As I took my first viewing of Peter Olsen’s new “Ritual” edit, my mind was completely blown. How do I write about this I pondered to myself… It speaks volumes of how good this edit is, that it took me 3-4 views to truly digest what he was doing.
“Ritual” fuses together everything I love about flatland, the solitude feeling of the way in the way was filmed.
The insane riding level of untouched lines with years of depth going into each line with a liquid like effortless flow, the vibe of the edit that matches the Heresy brand direction, this edit screams “this is flatland at it’s very finest!”.
I would normally do a detailed description on this edit, but let’s change things up and discuss this one in depth in the comments section. Peter Olsen, Heresy BMX, filmers, Sevisual take a long bow, this is as good as it gets!!
I love surprises on Flatmattersonline, and this new edit from the Boss, Martti Kuoppa caught me by surprise. No hype, just a clean drop and boom! Dedicated to his daughter’s 2nd birthday yesterday.
From the opening steam kick flip crack line with bars regular and backwards you just know this is going to be a serious one.
Martti nowadays concerntrates most of his time coaching others (Terry Adams, Toon Pakphum, Irina Sadovnik) to name a few, but that does not mean he doesn’t devote any time to himself, and he demonstrates that point right here.
Incredible level of riding that few will ever reach, I did call him the Boss many years ago for a reason.
Other highlights for me:
Revisiting his classic xft half hiker pivot to halfpacker hang ten to kick flip to Halfpacker at the 1:14 mark.
2:37: Steam kick flip to hitch! Wow!!!!
And my favourite personally, inside opposite half hiker kick flip to crackpacker, abolsutely amazing! Kickflips are a route not many riders really followed for good reason, MK is one of those dudes that bought kick flips to the forefront in high pressure contests, and in the incredible video parts he has done over the years, including now this one.
Much respect Boss, this made my rainy day so much better!!!
It’s been Kinda quiet the last two months or so for regular edits with all the online contests going. Today I had a treat sitting in my inbox from Sietse Van Berkel. Three years worth of Master of Creativity clips and progression, he sat out 2019 and helped judge the event. Watch all these clips back to back is so impressive, and his banger that won the MOC crown in 2018 at 3:34 is still so amazing as are all the clips. Creative flatland at it’s finest right here, good job Sietse!
Where do you start? We all know Matthias Dandois is one of the most consistent contest riders to ever do it on a 20 inch bicycle.
What hit me first with this project, after all Matthias’ daily work duties for his sponsors, it’s refreshing that he keeps the hardcore sessions with moves he’s worked on for hours on a tripod setting to his personal account. This feels like it’s for the hardcore fans, I guess is what I am trying to say.
Last week, I was lucky enough to get a first look before the edit dropped a week later. You get a sense of what is to come, and I always wonder which of these moves will make it to the contest floor, it’s kinda fun trying to guess…
Matthias’ is always on point with music selection, and the Morriña Baiuca track definitely sets the tone for this edit, and I liked how these lines were not drawn out. Everything pretty much is to the point, whereas his contest runs contains longer lines. Good to see that difference for sure.
When you are that consistent, what can you throw when you try something for three hours?
Filmed over the past 8 months in New York, Paris, Geneva and Saint Raphael. As always with Must Watch edits here are some of my personal highlights:
00:51: Shove-it plasticman line, the Plasticman gets done a lot in flatland these days. Nice to see a new touch to a overdone trick. And when something is done a lot that’s hard to do..
** Flat Snitches would say it’s a shove-it no handed switch footed hang 5 however…
1:03: No handed spinning halfpacker to spinning hitch line!
3:05: Backwards no handed spinning hitch, again I like how this was left on it’s own. Straight to the point!
3:37: One handed seat grab two footed backyard pivot one handed switch foot mega spin out.
4:48: Crackpacker Double boomerang bar scoot to steam!
5:36: Rollback body varial to pendulum halfpacker!
Go watch this one, if you aren’t already. What was your favourite line? Let’s discuss this one. Time to go riding…
Must Watch edits are normally reserved for this edits riders have worked on for a while, on the flip side. What if, you are so good that you can bang out a whole series of unique lines and do it with style. Dane Beardsley is one of those riders, in this edit although I have seen the clips individually on instagram. It is still so impressive and needs to seen, the footwork particularly stands out in this daily 2020 part.
Hit play and you will see what I am talking about, Dane is incredible.
It’s been a few weeks since I dropped a Classic Monday’s feature, and when Jody Temple sent in this Stephen Hearn “Create” video part from 2006. It was immediately my thought to save this for a “Classic Monday”, if you missed this one the first time round when it dropped, you are in for a treat.
This part is so good, 14 years on this part still holds strong to this day. Literally everything he does is amazing, if I had to pick a standout its the x-ft half hiker pivot backwards halfpacker to left/right side backwards backpacker to right side backwards halfpacker to backwards crack at 2:09!
Like I said everything in this part hits hard, no filler at all!
Stephen Hearn take a bow, I hear this was all filmed in an hour! Incredible….
Time and time again, James White is bang on the money. And once again, hits the jackpot right here with this amazing “Bring the Terror edit”. Bringing back child hood memories with the UK hip hip group, “Hijack”, not only quality riding that you come to expect from Whiteski, but also really good editing, and camerawork that enhances the riding clips.
James’ riding is “on point” like always, and in this edit he furthers the concepts he displayed in his last full edit “eye of the tiger” in 2019.
If I had to pick a standout clip, it would be the stalled switch foot lawnmower to undertaker out at 00:45, wow!
Let’s discuss this one in the comments section….
I said it before when Varo Hernandez dropped his Flatmattersonline exclusive, Varo is a rider on the rise.
Varo’s riding continues to go up many levels, so smooth and precise. The whole edit is so well constructed, the Corona Virus graphic mid edit is an awesome touch.
Must Watch edits are of course about the riding for the most part, and some of the highlights are:
00:38: Hang 10 pivot/bodyvarial to x-foot crackpacker flip out without laying the bike down!
1:24: Opposite inside switch-b to updside down mega spin line.
2:27: Hang 5 steam to opposite carved half hiker body varial to xft halfpacker line.
This edit is all about the whole package, props to Varo for the riding and Rafael Blvck for the filming and editing. Hit play on this one right now….
Intro/Interview: Effraim. Photography: Matthieu Metivet, Simon Warsan, Jean-Francois Boulianne.
This past winter, Jean-Francois Boulianne made his travels south to Peru and Colombia to avoid the harsh cold Canadian winter.
No one could have anticipated the Covid 19 pandemic that was to follow, and JFB has held onto this edit for a couple of months.
When Jean first hit me up with the edit, I asked what he had been up to during the winter, as I had seen a few posts on social media and was curious what his story was, and he seemed to be away from home for a long time.
After a few conversations back and forth, it became apparent to me that I should showcase this amazing edit a little differently than your normal Must Watch video breakdown.
Without further ado, it’s time to learn a little more about Jean’s travels and enjoy this edit, as the story goes deeper than just tricks, and captures for me what BMX is all about….
Many riders have toyed with the concept of a one combo contest routine, few can do it though. Toon Pakphum shows great calmness and consistency to get this done, the multiple stem-a-rangs body varial to halfpacker 2:15 into the line, is outrageous.
Under MK Format tuition, Toon shows no sign of slowing down even though the contest season is on hold. It’s definitely going to be interesting when the contest season restarts again, we will see a changing of the guard at the top of the sport? Toon is certainly knocking on the door, let’s discuss this one.
Great work Toon!
