The Yoshihiro Shinde Flatmattersonline Interview

Intro/Interview: Yasuyuki Takeo.
Photography: Riku Shinde.

In the late ’90s, top Japanese flatland riders emerged from nowhere and started competing in the X-Games hosted by ESPN, the most prominent sports channel in the US.

By the early ’00s, it wasn’t surprising that Japanese riders were on the podium of international contests. The Japanese scene attracted riders’ attention worldwide, and they invented new techniques and trends one after another.

Yoshihiro Shinde has been one of the top riders in Japan for a long time. He continues to pursue Flatland while working as a product designer for an enterprise company on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

He is in his forties and does not ride BMX for a living. However, when he said he wanted to master BMX, his words somehow resonated with me. Even though I had left the BMX scene, I wanted to know what the word meant.

While many riders stick with only certain tricks, he has mastered all kinds of tricks since he started riding. Stating “I want to master BMX Flatland” would probably sound cliche, but I felt he was sincere in his view of Flatland and his weighty words.

He continues pursuing Flatland to master it, entirely different from riding for love, money, or fame. Here is his story.

——

Continue reading

Proseed Issue One: Side B

On Thursday I posted Side A of the Proseed Video Issue One leading up to my Flatmattersonline interview with Yasuyuki Takeo (scroll above if you missed it!), one of the founders of the infamous King of Ground contest. Today, I have the B side to the Proseed Video Issue One, from 2004.
So much good KOG footage in this, and the production of the video makes this one so easy to sit through. Great to watch this back, and see how the riders made the way through the ranks. Don’t sleep on this one, too many riders to list in this video, thank you Teku Flat for uploading this great footage!

2013 King of Ground dates announced!

Yasu has been busy! Yesterday the World Circuit dates were announced, and shortly after the 2013 schedule of the King of Ground series were published. Pretty sure Round 3 will be the last stop of the World Circuit!

Round 1: May 18th – 19th in Nagoya: King of Ground 2013 Round 1
Round 2: August 24th – 25th in Kobe: King of Ground 2013 Round 2
Round 3: October in Yokohama – TBC.