Some of you may recall this article… The first article I published to launch flatmattersonline 3 years ago, if you missed this one, catch up now!

photo: phil dolan, pedal five. photo by ec.

Within your own riding, how do you view scuffing the tyre mid link?
Terry Adams: With my riding I just pretty much do whatever is fun. Sometimes I like the way a trick looks to have one power scuff instead of jerking my body to pump for speed. I just do what I think looks best most of the time.

Sam Foakes: I don’t scuff mid link at all, I would sooner fall off and often do, haha.

Jay Forde: I dont have a problem with it, I love all styles of riding, just dont put your foot down, that’s the main point.

James White: A long time ago I remember Lee Musselwhite learning that backwards spinning halfpacker thing. Nine times out of ten, he could get into it and spin it, but just couldnt get out of it. I tried to get him to put his foot on the tyre at the end to slow it down, and pop out of it, Lee point blank refused, I just didnt get it! It took him a lot of hard work and determination to get that trick done. I totally respect him for that, and boy was it worth it! Way ahead of its time! I’ve always tried to flow and be smooth, maybe not with the same foresight and determination as Lee (I had a life outside of riding!). But I don’t think I’ve touched the tyre for many years. I would rather step off, than touch the tyre!! But this is a personal thing very similar to the personal choice of brakes or no brakes. I love the look of modern flatland, no brakes, pumping, spinning and flowing. However, I’m going to state that scuffing shouldnt be done. I had a lot of fun scuffing back in the day and as cringy as may sound that what its all about. Freestylin and doing what you enjoy.

Keelan Philips: I used to be like no scuffing at all, I was like no scuffing looks smoothest and flows, but now I think it doesnt matter if you scuff mid link, in my own riding I put something original of my own in every link, so as long as I got something of my own in a link it doesnt matter if I scuff at all!

Matthias Dandois: Useless! But I guess sometimes one big scuff is better than two minutes pumping a halfpacker for example.

Justin Miller: Scuffing is part of my riding. I think it’s part of my style. I like to get speed out of certain tricks and I think a few quick scuffs looks good.

Chad Johnston: It’s a way to stand on my wheel. I view myself as scuffing friendly. It’s cool, as long as it’s occasional and not excessive.

Cory Fester: For me personally I like to go switch to switch with as little time between them as possible. I like the idea of creating enough momentum from the switch itself in order to get to the next trick without having to scuff or pump.

photo: Terry Adams on his own riding spot, photo by ec.

Is pumping an extra circle no different than taking a power scuff or worse?
Terry Adams: I really have no comment on this one. I will like the trick if the person does a power scuff or if they pump a extra circle to set up. It’s all impressive to me.

Sam Foakes: I think pumping an extra circle is the equivalent of a power scuff, but i think it is more graceful to pump a rolling trick than to come out of a rolling trick to scuff and then to go back into it again.

Jay Forde: It’s the same thing I guess, some people cant scuff, some people cant pump.

James White: How personal do you want to get, this is peoples styles you are messing with, one may make the extra circle look fantastic, another may not. For me the goal would be to keep the speed and flow without any obvious pumps. Matthias is the master of this! But is he the master? Foakes power pumps it up like no tommorow… How do you like it? Rough and hard or soft and delicate…its a very personal choice! To answer the question though, it depends if its done to for that extra time to get a suck on that nipple. They should be marked down if so, but this is just analysing it too much! But thats you all over “E” and we love you for it. Who else would question this?

Keelan Philips: Power scuff is worse, it means you didnt get enough momentum into the trick so you scuff to compensate.

Matthias Dandois: At a point, pumping is ugly, if you pump too much its boring. So yes, sometimes its worse to pump too much instead of one scuff! For example, in steamroller, three pumps is the limit! hehehe, no more or you die!!! DOG!!

Justin Miller: Definitely! There is no difference. What’s the difference if someone lands in a backpacker and scuffs the tyre or pumps it. For me to get enough speed pumping a trick I have to pump more than i would to scuff. Each pump is like a scuff to me. It also depends on the person too. I’ve been giving the tyre a quick scuff or two or years so its no big deal and I can make it look smooth. But lets say I land in the same trick and pump it, I would look like I’m out of control and I would need to pump it longer to get my speed up. I can do it, but it depends on the rider and there style.

Chad Johnston: Pumping an extra circle is different than taking a power scuff, the riders not touching the tyre. It’s a more modern technique.

Cory Fester: To me its almost the same thing. I think landing into a rolling trick straight to rolling vs.landing on the tyre is harder for sure. I think there is a big difference between catching a trick with one good pump and going vs having to catch it and roll around two or three circles to get your balance and speed.

photo: sam foakes, crackpacker twist at the green mile. photo by ec

Is this whole matter a personal thing to your riding? Or can it be looked upon as something more than that?
Terry Adams: Not personal at all. If I bust a combo with no scuffing I do get stoked. But in no way do I think I will ever be so anal about it that I will change every trick to no scuffing.

Sam Foakes: For me, pumping has opened up a number of possibilities to progress my riding. It has also enabled me to extend my combos much more than if I didn’t pump. In some cases, it can be used to stabilize a trick, I would say I am definitely guilty of that one, especially in contests. That said I dont think stabilizing pumping is as safe as stabilizing scuffing. When done to excess or without any real purpose (e.g pumping a trick with no intention of using that speed for another trick or switch) i wonder if it’s worth doing….

Jay Forde: It is personal, I work on a lot of different styles, rolling, pumping, scuffing, you need to work on all these to be a well rounded rider. I find myself freestyling most of the time with a lot of hustling.

James White:You could call it progression, In the 80’s, I was balancing and hopping the 90’s rolling and scuffing, and now I’m pumping. I think its obvious that riding will continue to get more fluid. But every time the new wave comes you think this is it, this is the bomb that cant be beat. YES! Even when I was doing petersons, gumbies, etc kitted out in full factory Skyway gear on my street corner!!! (balancing tricks for those of you werent around in the 80’s).

Keelan Philips:Each rider to their own, as I said if you feel like your going to fall off and you scuff to stabilize then cool, but it technically is less hard than if you didnt scuff, and as I said about my riding, I used to not scuff at all, but as long as I have my own original tricks in a link, no matter how small it may be, I dont mind scuffing somewhere, but if any scuffing does happen, it should be kept minimal! Like if you stabilize yourself then a scuff should do. I obviously prefer pumping, I think I can pump just about every trick I can do (I think I was the first doing pumping cliffs -not turbines just helping it move forward and hang fives).

Matthias Dandois: There is something else, after pumping, its called jumping! You only need one jump to take full speed whether you need more than to pump to get speed. So I think this whole matter is way more than that. No limit!

Justin Miller:It’s not a personal thing. This is how I’ve rode my whoile life and enjoy how I ride. I’m not going to change most of my tricks and pump it a million times to make a few people happy. I want my own style and tricks.

Chad Johnston:Yeah, its a personal thing, each person chooses what tricks they want to learn. It defines a riders style to eliminate or use different techniques. I think its cool to do your own thing. More flavours make riding interesting. There are two ways to look at it. If I look at it from an artistic standpoint, I say do whatever you want, especially if its something cool and unique. From a sport standpoint, I believe every position should be isolated and analysed. then, I think you have to take into account that there is a variety of techniques to move on your bike. Some are more technical than others. Some are more popular than others. Some are more popular than others. There should be an objective laid out for all to see.

Cory Fester:I just look at it like I want to do things as hard as I can. I like the challenge. I do a lot of backwards stuff and that stuff you cant really scuff and pumping it is ridiculous so I dont really have to worry about stuff like that too much. For me doing a 2 minute link with like 5 or 6 switches is boring and easy for the most part, I want to to do 5 or 6 switches in 20 seconds not in 2 minutes. I’ll take one really bomb original trick over a generic, flashy 2 minute link anyday.