Must Watch – Scott Powell / Decade Anthology: BB decade-un-Perverted

Decade Anthology: BB decade-un-Perverted from scott powell on Vimeo.

Day 8 of Scott Powell’s Decade Anthology project, and it is hard not to say everyday “this is my favourite clip so far!”. Today’s BB decade-un-Perverted is technical as it comes, and great to see some fresh riding with brakes too!

Must Watch – Scott Powell / Decade Anthology: Backside to Bar-Split

Decade Anthology: Backside to Bar-Split from scott powell on Vimeo.

The day to day Scott Powell decade clips are gaining momentum which each day, it seems like they are getting more and more complex. Today, day 7 we have a backside decade to bar split decade, absolutely incredible! What’s next?!

Must Watch – Scott Powell / Decade Anthology: Wiper-Opp Decade

Decade Anthology: Wiper-Opp Decade from scott powell on Vimeo.

Day 6 in the Must Watch Decade Anthology video series by Scott Powell. Today is my favourite variation so far, Opposite windshield wiper to decade, both ways for good measure. Mind blowing!

Must Watch – Scott Powell Decade Anthology / Opposite triple decade

Triple Opposite Decade from scott powell on Vimeo.

Scott Powell’s decade anthology has most certainly got people talking both publicly and privately. Today, day 2 and Scott shows off a fire hydrant to triple decade, regular triples are still a big deal?! Well, this is opposite, that is crazy hard! Respect due!

Must Watch! Scott Powell – The Decade Anthology / The ORB

The ORB from scott powell on Vimeo.

Last week we published the trailer to Scott Powell’s Decade Anthology project, today we have the first in the series. Scott has been stacking clips for a long time, and rather than clips being lost in the overload of decade variations. He has taken an interesting approach and is releasing them one by one, and focussing on each move rather than a long edit. Great concept, I really liked the multiple takes on the double upside down. Here is what Scott had to say:

“Months ago I set out on a journey to compile some of the most advanced variations that I could do of a BMX trick named “Decade.” . After months filled with obstacles: trips, shows, work, injuries, and operating Chenga, I finally completed my project — The Decade Anthology. Due to the volume of variations I captured on video, I am releasing them in a series rather than one large edit. We embark with a throwback that I first created/pulled 16 years ago; in March of 2001 — The ORB.”

Must Watch – Scott Powell / Decade Anthology: teaser 3

Decade Anthology: teaser 3 from scott powell on Vimeo.

In this day and age of instagram and social media, footage can often get whored out and it doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Sitting on footage is always a tough one, and I have respect for anyone that can do it until they are happy enough to release their footage with that fear that someone will drop what they have been working on for however long. I am sure you all reading this as flatlanders will know exactly what I am talking about. I don’t have the exact timeline, but I would say Scott has been collecting clips for at least the last year and half working on his “Decade Anthology” part, it is also easy to dismiss this as just decades, when you look deeper there is a lot more going on than just one technique.

With that said, the wait is almost over for the final part that I have been itching to see over the past year. Teaser 3 does not disappoint, infact it begs the question what the hell does he drop in the final part?

Personal Standouts for me:

The opening fire hydrant triple decade with brakes (00:33), and brakeless version at 1:22, the opposite fire hydrant double decade again brakes and brakes versions at 00:39 and 1:16. The multiple upside down decade line is executed perfectly at 1:40, not to mention the fire hydrant brakeless triple decade at 1:22 begs the question is Scott sitting on a quad?!

Hell of a lot of skill an effort has gone into perfecting the skills you just witnessed, respect to Scott Powell for this one! Hitting the replay, I forget to mention the Applecrate to peg to decade without touching the frame, I recall only ever seeing one other person do that, RIP Paul Palmer. Aside from the tricks, this is really well put together, hitting the rewind. What a great start to the week!!

Must Watch – Lee Musselwhite / One Take

Another treat for you on the last sunday of January! This ticks the box for a Must Watch in a different way, really nice to see Lee combine his originality, difficulty and now consistency. Five signature combos laid down in one take! We will see more “One take” edits through the year? Bar raised!

Must Watch – Matthieu Bonnecuelle / Raw 10

RAW 10 from NUAGE BMX on Vimeo.

We are starting off the week with an absolute treat from Matthieu Bonnecuelle, ten years of his riding from 2005-2015! At just over 40 minutes long of raw clips, it’s time to grab a cuppa and enjoy one of the most creative riders on the planet at work. The progression throughout the years is inspiring to watch, I got a great feeling watching Matthieu just experiment with an open canvas and it is interesting to watch his creative process over the years. Here are some of standouts for me:

From the earlier years 2005-2009, watching contest footage from Circle Cow at 00:20 with basic moves through to bringing original moves like the step in kick pedal death truck at 7:37, you really get a sense that Matthieu experiments with all styles to get where he is today. Great to see in a rider so young.

Fast forward to 2012, and you really see a huge step in progression. At the 10:40 Double fork lash, that I don’t think I ever saw before. Just amazing!

A year later, and perhaps Matthieu’s most pivotal year in progression and creativity! There’s so much to talk about it is difficult to pin everything down without writing an essay. I really liked the backwards double steamboat whiplashes, another NBD at the 10:49 mark, this quickly follows with an Alexis Desolneux esque x-hand backwards hang 5 to backwards facing messiah backwards whiplash out at 11:03. At 11:25, x-hand backwards facing whiplash! This still hits hard now!

At 14:40, we see the no handed whiplash out of nowhere, theres not really a trick before it where you see this coming?!

15:21: In front of bars multiple whiplash turbine line, which of course has now been taking to new levels by one of his friends Thomas Noyer.

16:40: The much talked about double no handed whiplash (we are now in the Heresy era), that has opened the door to so many possibilities.

2014. What you may or not notice throughout the video is that Matthieu seems to have an abundance of massive indoor riding spots at his disposal. And in 2014 it looks like he switched to a indoor tennis riding area, at 18:52 again kind of out of nowhere with regard to the clips that come before, a backwards facing seat stand manual! That balance point! At 19:15, I loved what became kind of his signature move for a long time, the two footed fork rolling front yard backwards whiplash out, still a very untapped area of flatland creativity.

Back in 2012, I mentioned the double fork lash, two years later at the 19:44 mark, we see the turbine fork lash. I don’t recall this at the time, but again like I probably will say a lot during this review of his video.

Around summer 2014 Im guessing Matthieu was experimenting with downside whiplashes, at 22:44 there is a really nice turbine whiplash step over switch directions kind of half whiplash boomerang type of deal jump to peg manual time machine out, totally unexpected! Definitely a rewind moment for me.

Between the 23-27 minute mark there is some interesting styles being experimented with future of 8 downside whiplashes and that kind of style. Then boom at the 27:16, a move many of you will know! The no handed turbine whiplash! Still so crazy, and amazing to see it archived like this.

We are into 2015, the last year documented here and at 30:44 at what looks like the tennis courts in Toulouse. We get to see what may go down as one of the hardest tricks ever done, the double backwards facing xft whiplash. Time will of course tell, but I don’t see two years on anyone messing with that. So good!

The styles change again, its an open canvas after all! And now Matthieu is experimenting with what I called the no comply style, you variations from backwards hitch, backwards crack to forwards, and vice versa plus many more. A true artist, just experimenting.

If you needed some inspiration to start the week, this is it right here. Loved the raw footage feel to this edit, almost like a mix tape vibe I got to this and really inspiring to see Matthieu’s riding grow over the years. Merci Matthieu if you are reading this, mind blown!