Joel Schallhorn: Baseline

Here’s a name we haven’t heard from a while here on Flatmattersonline. Joel Schallhorn was a regular feature on the site around 2018/19. Want to know more about Joel, read on below not to mention check out his unique riding style.

“I view my time in China as a hiatus from real riding. I was burned out in 2019, came home from a contract and put the bike in storage and moved to the mountains, off to beijing I took my dirt jumper. In time I got a stock street bike, just something to satiate the habit of rolling around on 1 wheel but I never took it serious for any real length of time in Beijing.
A street bike is made for street riding, not the rig of choice for anyone riding flat. I did a mix of all while there. I had spurts of motivation every few months where I’d go pretty hard and fight that uphill battle for hard tricks tech tricks on a street bike. I did it, it was hard, and I am proud of that. When I did ride I had fun but it wasn’t often. Hence there were only 2 edits from my time in Beijing.

Fast forward past the dark era I have my flatland bike again and living in Singapore. I’ve come to realize that that bit of street bike training has had some interesting benefit. I did end up adjusting to a street bike and dialed in some heavy stuff, coming back to to the flat bike there are tricks I haven’t done in those years that before we’re tremendously difficult and now are much easier and fluid.

Maybe street bike flatland is the equivalent to high altitude training? I don’t know. But this past weekend I worked on getting some baseline tricks back to move forward from. I wanted to test where I’m at after this hiatus, I’m pleased with the result of these few days and look forward to seeing what I’ll learn here in Singapore.

It’s good to be back!”

Jean-François Boulianne: Bienvenue

For the last three winters Jean-François Boulianne has escaped the unforgiving harsh Canadian winters, for the Southern Californian sunshine and he does it all with just his bike and his van. Check out out this great edit produced by Joel Moody that really communicates JF’s lifestyl, not to mention some great riding to boot.

Must Watch! Jean William Prévost: Comes in Waves

Jean William Prévost just dropped what may well be, edit of the year. If the edit is your album, this is like Nas Illmatic. Mind blown. I will be catching up with the man himself soon to discuss this edit, amongst other things. Let’s celebrate this masterpiece..

“This video edit visits 4 of the spots I have spent A LOT of time at in the past 3 years or so. Chinatown, Home, Dojo and The Hall. The setting takes place in Montreal, but the vibe is very inner sanctum and fighting the good fight to make new lines & tricks come to life.
This one goes out to everyone catching their own wave and making the best of it. Riding Flatland is the furthest thing from surfing as we shred the pavements of the urban jungles of the world, yet everything we do in life vibes at a frequency, and that frequency has its own rhythm. Sometimes you have to put the thing you love the most aside and come back to it with a fresh mindset and give it another go and ride that wave anew. Sometimes you over practice a certain trick and it doesn’t help it come to life as would putting aside and coming back to it later would.
I can’t really find the words to describe the pain, love, happiness and suffering that went behind this video. I hope you like it, share it, show it to your friends and let them know the magic of this sport through this video. I hope the love I have for the sport is felt, absorbed and something important can be retained or withdrawn from this compilation. None of this shit happens on its own, its a perfect case of fall down, get back up try again and that over 1 million times over. One of the tricks in this video took me over 10 years to finally land. It might still look a bit rough, but in my heart I am happy that fight is over.
If there was one thing I could do if i get another go at life, would be to start riding earlier and more rigorously so that I could learn even crazier maneuvers at an even earlier onset with the modern light bikes :))) . Although, if this is the only one I get, I will settle with this one chance I get…
Thanks to Scott Denoncourt, Kevin Carroll, KEith and Tammy for helping with the take down at the Dojo, leaving that space was very emotional. That place doesn’t even exist anymore, a place of which I know every little bump and crack is already long gone as this edit comes out! SO WEIRD!
Thanks to Reklamation Bikes & Far East Cycles for everything they have made possible in my life. Thanks to the people that support me without expecting something in return.
Thanks to Flatland for believing in me and my products, I am infinitely grateful for the love and support IGI is getting throughout the World.
For those who have a hard time believing in themselves, just remember that it comes in waves and that its ok to take a break as long as you get back to it in a timely manner. Nothing happens on its own. Flatland isn’t easy but it’s a great teacher, though its lessons won’t come until you let the waves of its wisdom hit you over the years of practice in a cycle of working hard and letting go.”

Flatland Manifesto Video Magazine #4: 2002

Did I just have FrogBarz moment? I’m typing about fond memories of competing against York Uno in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. And the next video I see is this Snakebite feature on Shane Neville’s Flatland Manifesto Video magazine from 2004. Do yourself a favour and set aside an hour to watch this. Thanks Snakebite for sharing.