Flatmatters Review of 2012! The Final Part!

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Effraim — 14 Comments ↓

Text: Effraim.

Photo credit: Red Bull.

Down to the final part of my review of 2012! If you have been following the reviews, you will know they are pretty detailed, and true to form, it doesn’t change here!

September kicked off with some contest news, Lee Musselwhite won the UK Championships for the second year in a row in Bristol. Over in Budapest, Adam Kun won the OSG 3 contest which looked like one of the best events of the year, great to see Mike S on the podium, go back and look through the trailers and contest footage, great contest in all aspects. This is of course served as the warm up to the biggest contest of the year, the Red Bull Circle of Balance in Kyoto, Japan! This was definitely my highlight of the year, flatland on the big stage, and of course I had the honour of hosting the live feed to all of you at home.
When Andy Zeiss, “Hey E, do you think you can talk about flatland for two and half hours with Frank Lucas”. I laughed to myself and thought that is not a problem at all, I planned a loose show taking into account Frank had previously rode in the Circle of Balance event. Unfortunately Frank was unable to make it, so after a few meetings at the event we invited a few guests (The US Haro Team were in the house! Ryan Nyquist, Dennis McCoy were chosen, and a few riders as they would drop out of the contest, and I proposed inviting people to tweet into me with shootouts and thoughts on the events, to give it that interactive feel. The build up to the final show you all watched was incredible, the Haro team put on an epic show outside of the event. It was role reversal in Japan, Flatland centre stage, Park riding as a warm up. Then I started to have doubts, “shit two and a half hours is a long time on your own”, as it turned out, the show honestly felt like half an hour, when your having a blast like that, it’s easy to see why!
Thinking about the event now still gives me goosebumps, and I still have visions of standing up for the last final battle and screaming my lungs off with Dennis and Terry thinking we were going going fall off the top of the bleachers. Flatland this night definitely went to a higher place, congratulations once more to Viki Gomez, achieving his third COB win over a ten year period, something I do not think will happen again. Hosting the show was a total blast and something I will never forget, thank you Andy, Red Bull, and flatland!
The aftermath of the Circle Of Balance was quite rightly taken up with tons of videos from the contest, I especially liked Deep Bmx’s take on it, who toured Japan, and showed that tour vibe, with lil’ parts showing the contest. I also did caught up with the winner Viki Gomez that is well worth a read again, great hearing his perspective and emotion at winning for the third time. Once again if you check the bibliography after this article and can you scroll through each video as you so wish.

Getting back home and back to reality, and the jetlag even though I was only in the land of rising sun for 4 days, was hell for a week. I got back home and remember the first video that I watched was a trailer featuring Shuichi Osada one of my favourite riders from japan, a feeling hit me, why did I come home? Then dropped Aki’s video, right after the COB! This was largely slept on, I’m guessing due to the timing of its release…

September 13th was an awesome day for edits and news! Long Beach’s Sean Fontenot dropped a crazy “Never give up” edit with some mind boggling xfted cab stuff and took the harshest slams, this dude has that fire, go back and watch this one! Dedication to the cause! 2012 was a great year for Jean Francois Bouilainne, and he deserves his hook up with Flatware, a few days later JFB teamed up with Sevisual to bring you his “Welcome to Flatware edit!”!
The FlatWeb TV guys gave so much to flatland last year, aside from the regular shows which is enough work, I really thought there individual edits stood out, and the edit from Vancouver stood out, so good to see some fresh Cory Fester footage! The day finished with the Nora Cup Nominees being announced, with many people speculating as always, it was for sure between Ucchie and Dominik.

On September 17th, one of the most underrated riders on the planet in my opinion, Thomas Noyer dropped a crazy edit entitled “Pieces of Combos” that further enhanced his rep in flatland circles. I expect big things from this man in 2013! Pete Brandt and the crew featured in a tight “Clocktower jam SF” edit on the same day. Always get good vibes watching the SF jam edits, makes me want to go back someday!
A day later and Red Bull released a really tight edit from the COB event, the event already had mad amount of coverage, but this came over as being fresh, which is amazing in itself after how much coverage came out.
On the 21st, Yohei “Ucchie” Uchino was voted as the Nora Cup Flatlander of the year! Winning the first two stops of the Word Circuit and a banging 430 part. A part of me does feel this award goes out to early in the year as there still were a few months to go, but hey, it might not have made much difference anyway…

As the month began to wind down, the edits/news didn’t, JFB was on a high from the FlatWare hook and took the win at the FlatDance 2012 event in Slovakia.
I’m always looking for the next “big rider”, and this kid might well be it, all year he released progressive videos! If you do not know the name “Mateus Beckmann”, type his name into the search bar, and watch a young kid enjoying flatland progression, it is beautiful to watch unfold!
Alberto Moya enjoyed a great 2012, released his 360 bar flip Cliffhanger, entitled “Aoosttt” as well as yet another scene video featuring the riding of Moya, Guelo, and Varo Hernandez. Like Thomas Noyer, I expect big things from Moya this year!

Two of the best edits of the year dropped on the 26th and 27th. And in a way summed one of the great things about 2012! Diversity. Matt Wilhlem’s “At home” edit has all cringing at screen with “that slam”, and amazed as always at the speed of his riding! James White “Whitelines” edit follows a calmer route in riding but equally impressive, and his “bikeflip” surprised the flatland world. The term “Must Watch” was seeming to overdone, but was truly worth it. I imagine these two edits played on repeat at many a flatlanders house over the rest of the year!

Jean William Prevost killed it at the Red Bull COB, and was a name now everybody was talking about. His Interview with Marked Mayhem was perfectly timed, talking about his riding, his travels, and contest experience. Another guy to look out for this year, how would he follow up the success of Japan. Toronto is fast approaching…
On the same day I caught up with Flatland legend, Kerry Gatt to discuss his COB experience, this actually turned out to be one of my favourite interviews of the year. If you missed this one, hit the bibliography, great read!
The month finished with a couple of sweet edits from Jesse Puente “Welcome to Wrung”, Davis Dudelis 60 meter Nose manual, and Mike S exercising at LVR! What a blinding month to the growing list!

In October, the edits were still going from the Red Bull COB. This was one was on a different tip though, and focussed documentary style on Deco owner and rider(s) Chad Degroot and Kerry Gatt! Take a peak back at this one, great edit by Hiroshi!
A day later Tom at Sevisual released a dope black and white edit from the The bridge jam in Vienna, great riding from Markus Redlburger, Sebastian Grubinger, amongst others.
On October 4th I was out in Tossa del Mar, an hour north of Barcelona to judge the Rebel jam. Sunshine, beaches, and beautiful postcard views for a week. As always the Rebel jam is run entirely different. And actually made judging flatland a lot easer, if you had to pick winners from the weekend that would be Jesse Puente who had the run of his life, Matthias Dandois, and Alexis Desolneux who hit two of his hardest moves. But the Rebel jam is all about the BMX experience, I hope to go back to this venue one day. Beautiful.
The worst thing about the Rebel jam was the wi-fi, painfully slow which made updating the site very tricky and time consuming more than usual. Whilst all eyes were on the Rebel jam, there are still amazing edits dropping worldwide. Case in point, the Huntington beach edit featuring Terry Adams, Bobby Carter and Sean Fontenot, this edit captured that HB vibe from the 90’s, and whilst it wasn’t a throwback edit at all, it took many of us way back to that time when HB was the capital of the flatland world.

On October 9th,the Flat WebTV guys dropped an amazing post Red Bull COB show, that featured great insight from the winner Viki Gomez, the MC Scott O’Brien, myself on livefeed, Mike S from judging perspective, plus many more. Well with going back and watching this one!
Two days later, Jason Plourde dropped an intense edit entitled “Liberate”, last year it really felt Jasn had found his way, destroying the back wheel with Raphael Chiquet like pivots, and multiple footjam decade variations mid combo, mixing them into whoppers, amongst other tricks. Amazing!
A week after Rebel jam the focus shifted to the other side of the world. Austin, Texas. And the Texas Toast event, plenty on the line for the year end AM Flat titles, TJ Perry took the win in am, we interviewed him shortly after which caused quite a response! Todd Carter was right behind Tj and took the year end title, congrats Todd! (hit the bibliography for interviews with TJ and Todd!) And in Pro, Dominik Nekolny dropped a hammer last combo, that had many saying the hardest line every done in a contest. One thing is for certain, after a bad start to the weekend with the Pralex car getting broken into and Dom’s bag getting stolen. Winning the event, and the year end title in pro, improved things! What a year for Dominik! Texas Toast along with the Rebel jam took a great deal of the coverage during October!

Some of UK scene headed to Bristol (who has one of the best scenes in the UK) for Mayko Lee’s birthday jam, and as well as the Bristol crew putting on a sweet jam for Mayko Lee, they dropped a tight edit a few days after the event, and we caught up with Josh to see what work went into putting the day on! Hit the bibliography if you missed this one, or refresh the mind maybe.

October 17th was another great day for flatland! Any footage of Steve Mulder is awesome, multiple hanggliders are relatively unheard of in this day in age of peg to peg boomerangs, Mulder completely smashed it with 5 brakeless! To my knowledge thats a record, unless he’s beat it himself? Steve?
Luis Elias Benavides published Part 1 of his Radio interview with flatland legend, Chase Gouin, they discussed his recovery with fungal/mould illness, how he got into riding, his passion for flatland riding, of particular interest to me was the question about judging, where he talks about variety, trickiontary, originality. So much more. Great interview!

I told you the 17th was a good day, and Alex Jumelin teamed up with Fat Tony to bring you a welcome to freegun edit, filmed in Las Vegas, whilst Alex was in town for the Nora Cup ceremony.
What a year for Jim McKay, fast becoming one of the best filmers in the game, another Must Watch from the pre jam for the Texas Toast at the infamous OG spot, such an amazing vibe comes across watching this edit.
Three days later and another great day for flatland edits. What I especially liked about this day was the variety of different types of edits coming in, as you will see if you go back and watch these.
Martti Kuoppa back on a bike! A great day if nothing else, and just messing around with a mega spin full whopper to mega spin decade out! That was enough for me, but the day continued! Jeff Scheer released a really good edit full of different techniques I hadn’t seen in years, but really brought a smile to my face seeing this edit! And holy shit, Sietse Van Berkel in the second half of the year seemed to just elevate to monster status riding wise, absolutely smashing it in his September 2012 edit, great style and tricks from this shredder from Holland. Big future for this guy! Anthony Buglio rounded up a cracking day with a brilliant show from the Texas Toast, really digging the shows isolated to one topic, whether interview or contest, on this occasion, great interviews and riding footage! Top marks FlatWebTV!
On October 22nd, Mr Hyper, Dez Maarsen dropped a sick downside whip to rollback rolled clip! A day later, Chase Gouin Part 2 of his radio interview with Luis Elias discussing his health, signature frame, taking part in contests, favourite riders, suggestions to beginners, and influence of flatland in his life. Definitely worth going back and listening to both interviews.

As the month started winding down, surprise surprise the edits did not! Jim McKay dropped a great short edit with Holland’s Michael Van der Kroft,who went down a similar route to Alex Jumelin with his riding, not touching the seat. It will be interesting to see in 2013, what he gets up to!
Remember the name, Kensuke Hamai! His riding is a mix of Raphael Chiquet, and Yohei Uchino, killer back wheel flow! Big future for this guy if he keeps shredding like he did in 2012! On the same day, Scott Powell released a dope edit entitled “Let the bikes in”, even though it was old footage, I was still amazed at the double foot jam combo in this one! Timeless. Over in Spain, Adam Kun won the MiraFlow contest in Sevilla!

We ended the month stoked on two edits, from Charles Paty and that name again, Adam Kun! I can already hear people saying, oh yeah that edit! Charles Paty killed it in his Superb frames testing edit, killer nose manual combos. On a different tip, Adam teamed up with the Hungarian bank, to film one of the most professional looking edits yet. Both equally awesome edits for very different reasons! A great end to yet another great month!
Now you would think, November.. The weather starts turning bad, nights drawing in, less edits! Wrong! November started like it was the middle of summer in terms of content. I remember thinking wow, this is non stop work! Four amazing edits dropped from the Texas Toast, Dax Wolford, Pete Brandt, and Guelo and Moya, hit the bibliography to watch throughout them.
A few days later, Dax was back with a dope triple turbine edit. York Uno released a really nice edit with “Doke in Kobe”. Joris Bretagnolles won the Vibration Urbaines contest in France. And Jim McKay released “A tips on making better flatland edits” article from TCU, firstly good news the TCU are finally covering flatland, and also good it was someone who knows what they are talking about! Lot of helpful tips to consider on this topic, as we of course flatlanders not film makers.

There then seemed to be a lil’ down time for the first time I can recall all year, of 5-6 days of chilled edits. Then on the 11th, things started to fire up again! Dane Beardsley enjoyed a great year, and took a well deserved first place at the Trans jam in Greenville. Anthony Brogden was spitting feather son the mic during Dane’s run! Go back and watch his second run for one hell of an incredible back wheel line.
Pete Brandt had numerous dope edits throughout the year, but this “Clocktower tales” edit really stood out for me. An inspiration to us all, the man is on it more than ever!
It didn’t seem like Jim McKay was far out of the limelight this year, and on the 12th he released the “Must Watch” edit from Texas Toast. On the same day, Fat Tony released the 2013 flatland calendar with Dane Beardsley on the cover, and Team Pralex on the back. Thanks to fat we had a couple of exclusives on the calendar behind the scenes, hit the bibliography for the juice if you missed these.

S&M made some big statements of intent this year, not only Chad blowing up and dropping one of the best edits. But Peter Olsen delivered a hammer part for us all to drool over, this edit swept across every flatland and bmx website that knew what was up that day, and on repeat for days to come. As it turns out arguably the top 3 edits of the year, were all from S&M riders! Like I said, a real big statement!!

4 days later was all about Matthias Dandois! On this day he won the Com’in Lyon contest and released a really well produced and thought out whiplash how to, that set the standard for how-tos in this digital era. Amazing quality and insight into the trick!
As November wound down as I busy getting articles ready to celebrate 4 years of Flatmatters! Rather than just an edit this year, I wanted to have exclusive content dropping all week to celebrate, and we featured during that week, two part rider perspective on 2012, a interview with the master of the foot jam decade, John Yull, a two part huge interview with Viki Gomez! We announced our media partnership with BMX Union, The Merged, Freecoaster.com, and Can I Dig it? And also during that time Alex Jumelin had a dope TCU interview, Sietse Van Berkel continued his amazing year with another banging clip.

As we rolled into the last month of the year. A few sponsorship chains were happening, firstly Yohei Uchino signed for Red Bull, and Matthias Dandois quit Ares Bykes.
On December 6th besides the part 2 of the rider perspective article dropping, Kenshiro released a sick quad decade clip, that had many of us talking! Most notably, Flat Web Tv held their 2012 awards show, and I was truly honoured to be considered for the lifetime achievement award, let alone to take the award. Watch the show above to see who else won what, if you missed it!
Now we don’t see a great deal of Brian Tunney, but when we do it is always a treat, classic rolling style, and his edit on December 7th was a Must Watch! Also on this day, the KOG organisers released an amazing expert class edit, and Sergio Balu from Brazil “amazed us! Sorry couldn’t resist, in reference to title before you ask!

December 8th was another good day for edits and even though it was towards the need of the year, the edits and sheer volume didn’t slow down hardly at all. One of the things I will take most from the year would be that fact alone, pretty amazing when you think about it. Anyway, on this day, it was great to see Catfish release a “world-wide” that reflected his travels, different cultures, wild partying and the odd amazing flatland move here and there. Thats a good watch! Com’in Lyon also released a tight edit from their contest. And over in Tokyo, Yohei Uchino narrowly beat Viki Gomez for the top spot at the G Shock Real Toughness event.
On December 12th, the news that Same Thing Daily 3 was in the works dropped. Sietse Van Berkel dropped a clip in 0 Celsuis, Ciaran Perry released some amazing old footage of himself from 2008, and Tyler Gilliard’s Welcome to FreeGun edit dropped, hopefully we will see more from this guy this year!
After much speculation, the news dropped that Matthias Dandois was riding for Haro Bikes! And would be riding Dennis Enerson’s signature SD frame. In a random bit of news related to this, I just got word today from hare manager, Colin McKay that his Welcome to Haro edit will be dropping anyway! So hold tight!

December 17th was a great day for flatland, both Sam Foakes and Matthias Dandois released sick edits, that reminded me of old times those two going head to head, anyone else notice these guys seem to have a habit of releasing edits on the same date. Also on this day, Scott O”brine put down the mic, and let us see him shred in New Orleans, dope vibes from the City Park riding spot!

On December 23rd, Adam Kun released a Must Watch edit from his last session of 2012! And whilst many of us were occupied with Christmas. In japan, the KOG/WC Finals were going down, for me it was a shame that due to the scheduling of this event, no one from outside of japan was there. It kind of diminishes all their hard work thats gone on in previous rounds. Nevertheless as we all know, the riding at the final event of the year was absolutely mind-blowing, with Hotoke taking the win, Yohei Uchino taking the World Circuit, could Dominik Nekolny have taken it? We’ll never know. And Moto Sasaki finished 3rd with a dope 1 minute long combo that on any other day would be enough. Go back and watch this edit again! Pure fire!!

Things slow down on Christmas day? Hell no! On Christmas day Alex Jumelin and Jim McKay released “The style the life” with some of AJ’s best riding to date! And FlatWebTV interviewed Chad Johnston and Peter Olsen who both won awards respectively.

On Boxing day, the KOG edits were in full flow, and ESPn released a really dope interview with Simon O’Brien. early stoked to see more of SOB shredding in 2013!

On December 28th we broke the news, that James White as on S&M! And fittingly the year ended with James White teaming up with james smith to bring you his Welcome to S&M edit! Not to forget on the same day a dope flashback edit from Waldemar Fatkin, expect big things from this stylecat this year.

And that as they say is a wrap! What an incredible year that I hope I’ve done some justice if you can be bothered to read through it all! I hope more than anything that this article in its three parts acts more of an archive that you can refer to! Big respect to every flatlander on the planet that has brought content to all of us worldwide, and kept the scene moving forward! 2013 will have a hell of a job trying to top that!

I’m off to ride!

Thanks for supporting Flatmatters!

September

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/lee-musselwhite-wins-uk-flat-championships-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/adam-kuns-wins-osg-13

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/uk-flatland-bmx-championships-2012-bristol-pro

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bmx-worlds-haro-old-school-show

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/repo-king-of-southsea-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/phil-dolan-flatland-life-begins-at-40

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/red-bull-circle-of-balance-day-one

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/osg13-flatland-top-5

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/moto-sasaki-qualifies-first-red-bull-circle-of-balance

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dutch-session-with-dez-maarsen

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/vans-rebeljam-goes-spain

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/red-bull-circle-of-balance-livefeed-4

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-wins-red-bull-circle-of-balance-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/akihiko-takahashi-summer-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/red-bull-circle-of-balance-final-4-battle

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/deepbmx-tour-stories

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/3edge-works-ls-trailer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/official-red-bull-circle-of-balance-highlights-video

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-interview-red-bull-circle-of-balance

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/josh-briars-prague-august-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/deepbmx-japan-2012-tour-stories-3

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/clocktower-san-francisco-scene-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sean-fontenot-never-give-up

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-francois-boulianne-on-flatware

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/vancouver-jam-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-nora-cup-nominees-are

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/stephan-hearn-bikecheck-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/deepbmx-tour-stories-part-4

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aleksi-ritsila-adidas-promo

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/art-thomason-episode-1-5

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/thomas-noyer-pieces-of-combos

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/takuji-kasahara-bikecheck

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/deepbmx-japan-2012-tour-stories-5

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sf-clocktower-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/official-red-bull-circle-of-balance-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/paula-callery-summer-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-francois-boulianne-welcome-to-flatwareodyssey

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/zizai-final-cm

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-uchino-voted-nora-cup-2012-flatlander-of-the-year

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-francois-boulianne-wins-flatdance-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mateus-beckmann-brakeless-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmad-madrid-crew-moya-guelo-varo-sept-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/percy-marshall-lords-journey-into-the-whopper-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alberto-moya-clip-aossssttttt

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatdance-finals-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sean-parker-day-smith-clocktower

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-matt-wilhelm-at-home

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-james-white-whitelines

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-william-prevost-video-interview-for-marked-mayhem

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-friday-interview-catching-up-with-kerry-gatt

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jesse-puente-x-wrung-welcome-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/davis-dudelis-bmx-nose-manual-60-meters-196ft

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mike-s-just-exercising-at-lvr

October

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bestride-bmx-worlds-2012-euro-tour-paris-france

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/decobmx-memories-chad-degroot-kerry-gatt-hiroshi-uehara

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-zizai-final-cm-4-yu-ki-fumiya-shinde-ozimax-ill

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/takuji-izumi-2012-summer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-the-bridge-jam-vienna-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/adam-kun-2010-satoraljaujhely

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chase-gouin-update

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/day-1-rebel-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/huntington-beach-sessions-terry-adams-bobby-carter-rich-slezak-sean-fontenot

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/andrew-wickham-summer-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-qualifies-1st-at-rebel-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/21170

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-rebel-jam-complete-flatland-finals

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mizo-5

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/markus-redlberger-backwards-g-turn-manual-to-nose-wheelie-g-turn

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/texas-toast-hype-jody-temple

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-jason-plourde-liberate

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-stephan-kornely-flatware-japan

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alexis-desolenux-rebel-jam-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/art-thomason-backyard-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-qualifies-1st-texas-toast

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/ross-smith-2008-2009

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dominik-nekolny-wins-texas-toast

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/todd-carter-wins-amflt-year-end-expert-title

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dominik-nekolny-final-run-highlights-texas-toast

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/steve-mulder-opp-hanglider-ride-out

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mayko-lees-birthday-jam-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/repo-mayko-lees-birthday-jam-w-josh-briars-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/tj-perry-interview-texas-toast-am-flat-winner

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/steve-mulder-5-brakeless-hangliders

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-listen-part-1-chase-gouin-radio-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-alex-jumelin-welcome-to-freegun-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dominik-nekolny-wins-pro-year-title-am-flt-series

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/texas-toast-flatland-prejam-at-the-og

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/todd-carter-interview-am-flt-year-end-champion

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/martti-kuoppa-freestyle-spirit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jeff-scheer-last-thirty-of-thirties

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-sietse-van-berkel-sept-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/texas-flatland-roundup-8-flatwebtv-post-game-show

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/tomooaki-yoshimura-more-back-wheeel-treats

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dez-maarsen-downside-whip-to-rollback-rolaid

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-listen-chase-gouin-radio-interview-part-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/michael-van-der-kroft-welcome-to-gorilli

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kensuke-hamai-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/scott-powell-let-the-bikes-in

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/adam-kun-wins-miraflow-contest-in-sevilla-spain

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/terry-adams-bike-check

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/didier-genet-and-alberto-moya-madrid-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-charles-paty-superb-frame-testing

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/adam-kun-stars-in-hungarian-bank-video

November

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/texas-toast-pre-jam-o-g

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pete-brandt-2012-lmb-day-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dax-wolford-oct-12

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/guelo-moya-new-tricks

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/nene-flatland-fest-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/oground-series-flatland-bateria-b

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dax-wolford-triple-turbines

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/york-uno-doko-in-kobe-japan

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/joris-bretagnolles-wins-vibration-urbaines-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/tips-on-making-better-flatland-web-edits-by-jim-mckay

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shintaro-misawa-in-tokyo

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/grow-jam-2012-vol2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/luke-malone-fall-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/scott-powell-bikes-over-baghdad-practice-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/camilo-gutierrez-autum

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dane-beardsley-wins-greenville-trans-jam-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-pete-brandt-clocktower-tales

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-texas-toast-highlights-by-jim-mckay

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/free-2013-flatland-bmx-calendar-presented-by-dk-bicycles-now-available-at-flatland-fuel

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dane-beardsley-1st-place-transjam-2012-greenville-nc

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/brandon-fenton-warming-up-the-back-wheel

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-peter-olsen-welcome-to-sm1664

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/julius-salo-progression-at-elisa-spot

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/adam-kun-wins-flatland-expressions-in-madrid

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-sosh-episode-4-how-to-whiplash

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-wins-comin-lyon-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aaron-frost-wins-king-of-slab

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shintaro-misawa-21-17

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/behind-the-scenes-–-2013-flatland-calendar-presented-by-dk-bicycles-part-1

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-matt-wilhelm-dans-comp-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/markus-reich-in-gravity-ii

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-ground-astronauts-autum-bicycles-in-japan

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/takahiro-ikeda-wins-u23-contest

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yasushi-kajiwara-wins-down-underground-finals

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-tomoaki-yoshimura-yorihisa-shiota

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/richard-reichel-by-marek-svancara

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelins-35th-birthday-jam-edit-by-rad-dad

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/behind-the-scenes-–-2013-flatland-calendar-presented-by-dk-bicycles-part-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-flatmatters-exclusive-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/onelovejam2013-promo

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-mateus-beckmann-ederson-ferrreira-master-bikes-sampabmx

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-shuichi-osada-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chenga-jam-edit-by-tony-schneidewind

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-highlights-riderindustry-perspective-part-1

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-john-yull-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sietse-van-berkel-pedal-to-pedal

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-takayuki-g-iwate-team-raize

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-tcu-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-friday-interview-viki-gomez-part-1

December

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/introducing-flat-matters-bmx-union-the-merged-free-coaster-can-you-dig-it-and-flat-matters

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-ucchie-uchino-signs-for-red-bull

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-off-ares-bykes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/rebel-jam-edit-by-jean-bulhon

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/omari-cato-in-the-rubble

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-highlights-riderindustry-perspective-part-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kenshiro-quad-decade

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/year-end-flatwebtv-awards-show

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-brian-tunney-flatland-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kog-2004-expert-class

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sergio-balu-amazing-flatland

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-catfish-2012-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/comin-lyon-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-uchino-wins-tokyo-g-shock-real-toughness

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/joe-cicman-danny-sirkin-24-cruiser-flatland

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alberto-moya-wins-la-traba-contest-in-madrid-spain

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/long-beach-marina-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-viki-gomez-interview-part-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/same-thing-daily-3

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sietse-van-berkel-0-degrees-celsius

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-ciaran-perry-2008

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/tyler-gilliard-welcome-to-freegun

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/toronto-2012-japanese-documentary

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/prasheel-gopal-mark-kuhlmann-twofourflat-crew

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-on-haro-bikes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/michael-steingraeber-40m-nose-wheelie-hyde-park-sydney

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-sam-foakes-manchester-november-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-sosh-episode-4

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/scott-obrien-at-city-park-in-nola

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/g-shock-real-toughness-tokyo

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/overground-2012-jvm-video-part-3-pro-class

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kevin-nikulski-remember-summer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bristol-sep-dec-2012-uk-flatland-bmx

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/colorado-flatland-jams-short-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-friday-interview-bizhouses-shawn-white-discusses-the-rachet-sprocket

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-adam-kun-2012-last-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hotoke-wins-kog-finals-in-yokohama

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-uchino-wins-2012-world-circuit-title

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-alex-jumelin-the-style-the-life

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chad-johnston-peter-olsen-flatwebtv-interview-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-simon-obrien-espn-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-kog-2012-final-mini-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/james-white-on-sm

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-by-valentin-flad

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-g-shock-real-toughness-tokyo-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-king-of-ground-2012-round3-yokohama-expert-class

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-waldemar-fatkin-2012-flashback

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-james-white-welcome-to-sm

Flatmatters Review 2012 – Part 2!

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Effraim — 7 Comments ↓

Text: Effraim.

Part 1 if you missed it: https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmatters-review-of-2012-part-1

Sit down with a cuppa, OJ or whatever your are drinking this morning or evening, and spare yourself an hour to go through the year 2012, May till August FM style, hit the extensive bibliography for relevent links!
If you already read my Part 1 review of 2012, you will know the format. If not, hit the link above for what you have missed!

Spring was in full mode, perhaps not in England as it rained a lot just for a change, nevertheless the month of May started with some incredible news that I feel helped drive the positive vibes throughout 2012.
We began May with the Posse Up scene deadline and some great edits came in from scenes like LA, Baltimore, and the eventually winner, Athens, Georgia! The concept from the One Love Crew was great, I hope to see much more of this kind of thing in the future.
Also on this day, the trailer for the 430 DVD trailer was released, and certainly wetted the appetite for what was to come from Japan.

On May 2nd, arguably the biggest news of the year was announced. The legendary Red Bull Circle of Balance contest was back, and scheduled for Kyoto, Japan in September. The feel good factor was felt across the flatland world. Events worldwide seemed to gain energy as a result of the news.

Quentin Pelorson released a serious progression edit on May 3rd, this guy really stood out for me in 2012. He may or may not get much credit in broader terms, but right here he earned a ton of respect from me, the spinning ck flip to xft halfpacker in this short clip was no joke at all!

Three days later, Viki Gomez won the Bike Days contest in Switzerland, a contest that seems to be gaining in popularity every year. The podium shot seemed to cause quite a stir here on FM.

On May 7th arguably one of the best contest edits of the year dropped, a little known contest outside of Japan, called the “An Cup” the edit featured back to back hammer combos unedited and totally flawless from Yohei Uchino, Hiroya Morizaki, and Yoshiki Uchino. Remember this one people? Go back and watch this one again!

2012 was quite a year for Jason Plourde, on May 10th Jason released a sweet clip pulling a double footjam decade, a trick he would further explore during the year. On the same day we broke the news that Viki Gomez had just landed a nice sponsorship deal with Levi’s. The good vibes were flowing.

On May 11th I started hyping up one of the most important events on the flatland calendar, the Voodoo jam! The hype began with a whole bunch of interviews with the likes of Mark Kuhlmann, Todd Carter, Bryan Huffman, Ron Monis, and of course Terry Adams and Scott O’Brien (who also had a great interview drop on ESPN on may 18th) , the term “hype” seemed to go down well with the flatland community, and a few days later Dominik Nekolny dropped a savage multiple xfted whiplash combo using the term as a title.

On May 20th Alex Jumelin won the Fise contest in Montpelier, France, before moving countries to the USA. Quite fitting for Alex to win his last contest in his home country. The year kept getting better and better for him.

FlatDev went to new heights last year, one of the best branded events, ton of promotional material, and in my eyes seemed to stand out from the pack in terms of professionalism. Edit after edit, interviews, qualifying videos, and perhaps a new standard for events to reach. Hey, if you want to put on a event, you could worse than check out these guys and what they have done. Top marks to the organisers!

Now let it be said, I am a big Hotoke fan, and on May 24th when Jim McKay released the “Hotoke at JomoPro 2012” I was hyped, and the whole flatland community were too. With Jim’s editing and filming skills, and Hotoke’s bike mastery, the edit was a sure winner. Go watch this one again for a sweet reminder. (I wonder how many times I will say that throughout this article).

On May 27th, It’s always amazing to see what Aki is up to, I admire riders who go in their own direction. And Aki’s backwards pumping technique had reached a whole different level with regard to technique and smoothness, I remember hitting the rewind button about five times before I even posted it! That ladies and gentlemen does not happen very often – no offence! Hit the bibliography to watch this one again!

Three days later, Dane Beardsley dropped a monster part for ESPN, teaming up with his good friend Brian Tunney. There were so many combos to marvel at, but the backwards xfted halfpacker to steam stood out to me, not just for how hard that is, but the angle of his foot as he pivoted from the backwards xfted halfpacker to steam, absolutely insane!

The month of May finished off with a really well produced edit from FlatDev (yes that name again!) with Mr Buttery himself, Shintaro Misawa. And lastly but not least, a name we don’t hear from too often from, Travis Collier produced a sweet part for a competition called “My Steaz”.

I feel like we have enough for year already, but we haven’t even got to summer yet!

June started off with the rider list being announced for the Red Bull Circle of Balance in Kyoto, Japan. As usual plenty of discussion about who should and shouldn’t be invited. In the end, there are only 16 spots, somebody is going to be disappointed, it is awesome for flatland the event came back, and I certainly feel like it shaped the second half of the year.

In my eyes and I have no doubt many others, one of the best bits of news came on June 2nd. Chase Gouin making a recovery from his severe illness (hit the bibliography for details) and back riding, with a few photos documented on the Odyssey website. After having three years off his bike, the news Chase was back riding, certainly brought a spring in my step and i’m sure many others.

On the same day, another flatland legend, West Coasts Jesse Puente announced a “originality” contest to win his signature Premuim lagger KHE frame.

On June 4th we continued the “Voodoo jam Hype” with a interview with Prasheel Gopal, and that same day Waldemar Fatkin and Stephan Kornely dropped a Must Watch edit shredding the spot in Koblenz. Good to see that friendship vibe come across, and those guys do it perfectly.

Denes Katona is a name you don’t hear too much of, but sometimes less is more! And in this case that certainly applies right here, everybody knows Denes is one of the best riders on the planet, and visiting good friend Mizo over in Ireland, Denes doesn’t disappoint and delivers some impossible whiplash combinations. Sadly this was the last we heard of Denes from 2012. Hit the bibliography watch this one again!

June of course meant, the Voodoo jam in New Orleans! And a ton of edits came out throughout the month and indeed are still coming out now in January 2013! Check the bibliography for all the best edits, especially Jim McKay’s edit below.
As always Scott O’Brien and Terry Adams put their heart and soul into putting on the best possible event. All eyes were on New Orleans that weekend. As the event wasn’t part of the World Circuit, not all the heavy hitters were there (Matthias Dandois, and Yohei Uchino both previous Voodoo jam winners spring to mind).
In the AM class, Canadian Mark Kuhlmann took the win and immediately turned pro (with reference to Scott O’Brien Flat Web TV interview) this was a great idea!, Mark only just missing the cut on his first attempt. We interviewed Mark shortly after on June 13th, to talk about his Voodoo jam experience. The pralex guys were flying the flag this weekend!
In prelims, Matt Wilhelm threw down to take the top spot into the final battles. In the end, Dominik Nekolny stomped to a first place finish. Why this event, wasn’t part of the World Circuit I have no idea, but that’s a whole different topic!

On the same day as the Voodoo jam, Jason Plourde who had an amazing year dropped a banging “Transformer freestyle” edit, if anyone is going to break into that group of elite riders that place top 5 at every event, Jason could be that guy. Style, speed and aggression in abundance!

Pockets of edits seem to all come in at once, this happened numerous times throughout the year. And on June 14th, two amazing edits from flatland legend Pete Brandt at his second home, the Clocktower in SF and Trevor Oleniuk’s visual diary of the Voodoo Jam swept across every flatland blog and website on the planet.

The end of june wrapped up with entries coming in for Jesse Puente’s originality contest, great edits from Russia, Thomas Noyer, David Nagy and Brazilian riders Lisias Taberelli and Bruno Zebu. Lisias took the win, and collected his frame at the BMX Masters! Congratulations once again Lisias.

July is always a huge month for flatland, edits come in so fast, that at times it is hard to keep up, and quite often last year, I’ve held edits back to give other edits time to be viewed and taken in.
Calvin Tan is one stylish mofo, and July 2nd he dropped a “Must Watch” edit, riding the back wheel in a unique way, his riding style screamed “fun!”, go watch it again for a reminder of what this guy brings to the game.

July 3rd was another good example of the “Pockets of edits” comment I previously made, amazing edits dropped by Gabe Kadmiri, and two from Madrid, the Flatmad crew Part 1 (& Part 2 a few days later) and James Smith teamed up with Viki Gomez to bring you “Lots and found” also filmed in Madrid, needless to say but Viki’s skills are incredible, and when you put them together with James’ filming and editing talents, your onto a winner! July 3rd was a good day!

Two days later and another amazing day for edits, with an absolute treat from The One Love crew with Dane Beardsley, I feel like people are finally coming round to how awesome Dane’s riding really is, and this “Shaka Brah” edit definitely did not disappoint. Sebastian Grubinger stars in a lot of Dane’s videos nowadays, and on this day he teamed up with Tom @ Sevisual to bring you his Heresy “Ascend” bars promo, this was a “Must Watch” edit, Steamboat whiplashes, and whiplash to infront of bars whips and back spring to mind.
A day later, and Aleski Ritsila and Bert Ribul brought another “Must watch” banger edit, two stylish cats with a big future! Really enjoyed how this edit was put together, a definite must go back and watch! Good vibes!

July 9th may well have been the best day for flatland/news edits of the year! Don’t believe me! Check the list, and then go watch them all:

Must watch – Voodoo jam edit by Jim McKay!

Botak Raziff wins Flat Dev 2012! Final Battle edit!

Dez Maarsen/ Michael van deer Krost Summer weekend Session

Hiroya Morisaki wins stop 2 of G Shock Real Toughness

York jam 2012 edit by York Uno

Red Bull COB teaser

Edit overload! And they just kept coming and coming!

The BMX masters is one of the biggest contests on the calendar. Last year it was run as the World Championship, and on July 15th Matthias Dandois took the title that had eluded him for a long time, and added to his list of contest wins. Pretty much winning every event on the planet at some point in his career. The highlights edit dropped a few days later, and as always with the Worlds/BMX masters, this event gets lot more attention and comments than any other edit pretty much.

July 16th was another great day in a list of many last year! Both Alex Jumelin and Sam Foakes dropped banger edits, even though Sam didn’t realise he was having an edit filmed at the Flatmatters jam in Manchester. Flatland is quite nice like that sometimes! Alex continued on his personal rampage, having one of the best years of his long career, both edits and riders have been hugely influential this year.
July 20th was another amazing day for news/edits, kicking things off with Russia winning the Real Toughness contest in Osaka, Jesse Puente signing for Wrung Streetwear, we dropped an exclusive interview with Joe Miller to help hype up Round 2 of the AM FLT series, and two great great edits from the BMX Worlds 2012 by Freedom BMx and Deep BMX!
The next few days were taken up with the news of the return of the legendary Aggro Rag ‘zine and Yohei Uchino continued his winning streak, winning the 2nd round of the World Circuit and looking on course to win the World Circuit title in Berlin…
On July 25th, I dropped an exclusive interview with japanese stylecat, Keisuke Tanigawa, one of my favourite riders currently. Who later went on to win the No runs contest in Saga, japan later in the month.
Over in Austin, Texas, John Yull continued to light the fuse, dropping another Must watch edit for one of his sponsors, Tempest Brand. Flatlanders worldwide were taking notes on his creative foot-jam decade combinations.

The Olympics were in full fever around this time, and a whole load of BMX riders were due to perform at the opening show. Johann Chann teamed up with James White, Jason Forde, TGM Maz, and Keelan Phillips to bring the world a lil’ snippet of their routine as last minute the decision was made to axe the whole BMX show. Quite what effect that show would have had on future generations we will never know.

The month of July ended with flurry of edits, The name Pedro Melo is not heard enough on Flatmatters, so you know when an edit drops, it will be amazing. And his “One too hot hour” was a Must Watch for the flatland community.
Lisias Taberelli dropped an amazing “Outside BMX Worlds” edit, that captured the Koln vibe really well. The Brazilian energy came through loud and clear.
The OG crew put on dope events, and released an amazing trailer for the Offline Sports Game contest in September, this looked like being one of the best events of the year.

Summer holidays in flow, and a busy month for me organising the King of Southsea contest at the end of month. A ton of edits dropped in August and Laszlo Tivadar & Steve Mulder started the month off nicely, with a tasty 5 combos edit and 5 brakeless hanggliders respectively!
The exciting news that the Dew Tour were holding a flatland contest was announced on August 4th, the contest scheduled for August 19th in Ocean City, Maryland was invitational only with 4 riders, Matthias Dandois, Alex Jumelin, Terry Adams, and Matt Wilhelm were confirmed. Another positive for an amazing year for flatland!
A day later JF Boulianne won Round 3 of the AM FLT Circuit, in Anderson Indiana, the contest got rained out, but fortunately there was an indoor spot that looks like a reception area to get the contest done, and the ranking points proved to be hugely important.
On the other side of the world, Yohei Uchino won yet another contest, this time the G Shock Real Toughness event in Sendai, Japan, and along with the World Circuit was looking like he was going to take the G Shock Real Toughness Series also.

On August 7th we returned to these “Pockets of edits” I mentioned earlier, Dylan Worsley’s xft backwards halfpacker clip was a timely reminder, not only that he’s still got it, but that he’s still out there shredding hard, stoked to see this! Jason Plourde, Matt Wilhelm and Dane Beardsley all had Must Watch edits on this day, all totally different styles, which is a good point from the year, 2012 seemed to me to bring more diversity than recent previous years. jason and Matt are both fast paced but yet totally different styles, and Dane’s Cross Country edit in Portland, Oregon was at the opposite end of the scale yet of course equally as hard. Flatland is beautiful!

Three days later, and Jason Plourde was most def on a roll with the multiple decade concept, go back and watch this absolutely hammer short clip!

On August 11th, the King of Ground dropped the Official edit from Round 2. And Naoto Tamaru released this must watch edit that seemed to go underneath the radar, featuring Nauto, Kenshiro Ojma and featured an jaw dropping back wheel combo from Yohei Uchino, two footed death truck to out opposite side backwards peg time machine flip to xft upside down wheelie, absolutely nuts!

August 19th was another great day for flatland. With great edits from the One Love crew, Lisias Taberelli, Prasheel Gopal, and the news that Matthias Dandois won the Dew Tour flatland contest in Ocean City, Maryland!

August 25th was one hell of a busy day for me, actually that whole week was! King of Southsea was in full flow. The FM house was full of riders, Prasheel Gopal, Alberto Moya, Navid Saleki and friend, Johann Chann and Trevor Lacey. KOS saw the return of Sam Foakes to competition after a few years out, and as many expected he did not disappoint, taking the win, with Romain Georges in second place. Prasheel took the win in Expert. Whilst all that was going on, Phil Dolan who wasn’t at King of Southsea tut tut, continued his solo mission, with his latest clips exploring the figure of 8 concept. And Trevor Meyer dropped an insane Summer 2012 edit that had the FM house stoked in between numerous viewings of the new 430 DVD!

Two days later I released Sam Foakes winning run rom the KOS. Dez Maarsen won the Chuncheon Cup, and Chad Johnston dropped one of the best edits of the year hands down! Pegless riding at its very best that seemed to utilise all techniques in flatland into one. Mind blown. Chad is a beast!

August as you would expect in the height of summer, finished with tons of edits. Actually that slowed down all year but anyway, it seems busier when your finishing up summer season at the skatepark, and trying to ride and run the website. On August 29th, Argentine shredder Gonzalo Bellanti released a really nice “Post BMX Worlds Hype” edit that documented his progression, this kid has a bright future. Fresh off the Chuncheon Cup win, Dez Maarsen dropped a sick brakeless edit, the man was looking ready for the Red Bull COB. And last but not least, even though the footage is old, one of the best edits of the year, was this Lost Footage edit of Matthias Dandois, shot arguably in his prime. Seriously go back and watch this!

Phew!! A lot happened as you can appreciate from May till August, argueably the busiest months of the year! Stay tuned for Part 3, coming soon….

Bibliography:

May

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/posse-up-baltimore

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/posse-up-los-angeles

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/430-dvd-trailer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-red-bull-circle-of-balance-is-back

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/quentin-pelorson-progression

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-wins-bike-days

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-uchino-yoshiki-uchino-hiroya-morisaki-an-cup

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jason-plourde-double-decade

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-on-levis-streetwear

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mark-kuhlmann-voodoo-jam-hype-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/ron-monis-voodoo-jam-hype-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/athens-crew-win-2012-posse-up-video-contest

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/scott-obrien-terry-adams-espn-behind-the-scenes-at-voodoo-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dominik-nekolny-voodoo-jam-hype-combo

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/todd-carter-voodoo-hype-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-wins-fise-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bloody-shins-deep-bmx-webstore

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatdev-2012-–-trailer-for-interview-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-hotoke-at-jomopro-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bryan-huffman-voodoo-jam-hype-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/akihiko-takahashi-holiday-frame-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-dane-beardsley-espn-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatdev-2012-–-shintaro-misawa-interview-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/travis-collier-my-steaz

June

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/2012-red-bull-circle-of-balance-rider-list-announced

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chase-gouin-is-back-riding

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/originality-1-contest-win-a-khe-jesse-puente-prototype-frame

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/prasheel-gopal-voodoo-jam-hype-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-waldemar-fatkin-stephan-kornely

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/denes-katona-irish-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matt-wilhelm-qualifies-first-at-2012-voodoo-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/voodoo-pre-jam-pictorial

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jason-plourde-transformer-freestyle-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatdev-2012-–-mat-dagu-interview-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-miyata-yorimitsu-mostly-true

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-new-bmx-style-street-flat

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/mark-kuhlmann-voodoo-jam-expert-class-winner-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pete-brandt-clocktower-represent

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/voodoo-jam-trip-by-trevor-oleniuk-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/toon-welcome-to-dc

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/nankai-freecoaster-rebuild-maintenance-guide

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/voodoo-jam-2012-by-anthony-crespo-art-mag

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/freedom-bmx-voodoo-jam-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/voodoo-pre-jam-2012-extended-edition

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/terry-adams-slu-oak-tree-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/john-yull-bikecheck

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matt-wilhelm-breaking-new-ground

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/a-style-jam-by-shinde

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-david-nagy-alone-in-gyc

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shayne-khajehnoori-bikecheck

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/originality-1-contest-khe-bikes-lisias-tabarelli

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/gonzalo-pola-bellanti-la-rocka

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-reveal-yourself

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-bruno-zebu-originality-1-contest-khe-bikes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/prasheel-gopal-june-18th-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/originality-1-shinishi-kiba-aka-russia

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matti-rose-bikecheck

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hiroya-morisaki-wins-g-shock-real-toughness-in-nagoya

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-alain-massabova-40-years-in-paris

July

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/david-nagy-originality-1-re-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shinichi-kiba-wins-a-style-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/thomas-noyer-originality-contest-khe-bikes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-calvin-tan-amalgamate

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/gabe-kadmiri-2011-side-one

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmad-summer-part-1

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-lost-and-found-footage-by-style43

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/osg-13-invitational-flatland-contest-budapest-hungary

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmad-summer-2012-pt-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-crackpacker-by-the-flatmad-crew

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dane-beardsley-shaka-brah

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-heresy-sebastian-grubinger-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmad-summer-part-3

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sam-foakes-flatmatters-manchester-session-promo-clip

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-bert-ribul-aleksi-ritsila-split-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/taslem-botak-raziff-wins-flat-dev-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-voodoo-jam-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dez-maarsen-michael-van-der-kroft-summer-weekend-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatdev-2012-open-pro-final-battle-jean-william-prevost-vs-tasleem-botak-razif

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hiroya-morisaki-wins-stop-2-of-the-g-shock-real-toughness-series

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/york-jam-2012-by-erik-otto

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/red-bull-circle-of-balance-teaser

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-signs-for-dc

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/joe-cicman-interview-round-3-am-flat-hype

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/lisias-tabarelli-wins-originality-1-contest-khe-bikes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/simon-obrien-colony-deja-vu-bikecheck

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatmatters-manchester-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-wins-the-2012-worlds

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-st-martin

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sam-foakes-flatmatters-manchester-session

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/top-3-pro-highlights-bmx-worlds-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-shinsyu-flatland-contest

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/gabe-kadmiri-side-201two

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/trevor-lacey-interview-the-paddle-round-the-pier-weekend

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shinishi-russia-kiba-wins-real-toughness-osaka

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/freedom-bmx-bmx-worlds-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/joe-miller-interview-am-flat-round-3-hype

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jesse-puente-on-wrung-street-wear

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bmx-worlds-cologne-2012-by-deepbmx

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-plywood-hoods-aggro-rag-is-back

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-interview-how-did-i-win-the-bmx-flatland-world-championship

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/ucchie-wins-kogworld-circuit-round-2-in-kobe

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kogwc-round-2-footage-final-battle-and-more

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/lee-wilson-king-of-southsea-hype

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/keisuke-tanigawa-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-tempest-brand

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-one-day-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatland-bmx-riders-wish-london-and-the-uk-good-luck-for-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-pedro-melo-one-too-hot-hour-in-luz

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatstyles-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatland-outside-bmx-worlds-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/keisuke-tanigawa-wins-saga-no-run-contest

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/osg13-offline-sport-games-flatland-contest-teaser

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/amflt-2012-anarchy-in-anderson-hype

August

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/laszlo-tivadar-5-combos-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dominik-nekolny-bmx-worlds-2012-cologne

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/steve-mulder-5-brakeless-hangliders-3x

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/flatland-in-at-the-dew-tour-ocean-city-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jf-boulianne-wins-anarchy-in-anderson

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/yohei-uchino-wins-sendai-g-shock-real-toughness

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/oneloveprimo-trailer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/espn-the-return-of-mike-dailys-aggro-rag

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sebastian-seppl-pospischil-bikecheck-new-ride-new-day-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dylan-worsley-xfootbkwdhalf

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-jason-plourde-theres-something-about-flatland

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-4riders4combos-waldemar-fatkin-stephan-kornely-kevin-brill-tobias-muller

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matt-wilhelm-bikecheck-for-dans-comp

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/michael-steingraeber-sunday-night-at-lvr

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/cross-country-with-dane-beardsley-portland-oregon

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/simon-warsan-anarchy-in-anderson-pro-practice

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kevin-nikulski-flatland-bmx-worlds-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jason-plourde-decade-madness

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/kog-round-2-official-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-naoto-tamaru-kenshiro-ojma-summer-tour ucchie backwheel

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/55dsl-flatland-jam-final-battle

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-worden-summer-sessions

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/phil-dolan-bwbd-f888888888888

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aresbykes-x-superb-japan-tour-2011-dvd-review

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/holiday-cup-vol-3

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/onelovebmx-primo-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/euro-treino-flatland-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/prasheel-gopal-training-for-king-of-southsea

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-wins-dew-tour-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/effraim-catlow-king-of-southsea-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dew-tour-allisports-final-battle-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/freegun-underwear-welcomes-alex-jumelin-to-the-pro-team

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aggro-rag-issue-13

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/ronny-engelmann-todays-riding-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/same-thing-daily-usa-trip

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/run-430-dvd-review

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/phil-dolan-sw8

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/trevor-meyer-summer-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sam-foakes-prasheel-gopal-win-king-of-southsea

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/sam-foakes-king-of-southsea-winning-run

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dez-maarsen-wins-chuncheon-cup-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-chad-johnston-underground-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/red-bull-circle-of-balance-livefeed

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/gonzalo-bellanti-post-bmx-worlds-hype

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/dez-maarsen-summer-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/matthias-dandois-lost-footage

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/bruno-zebu-inside-out

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shuichi-osada-starts-buoyancy

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-worden-the-running-man

Flatmatters Review of 2012 – Part 1!

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Effraim — 10 Comments ↓

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

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/outside-jomopro-2012

Repo: Battle Vibes 2013!

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Effraim — 16 Comments ↓

Text: Johann Chan.
Photos: Marcelo Nardi.

Matti Hemmings, on his way to second place in his first Pro contest!

After the first attempt of Battle Vibes fell through in 2012, the supposed collaboration of Keelan Phillips and James White returned to make Battle Vibes the first UK contest of 2013.

Last Sunday February the 3rd, the concept became a reality. Keelan unfortunately failed to make the contest, rumour has it, he was standing in for Justin Bieber for a show in Germany. James White – initially unaware of his involvement in the contest, reserved a suite at the Hilton the night before in a desperate attempt to resuscitate UK flatland for the 10th time.

Ade King the undercover man behind the jam, (no relation to fellow promoter Don King) used his extensive experience with organising old school B-boy / hip hop events, and notched up a killer sound system, DJs, and silky smooth floor at a fantastic venue at a leisure centre in Northampton.

C group
Surprisingly (and perhaps alarmingly) C group was the smallest group at this event. 7 year old Richie Spencer has had a good upbringing with riding all forms of BMX- a bit of racing, skateparks, as well as competing in flatland. Third place for the little dude. Morgan Gleave took a break from his IT to enter on his 1inch Dirt bike for 2nd, and the winner was Jake with a victory in his first contest.

Expert
Expert was the largest group. Denny contributes alot to BMX, and in an attempt to be the most productive BMX rider of all time, filmed, rode and photographed his own run whilst giving props to everyone all at the same time.
Matt Spencer tag teamed his son Richie in practice, unleashed messiahs and hang fives demonstrating a noticeable improvement at every contest.
Stuart McLaren rode a great run with some classic showmanship, getting caught up in the b- boy flava with a dancing cap magic trick, where the cap magically disappears behind his back, and then reappears back on his head all throughout preforming a surfer- great run, superb showmanship with some amazing bar presses hitchhikers and a mental rollaid thrown in for good measure.
Tom Brace disguised a hit and run on Chris job with a smooth gliding messiah across the huge leisure centre floor before revealing his true intentions. Tom almost unplugged all the DJ cables and took out the Job, but the assassination proved unsuccessful.

Chris Carter, Hang Nothing.

Top guys Chris Carter and Andy Wood displayed some nice hard long double footed rolling links. All round top bloke TGM Peter Pan Maz has a nice mix of hitchhikers, spinning lawnmowers, scuffing and decades, but gelled a bit for a third place. I left the camera at home in a desperate attempt to escape my media grommet demeanour (only to get roped into writing this piece). Cliff hanger, bwds- fwds spinning lawns, hang nothings, circle Ks and little fancy footwork on the floor for second place. Mayko Lee has improved no end, not only did he take off his two hats, but also his t-shirt. Before completing his striptease, Mayko jumped on his bike performing stylish spinning lardyards in gyrator position, with double footed rolling backyards. Another caught up with the whole b-boy vibe, Mayko ended with a no handed time machine, diving onto the floor, and went straight into an attempted windmill. A drastically improved Mayko chalks up a second expert win- well done!

Am winner and strip tease artist, Mayko Lee killing it on the back wheel.

Pro
A couple of riders made the jump to A group. Manning up to the occasion was the man previously know as Stinky feet Sal, (now know as professional male model Sal), backwards cliffhangers, jugglers, hopefully we’ll see an edit of the jam soon from this multi-talented stud muffin.
Yinka Thomas also jumped to pro on this occasion with nice spinning lawns like only he can. Like many others Yinka was another victim to the wet winter months holding him back from the inevitable glory which faces him.
Lee Wilson, Bence & Andy Hale fell victims to the cold wet winter, with a few very nice complicated moves pulled. Great to see Amos putting his 21inch S&M and four steel pegs through the motions- straight from his new found status as a dad- congratulations!

James Smith took time out from his DSLR devices emporium, filming duties and looking after his designer dog to jump into his matt black Porsche 944 to multiple whiplash, halfpacker pump and backwards manny his pink mop across the leisure centre floor.

Chris Brown was on fire in practice, once again proving T-shirt off = getting serious. Nice whiplashes into all sorts of tech brakeless pinky whip trickery ensures a prosperous future for ‘velcro feet’ .

Velcro feet, aka Chris Brown works his magic.

Norbert, switch foot pedal 5.

Jason Forde, also demonstrated a man’s worth of riding with a disgustingly stylish long link including multiple, flips, spins, hitch juggler only to slightly dab right at the very end.

Jason Forde, styling it out mid steamroller.

Josh Briars whoppered his way onto the floor alongside music which made him look even manlier than usual, great mix of time machine, whiplash, and cliffhanger variants.

Josh Briars, has Whoppers on lock! On his way to a third place finish at BV!

Matti Hemmings exploded onto the floor ready for action, whiplash into hang nothing- on the stem hang five, double footed pumping deathtrucks, time machine variants, with spinning cliff with ft on bars, blizzard like spins and turbines, gave Matti a very close second.
Fresh out of his Oxygen tank at the Hilton, James White, put ‘the white bike’ through a smooth controlled treat of one handed multiple whiplashes combined with multiple one handed jugglers, double footed death trucks multiple bike flip gyrator, dump truck combos, including no handed, switch footed etc etc. All executed with a timeless smoothness we’ve all grown to expect from the living legend’s 15th comeback. All together top job by the new S&M sponsored, MCing, semi-organising Battle Vibes champion.

Don’t call it a comeback! James White has been here for years. Two footed death truck on way to victory.

The jam was a great start to the year with a great Job being done by Ade, James, and Chris Job on the mic.
Let’s hope this is a good start to an even better 2013!

Ade would like to say thanks to: Sponsor KEELAN PHILLIPS, DJ’s MKUTZ, OP1, Aidy west for p.a. Nik Vanhasslehoff, Paddy O’Donoghue, for helping a whole bunch, and James White.

Bike Film Fest Flatland Jam – Edit + Repo

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Effraim — 1 Comment ↓

Nice edit sent in by Moya from the Bicycle Film Festival Flat jam this weekend, featuring Alberto Moya, Guelo Monzón, Santiago Notario, Miguel Tardío, Fernando Bayona, Alex Plaza and Varo Hernandez.
Filming: Paula Llorente and Alberto Moya.

Repo by: Morgan Peckosh

This was the second event for bicycles held in the Matadero, a cultural and art center that is built in an old abandoned slaughterhouse. The first was a jam in May with some workshops for flat and bmx with little kids. We had a jam and the crowd was really excited by flatland and we were invited back.
This time the collective La Traba, that recently was told they will have to leave the building they have been squating for over 3 years, was asked to organize a small contest for flatland and Street for the Bicycle Film Festival, a festival of movies and documentaries about bicycles.
As there were two contests already in the last month, Flatland Expressions and the contest at La Traba, we decided to have a little more fun and just do a chill contest. We started with a bicycle limbo contest, where people had to go under a bar either on one wheel or two. Moya won the one Wheel limbo, with a half packer, and Alex Plaza won the two Wheel limbo. Then we did some old school contests like the gerator battle, funky chicken battle, and longest cliffhanger contest. The stubborn and militant Guelo won gerator and funky chicken battles and Moya won the longest cliffhanger. The last flatland challenge was a kind of cone slalom set up with trash cans. Nobody seemed to really get the hang of it but Fernando Bayona did do a surfer through the whole curse. Unfortunately since everyone was participating in these challenges, no one filmed it.
Second we had a small jam circle type contest where everyone competed and everyone had three runs. Then everyone voted on Best Style, Most Original, Most technical, and Most Consistency. Miguel Tardio won Best Style and Most Technical, pulling all three of his runs flawlessly and dropping some very difficult cross foot whiplash nose wheelie combos. I don´t think Miguel ever gets nervous and it is always fun to watch him in contests because his combos are at least 8 tricks longs every time.
Moya won most original. Everyone on flatmatters already knows Moya and all his one footed and frame tricks. He has a very clear visión of where he wants to take his riding and every day he is opening new doors that have never been opened by other riders.
Most consistent went to Santiago Notario who just recently (finally!) put cranks on his bike. It was his second time riding with cranks but it didn´t seem to change his smooth back Wheel, scuff, roll style.
As always in Madrid, at the end of the contest, the riding doesn´t stop. Afterwards everyone went to the center to keep riding and chill. The flatlanders of Madrid wish you a great holiday season and we promise you higher level of tricks, insanity, and fun in 2013.

2012 Highlights: Rider/Industry perspective (Part 2)

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Effraim — 1 Comment ↓

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.

Scene Report – Dallas, Texas

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Effraim — 18 Comments ↓

Text/Photos: Jeremy Jones.

The one and only, Ross Smith!

It’s December 2nd, it’s 81 degrees outside, and there’s a parking garage that spans for miles. Welcome to Dallas, Texas! The Dallas riders have recently started getting together on Sunday’s at their new garage (no security hassles on the weekends). There are over fourteen guys who ride flatland in Dallas and the scene is growing. A few of the riders are seen here in these pictures: Brian Hiltz, Jason Smith, Duane Duckworth, Clint Evans, Ben Stembridge, Jayson Hatcher, and Ross Smith. Other riders include George Teneyek, Will Redd, Clinton Majors, Rio Pena, Jeremy Jones, Andy Powell, and the 2012 Texas Toast Veteran Class Winner: Nikola Olic! If you are living in or traveling through Dallas, come out and ride! Contact: jeremyleejones@mac.com

Brian Hiltz.

Jayson Hatcher

Ben Stembridge

Jason Smith

Clint Evans

Duane Duckworth

The Friday Interview – Viki Gomez! (Part 1)

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Effraim — 22 Comments ↓

Intro/Interview:Effraim.
Photos: Provided by Viki Gomez.

Who better to cap off this first 4 years anniversary week than Viki Gomez!
Chances are like me you watched in awe as the Red Bull Circle of Balance contest unfolded. What became apparent to me as the battles progressed, was the level of control, focus, adaptability and machine like quality Viki Gomez possesses.
To win the worlds biggest flatland contest 3 times passing over a ten year time period is a huge achievement, that might never ever be done again.
As I sat at the top of the bleachers trying to take as much of the event in as possible, what I couldn’t help notice, was how calm Viki was during the whole contest. The level of focus he showed during the tense battles was very inspiring.
You could sense a few riders quite rightly were just stoked to be invited and enjoying the moment, whereas Viki maintained “gameface” throughout the event. It was fitting that a bomb trick will be remembered for winning his 3rd Red Bull COB title, it was a moment I won’t forget in a hurry. I think flatland needed that! Viki demonstrated truly what it takes to win at the highest level.
As well being a contest machine, Viki is of course an artist, delivering ground breaking video parts, that have been inspirational for years, there aren’t too many riders that have truly excelled in both.
Without further a due, I’m really excited to bring the first part of this Viki Gomez interview, as I say “enjoy!”…

Basic introduction, your real name is Jorge right? How old are you? How long riding? Where are you from? Etc..
My name is Jorge Gomez. Nick name Viki from the famous cartoons Viki the Viking! I started riding 17 years ago when I was a smaller teenager with long hair and the looks of Viki. I am from Madrid, Spain. I am 31 years old, and I have been professional for 12 years and visited 50 countries so far until today. Here are my most memorable contest results since 2001:
2 times European X games champion (2001-2002)
3 times King of Ground Gold medallist in Japan (2001-2004-2006)
Braun Cruzer Tour champion of 5 contest out of 7 and tour champion (Contest like Flatground, King of Concrete, Ninja Spin, etc)
2005 Metro Jam Champion in Canada
Bmx Flatland World circuit champion (2010)
Red Bull Flamenco Flatland champion (2011)
3 times Red Bull Circle of Balance Champion (2002-2007-2012)
I love my bike and I love riding and freestyling!

Of course Viki you are world renown as one of the best flatlanders of all time, I recall the first time I met you at the Madrid Worlds in 1999, you entered Masterclass right away. Spain is not famous for its flatland scene, what got you into flatland?
Well, when I started to ride there were a huge amount of flatland riders in Retiro Park, the biggest park in Madrid City. I had a BMX but not prepared for freestyle and one day I crossed this park and I saw around 20 riders riding together, flirting with the chicks, having fun,etc…from that moment I realised that this was the coolest thing I wanted to do in my life! And I went for it!
I kind of forced the riders to admit me in the crew! Hahaha Nowadays most of them are my best friends and we laugh a lot remembering the way I wanted to become friends with them! First thing I said was: “Do you have pegs to sell?” I was a 14 years old kid with super long hair and the cap and they said I looked like “Viki the Viking” (German cartoons famous in Spain) and since that day they called me Viki! In this park I rode for 6 years and it has been the best teenager time of my life!
We didn’t only ride, we were trouble makers, but always with good and positive humour! We were a big family and I believe we still are somehow! even if life separated us due to age duties like work, family,etc These guys will forever be in my heart, and these memories are still the reasons why I keep riding! I met for once and for all the real spirit of freestyle, and I will stick to it all my life!

That’s interesting, is this the big public riding spot in the KGB video that you talk of? It’s interesting to me what you said abut family, as I remember you were always with Nathan, Martti and Phil in “The X trials days”, kind of like a mini family almost.
You are one of the few riders out there that can juggle the professional riders life of travelling, shows, commercial projects, and yet still progress in a hardcore way, delivering banging edits with new tricks/variations, how hard is it to juggle this lifestyle?
I realised that the more busy you are the best your brain works. Therefore the imagination level that you need to put into flatland gets higher and your riding level increases as well. I remember when I was 23 and I only was riding all day long, my life felt empty and thats why I started KGB, just to keep myself busy and keep learning things in different ways. After riding ideas were coming nonstop! Everything is all about the mindset that you have. If your brain is on fire, your imagination and body will be on fire as well. So how I keep myself fit is working on new projects, brain storming and using riding as a therapy to free and/or increase my mind! At the end, I am a business man where I am the boss, the employee and the product! And by loving what I do life pays back with beautiful opportunities!

Do you progress when your on the road touring? You of course travel a lot, I saw recently Dubai, England, and Maldives, Japan, and I’m sure that’s not all…
New tricks come anytime and unexpected. Sometimes riding and sometimes in your mind. I remember talking with Akira Okamura about one of his signature tricks and he told me, “I was in the toilet and suddenly: Booom!!! This trick idea came to my mind!” Laughs!!! I realised then that I wasn’t the only one having these moments!

What are the benefits of this lifestyle in your opinion?
Everything is a benefit. And specially the way I travel! I am always with locals and this way you can experience their culture and learn from it. Therefore you progress a lot as a person and this is what we are here for. To become better people and progress! I have been in 50 countries in the last 14 years and I have learnt a lot about the world. I stopped believing about nations, countries, borders and frontiers. I believe more in the different cultures of the human race, the different visions and at the end we are all in the same planet which make us very alike to each other! And I can see that the world is getting better, I don’t watch the depressing news and I judge by my experience and everyone nowadays just want to have a good life. I think thanks to the internet people realised that love is the best way to live!

You blew up on the scene in 2000, I recall the Worlds in Koln 2000, so many fresh tricks with savvy style! You’ve been a heavy hitter since then, at what point did you realise flatland would become a job for you?
Actually since day one I got my first real BMX freestyle bike my dream became true! I knew from that day that it will never matter how hard it will be, I will always ride! I have been very lucky ,my bike saved my life in many aspects and I think that by being grateful every single day, life is bringing me more opportunities to keep on riding! All is about Karma! When I do shows I feel that people get happy, exited, kids smile, and I am so thankful to have the chance to make this happen! And with this Karma riding life just goes on!

For as long as I can remember you have always had brakes? What is your opinion about brakes, no brakes?
Well, I think brakes are mandatory to learn basics and be original making different switches. At least in the beginning. Being original is the most important thing in Flatland! This sport should be call “Originality on bike” then many people will understand what is this game all about. I went deep searching for new ways of progression! I had many masters like Martti, Nathan, Phil who taught me how important is to go your own way and I found myself using the brakes in order to find this freedom and be someone original and respected out there.
But right now, I reached a new level where I feel free with no brakes and thanks to all the basics I have learnt, I can explore into new levels and this feeling makes me really happy! Flatland is infinity, so searching is the way, but not the final form. So don’t worry about brakes or no brakes. You better worry about searching new unexplored ways. Don’t count your life with seconds, minutes, hours, days or years…better count it with the actions that you have done! For me every new original trick that I have done is an action, and this is the way I count my life in Flatland!

In my opinion the KGB dvd captured some of the best riding of all time from yourself and Martti. What’s your fondest memory from filming for that dvd, and also that time period hanging out with MK a lot?
I think everyone can feel that our philosophy in riding is about going deep in progression and show that Flatland is infinity! This DVD has this feeling and also KGB was all about it! This part of my life has been my university in business and definition of progression!
And what better and funnier than having MK as a classmate? We learnt a lot, we lost a lot but at the end we WON A LOT because we learnt big lessons! Now we are prepared in life to achieve any dream we want and having these lessons learnt is the most precious treasure you can ever wish!
MK is with no doubt one of my best friends and still the person I look up to riding wise. When you think about it, no human yet had reached his level! And this is amazing! I follow his steps and I am so lucky to have learnt a lot from him. Nowadays we meet in amazing epic places where we just laugh non stop remembering the crazy times we lived, and living even craziest times nowadays!

That is awesome! Tell me something about competing, over the past few years you came back to featuring on the podium after a few years struggling to place well, what changed for you?
After winning COB 2007 I lost my motivation to compete. Also Martti lost it. So weird times came along for us where we saw flatland going so down. We come from X Games times where Flatland was huge! And seeing flatland going into the direction of wooden small floors wasn’t so exiting! So I decided to take a break and keep progressing at home and don’t think about contests! But if you are a Red Bull athlete, you can take a break, but eventually you will need to come back strong to compete. And I am really happy that Red Bull pushed me to comeback! After all I got 3rd place in the BFWC 2009, first place of BFWC 2010, Red Bull Flamenco Flatland 2011 and this year I have won Madrid contest, Fise in Costa Rica, Bike days in Switzerland, Colombia contest and the best that I could ever imagine! Red Bull COB 2012!!! I also want to thank my girlfriend Alexandra for being my main inspiration in life! When you love some one deep it gives you strength! And when someone loves you deep it gives you a lot of courage! She believes sometimes more in me than myself, and it’s really helpful when you are down. I thank and appreciate every moment of my life with her!

Is there such a thing as winning mentality?
The only way to success is when you don’t let your mind to come in between. If you are able to have this mindset in a contest, then you will be very satisfied about your riding! And that’s all what really matters!

So the Red Bull Circle of Balance’s back this year and you already won two of those events, the COB is pretty much the biggest and most prestigious event in flatland, would you agree that your riding seems more favoured towards the battle format style contests rather than the traditional 3 minute run format?
As I said before, everything depends of your mindset. Doesn’t matter the format, the place, the atmosphere…everything is in your mind! Set it free and you will succeed!

Tell me something about the Madrid scene? It seems to be up on the up right now, I feel a lot of positive energy coming out of that scene right now.
Yeah there are a lot of new kids riding and they are like a small family hanging out together. I like the way they support and respect me, taking me as a master for them! They are my friends and super cool guys who just have fun with their bikes and have a lot of passion in riding. Guelo is the captain of the crew, and we became really good friends in the last years! He keeps the scene alive always helping new riders to feel comfortable and motivated!

I’m always curious when your at the top of the sport, and your searching for new ideas, where do you draw your inspiration from?
As I said before, by keeping your mind busy in positive and progressive things in life, your riding will be also reflected by the right mind set! I try to learn something new everyday. Not every time is a new trick, but a new combo, a new feeling, the way you leave the spot happy and motivated looking forward to come back. And I am always feeling lucky to have time and being able to ride! So this way you can get the best out of it! Never take things for granted!

To wrap up Part 1. We can’t have a VIki Gomez interview, and not ask about Dominik Nekolny. Nowadays he’s going more towards his own style of riding, but still does a lot of your “known” old switches. Does it feel strange competing against him?
With Dominik everything has been all about mix feelings. Of course I got surprised the first time I saw him doing many of my signature tricks! My visión of riding is completley different in this sense, but then I realized that he was doing my tricks because they were hard tricks, and he has been the only one capable to make them! I just thought to my self “why someone with so much skills is doing someone else tricks?” But then I realized that he was in a learning process and besides that, I should be happy that someone is following my way, and proving that with these tricks you still can place good in a contest. I am happy to be an inspiration for someone. After the confusing times I got to know him personally, and he is a super nice guy and I always have jokes with him!

Part 2 to follow soon…. Comments anyone?

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-flatmatters-exclusive-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/new-viki-gomez-orbea-frame

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-flatwebtv-red-bull-cob-post-show

The John Yull Interview!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Effraim — 15 Comments ↓

Intro/Interview: Effraim.
Photos: Leo Furmansky.

Rewind to April 6 of this year, and John Yull dropped his 3 years back riding after a 15 year break edit. Mid way through the edit… I remember screaming “Why oh why did you quit John!”…
You see I have written multiple copies of this intro, and it’s almost impossible for me to not include the fact myself and John grew up together on the UK Hutch team. The memory of John hacking across a Parisian leisure centre floor, hitting the fastest backwards whiplash (DMC style) in 1989 on this way to a Worlds title still plays in my mind like it was yesterday.
John’s 3 year edit not to mention his latest Tempest edit is a timely reminder John still has it!
Now 23 years on from John’s World title winning run, John is continuing to use that riding knowledge and is killing it more than ever, truly finding his way. Let’s get this interview started..

Basic info first, when did you start riding, where you from originally, etc etc…Basic info first, when did you start riding, where you from originally, etc etc…
I was born and bred in Sutton-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire. I started riding in 1983 when I got a Raleigh Super Tough Burner for my 13th birthday. My next frame was a Pink Hutch Trickstar and so began my union with Hutch. I entered every UKBFA contest I could in the 80’s and got sponsored by Hutch. I made my first trip to the San Diego in 1989 and was hooked I moved to Austin Texas in September 1992 and never left.

So John for the record, a lot of people might not know you stopped riding, what year did you stop riding and why?
So I think I stopped riding flatland around 1994 I couldn’t put a date on it it just slowly happened. I was so involved in Homeless Bikes that riding took 2nd place to making Shorts, shinguards shirts,Gyro covers & everything else we could produce for us, Play, Poorboy Allied, Little Devil & anyone else that wanted custom sewing done. We also started making frames in house for homeless & WAL. Things were so crazy back then! we would make anything! I was sewing 15+ hours a day.

When did you get back into riding and what made you start riding flatland?
So in early 2009 my wife Jessie said “hey you should get onto Facebook ” so I did and within A few weeks I was harassed by enough old riding friends (yes you too Effraim) about not riding that I was ordering a new bike from empire & so it all began!!

Riders who have been riding a long time, always seem to have what I call a “second wind” in their riding career and that very much seems to be happening with you right now, your progression and your choice of tricks points to experience, and knowledge of what has come before. Would you agree with that?
My second wind I like that, returning and staying where I left off was never an option for me. I wanted to embrace the new way of riding, but add MY personal touch to it! the fact that I can’t figure out how to pump one bloody tricks has lead me to where I am. Once the decades came I knew I had found my path and the ideas haven’t stopped coming.

After so long out, how long do you think you have left to ride, and continue pushing yourself?
I’m only 42 and after 15 years off I see no reason to stop any time soon I have so many trick ideas in my head I never want to stop again…..

Have you found filming your riding, has helped you progress quicker?
Filming has become my best motivation I can spend hours filming for 1 trick and it’s worth every minute! Some of the tricks I’ve done on film were only pulled that one time and that is ok with me. Just move on to the next one.
I have what I call my “personal motivational grudge” my 3 years edit was fueled by this. When I was done with the edit the grudge was over and it was time to move on.

What is motivating this second wind I talk of?
To be honest part of it is to leave my mark on flatland I feel I quit before I got to show my potential. I did ride for Hutch and Homeless Bikes, won the worlds in 1989 and had a part in Homeless Trash but I never had that killer part in a flatland video or entered a USA contest I regret that!
Mostly though I really have something to prove to myself and I can’t stop till I do that.

When you started riding again, did you start again brakeless?
No I started with the front brake on but one day took it off and never looked back. Well there was that day I put it back on and it lasted for 15 minutes and then it was gone for good. I think luckily for me after such a long brake from riding I wasn’t so attached and it felt great. I do have fun every now and again riding Tod and Randall’s bike with brakes but they feel restricted to me. I plan on riding with brakes for a month this year as part of a project but it won’t last.

What is flatland for you?
Obsession, Passion, Frustration, Enjoyment, motivation, friendship, escape,

Describe your local riding scene, how often do you get out riding?
The OG!! I feel so lucky to be part of the Austin scene I’m surrounded by so many friends and so much talent I wouldn’t want to ride anywhere else in the world! Everyone is welcome and equal there’s no pro’s or beginners just family.. I ride every day! I’m as obsessed with riding now as I was when I was 15.

What do you do work wise for a job?
I started an Aquarium Maintenance business 12 years ago when I left the sewing job. I spend my days visiting the rich and famous. I love my job.

Being an English man how do you deal with the humid hot summers in Texas?
My first summer in Texas was 1993 I lived on Kevin Martin’s couch with Lee Sultemeier on the other couch we had no AC after that summer I was sorted. The next 19 have been easy. For riding my sessions start at 9-9.30pm it’s still stupid hot in the summer but we are used to it. I have no idea how to ride in daylight it totally screws me up. I’m known as the vampire.

How hard is it juggling family life and flatland life?
I feel so lucky that my family understand my obsession. I leave to ride as late as possible and don’t get to sleep as much as I should but that’s ok with me. If you want it enough you will find time to ride!
Thank you to my wife Jessie & my kids Stella & Lucas.

Thank you John! Great catching up! Check out John’s edits I refer to in the intro below:

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-3-years

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-tempest-brand

2012 Highlights : Rider/Industry perspective (Part 1)

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Effraim — Leave comments ↓

“2012 has been a great year for flatland. What has been the highlight of the year personally riding wise for you?”

Photo credit: James White.
When James White dropped this incredible bikeflip on “Whitelines” the whole flatland world took notice. As I look back on the year, this is without a doubt one of the standout moves of the year! Find out what his highlights were right below.

James White: Haven’t really travelled this year so my highlight is pretty restricted but it’s also a very easy one, The return of the Jaffa! Let me take you back to the close of 2011. It’s dark,cold, miserable weather and I’m pretty down. I get a call from Sam, when ever we get to catch up it’s so much fun putting everything to rights. So great I think this will cheer me up, but this call was different. Sam wasn’t riding said he wasn’t into it anymore, my heart dropped nooo can this year get any worse I was thinking. But I didn’t let on to him just telling things like, ‘well if you ain’t feeling it then that’s cool. don’t worry about it just concentrate on enjoying life and see if the motivation comes back, just take it slow with no pressure’. It was a hard phone call. It was like losing a family pet! (Sorry Sam, best I could come with on the fly)…
Anyway fast forward a few months and there’s rumblings of Sam riding, out the blue he goes to that redbull comp and with little practice smashes it. I speak to Sam shortly after this and asked what happened with the not riding? He replies ‘oh, well after our phone call I went out the next and the next day messing about and really enjoyed it, went out the the next and the next and been pretty regular since’……..Bastard!!! There’s me at home worrying about my boy giving up and all the time his out behind my back riding!
Anyway then comes the banging edit by Chris Massey at the Manchester jam. And my year is made!
2013 will have to have Sam’s return the contest scene to beat this year!!!

Sam Foakes: Highlight of the year for me was watching Hiro vs Ucchie on the COB livestream and seeing Hiro go off! COB was the event of the year. Don’t forget to invite me next time Red Bull 🙂 Personal riding highlight would be the Manchester jam. Nice weather and great atmosphere.

Alex Jumelin: Yes it has been a really coooool year for flatland and worldwide I can say that flatland as never been so big. In the number of contest and riders, I just hope that now big sponsor will follow ??????
My highlight of the year was of course to win the FISE.

Bart de Jong: The riding at the Red Bull COB was off the hook!

Without a doubt the most popular choice for highlight of the year. And who would argue really? The Red Bull COB went off! It was a huge honour for me to host the livefeed show!
Photo credit: Naoyuki Shibata/Red Bull Content Pool

Martti Kuoppa: Seeing / Feeling Viki being one with his bike at the COB.
Seeing DUB busting out at the COB.
Hearing Chase Gouin getting rid of illness and getting back on his bike.
Learning to ride flatland just sometimes and be happy about it.

Simon O’Brien: I would have to say for me the highlight was ‘Circle of Balance’. Not only was it an amazing event, but after being away from the scene for a while, it was great to get amongst it and be around so many riding friends again. I didnt realise how much ive missed it! And the event was in Japan….so just an amazing time!

Jean William Prevost: COB for sure!

Tom @ Sevisual: I couldn’t pick a specific highlight, but there were some great moments in the 2012 season for sure! I was able to travel a lot with Adam; we hit lots of contests this year and had so much fun. Hanging out and filming with Viki and the Madrid crew…JFB was a guest of mine for several weeks…Vienna with my friends Michael and Sebastian was priceless with great memories!  Flatland wise the best was the high number of Hungarian flat contests this year. Keep organizing guys!

Matthias Dandois: Riding wise, 2012 has been such a turning point in my career, My point of view on riding has changed a lot the past year. I started not give a shit about contest, actually stopped practicing for contest, started riding everything (street, flat, park, dirt, whatever) and I’m more happy in my life than ever before. The highlight of the year are all the tours/trip I did with some of the coolest people: Odyssey trip in the Californian desert, The Frenchys distribution trip around Lyon, The dawn tour all around France, visiting the Jumelin’s family in New Orleans… Theses trips are more fun than anything else, you just have to wake up, go ride, film a couple clips and have the time of your life. BMX is, before everything: FUN, let’s just not forget about it!

Amazing photo of Matthias Dandois shooting with Soul BMX mag #77… Photo credit: Hadrien Picard

Peter Olsen: I’d say just feeling really comfortable on my bike and not feeling entirely stagnant was a main highlight of the year for me . I can’t really think of any particular tricks or days or anything that stand out, but just the overall feeling that you can go out and learn what’s on your mind has always been one of favourite things about riding.

Scott O’Brien: Emcee Voodoo, Dew Tour and COB in Japan. But nothing will beat a session with my homies in New Orleans. I had a lot of progression this spring and it was a lot of fun. Lets see what the winter will bring?!

Stay tuned for Part 2….

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