Aka “Nene”, is blowing up right now, ton of web edits regularly online, effortlessly killing the back wheel, recent interview in ART magazine, time for a top 5’s here at Flatmatters! Look forward to seeing more of Nene as his style develops…

Bike parts:
Frame, Handlebars, Pedals, Grips, Hubs.

Favourite Riders:
Clayton Da Silva (Claybom), Bruno (Zebu), Marcos Paulo de Jesus (Pig), Leo Claro, Erik Soares.

Bike Companies:
Master Bikes, Odyssey, Inside Out Garage, SampaBMX, Flatland Fuel.

Swear words you use when you ride:
Shit, almost, go Nene, thanks God, I can’t believe..

Brands:
Globe shoes, Red Bull, Apple, G-Shock, Canon.

Websites to visit:
Facebook, Youtube, FreeFlat, Flatmatters, LisiasTabarelli’s blog…

Gadgets:
Mp3, Mobile, Digital Camera, GPS, Sunglasses.

Favourite Tricks to do:
Time Machine Cross foot, Rear wheel jump to front, Hitchiker whips, rear wheel pedal turbine, turbines…

Places to visit:
Tokyo, Hawaii, SubSolo Extra Piracicaba ,Ibirapuera, Salvador (Brazil).

Tricks you wish you could do:
Grip Ride, Nose manual X foot, Blender, Double Rolaid, Whips.

Music:
Fluke up, Flora Matos vs StereoDubs, Emicida, Passion Pit, DJ Shadow.

Video parts you watch:
5BMX Claybom (entrevista Part 1 of 2, and Part 2 of 2, Flatland Bakteria, ThunderFlats, Fistaile “Flatland” Jam 2011, Ares Garuda PV (Shinde part).

Drinks:
Orange Juice, Coffee, Coke, Gatorade, Cold water.

Food:
Salad, Chicken, French Fries, Rice, Pizza.

Things your hating on:
Wake up late, sleep late, rain, noise, slow internet.

Things to do besides riding:
Be with my girlfriend, play cards, play soccer, skate, drink coffee.

Books:
Proverbs, Revelation, Jonah, Job, Issiah.

Magazines:
A.R.T, Ride BMX, BMXPlus!,SoulBMX, Veja (Brazilian Magazine).

Films:
Cicade de Deus, The pursuit of Happiness, X-men, Fast and Furious, Challenging the Giants.

Thank you Nene! Who’s next???

It’s been a while since I did any Top 5’s or Last times so its about that time, so heres the first of many top 5’s, Thomas Noyer rips, and gets very lil’ coverage, so I wanted to kick back off again with someone who I thought deserved some recognition. Thomas this is for you! Keep shredding! Some of us do notice!

Bike parts:
Frame, bar, fork, wheels, pegs.

Favourite riders:
Martti Kuoppa, Uchino Yoshihi, Viki Gomez, Moto Sasaki, Simon O’Brien.

Bike companies:
Twenty Bikes, Khe Bikes, Odyssey, Junglerider, Deep bmx.

Swear words you use when you ride:
French swear words: “putain”, “bordel de merde”, “va te faire enculer”, “Fuck”, “Nique sa mère”.

Brands:
Snatch underwear, Nokia, Carhartt, Oakley, Philips.

Websites to visit:
Flatmatters, Global flat, Agoride, Facebook, Deezer.

Gadgets:
Mp3, Amplifier for outdoor, Archos multimedia player, Phone, Glasses.

Tricks to do:
double boomerang to hang5 pedal, pedaling time machine, halfpacker pivot cross footed hitchicker, hang5 bar whip crackpacker/halfpacker, turbine cross footed upside down megaspin.

Places to visit:
Greek isles, Japan, South africa, Sweden, Australia.

Tricks you wish you could do:
“I have a dream…” (haha): spinning death truck jump to time machine, spinning forward karl kruzer kickflip halfpacker, backward nose wheelie (forward crackpacker on pedal hands on bar), crackpaker foots on bar hands holding fronts pegs, spinning backward crackpacker no hand.

Music:
All ninja tunes’s label (bonobo, hextactic, silent poets, herbaliser….), atmosphere, beasties boys, quantic, Dj’s (Cam, Shadow, Krush…)

Video parts you watch:
Moto Sasaki ground tactics final round 2010, Matthias Dandois vans part, Mingle PV hotoke buddha, Viki Gomez in Land escape A, Stephen Cerra “Flowmountain”.

Drinks:
Xplicit energy drink, Ice tea, Fruits juices.. Post session drinks: “mauresque”, Heineken.

Food:
Chicken, duck, sweet dishes -salted, croissants and similar products, twinuts for apero.

Things your hating on:
slippery spot, wind, breaking bike parts or having a puncture during the session, battery empty on my phone, internet connection problems.

Things to do besides riding:
Shower, chilling, checking mail, listening music, cooking.

Books:
All Bernard Werber’s book: in french: “l’ultime secret”, la trilogie des fourmis, “le rire du cyclope”… “L’éloge de la faiblesse” (Alexandre Jollien), “L’équation du nénuphar” (Albert Jacquard”).

Magazines:
Art, Soul bmx, Ride Uk, Chasseur d’images, “Albi mag” (mag about my town in south of France!).

Films:
Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (Arnaques, crimes et botanique), Memento, Inception, Abyss, Les Affranchis.

Following events last weekend at the Fise contest, it brought a lot of issues to a head. It is time for the sport of Flatland to “grow up”. In so many ways.
The battle format has died, it promotes too much confrontation amongst the “egos” of the riders, and we all saw or heard about what can happen, also it has taken the level of riding down for whatever reason over the past few years. When I watched the park contest at Fise, the standard of riding was amazing!!! Everyone pushing their own level, debuting bangers for the first time! There was mutual respect between riders, and we have lost that! We need this back in the flatland scene!
The whole original point of the battle format, was to make flatland more exciting for the spectator, and sponsors, but I don’t see many sponsors jumping on board for flatland, and to be honest why would they?!. We have become stale, and it’s taking showmanship from the rider after the trick is completed (or not!) to get crowd applause, not the tricks in their own right. Are you a rider or a showman? What’s the message? We look desperate.
This issue of course is not a new one, it’s been going on for a while now, we as a sport almost seem to be begging to stay with the rest of BMX, we are willing to take anything, such as bad floors, judging for free whilst the rest of BMX get paid, arena too small, bad organisation, the list goes on. We are bottom of the pile in BMX, and the way to get back is to give the sport credibility, we can only do that by professional organisation, and starting to set standards like they have in World Cup skating. They started many years ago with Tony Hawk’s dad bringing in core basics, no money, etc, now look at them, every contest has to reach certain standards otherwise they don’t skate. They grew up.
Who of course will do that? That takes a lot! We can do the “small” things right to return to the bigger picture. We all love this sport. But we must have credibility.
Setting up international pool of judges to pick from, and judges to be scored on their work by an independent panel.
The absolute worst time for flatland is whenever there is a contest. That is a fact. Always the first question, was there any drama? Not who busted out? A similar drama repeats itself almost every contest without fail, peoples own agendas are allowed to dictate what goes on within the contest scene, time to squash that.
Contests in theory should be the best time, a celebration of the best and newest tricks. I can remember many years ago, only talking about new tricks returning from a contest. The numerous Worlds Championship contests will go down in history for all the right reasons. The jam sessions, the contest runs, you were on the edge of your seat!
We are an all-time low, right now. So now is the time to start again, get some basic rules and guidelines in place. An independent panel, to oversee the contest structure worldwide. Something needs to happen.
Part of the problem, is because there is very little money in flatland, everybody is scrambling like “rats” for a small piece of the pie. We are selling the Soul of flatland for that pie. It is understandable in some ways, (riders trying to make a living), but now is the time to take a look back, and make a change. Where’s the credibility gone? We can’t go any lower right now.
To make this clear, this is not about any individuals, this is about the sport!
Lets start again as a “collective”, and get serious about having fun!
Can we bring the real flatland back please!

Effraim/Flatmatters

Following the making of flatmatters playlist, who better to ask than Martti Kuoppa, whats he listening to, may of you have asked, so here it is….

Photo by Anna Gorvits,Art Magazine.

Massive Attack – ”paradise circus”

NAS –”Just a moment”

KRS One -”Still Spitting”

Kool G Rap –”sad”

NAS & Damien Marley – ”Nah Mean”

Zion I – ”many stylez”

Iggy Pop –”passanger”

Deep Purple- ”child in time”

Kingston Wall –”two of a kind”

Clouds –”elders”

Check Marrti’s site for daily updates: http://www.junglerider.com

During the making of this site, whilst Simon was designing the structure, I was archiving away, during the last week or so, ten hour days were not uncommon, what better time to give you some insight as to what I was listening to.

1- Logistics- Kaleidescope
2- Eric B and Rakim- The punisher
3- Farside- Worlds
4- Calibre- Even if
5- Metallica- Blitzkrieg
6- Nas- One on one- Streetfighter soundtrack.
7- Wiz Khalifa-G’ed Up.
8- Dj Deckstream featuring Mos Def- Life is good.
9- Twilights Last Gleaming- High Contrast
10- KRS One- Out for fame.

*Photo/collage by Bobby Carter.

I sent a bunch of interviews out for this opening main article for the new site, and only these two got back to me! Which is also quite fitting, both Dez Maarsen and Jean Francis Boulianne have been killing it regularly on the contest scene, and JF also killed it in groundtactics! Time to find out a lil more depth what these guys do behind the scenes to get dialled!

2 SMALL BIKES 2 LONG COMBOS from FermeTaGueulePisRide on Vimeo.

Firstly, how do you decide what combos to practise and dial in for a contest?
JF: I try to chose trick i feel comfortable with and that makes me look different than other rider. Frontyard baby….
Dez: Practicing combo’s is most of the time freestyle or I check what fits in well with the rest of the tricks. For dialling it’s the same. I try to do freestyle links with most of my hardest tricks in there.
       
Do you have a practise routine that you stick to before a contest? If so, what is that routine?
JF:I use to repeat repeat and repeat but when you hit everything in practice and the nothing in your run. Its makes you wonder. If this is the right technique, these day I mostly just ride. 
Dez: In contest I have a standard routine, except when its a battle I try to mix in some freestyle. I don’t practice these exact same links only during the practice time at the contest.

Does your practise routine vary if there is a 3 minute run, or battle format style?
JF: Not really, I just wanna pull some stuff and be proud of the way i Rode. That what put a smile on my face after the event knowing I rode good.
Dez: I think you can find the answers in previous questions.

Do you practise on different types of floor?
JF: Unfortunately not really maybe i should but if your combo is dial at your home  spot it should be dial almost anywhere. sometime it slippery, in a hill or bumpy then you have to adjust your riding…
Dez: Not on purpose. My indoor spot is sometimes slippery so I’m pretty used to that. When I have to do a show I do my contest tricks as a warming up and those are sometimes really crappy and small!

How long before a contest do you start training?
JF: I usually train all year long to try to keep my trick dial.
Dez: I used to practice 2 weeks before, but since I’m really busy with my study and stuff I’m happy when I can ride, so I’m not gonna waste time on preparing for contest! The latest contest I went to I try to
pull all my stuff during the practice at the contest.

Dez in action at the 2011 Ninja spin, third place at both Ninja and Game of skills! Consistency!

MY FIRST FLAWLESS RUN @ CIRCUL8 CONTEST IN MONTREAL from FermeTaGueulePisRide on Vimeo.

JF’s first flawless run in Montreal, earlier this year!

Who do you look at as the most dialled contest rider?
JF:For contest riding I would Say Justin, Matthias and Terry.
Dez: Uchhie is I think one of the most dialed riders at the contest. He’s pulling a lot of new tricks in competitions! Also Moto! 

How do you juggle contest training and progression?
JF:Oh man thats the game, thats even harder with traveling around the whole world and never riding at the same spot. Honestly like i said before nowadays I just ride when I can where i can with who I can.
Dez: I don’t think to much about that! When I’m riding I just try to enjoy it and learn new tricks. My main focus is to progress not to be a contest machine.

If you do “5 in a row” method of getting consistent, how strict are you on that? And what is the timeframe for getting that done?
JF: I used to do 3 in a row and I wasn’t so strict on it, like i would practice 5 combo x 3 times each but i would let maybe 3  or 4 mistakes go inside this. For the timeframe its wasn’t a big deal because when i rode everyday I use to pull the 3 in a row on my first try.
Dez: I’ve never done that for contest! Only when I had to the live TV performs on Holland’s Got Talent. And I was not that strict and it where not hard tricks!

Do you do any other kind of training to be contest ready?
JF:Drink protein shake, sit up and push up and party, have fun enjoying life give you energy before the contest.
Dez: I don’t know if it counts as training, but I’m always checking out video’s to get my self hyped.

How in your mind do you know when you are contest ready?
JF:You know your are ready when you can hit your trick good, but are you gonna perform the same at your spot and     in a contest that a different thing.
Dez: I’m always ready for a contest, because I enjoy going to them! Maybe if I didn’t rode so much before one, I still love to go there and have good session, meet up with riders, get motivated and try to
set down a good performance!

Do you have any superstitions going into a contest?
JF: Not really just some rules hey.Not wear headphone anymore and try to find a song that make me feel good.
Dez: No, not any I can think of.

Fat Tony just sent us through this link (see below video)- some great photos of Justin Miller, since Terry dropped that article last week, the whole flatland world is almost begging Justin to come back! Lot of Love out there! Check out some great photos right here!

Photo by Fat Tony.

Justin Miller Flatland BMX Snow Session from Fat Tony on Vimeo.

Link: http://fattonyenterprise.com/blog/2011/04/25/pictures-of-justin-miller-flatland-bmx/

Fat Tony posted this interesting article about how-to get more views on your videos, lot of simple but overlooked points, that I’m certainly guilty of.

http://bmx.transworld.net/1000126073/features/how-to-get-more-views-on-your-videos-9-tips-for-riders-companies/

This popped up on my twitter this afternoon, by an unknown writer/rider, mainly centred around judging in the US, but :this is a worldwide problem”, not just US…

Jomopro 2011 Pro Flatland Finals: Terry Adams vs Matt Wilhelm from jm on Vimeo.

“On the other side comes originality. In most cases, Originality is billed as the top criteria for judging, but how often does it REALLY count? Is a trick or link no one has ever seen more original than something original that has been done by a rider for years around the globe? Do original links still carry weight when it really counts? Are they worth doing if they are not pulled 100%? What about new links for a rider? That’s a good question that I haven’t heard an answer to.”

Related link: http://flatlandsucks.tumblr.com/

Back with another one! Part 2 is here, and the interviewee list couldn’t be much comprehensive, three of the most experienced professionals tell what that they do (or have done) to be contest ready!

Terry Adams- on top of his game both in the contest sense and the business side!
Pete Brandt- Has been on the scene forever, one of the most dialled riders I’ve ever seen. A huge inspiration to me since the days of Reality Tv part 1, and he isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Martti Kuoppa- Triple X Games gold medal! World Champion, has produced solo dvds, and probably more progressive edits than any other rider throughout the course of his career! A mix of both athlete and artist would be the best way to describe the man many regard as the best flatland rider alive!

Great shot of Terry/Vanessa/Matt last weekend at Jomopro, as the judging decision was announced!
Photo by Kelly Baldwin.

Firstly, how do you decide what combos to practise and dial in for a contest?
Terry Adams: I normally prepare 6 combos have them all dialled. Even if I don’t have time to use all of them in qualifying, It leaves me extra tricks for the finals/battles.
Pete Brandt: I practice my newsest combos mostly because those are the ones that need to get dialed.
Martti Kuoppa: I always tried picking up tricks that were difficult and original but also realistically tricks I knew if I practice hard enough I can get them dialed. Some of the tricks were out of question for sure so I wasn´t
bothered to try to get them consistent.

Do you have a practise routine that you stick to before a contest?
Terry Adams: If so, what is that routine? All year round I do my combos 3 times in a row. When it gets about 2 weeks before the contest I Bump it up to 5 times in a row. It’s sometimes boring, but I really enjoy being dialled so it’s cool!
Pete Brandt: Not really, I do like to change it up from back wheel combos to front wheel combos and in some runs transfer front to back or back to front.
Martti Kuoppa: Yes, let´s say I had a set routine which perhaps contained 5 different combos. I always practiced each switch, each combo separately. For example, combo number 1 had 5 – 8 different key tricks in it. I took each one of the switches and practiced them in their simplest form to make sure I am ready to throw them into a combo. Once each one of the trick in that combo were “ready” I continued to the next combo and I did the same thing.
After I went through each switch/trick/flip/kick 5 times in a row (going through the whole run) I was ready to practice each combo separately and once I pulled combo no.1 5 times in a row, I moved to a combo no.2 and so on until I went all the combos through 5 times then I was able to practice the whole combo trying to pull that one 5 times in a row, he he.

Pete Brandt- iPhone screenshot of Front Seat Time machine.

Does your practise routine vary if there is a 3 minute run, or battle format style?
Terry Adams: I normally just play that part my ear. I always choose which order i do the combos right before the contest starts. That way I can at least freestyle the order I put them in.
Pete Brandt: Yes. In any battle contest I like to battle acording to the opponents style. Example: if the opponent has one particular trick sometimes I will put that trick in a longer combo and try and push the level further.
Martti Kuoppa: Well, when I was practicing for routines the battle thing did not exist in
flatland. If I remember correctly battles came in like ´04 or ´05 when Iwas already a freestyler.

Do you practise on different types of floor?
Terry Adams:I am not so picky about that to be honest. If I know the contest is going to be on a slick floor I will ride my indoor spot, because it’s similar to those types of floors.
Pete Brandt: Yes. I practice on good spots as well as really bad spots. Also I practice in my garage which is 18′ X 20 feet.
Martti Kuoppa: Yes I did. Slippery always in the winter time as my white room is very slippery so that is actually good for overall control. Then I practiced them in the same indoor place but in the small rooms (4m x 4m) and avoid hitting the walls. Summer time I usually practiced each session in a different spot along the day, morning session at spot no.1, noon session spot no.2 and evening session at spot no.3.

MK’s bike and the infamous White room!

How long before a contest do you start training?
Terry Adams:1 month.
Pete Brandt: I practice all the time like I am going to a contest. Sometimes I will Think of something new and try to get it wired within a day or 2. Sometimes the harder the combo it might take a little longer but than I focus on pulling it more and more everyday until it’s wired.
Martti Kuoppa: Few years honestly. Some of the tricks took me 2 years to get consistent enough to do in a comp.

Who do you look at as the most dialled contest rider?
Terry Adams: Miller, Trevor, Martti, and Matthias are all dialled.
Pete Brandt: There is so many now and different types.
Martti Kuoppa: Each era have had it’s most consistent rider, but these guys also tend to have bad days as everyone else. But overall throughout the years/eras I would say Mike S.

Jomopro 2011 Pro Flatland Finals: Terry Adams vs Matt Wilhelm from jm on Vimeo.

Matt and Terry are both an example of two riders who train like athletes, these combos are not an accident, they are worked on over and over. On this day Terry of course took the win.

How do you juggle contest training and progression?
Terry Adams: I have never stressed on progression. If I learn new tricks it’s because I stumble across something I think I can do. Normally I am pretty happy doing my old stuff as long as it’s original it keeps me motivated. Of course I enjoy putting the combos together in different ways too. That’s always fun to me.
Pete Brandt: I ride a lot so I do both. I kind of demand it from myself, because I don’t wanna be just a show rider. I like being an all around rider. I put the time into staying as dialed as I can be, pull the new tricks and work on concepts like freestyle and interchangeable links.
Martti Kuoppa: The thing is when you really on a mission to get consistent your balance/control/stamina gets so high level that it is pretty easy to progress once the contest season is over if your mind can deal with it. If
not, then it is a problem in that sense.

If you do “5 in a row” method of getting consistent, how strict are you on that? And what is the timeframe for getting that done?
Terry Adams:I am pretty strict. If I mess up on #5 I always start back at #1. It normally takes me about 1 hour to hit 6 combos 5 in a row.
Pete Brandt: I used to do 10 in a row. Now for me it’s about having anyone of the links dialed. A good example, trying to see how many minutes or hours I can go with out touching. A lot of the time I will hit all my tricks and then one might give me some trouble so I’ll practice over and over. Not just pulling the link off but doing it without sketch and doing it with the proper execution.
Martti Kuoppa: I was hardcore strict about it. Wasn´t even funny anymore as I got kind of obsessed. 5 times in a row everything in heavy rain and 36 times this one trick in a row and my mind wasn´t the same ever after. I would not do the same now if I was younger and still competing.

Voodoo 2009 Pro Highlight Starring Pete Brandt from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.

Pete doesn’t compete as much these days, but when he does he is no stranger to the finals! Dialled!

Do you do any other kind of training to be contest ready?
Terry Adams:I do an Ab work out, push ups, and of course make sure I ride everyday so my muscle memory in my brain can be very prepared.
Pete Brandt: If the contest is in another time zone I practice according to that time change a week before and a week before I will not eat anything ever during the day while I practice. That way my body feeds of it’s own energy.
Martti Kuoppa: Nowadays if I would compete I would focus more into practicing my mind. I know that with less practice I can be more effective as long as my mind is focused. I can say that because I´ve ridden over 10,000 hours in my life.

How in your mind do you know when you are contest ready?
Terry Adams: When I believe I can win.
Pete Brandt: I have certain goals I set for myself and spend a lot of time training as well as constant thought about the contest and my riding.
Martti Kuoppa: It got lot to do with being hungry to win. The winning is the most important thing in life when you want to win and there shouldn´t be
anything else going on in mind than winning. Once you have that mindset you are ready to win. If not, then it is about luck.

Martti swept the competition aside in 2002, using the 5 in a row technique before everyone to win the World title, leader of the new school in many ways, this is one of those beautiful moments in flatland I will remember forever!

Do you have any superstitions going into a contest?
Terry Adams: I try not to have any. Those can sometimes make things go wrong.
Pete Brandt: Yes. I never drink pepsi @ a contest… EVER!! I stay confident but not arrogant. And I try to help people If I am in a position to help them. I really try pass the good vibe and energy around. I really love going to contest and riding with people that share the same passion for Flatland. Flatmatters!!!!!!!!!
Martti Kuoppa: I had Odyssey Modulever front brake lever and that one had a HUGE adjustment nut in it, all the guys always laugh about it but that was actually my lucky piece right there. I gave one part of it to this American snowsled champion while he was in Finland to show my support to a
great athlete because I don´t need such things anymore, I kept one part of it for myself and that shall be my little piece of luck there. So, that is the only thing I have kept from my bikes over the years, everything else is gone.