Day 4 was the best day yet, I got the flatmatters daily updates done early and walked outside to sunny, but windy as hell conditions. I started washing the floor, which felt like it has become a daily operation. You gotta do what you gotta do to get the best out of riding spots, and James spot is literally perfect. Once his garden gets grassed, I would imagine this spot will stay for the large part dust free. Mates Tucek joined me and helped sweep the spot, I said to Mates I wanted to pull something new today and right as we started filming the winds picked up. Tumble weeds flying past us, and dry leaves smacking you in the face. It felt a little bit like this was a bad idea riding the spot today, but it passed and I really wanted to get back on the progression trail.
Day 3 of my annual trip to the Battle in the Rockies contest was awesome. We woke up to sunshine once again, bare in mind the past three years I have visited Colorado it has snowed and generally really cold. I started the day grabbing an early session in on the spot after I hosed down the spot whilst James headed to the airport to pick up Bill Nitschke, I thought I would film a fire hydrant flow line and as I started filming out came James and Mates, if you are on my social media you will have seen that and James’ scream. Sorry for your ears. It was a good start to the day, and today looks the same.
Day 2 was our first full day in Monument, Colorado. After after our late session on Monday night, I was hoping to get at least six hours sleep, but it wasn’t meant to be.
After a rough first nights sleep, James washed the flatland area and then took the kids to school and run a few errands. We stocked up on groceries at a nearby store and headed back to grab some lunch, before we rode the slab spot at Jame’s new house.
Yesterday was Day 1 of my 2017 Battle in the Rockies trip to Denver, Colorado. James McGraw and Fred Gates once again invited me out to the mile high city to judge this year’s event.
I met Mates Tucek at London Heathrow, Terminal 3 on Monday morning, the flight was delayed by a little bit, but nothing too stressful. Flying time of nine hours, twenty five minutes to Denver. Luckily the movie selection was pretty entertaining, so after watching a couple of movies we were in Denver. Throughout the trip out there, security was really tight and Mates seemed to get searched every time, we counted at least ten times, and each time Mates would style his hair. This amused me a lot, and made the trip out so much fun and the day just seemed to fly by as we caught up and discussed all things flatland and general work life stuff.
Grassroots BMX flatland contests are great for the flatland scene, Rob Alton has a vision over in Hungary and is making it happen. Read his repo from the recent Veres BMX contest, and maybe you can make something like this happen where you are and help grow the sport.
Not having to worry about the weather at Sport Zone’s indoor venue and almost 30 riders competing, the Veres BMX FLATLAND contest was going to be good! 10 kids from my BMX school took part, all of them only riding just a few months, some of them weeks! 10 Master Class and 8 Pro riders also came from Czech Republic and Croatia and of course the best of the strong Hungarian flatland scene. Three Pro riders had to cancel last minute for various reasons but hopefully next year there will be even more!
The kids were amazing and had a chance to see for themselves live some of the very best flatlanders in Europe. They had a great time as you will see in the video and are now totally motivated thanks to the all the riders who came out.
Master Class and Pro was strong and the level high, many of the riders feeling out the OSB floor for the first time. Master Class had 2.30mins and Pro the same but with a last trick. The atmosphere was great, a real family fun feeling and riders from as young as 8 to 46 really showing that BMX is for all ages and on every level. We worked very hard to make the venue feel great with fresh graffiti on the walls from Mr Zero and an extra 11 lights put up just in time for the contest!
The highlight of the Veres BMX FLATLAND contest was made possible by Colony BMX and Elite BMX Shop. I cannot thank them enough for making my wish a reality and one kids dream come! Szabó Oliver won a well deserved first place and for this received a brand new Colony Apprentice complete bike! Just the emotion and the look on his face made all the hard work worthwhile. No one knew about the bike and the pictures and video say it all!!
All in all a perfect day and only made possible by the hard work from me, my wife Andrea and the 16 sponsors that all gave something big or small. The main sponsors are Colony BMX, Elite BMX shop, Kreativfaajandek, Kőrősi Fatelep and OTP Bank. All the other local and international sponsors all need a shout out CBA, Gombai Cukraszda, Dekor Klinika, Vitamin Well, Scitec Nutrition, Rob bike shop Gödöllö, No Limit Bike shop Veresegyház, Tokmánia, Custom Riders UK, Vocal and Four Pegs. Without your support we could not have done it! A BIG thank you to all the Master Class and Pro riders who came out and gave these kids some serious motivation!
I will make this contest every year and plan to build on it. Hopefully more prize money more riders and I will change the day schedule so we have the kid’s contests and prize giving in the morning. That way Pro and Master have the rest of the day to ride and compete. However in February I plan to do Jam a more laid back event with fun trick contests throughout the day like we did in March this year.
Results:
Master Class
Frane Granič
Bordás Ákos
Orosz Csaba
Tér Sebestyén
Varga Tamás
Császár Balázs
Mezei Dávid
Koncsecskó Tamás
Makóth Szabolcs
Bordács Attila
Pro Class:
Kun Ádám
Katona Dénes
Leon Vignjevič
Tivadar László
Nagy Dávid
Adam Pekař
Gelencsér Ádám
Gyenes Pál
School Class:
Szabó Olivér
Kékkő Beni
Szabó Wili
Zsoldos Andor
Kóródi Zalán
Kardos Noel
Gál Viktor
Filip Marcell
Galambos Levi
Mészáros Kori
Text: Effraim. Photos: Effraim and Matti Hemmings.
Day 1 of the Wheels and Finns today in Joss Bay, Kent for the UK Flatland Championships organised by Matti Hemmings and myself. Matti was already on site a day earlier to check everything was running according to plan. I made the trip over to Broadstairs via London on the train, the weather was not looking too good on route.
The sunshine came out for finals day, and boy was it a scorcher here at the Ruhr Games, in Dortmund, Germany. Pro finals was scheduled for 2pm and the finalists cooked up a treat for us all and the awesome German crowd that was packed out for the finals.
Saturday marked Day 2 of the Ruhr Games for me, and and the first day of the contest. We kicked off with a contest at 12 to get the rider order for Saturday nights semi final which will take 8 riders to the final out of the 11 invited riders.
A few weeks ago I received a nice message from Michael Steingraeber asking if I would like to judge the Ruhr Games contest in Dortmund, Germany. I eventually got a nice flight price from Southampton which is closer to my house than London gatwick or Heathrow. So it was a yes and here I am.
Since the awards went down in December, I have been thinking of a way to have some exclusive content on the site with a fast turn around. For anyone that does not know, interviews are a long drawn out process. I started digging through some old ‘zines I made, and randomly I came across a “Last Times” feature, quick answers, easy to digest. Ideal, I turned a few pages and there was an interview I did with Andrew Arroyo, and Gabe Weed! Easily over 20 years ago, Gabe might not even remember it. Gabe and Andrew were two of my favourite riders growing up, so I’m getting this feature started again with the man himself Gabe Weed.
Enjoy, and let us know what you think in the comments section, thanks!
