Lookback: April – The 2016 Flatmattersonline Year End Awards

The clocks go forward one hour, that feel good factor that the extra daylight brings, more riding time equals more time filming and documenting what you do. April was a busy month!

Deco’s Chad Degroot kicked off the month and had this to say:

“Since I starting riding my head wants me to learn as much as possible and this includes bars backwards tricks. The beginning of this link I learned this day so to make more smooth flow and no scuffing. The middle has been a gem and great feeling to whip the backend around with no brakes and keep speed. The end is bars backwards and played a huge head game for a bit because I had to push so much momentum to get into the backyard position and pump to keep speed. Real excited to move past the 15 second persona and get onto the longer story of this trick.”

Continue reading

Throwback Thursday – Props 2 Shimerville Contest 1994

For this weeks Throwback Thursday, we go back to Props 2 and especially Shimersville Contest in Pennsylvania with a ton of great riding from the likes of Jesse Puente, Edgar Plascencia, Richard Zadzdyr (RIP), Paul Palmer (RIP), Leif Valin, Sean Peters, Val Naso, Bobby Fisher, plus a Brian Vowell Interview to follow.

3rd Annual Tampa Bay Labor Day Flat Jam 2016

3rd Annual Tampa Bay Labor Day Flat Jam 2016 from Jay Marley on Vimeo.

Great edit from the 3rd Annual Tampa Bay Labor Day Flat Jam in Florida over the Labor day weekend. Plywood Hood, Mark Eaton on the decks whilst the riders jam and do their thing! Featuring the likes of Chad Degroot, Dax Wolford, Scott Weaver, Mitchell Hall, Kip Williamson and many others, definitely worth a watch and soak up the vibe!

Must Watch! Viki Gomez – Intrinsic

Intrinsic from Viki Gomez on Vimeo.

I have been waiting for something like this for a long time, something that digs inside what is flatland, and what can it bring to the individual. Bobby Carter explains a little more, grab a cuppa and enjoy this amazing project!

“After Viki won 2015 BFWC Championship, Viki was asked to make a film with a message for the new generation of riders. The film was shown at the Tokyo Bicycle Film Festival. We only had about 3 weeks to make this film. Martti Kuoppa, Simon O’Brien, Chase Gouin, Chad Degroot, and Scott Powell all scrambled were able to submit footage with their perspectives on flatland. Besides the time crunch, the most challenging and most fun part was digging through the archives of flatland history to pull out some of the best riding put on video from Diversion, Intrikat, Baco, and others from the 1990s to present day. I hope you enjoy the story and the many perspectives on this thing we all love, called flatland!”

Japanese Version!

Intrinsic (Japanese version) from Viki Gomez on Vimeo.

First two stops of the 2016 AFA series announced!

AFA-600x326

James McGraw hit me up last night with some exciting news for the contest season over in the USA. The first two stops of the AFA series are now confirmed, read below for the official press release:

“We are very excited to announce the first two stops on the AFA series.
With help from BMX legend Chad Degroot the first stop of the AFA will be, Saturday March 26th.

It will be held at,

Candyland Park
599 longdale ave
Longwood, Fl 32750

All travel should be to Orlando Fl.

There is a list of sponsors for the series and each event. This stop will have support from,
Emmitt BMX who is the primary sponsor for this stop.
Deco BMX
MR. B’s

The second stop of the AFA series will be, Saturday May 28th.
We are very excited to have teamed up with Modern Skate and Surf, Michigan’s leading Skate shop since the late 70’s. The owner George has been host to 100’s of events over the years that have seen the pro debut to some of Skateboarding’s most famous pro’s. Modern Skate park is one of the largest indoor parks in America.

It will be held at,

Modern Skate Park
1500 N Stephenson Hwy,
Royal Oak, MI 48067.

All travel should be to Detroit Mich.

We actively working on getting host hotels and more information on the official schedule. These dates are solid so you can book your travel and we look forward to seeing you there. We also will be posting photos of each events contest floor very soon. We have made it our goal to insure that every contest has a floor is perfect for flatland, not only smooth but lots of room. The goal is a fun contest where everyone can ride to their ability’s and not be hindered by and inadequate contest floor.”

Nora Cup Awards Ceremony for Flatland 2015

Chad Degroot presented the Nora Cup award this year for 2015 flatlander of the year in Las Vegas at Interbike. Here’s what he had to say about the experience:

“Presenting an award at Nora was easy to say “YES” but my nerves were shot just a few moments before. With a prepared speech, notes, and key words I just freestyle’d it and lived in the moment. Taking my shirt off was an easy ice-breaker but then I did not know what to do next. So many people thought I have presented already but this was my first time. I did win 3 of these 2002-2004 so I have been on stage a lot. Then Matt Closson gave me a drink and it really threw me off. I told everyone people were back stage writing all over me like I was drunk and passed out. People expected some homo stuff so the attack on Fudger had to happen. Guess he was a bit scared of the way I wanted to give him a black eye. Viki Gomez killed it all year and in the past years and well deserved win. He touched on me being his idol, progression, for BMX making this award, and its not about winning contests…its progression. He said BMX saved his life.

Thank you Crandall for kicking ass as the host. The rest of the presenters killed it. And to RideBMX the last standing magazine in BMX. Subscribe, support, let’s keep BMX alive.”

Bikes Over Baghdad BMX Demos – April 2015

Put Chad DeGroot, Catfish, Brian Kachinsky, Mykel Larrin, Chad Kagy, Nate Wessel, Zach Schauf, Keith Mulligan, Ron Kimler, Anthony Napolitan, Morgan Wade, Drew Bezanson and TJ Lavin together and you have nothing but good times through the 15 day Show schedule in Baghdad. The crew provide a ton of entertainment for all the troops and families, bringing BMX to the Middle east in the big sandbox! Enjoy this one!

Profile Racing – Why the Z Coaster?

Yesterday, we got a look at how the slack cam rings work on Profile Racing’s Z-Coaster, now we have two videos featuring Chad DeGroot explaining how the Z-Coaster works! There’s also some flatland riding from Chad putting the hub to good use to go with it. No word on exact release, but Profile Racing said this is the month, so keep your eye out if you’re on the hunt for one.