So I was thinking, who do I kick the 2011’s “last times” off with? Someone everyone might expect, or maybe someone people respect but for the most part don’t see very often, then Chad Degroot’s “Ring the gack” part went online that very day, and there was my answer, I didn’t even question it. The man is a legend, has probably done more flatland tricks than many of us ever will.And more importantly has a great time on his bike. Nowadays he’s very busy running his bike company, Deco, he’s just finished for Baco 11, and is enjoying married life.

Last time you competed?
Wow, that is a good question. It could have been close to ten years ago.

Last jam you organized:
Baco Jam 2009 at Mesh Skatepark.

Last time you rode with Chris Rye?
That could be over ten years ago. He is in hiding.

Last time you rode naked?
I woke up from a dream that I was riding naked. Does that count?

Last time you were in Southsea?
Think it was around 92 right..you tell me…when was that contest? (editors note: KOC 1993. Chad won Pro flatland.)

Last time you pretended to be gay to get a girl:
Jerry Springer around 94.

Last time you got a puncture?
Punctured my abdomine in 98, but a tire puncture a month ago.

Last time you threw your bike?
I don’t do that anymore.

Last time you checked flatmatters?
When you send me links I check it, otherwise I’m be busy with Deco…send me a link.

Last trick you learnt?
Ramp, windshield washer tailwhip nose pick, flat, just some pivots on the front wheel.

Last time you rode with Chase:
Might have been 15 years ago.

Last phonecall you made?
To Clay at Pusher BMX.

Last time you rode flat:
Two days ago. My kid and I ride in front of our house every once in awhile. He throws his bike, and does ghost rides…those are his tricks.

Last out of town visitor you rode with?
Justin Simpson at Vans skatepark. Flatland…shit, you know I ride alone…

Last bikepart your brought?
Tubes.

Last time you rode in the rain?
Try not to.

Last time you did a double decade:
A few years ago, was thinking of that recently.

Last flatland dvd you watched?
Not really flatland specific, but “Made in taiwan”.

Last time you were overseas:
A few months ago in Korea judging flat at the 2010 Leisure games and then off to Taiwan to see how they work.

Last movie you watched?
Some porn that my wife is into.

Last time you watched Baco uncut:
Two months ago, checking to see the footage of Colin Winkleman…

Last time you rode out of state?
Two months ago.

Last online edit you downloaded?
I watch them, don’t download. send me a link and I’ll watch it, maybe.

Last time you filmed a combo?
A few months ago for my baco 11 section.

Last bikepart you broke:
Is it possible to break a tire…i did.

Last trick you got consistent:
no brake whiplashes… that is the best trick.

Last time you kissed your wife:
Kissed my wife two hours ago, kissed a girl a few minutes after that…my daughter.

Last time someone said “aren’t you too old to ride that bike”:
Haven’t heard that in a while…or I just blow it off.

Last time you worked out?
Yesterday. Actually I do a lot. My body was feeling shitty, now that I do I feel tip top. Makes me ride better to.

Last time you partied:
New years, you know the deal.

Last person you rode with:
Orlando crew.

Last edit you produced:
Just Deco. edits of some profile edit or madera diddy.

Last time flatland made you smile:
When ever I ride flat I smile. How can you not?.

Last time you filmed for Baco:
Stopped a few months ago.

Last time you did a darkside:
A few months ago in a show…that is my show trick. I could pull that shit when I am 60 with one leg…

Last bikepart you designed:
FuForks or Succubus frame.

Last stripclub you went to:
Treasures in las vegas.

Last time you rode street:
Two days ago.

Last trick you invented:
That is a touchy subject I stay away from.

Last time things got a lil’ too wild:
Things are always wild, that is why I ride and why the lifestyle is soo sweet.

What a year 2010 was, here are some of the moments that I think stood out good and bad, these “defining moments” not only for the year, but for the future…..Let’s get this started….

The year started with controversy, Martti Kuoppa disqualified from the World Classic in Tokyo, it was sad news for a flatland icon and flatland in general, an already small sport just got a whole lot smaller, I’ve never known anything like it in flatland, perhaps its a language barrier thing, a battle of energy drink companies, whatever, I do know Flatmatters was one of the only people/sites to publicly support Martti during this time, I’m pretty proud of that alone. Martti shortly after released a whole bunch of videos just to let everyone know who’s the boss?! James White let his feelings be known on his FM column “white friday”…

Moto Sasaki made the trip to Fight with flight, and came out on top in head to head battle with World No 1 Matthias Dandois, Moto set a kinda new battle technique by using some of what Matthias is famous for against him, this kind of set a benchmark for the year looking back now. Moto signalled his intentions early. Matthias came back hard against Moto at Round 1 of the World circuit, dominating proceedings. They went back and forth all year. This kind of rivalry in my eyes is whats been missing in flatland for a few years. Moto had a great year winning the groundtactics final, the world circuit finals, and the Nora cup rider of the year award. 2011 should be interesting year for Moto.

Tim Knoll dropped an inspiring flat/street crossover edit, that made the BMX world take note of the flatland world, just for a minute anyway. Props to Tim for having that creative talent and sharing it. This edit blew up in BMX circles, opened a lot of eyes. Thats a good thing!

Jomopro was, argueably the contest of the year, Matthias laid it down pretty hard at this contest, coming back really well from the disappointment of FWF, and in the final vs Trevor Meyer in the finals Matthias had the look of the devil, but the talking point of the contest was the Ucchie vs Trevor battle decision, check out Ucchie’s face!, a definite keypoint of the year! Who wants to judge jomopro in 2011?

Photo credit: Fat Tony.

The BMX Masters grew up on the foundation of a strong flatland competition, this year when the news broke that the organisers cancelled “Flatland” this year, it of course went down like a lead balloon, Deep BMX with the financial help of Power Balance” came in and put money where there mouth was and ran the flat event, and from the look of things, it kicked ass more than ever, big props to the Deep BMX guys for standing up. This was a real example of riders really taking charge, and having a positive effect on the scene. Adam Kun adding his name to the list of BMX Masters flatland champions, and hooked up with Monster energy right after.

The online contest Groundtactics was born, Helsinki Finland home of Martti Kuoppa was the venue of the final,  Flat was truly going independent, Nokia hooked up the live feed from a phone, I’m stoked to say I went to this event, already Groundtactics is one of the biggest things in flatland! The online contest has already helped the flatland world progress so much. Groundtactics set a new precident, flats not all about the result, but progression.

On Wednesday 22nd September, we broke the news that Matthias Dandois had signed for Odyssey, big news for flatland! Hopefully we will see some product input from MD in 2011. Matthias always seems to have a good year, and that along with Vans hook up, and a profile on Props,he signed off another successful year despite not winning the World Circuit this year (there were plenty of other events he did, Circle Cow, Jomopro, Fise, Fieldcontrol, look out Viki…

Chad Johnston getting full support from S&M, why is this big? S&M is argueably the biggest company in BMX right now, running Fit as well. It’s a huge deal with Chad getting bars and his new frame into the BMX world, kids at my local skatepark already asked me if I knew what the “FLT” frame was, it’s great to see a rider like Chad, who has put so much into the sport, with his videos over the years, get some respect and support back from such a credible company. With Chad also starting a shop in the Long Beach area with Aaron Bostrum, “Neighbourhood Bmx” the future looks good for Chad J.

You have to give props to Viki Gomez this year, throwing it down on the World Circuit, and taking the World No 1 title from Matthias Dandois, one thing for sure is that Matthias will come back hard in ’11, Viki also started his own company “Felix” in 2010, and shared a whole bunch of nice edits with the flatland world. 2011 looks set to be a super competitive year, Groundtactics to look forward to, the 4 rounds of the World Circuit, and whatever else comes along the way in the mean time.

Simon O’Brien kinda goes underneath the radar, 2010 Simon released his second solo dvd project “deju vu”, and thats huge right there, great achievement, and posed the question to every flatlander who’s seen the ender, did he pull it?? Much respect due to Simon for pushing the artistic side of flatland forward in dvd format in this internet driven culture.

On Sunday 27th November this year, Flatmatters celebrated its two year birthday,pretty big news, it seems a lot longer I have to say, and now the blog has become an every day part of my life, good or bad, you’d have to ask the missus that! Thanks to everyone for your support, roll on 2011!

http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=14297

Xmas eve, as good a time to carry on reflecting on 2010, we started out a few days ago with the FM exclusives, here are the edits that stood out in 2010 for me, for different reasons. Your list may be very different.This is the beauty of flatland. Some edits such as Martti Kuoppa’s amongest others (all deleted) I can’t use, just in case anyone wonders why I didn’t choose those particular ones… (more reflective stuff to come…) Rewatch these edits, what stood out for you, lets hear it…

Steve Mulder’s Fight with flight edit blew up at the beginning of the year, classic riding, classic Mulder originality, timeless. Fight with Flight was one of the events of the year, ton of edits….

In March Viki Gomez dropped this heavy edit, the tune, the new kickflip stuff made the flatland world take notice of Viki. Who would have guessed he would win the World Circuit at the start of the year?

George Manos dropped two great edits this year, he became infamous within hours of dropping this edit, not to mention his most recent edit. So original, and a feel breath of fresh air to the flatland scene.

March was a good month for edits, and Rad Dad dropped this one of Matthias Dandois at the OG right before the Jomopro contest, I think the tune captured Matthias’ riding really well. This blew up!!!

I remember watching this for the first time, thinking I wonder what Moto will drop for the final round of groundtactics, whatever I was thinking I was not prepared for a 3 min combo full of originality and flow the whole 3 mins, this is so hard to do.This will be one of the most talked about videos for years to come. Groundbreaking in everyway.

I’ve rewatched this edit so many times since its release, every time this edit makes me want to go ride, the whole energy of Matt Wilhelm’s riding is really captured with this edit, music, the concept of 5 spots, and of course new tricks.

This edit just blew me away, Ciaran Perry has developed his “stomping” the tyre technique further than anyone else i’ve seen on the planet, whilst i’m still struggling to hit ten cowboy flips, he stomps his one footed flip variations and side pedal circle k flips with ease, this is so good. But its so much more than that. So creative, this is flatland for me.

I chose this Deep BMX edit, not only for some of the tricks, but for the “team roadtrip” feel that James Smith communicates in this tidy edit. Deep has very quickly become one of the most credible brands in flatland.

Another groundtactics entry? Really? Yes! James White dropped this mindblowing edit for Round 1 of the 2011 groundtactics series, what a treat this was! He took the old and made it new, thats freestyle!

Last but not least Adam Kun’s Welcome to Monster edit Tom @ Sevisual, brought the professional corporate style with cutting edge Modern day flatland, a sign of the times maybe?

Over my years of riding, I’ve heard more than a few people say the line, “you travel half way around the world to ride in a car park , are you mad?”, essentially yes, but actually it’s so more than that, nothings ever black and white like that. Take this two week vacation in California for example, I rode so many different spots over the two weeks, met a ton of cool riders along the way, I rode 4-5 hours everyday in 70F weather whilst the UK was laid in snow, I was living the dream. As I type this, I’m 35,000 feet above the atlantic on the return flight back to London, and Dj Deckstream ft Mos Def “life is good” has just dropped, quite fitting. Travelling I also found makes you appreciate being home when you return, perhaps it just freshens things up. Whilst I was taking a rest from riding with achilles tendonitis in October/November, Martti Kuoppa told me “don’t worry flatland will be right there waiting for you when you return”, and the same is true of your riding spot(s), your riding spot(s) more often than not will be right there waiting for you to bust out when you return. (providing the weather is not to bad). You always appreciate your home spot even more when you return.

At this point I would like to send a big thanks out to Bobby Carter for being an amazing host during my stay in Hollywood California, to all the Cali riders I met and rode with, all the out of town riders I met up with again (John Yull (my old Hutch team-mate, Terry and Travis, One love crew). I guess my point is get out there and see the world, save them pennies, do it whilst you can! If you want it, you can make it happen! Where there’s a will there’s a way and all that! Memories last forever! Motivated for 2011, hopefully my ankle holds out! Thanks to flatland for all the memories, long may this continue on!

Yesterday California felt like England just for a lil bit… After a funny night out in Hollywood with John Yull and Hollywood Steve, we headed to the Rose Garden in South Central. Just off the USC campus, the riding spot is very scenic with the Rose Garden in the background. The weather looked sketchy, but this is California, we had a plan b, so it wasn’t a big problem. At one point during the session this hawk flew down and swooped for two squirrels, it was pretty crazy to see. On this day there were about 6-7 riders at the spot for a chilled sunday session. We rode at the Rose Garden till it rained, then headed out to Bo Wades underground car park spot in Redondo Beach where the session really got started. Today was a good day.. enjoy the photos..

John Yull.

Richard Aguayo g-turning.

Didnt catch Jamie’s last name, mid time machine.

We waited a lil’ bit for the cars to leave Bo Wade’s underground car park spot before the session started…One of the best days of my holiday so far, great flat session with John at Bo’s riding spot.