanks to everyone that has given support!
Prasheel Gopal: 2012 has been an unreal year; I think any year I can manage to attend every major North American event with Alex and Mark is an amazing year. I love attending and supporting all the circuit events, and seeing so many friends so often, I’m left with many long lasting memories.
The one trip that was a bit more unplanned/unexpected at the beginning of the year for me was my trip to England for King of Southsea. I have developed an obsession with British culture, so I knew I’s going to have a great time before I went, but the contest, the scene, the people, and everything else was just so much more fun than I could have really expected. Not to mention, winning a contest for your first time will obviously be an unforgettable memory (even if I couldn’t have my #pralex teammates there with me).
Undoubtedly, another one of my favourite things about this past year is some how getting my photo alongside my two best friends on the back of the 2013 flatland calendar! And not just that, but to see how supportive and excited others were to see us on there made it feel that much better. Despite not having any financial support and doing so many trips for so long, it feels great that we have communal support, and that Fat Tony wanted to include us.
Jean-Francois Boulianne: For me 2012 have been full of surprise. First, i would say getting hook up by Odyssey/Flatware, then the whole season wich was full of travel and contest. and at last filming a video with Sevisual was a blast. I also wanna thanks everyone that help me out!!!!
Viki Gomez: For me the best highlight of the year has been winning the Red Bull COB for the third time! It made me realized that I have won the contest every flatland rider dreams of! And being the one living the dream gives me a lot of strenght and motivation to keep on riding hard and progressing!
Pete Brandt: I think that the best things for my riding in 2012 was progression. There is a few tricks that are in some recent edits http://vimeo.com/53250654 also I received a lifetime achievement award that was featured on the ESPN site special thanks to Brian Tunney. It was quite an honor to have acknowledgements and show the history of flatland that I had part in. I’ve never been one to rely on what I have done and contributed to flatland but it is nice to know that people remember and continue to document the history.
It was quite a year for web edits and a special thanks to flatmatters for all the support. Peace and respect and flatland still lives in a progressive state in 2013 and to the future.
Dane Beardsley: Best part about this year has been having good sessions with people from all over the place.
Voodoo Jam 2012 from jim mckay on Vimeo.
The Voodoo Jam always delivers good times, this edit got Lisias really pumped up this year, watch it and see why!
Lísias Tabarelli: First, a fantastic edition Of Jim Mackay, that has done a great job, hard to do, a detail: ALONE – image and editing. This video have a great quality, diversity of riders and a great contest: https://vimeo.com/45403543
The second video, I’m with my editing, that I did out of BMX Masters –12, that I call ”Euro Treino”
Europe was my first international trip, where I improved my clinical look about Flatland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOxW8SINYIA
This video I show a great diversity of brazilian riders, and big brazilian friends.
2012 was a very nice year to me, especially because I won the Competition Original Trick of KHE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqqeP2pTmbQ and arrive on stage at the BMX Masters recognized by a hidden talent.
I’m not very good where in I do, but I try keep the style, deviating of problems with sport on the planet.
I love what I do, my job. Flatland family is a hidden talent, gradually unraveled.Thanks.
Mark Kuhlmann: This year has been the best year yet for me riding wise. I wasn’t sure how the year would turn out at the beginning of 2012 because I had a lot going on and wasn’t sure how much time I could commit to my bike. My wife and I had just bought our first house and we took on the task of gutting and completely redoing the basement without any prior renovation experience That took up a lot of time. Just as we finished that at the end of summer, I took a new job and due to its new location we sold our house and are currently waiting to move into our new house (with even more work needed!!!)
It has been a challenge to fit riding in on a somewhat consistent level but I still managed to hit all the stops on the #AMFLT circuit and the Voodoo Jam with the encouragement of my wife and the support of my #pralex brothers Prasheel and Alex. I’m so glad we could go to all these events because we made so many great memories (Perogies in Toronto, the City Museum in St Louis on our way to Jomo, the photo shoot in New Orleans, just having a great time riding in Anderson and partying at night, and all the ups and downs that came with going to Texas). I was finally able to shake off my nerves at a contest and ended up doing well a few times. The highlight of the contest year was definitely winning expert in Voodoo Jam. I won’t ever forget standing there in shock and disbelief that it was happening while watching Prasheel jump up and down.
On a personal riding level, I’ve just recently met some riding goals with tricks that I’ve always wanted to do when I started riding like whoppers and some new crossfooted tricks. It feels great to have finally reached a point where I can do them. Time to set some new goals and push on in 2013.
Whether it be a new trick, or a new memory, 2012 set the bar high and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Quite a year for Bert, not only having one of the best parts of the year in my opinion, but also invited to the Red Bull COB and battling Matthias Dandois. I got goosebumps watching this again this morning. Read on to see what Bert has to say!
Bert Ribul: I want to start off by saying that 2012 has been a great year for flatland and the best year for me so far riding wise and personal life. It started off by me posting my winter video and you guys gave me soo many good reviews and got me really pumped up. Thanks!!
Then in July i went to Germany with the the Finnish guys to the BMX WORLDS, although the event was rained out and most of the events got canceled, we still had a really great time there and luckily flatland was the only event that wasn’t rained out. I qualified at 6th and ended up getting 12th place and we had great sessions with everybody and met soo many new people, again thanks for the great times there!
Then in september one of my dreams came true, I got the opportunity to travel to Japan for Red Bull Circle Of Balance. That was just simply amazing and I wish I could visit Japan in the near future again. RB COB was the highlight for flatland in general this year!
too many great things happened there, I would have to write another article about that hehe. The biggest thanks goes to Red Bull and all the organizers and all the great people I met there and made this trip happen. That was the trip of my life.
after Japan i went to Spain with Aleksi Ritsilä for the rebel jam. it was a great event as well, Spain is like paradise, we seriously didnt want to come back from there, at one point we even gave up getting to the airport at 5 in the morning 😀 Spain is definitely a place i would love to come back! It was like a really great vacation at the end of the year, and again thanks to everybody that was there and made it happen. It was a lot of fun!
Those were the 3 highlights for me this year besides many smaller trips and demos, but those 3 really stand out and I’ll never forget them. Now that the year is ending i’m struggling with winter spots again, and riding quite abit of street aswell, because of the lack of winterspots here. Just take as much fun as i can out of bmx in general and practicing alot for the next year which promises to be even better, because i have some big projects coming up which i cant talk about just yet.
Thanks to Flatmatters for giving me the chance to write this small article.Have fun!
Pat Schoolen: Moto Sasaki at Jomopro. I never tire of watching Moto’s fluid, original and crazy hard riding.
Sick edit from the Rebel Jam 2012 practise! Featuring Matthias Dandois, Dez Maarsen, Jesse Puente, Bert Ribul, Aleksi Ritsila, Alexis Desolneux, and more! On a cold decembers day that beach seems so amazing now! Enjoy this one!
Another must watch! Absolutely spoilt this week! Two up and coming names on the flat scene with big futures! You know this is good! Great production, and of course riding, love the lines at 0:33, the mix in styles and music works perfectly, other standouts g-turn nose manuals, fakie manual to decade out,whoppers both ways, this is a must watch! And looks like they are having a blast doing it too! BMX!
