photo: sam foakes, crackpacker twist at the green mile. photo by ecIs 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 didnt 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 its 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.
(article finished..)
Thanks to all the pros that answered my questions, a few didnt get back to me, but I think this is pretty comprehensive as it is. What was interesting to me, was how opinions seem to vary country to country.
any feedback blog readers?
5 comments:
I scuff, roll, pump, jump, whatever. I don't think the sport side of flatland should really care. It all comes down to one thing anyway. Riding your bike. Am I wrong?
hey louis,
thanks for the post, i guess with this topic i was asking at the highest level, would a rider scuffing the tyre when perhaps they have no need would that be a minimal mistake, if two riders do the same combo, and one is with one scuff and one is without, which is better.
I think you are partly right the sport side shouldnt care, but what about the artform side?
Flatland is so tricky in so many ways, because its so personal, I know with my own riding I now regard scuffing the tyre as taking the easy option out, i feel like im taking a break mid link, and i will often do the link again with no scuffs to get that link out my system.
Some may say thats not fun, but i would disagree, ive never had so much fun as the last year on my bike, challenging myself has given me a new lease of life riding wise.
If there is no challenge, or nothing to work towards, whats the point?
On a similar related issue, at the highest level once again, is bad judging (i.e, not taking into account these minimal differences that do have a factor) encouraging bad riding (or slack riding)...
There will always be those riders at the top, that few emulate but chasing that dream for me is what keeps flatland alive.
Its an interesting debate in my mind, and I know others.
It is a hard debate and probably will never be finished. Flatland to me is doing whatever you want, however you want. If you like pumping, pump. If you like scuffing, scuff. If you like both, do it. Sure sometimes it is used to catch a mistake, and other times its not. I know Chase G does a lot of scuffing. I think it is a personal choice. It is almost the same as using brakes or being brakeless. My style of riding includes scuffing and pumping. I never prefer a certain type. I just do what is fun. Isn't scuffing one of the first tricks to learn in flatland? I know it was mine, haha. This is interesting. It is a good debate. But I think that everyone should stick to doing what they find applicable for themsevles.
Take care,
-Louis
great feedback louis, thanks for taking time out to share with us!
Hi there effraim..My name is German Gamarra, Im a flat rider from Argentina..and I also have a blog about the flatland scene over here. Well.. I Just wanna say hi and here is the link: www.enelalmabmx.blogspot.com
I will upload your site in my blog to.
regards friends!
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