Ken Kitley got in contact with his new Flat Society Determination Vol. 1, and he asked is this Flatmattersonline worthy? And as I watched the intro, my head nodded “yes it is” I thought to myself. We all have to start somewhere and it feels like sometimes as far as we all go on this personal journey that is Flatland. We are all at the beginning. Nice one Ken, keep on enjoying and pushing your riding.
Author Archives: Effraim
Throwback Thursdays with Props 65 & The Red Bull Circle of Balance 2007
Happy birthday to Viki Gomez, this weeks TBT is dedicated to Viki. The Red Bull Circle of Balance in Tokyo, Japan went off. Stew Johnston flew out to Japan to document the event for Props Video magazine, this section still rules to this day. So much good riding, you don’t want to sleep on this one!
CFO Flatland’s Unlimited 2019 – Pro Runs
CFO Flatland's Unlimited 19 from Level Up on Vimeo.
Want to watch the full pro runs from CFO Flatland’s Unlimited 2019 contest this past weekend in Toronto, Canada? Joey Kyllo took the time to document the whole contest, I logged down the top 3 riders, Jean William Prevost, Percy Marshall and Bo Wade so you can skip through if you wish. If not it’s definitely time to grab a cuppa and watch the contest unfold. Thanks Joey for taking the time to do this.
Jean William Prevost: 48:00 – 1:05:54
Percy Marshall: 56:57 – 1:14:41
Bo Wade: 14:13 – 35:20
Jean William Prevost wins Toronto Flatland Unlimited 2019!
Congratulations to Jean William Prevost who starts 2019 with a win in his native country, taking the first place honours at the annual Toronto contest, Dub was followed on the podium by Percy Marshall and Bo Wade. Great to see this event going strong after so many years, the curtain opener for the year!
In the AM class, Etienne Bergeron took the win followed by Pedro M, and Alex L, sorry I don’t have full names right now. Congratulations to all! Check the results below for the final placings. Hopefully some video soon…
Ryo Katagiri wins Flatpark Opening Event!
No sooner do I post the news of Madrid making a legit flatland spot. The Flatark crew go and open their own indoor flatland training ground at “Flatpark” and hold an opening contest to celebrate.
Congratulations to Ryo Katagiri who won the Open Class and Ryuga Matsumura who won the Low Class. Anyone have any footage from the contest? Exciting times across the globe for flatland and legit flatland training areas…
Photos: Shinde.
Open Class
1st Ryo Katagiri
2nd Yu katagiri
3rd Moto Sasaki
Low Class
1st Ryuga Matsumura
2nd Ruo Hayakawa
3rd Takashi Ishida
Madrid builds a legit flatland spot!
There is something amazing happening globally right now, with cities recognising flatland as a sport and building specific riding spots for riders to practise and do their thing. Madrid have just built a granite marble flatland spot, Viki Gomez went back to where he grew up riding for the opening ceremony with Varo Hernandez. Anyone fancy a trip to Madrid?
Chris Böhm – Dedication
Starting the week off here at Flatmattersonline, with a fast paced edit featuring the energetic Chris Böhm. Dustyn Alt does a really good job here capturing Chris’ style.
Old School Sundays with Hiro Tsuchida R.I.P.
This weeks OSS is a heartfelt one for sure, many of us are still coming to terms with the very sad news of Hiro Tsuchida passing away earlier in the week. Absolute no brainer to dedicate this weeks OSS post to Hiro. Let’s go back to 1991 and the Rampage contest, love the opening Cliff to hitch. RIP Hiro Tsuchida.
Rest In Peace Hiro Tsuchida 1969-2019.
Today is a sad day. I awoke to the news, Hiro Tsuchida from Chicago has passed away. I have this belief that we as flatlanders have to love and embrace flatland as a culture in order for it to truly blossom. Hiro Tsuchida is one of this riders who went out of his way to help everyone who crossed his path, and is the rock of the Chicago flatland scene. We have truly lost one of the great guys in our global flatland scene, Hiro is what flatland is all about to me. My thoughts today are with his family and friends. Rest In Peace Hiro, thank you for all the good memories.
Rest In Peace Hiro Tsuchida 1969-2019.
Matt Wilhelm, was one of the many riders Hiro impacted. I took some words this morning from his social media.
Rest In Peace Hiro Tsuchida. This is a recording of Hiro I took at a reunion jam in 2015. It was by no means a farewell, but a message to keep riding and keep the scene together.
For those who don’t know, Hiro was an icon in the Chicago BMX scene. He gave me my first big break as a 15-year-old kid, allowing me to ride in one of his shows.
Over the years we rode together all the time, I performed in tons of shows for his Fastbreak Freestyle Trick team, and we went on countless road trips together. We became great friends to the point that I stood up in his wedding.
Hiro was one of the first riders I really idolized.
When I was just an average nobody BMX kid with a crappy bike and a dream, Hiro took me under his wing. He would drive from the Northside to the Southside to pick me up, drive to the city to ride with others, drive back to the Southside to drop me off, then drive back home to the Northside. I mean who does that???
Hiro was instrumental in my life and career.
I have so many great memories and stories to share, but this is not the place. We will have to have a huge Hiro memorial jam to swap stories and honor this larger-than-life legend.
Thinking back to all the times we rode together I can’t think of a single time when he wasn’t laughing, smiling, and trying to get you to laugh. So even though it might be hard to see one of our own pass, let’s try to think of a time when Hiro made us laugh. That should not be too hard.
Hiro would have been 50 in March. He was in excellent physical shape as he was still riding, so this is a huge shock. The BMX community lost not just a great rider, but a great person. He will be missed more than I think he ever would have known.
When he said “BMX for life” in the video he truly meant it. Rest In Peace Hiro Tsuchida 1969-2019.
Vienna Jam 2019 – 30/31st March
Sebastian Grubinger hit me up with some events information for the up and coming Vienna Jam at the end of March, get to this one if you can. Good times in Vienna.
Like last year it’s part of the Vienna Bike Festival. Date this year is 30th and 31st of March on the Rathausplatz in the center of Vienna.
We will have open Jam on Saturday and a Best Trick Contest Saturday afternoon. Prize money for the top five. The format will be like last year. 1 Minute to try one combo/trick. As long as you start before time is over the trick/combo counts even when pulled after the 60 seconds.
Sunday again open Jam and a Cash for Tricks jam on the afternoon. If you pull a trick, you get some cash straight.
Saturday and Sunday mornings we will do some workshops together with Viki Gomez.
More information will follow soon!
FB events page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/295261107798807/?ti=icl
Teaser from Sevisual: