From Level Vibes this weekend to this edit from Mika, looks like things are looking up for Quamen, dope new frame, enjoy!!

Mika 11/2009 from Michael Machard on Vimeo.

Level Vibes 2009 by robertvoller.com from robert voller on Vimeo.

Whitey in effect, back wheel style for a well deserved first place, photo by Robert Voller.

Text by Effraim, photos by Johann Chan and Robert Voller.

The level vibes weekend began at the Green mile on an overcast Decembers day, good turnout of around 25 riders, all to ride the infamous spot in Wet Norwood, or is West Norwood. This time of year the floor at TGM struggles to dry, one of the funniest moments looking back was Phil Dolan’s dog shitting on the floor haha, most riders sessioned till around 3pm, until it rained, we hung out for while in the rain, which Jeremy Brosset couldnt believe it, “in France we’d be inside an hour ago”….
As is almost TGM folklore we headed to the pub opposite, what followed was one of highlights of weekend, a random game of “flat trivia” just for kicks, after couple of beers and much laughter, myself and Jeremy headed off to find hotel in Dartford, ready for the next day.

Jeremy Brosset, french style in the house, wicked dude, good fun to hang out with all weekend!! Whiplash steam combo, photo by Robert Voller.

Sunday morning and Wow!!! Level Vibes came back with a bang and wake up call to everyone, that “hey the uk scene is alive and kicking”, James White reports that there 80 heads in attendance. It was busy!!! The underlying focus of the event was to support the grassroots scene here in the uk, and keep it alive, Whitey certainly did that, and deserves much respect for his efforts!!!
The name “Level Vibes” brings back memories of goosebumps in the Kidbrooke hall ten years ago for me, it’s been nine years since the last Level Vibes, which Martti single handly shutdown and I sadly missed..
There were three groups, Novice, Expert and Pro. Each group having a strong field of riders.
I was really stoked on the Novice and Am classes, where friends and fellow riders got behind the youngsters and beginners, and created a great atmosphere, with DJ Silence (Stuart Rose) spinning the hip hop/dnb/dubstep all day, the atmopshere was at times electric!!!

TGM Maz hitchiking mid run, Whitey on the Mic, photo by Robert Voller..

To kick off the contest, James held a longest hang 5 contest with the beginner class, which I believe was won by Chris Carter, who rolled the floor back and forth twice in brakeless fashion.
Whitey on the mic has been compared to that of a bingo dj, creates a funny laidback atmopshere.
The TGM boys were representing hard in the Novice class, with great riding from new comer Yinka, who had a no touch run, the delight on his face and all his friends, for me made the whole day whole while, and if the kid sticks at it, he will be moving up the places very fast!!! Much respect!!
Stu Maclaren attends all the UK events, and has some unique tricks to bring the table, gutlever direct to steamroller, you might not see that everyday, and on this day was rewarded with third for his efforts.
Reknowned by MC Whitey as having the smelliest feet on the flatland circuit Salavdor Brown recovered from a gnarly mega spin crash earlier on the slippery leisure centre floor and had a great run, pulling smooth Backwards Gadget whips, Mega spins, Xft Mega spins and may well have won the whole contest but for Chris Brown who should have been boosted up to Expert class in hindsight, but what’s done is done, Chris had the highest level of the class, Dump trucks, rollback brakeless decade, opposite chick squeaks brakeless style, and won the Novice class at Level Vibes!!! And a whole host of prizes by Flatland fuel, Odyssey/Flatware, Emer, Black sheep, and Vans…James handed out prizes to everyone, which was awesome!! Much respect to all the riders in the Novice class, you are the future, keep at it!!!!!

Navid Saleki came all the way from Holland, with his bag of original tricks, mid x foot no handed hang five, winner of the expert class!! Photo by Johann Chan..

Things hotted up nicely in the expert class, with some international flavour in the mix to spice up proceedings!! So much good riding went down, standouts, Howard Avery 41 years old busting mega spin to inside opposite xft gerator!! Much respect Howard!!! New face Kevin Browne was very consistent, fast backwards spinning lawnmowers, came all the way from Ireland with Mizo..The UK’s brightest new talent, Andy Hale had some of the hardest back wheel tricks of the class, 360 bike pivot to dump truck smooth as you like followed by xft pivot gerator two footed backyard out, but few too many touches kept him in fifth. Jeremy Brosset came all the way from Lyon France, his first time on a plane to get to London!!! Jeremy could have won the whole class but got stuck trying brakeless perverted rolaid a few too many times, sliding out on the floor, but got it done fifth try!!! Sick rider… keep an eye out for him!!!

Kevin Browne came over with Mizo from Ireland, mid steam jump switch, photo by Johann Chan..

Third place went to a very much improved Mizo, who made the trip over from Ireland, fresh on a new tricked out Quamen Cypher, Mizo rolled Double inside whiplashes to steam to jugglers and crackpackers, jumped effortlessly from crackpacker to rolling backyard, congrats Mizo!!! Mr Smooth, the Uk’s Shintaro Lee Wilson kept it smooth and clean, with around the worlds, spinning lawnmowers, a nice hang five jump to steam turbines and out, Lee was pipped for first by Navid Saleki from Holland, who brought a lot of originality to the table, awesome to see!! Steam jumps to mega spins, backwards quick change tailwhip to karl, Fork wheelie hop to forwards karl to forkwheelie bunnyhop karl exit, I think Martti on the groundtactics forum said it best “Navid you do wierd tricks and I like wierd!”…

Second place in Expert, Lee Wilson stepping smoothly mid whiplash hang 5 combo, photo by Johann Chan..

“Holla at me” TGM’s very own Jason Forde steam jump to crackpacker, photo by Robert Voller.

The next event up was the Pro jam, normally the highlight of Level Vibes, but for some reason didnt quite work out this year. What good riding did go on was by either Viki Gomez or Sam Foakes, two styles of flatland riding which are totally different, Viki was fresh on board a new Quamen Cypher, one of the best tricks I saw from him was in practise, Hang five no hands on bars jump to one handed steam without bars flipping, also fire hydrant flip direct to no handed tea kettle, nuts switch!!! Viki’s riding is very technical, lot of fast switches whilst Sam Foakes is more brutal with his riding, being that Sam hadn’t rode in two weeks, the level of riding was amazing, I’ve seen him ride a lot better, but I see Sam ride a lot more than most, steam triple whip to crackpacker whip to halfpacker turbine to backwards backpacker, and of course no pumps!!
The two best riders didn’t ride, Viki had to go shortly after the jam session, and Sam isn’t competing so helped judge.
James brought back the traditional three minute run, as of previous LV contests..

Couple of sweet shots of Viki Gomez, on board new Quamen Cypher, Viki was over to visit his sister in cambridge, unfortunately had to leave before finals. Photos by Robert Voller.

This year, James had set up a practise area and contest area, half hall each for both, which worked well especially if you wanted to warm up before your run.
Giannis from Greece kicked off the Pro contest with his unique bag of tricks, standout for sure was his pedalling time machine to half backwards decade out. Jason Forde nailed a super nice time machine to brakeless decade out…Steve Green impressed with his originality, no handed messiah no handed walk over to halfhiker…James Smith made it across London on his vespa, smoothly walking around whiplashes to hang ten grab juggler out…Sakis from greece turbined cabooses and gerators both two feet on pedals…

Giannis, raditude mid pedalling time machine half backwards decade out, photo by Robert Voller.

James White’s commentary for his run was quite amusing, “the next rider is me”, James deserved the victory, uneffected by the slippery floor, he laid down a solid opening multiple whiplash hitchiker whiplash hitchiker whiplash hitchiker combo, his double xft upside down flip to gliding dump truck, James won a painting donated by Griff..
Second place went to myself, I had trouble all day sliding out on anything spinning or turbining, I had previously been practising on a wet marble floor and thought this would help, and admittedly didn’t have a great run.
Phil Dolan took the third place spot with his signature mega slow nose manuals and long carving around the world combos….

Flatmatters, two footed dump truck exit, photo by Robert Voller…

To summarise this was a very successful Level Vibes, lot of novice and expert riders went away stoked, and that was the whole point! Parts of the contest worked, parts didn’t, some things click into place and “just happen”, (i.e with reference to the jam circle).. One thing is for certain for me, Uk flat is alive and well, let’s hope there’s more events supported like this!! Thanks to Odyssey, Flatland fuel, Vans, Black sheep, Emer, for supporting this grassroots event. Thanks to James for all his hard work,DJ Silence spinning the tunes all day, Sam Foakes for helping sort out prizes, all judges who helped, and all of James crew…Get practising for the next event….What’s gonna happen to Whiteys blog, i’ll miss checking that everyday….(stay tuned…)

More photos posted throughout the week…
Thanks to Johann and Robert for hooking me up with decent photos.

Flatmatters..

Ok. I guess I confused too many people now about who can enter and who don´t on ground tactics. Well here is the deal. What defines pro rider? Entering bmx masters every year in pro class? Having a bad ass level of riding like Moto Sasaki but riding expert class in Japan? What makes a rider a pro? In my opinion pro rider means doing nothing but riding for living. You pay your bills with riding, you travel and live in the hotels and eat because you ride your bike, yes, that is a definition of proffessional. And Sam Foakes doesn´t get paid from riding, he is working full time, Waldemar is not full time proffessional either, he studies and works. If I don´t let enter anyone who attended pro class before I should propably cut half of the entries so far. Thai guys all, rode in the pro class, same with Malaysian guy and few others. So if it kills the motivation of the others because they feel like they cannot win because Sam Foakes is in, then, your attitude won´t let you win a real competition ever in your life with “real” pro riders.

So now I am pointed fingers at me that I let Sam, Waldemar and Moto enter. So what? No one would say anything if I let Kotaro enter (and he is living out of riding). The fact is that current state of flatland is not very good. The tricks level is not high and the progressive riding is missing. As standing behind Ground Tactics I stay behind my words that we are looking for new tricks, new styles, hard tricks original tricks etc. etc.
If I close down the entries from people who have already done hard tricks and have already attended international competitions- Ground Tactics would be pretty boring site to visit AND I would not have a change to find any sponsors for this project in next few years.

I am out here to bring in some colour for flatland. Something else than same old competition runs year after year and people talking shit on global flat dot com. and that is also a fact that I can do whatever I feel like doing in my life and with my projects. And if I see that this is good for flatland, that is how I see it.

But don´t think that I am insulted or whatsoever. I am just clearing out my point of view on people who are confused, that´s all.

And another thing is that I am not going to take in any late entries anymore. If I let one rider enter, I´d have to let all the other late guys enter as well and I have about 10 people asking now for late entry. You would not go late on your competition run at a “real” competition, would you? So, sorry, there was enough of time to send in your material. And, yes, I took in 2 guys who asked for a permission to send in their late entries week before (they sent their material in 1 day late but they had a permission for it)
Next time.

We have already started a judging process and if we take in 10 more guys we have to start over the whole judging proccess and again, tomorrow another rider would ask for a late entry permission. So no to all late entries. Got to draw the line somewhere.

Martti Kuoppa-Groundtactics

Viki gomez sesion3 2009 from PSYCHOSTUDIO on Vimeo.

Mostly show footage here of the master Kevin Jones in full effect, some nice switches, enjoy!!!

MVST Flat with Kevin Jones from Cj Capozzoli on Vimeo.

Im on a bit of a catch up after the level vibes weekend, few edits sitting in my inbox…
Simon’s Made you Look dvd is one of the best dvds around, pretty excited about this…enjoy!!!

SIMON O’BRIEN from Mason Rose on Vimeo.

Great turnout at this years Level Vibes, at least 50 riders attended, and enjoyed a full day of riding on a wet Decembers day. As is tradition James held a jam session for all to get involved in, few guys made it from abroad, Viki Gomez (had to leave before contest started) Jeremy brosset from France, Navid Saleki, so many faces, uk flat is definitely alive and well!!
Product support by Odyssey, flatland fuel, emer, vans, black sheep, if I forgot any I’m sure whitey will correct me.

Pro
James White
Effraim Catlow
Phil Dolan

Expert
Navid Saleki
Lee Wilson
Mizo

Novice
Chris Brown
Salvador Brown
Stu MacLaren

Report plus photos by Yohann Chan will be up in couple of days….

Today is Level Vibes, it’s grey and miserable, typical for this time of year in the UK. It seems timely to show some old school South bank footage, the infamous overcover spot by the Royal festival hall on the river Thames in the heart of London. The footage is from Grant Smiths stress kings video, from 2:12 onwards its flat with James White, Steve Bisseker, Aju, enjoy!! More updates from Level Vibes later today…

One of the standouts for me this year have been Shinde’s Mingle edits!!! I think these edits have brought a lot to the culture of flatland, as well as inspiring many with how awesome the riding is, from music choice, to vibe, to rider list, the diverse riding style between each rider,and of course the filming and editing itself, its banging stuff!! Much respect due to Shinde!!