Category Archives: Exclusives

Repo: First Days in Abu Dhabi/ UCI World Champs 2022

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Repo + Photos: Effraim.

Sunday night I flew into Abu Dhabi for the UCI World Champs, with my trip to Japan last week for the Chimera A-side contest it feels like London Heathrow has become my second home.
This is my first time in Abu Dhabi, and after a smooth flight with Ethiad (also my first time flying with this airline). No issues with covid checks and wearing masks the flight was only six hours which felt like nothing compared to Japan the previous week.
Jamie Bestwick fresh from winning an Award at the BMX Hall of Fame the night before, was on the same flight. It was great to catch up with Jamie, and talk about the Bmx Hall of Fame, and the up and coming contest.

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Day 3: Chimera A-Side Flatland Finals Practise Bangers!

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The Chimera A-Side Finals yesterday were off the chart, peep this raw footage edit from the practise sessions. With 100k up for grabs, you know things got a little heated!! A lot of these clips if not first try were within 3 tries, absolutely amazing level!!!

In order of appearance:
Yasu – King of Ground organiser.
Sietse, Dub, Misato, Casu and Terry.
Kio Hayakawa.
Terry Adams.
Masato Ito.
Yohei Uchino.
Jean William Prevost aka Dub.
Kio and Yohei Uchino back to back.
Sieste van Berkel.
Terry Adams
Kio Hayakawa
Yu and Ryo Katagiri back to back!

Enjoy!

Day 2: Chimera A-Side Raw Practise Footage 2022

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Let’s mix things up for Day 2, rather than a lot of text and photos. I thought I Would try my hand at a raw practise footage edit to give you all a good idea of what’s going on out here at Chimera A-Side (it turns out Hiroshi had the same idea), it does give you more coverage to fuel your session. You don’t want to miss this raw practise edit full of bangers from yesterdays practise session before qualifying!

Featuring in order:
Jean William Prevost
Yu Yamamoto
Yu Katagiri
Sieste van Berkel
Ryo Katagiri
Kevin Nikulski
Kio Hayakawa
Terry Adams
Viki Gomez
Hiroya Morizaki
Yohei Uchino

( a couple of riders have multiple clips, Dub, Kio Hayakawa, and Yu Katagiri! )

Enjoy the level!!! Get stoked, go ride!!

Repo: Chimera A-Side Day 1

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Repo + Photos: Effraim + Jean William Prevost.

Hello everyone!

** As some of you will know, I like to do day to day repos whilst I’m away judging events. I have already a lot of questions about a livestream, I will do my best to answer those in the next few days before the contest goes down!

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Repo: TGM Jam 2022

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Repo + Photos: Effraim, Matti Hemmings, Miguel Pargas.

It’s hard not to get nostalgic going back to The Green Mile, it turns out it’s been 5-6 years since I was last at this legendary riding spot for the UK flatland scene (search TGM on the sidebar of the website to see what I am talking about.
Yinka Thomas threw down a jam last weekend, with the help of Jason Forde and my schedule was for once free so attending the jam was a no brainer.
The forecast wasn’t looking too great, but it was worth the risk as it os October after all you just never know. As it turns out the weather forecast was pretty much bang on, with two heavy showers throughout the day enough for the ground not to dry all day.

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Chris Young & Pete Brandt: Clocktower Sessions

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Two Flatland Assassins, Chris Young & Pete Brandt took over the Clocktower in San Francisco, California recently for a session in the Fall whilst Chris was in town. Flatland is all about different styles, and friends pushing each other, and this comes through right here with Chris’ glass smooth flow across the granite marble riding surface, and Pete’s attack mode on both and front/back wheel make this one a fun watch, look out for Pete’s last line at 2:58!

Raw Fise Montpellier 2022 Practise Footage

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I’ve been sat on these clips on my phone for a few months now, rather than dump them for no one to see. I thought I would try my hand at a raw edit filmed in practise in between judging duties, from the Fise Montpellier event featuring Yu Shoji, Sietse van Berkel, Matthias Dandois, Kio Hayakawa, Toon Pakphum, Masato Ito, and Moto Sasaki.

Enjoy!

The Yoshihiro Shinde Flatmattersonline Interview

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Intro/Interview: Yasuyuki Takeo.
Photography: Riku Shinde.

In the late ’90s, top Japanese flatland riders emerged from nowhere and started competing in the X-Games hosted by ESPN, the most prominent sports channel in the US.

By the early ’00s, it wasn’t surprising that Japanese riders were on the podium of international contests. The Japanese scene attracted riders’ attention worldwide, and they invented new techniques and trends one after another.

Yoshihiro Shinde has been one of the top riders in Japan for a long time. He continues to pursue Flatland while working as a product designer for an enterprise company on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

He is in his forties and does not ride BMX for a living. However, when he said he wanted to master BMX, his words somehow resonated with me. Even though I had left the BMX scene, I wanted to know what the word meant.

While many riders stick with only certain tricks, he has mastered all kinds of tricks since he started riding. Stating “I want to master BMX Flatland” would probably sound cliche, but I felt he was sincere in his view of Flatland and his weighty words.

He continues pursuing Flatland to master it, entirely different from riding for love, money, or fame. Here is his story.

——

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Flatland returns to the X-Games: Practise Footage

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It’s been a couple of weeks since the X-Games in Chiba, Japan! I had a couple of clips left on my phone from practise, from two days of filming during practise. Featuring the winner Kio Hayakawa, Terry Adams, Moto Sasaki, Yohei Uchino, and alternate Yu Katagiri who didn’t get to compete sadly.

Great to see flatland back at the X Games!