Sunday 28 February 2010

Old school sundays...

This week Albert Reteys run from the 96 worlds in Koln, check the fast backwards xft steam pivot to halfpacker, way ahead of the time!!

Saturday 27 February 2010

Friday 26 February 2010

First stop of 2010 World Circuit announced..

Alain Massabova the head honcho at Cream magazine is in charge of the first stop of this years World Circuit, he will organise a good floor, one of the conditions of taking on the first stop.

Marcos Paulo de Jesus- FL sessions...

Wednesday 24 February 2010

New Breed: Alex Johnson Interview



Interview by Joe Miller.

Tell us your name, age and hometown?
Alex Johnson, 16, Decateur IL.

How long have you been riding?
Two years.

When did you first see flatland, and who/what got you started?
I first saw Day Smith in one of the Matt Hoffman games. Then one day saw a video on youtube and decided that i want to do it. At only sixteen years old you are progressing really fast.

How much do you ride, and do you set goals or just ride and see where it takes you?
I like to ride everyday depending on the weather. I like to set goals once in a while, but I usually just let things happen.

Do you have any plans to attend any Jams or Contests this year?

I plan on competing at Jomopro and York jam, and also the French connection.

The Flatland scene in Texas is huge compared to most areas, who do you ride with most of the time, or do you ride alone?

During the week I ride by myself, but on Saturdays I ride at the OG with the Austin crew.



Do you find it easier to learn established tricks or invent your own tricks/switches?

What works for me is to learn existing tricks and branch off them with my own variations.

What interests do you have aside from riding?
I like drawing and playing guitar.


List your favorite food,movie,and recording artist.
Ramen Noodles, Napoleon Dynamite, Jimi Hendrix.


Who are your top five riders to watch, and why?
Sam Foakes for his crazy combos. Martti Kuoppa, because he keeps pushing the sport further and further. Adam Kun for his crazy switches. Shintaro Misawa, because his riding is so smooth. Jason Forde for his flow.


Do you have any goals for your riding?
I would like to travel the world and ride with different scenes, get a sponsor, and most important of all, keep progressing!


I would like to take this time to thank you for your time, anyone you'd like to thank?
I would like to thank the whole Texas crew, and everyone who has helped me along the way.


Any last words of advice for someone who wants to start riding Flatland?
Do it!!!


Few videos-look for some new footage of Alex later this week on flatmatters!
Alex Johnson's Global Flat Online Battle from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.



Global-Flat Intermediate Online Battle for 3rd from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.

Matt Wilhelm + Terry Adams Dans comp edit

Fat tony dropped this Dans comp edit yesterday of two of their riders, Terry + Wilhelm...

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Game of skills update!


Heres the poster /flyer for my upcoming contest in april in cooperation with carhartt and the arena vienna: game of skills.
the contest will be held indoors with the option of opening the sides of the venue. the competition will have a very special battleformat based on the idea of a game of skate adaption but there will be things involved that will only be possible in bmx flatland.
more info and homepage with videoexplaination, interviews of riders, and much more coming soon!
best regards and PEACE!

-Michael Sommer

New Breed: A short story.

I would like to begin this edition of New Breed with a short story About what Flatland is to me. In 1998 Myself and Andy Cooper were commited to attending every ESPN contest that year. Needless to say there where many hours spent practicing the same links over and over, as a result my contest placings were consistent, however my progression had slowed a great deal. It was during this time that I was sessioning in large part totally alone, in front my then home. One day I was running through my links for an upcoming contest and all of the sudden I thought, hey, It would be cool if I did a no-footed wheelie straight to death truck. So I gave it an attempt and stomped it first try. As I sat there in the hot Indy summer sun, I realized I couldn't quit smiling. There was nobody around to see my accomplishment. I was all alone, and happy and content as I've ever been. It was at this time that I realized my true love of Flatland. Flatland is me, and I am Flatland, Joe.


Joe Miller Highlights from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.

Daniel Silva edit


Daniel Silva from ligerinbmx on Vimeo.

Monday 22 February 2010

Chad Degroot baco promo

Awesome stuff, in this day of tight jeans, check out the baggys. The baco videos ruled, some of the best for sure.

Beautiful day edit with Lachlan Cameron


Beautiful Day from Lachlan Cameron on Vimeo.

BMX War jam edit

Fat favourites with Jason Forde

Bart de Jong at fatbmx continues with his almost weekly fat favourites with flatlanders worldwide, this week TGM's Jason Forde in the house, boo yaaa.

http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10333

Sunday 21 February 2010

Sick Viki Gomez edit!

Old school sundays...

These freestyle fanatics vids bring it all back for me, the old AFA velodrome contests are legendary, lookout for Chad Johnston again, also guys like Darren Pelio on part 3, he brought the carved karl kruzer with his brake lever to the floor, something that more recently Moto Sasaki has brought back and added backwards spinning to the mix, knowing your past,  can make your future. enjoy!


Saturday 20 February 2010

Sevisual Circle Cow edit

Tom just sent this in, download from: http://www.flatland.hu/main.html.



Circle Cow 11 - 2010 Sevisual from sevisual on Vimeo.

Worlds is on in Prague June 4-6



The newly opened Freestyle Park in Prague Modrany will welcome the BMX Worlds June 4-6, sanctioned by IBMXFF. The Worlds competition will be held in the 5 major disciplines of BMX Freestyle – vert, dirt, street, flatland and mini ramp. The registrations will be opened in 3 categories – masters, experts and pro.  In 2005 the BMX Worlds in Prague made a major influence on the BMX scene in the Czech Republic. It was a boost for the riders and the industry it self for a culture where freestyle BMX could have still been considered a slightly underground sport. Since then, BMX has gained its firm spot and has gained full recognition of being a true sport. We welcome the BMW Worlds after a 5 year break into a now mature BMX culture. Since then, many things have changed, and our passion for BMX freestyle is even stronger.
Marek Rejman, member of the IBMXFF says: “Right after the Worlds 2005 we decided that the new and BMX only facility need to be build to further grow BMX freestyle sport. We did not realize however, 
how much work and effort it would take to arrive at the final stage of our project. Worlds 2010 is a great opportunity to launch new venue. See you in June”.

The new site
www.BMXWORLDSPRAGUE2010.com will be launched on March 1, 2010. Registration of riders, media and industry partners will begin then.

More information soon on 
www.BMXWORLDSPRAGUE2010.com
For more information contact: 

Martin Koren
GSMA
martin@gsma.cz
www.GSMA.cz

Inertia shows search for an apprentice: UK applicants only...

Inertia shows search for an apprentice:

For those of you who aren't aware Inertiashows.com is the UK biggest cycyle display company doing in excess of over 200 individual shows a year and specializing in Flatland specific displays.

It is run by myself Lee Musselwhite and Keelan Phillips as our full time occupation.

Now we are looking to take on an apprentice and give someone the opportunity to turn there passion for riding in to a living as a Professional show rider. 

Requirements:

- Applicants must have a high level of ability and be able to perform in front of large numbers of people.

- Are consistent at there basic trick. 

- We want confident riders who present themselves well and as a good role model

- It is important you are willing to lurn how to talk in front of a group of people

- Are able to ajust to any surface 

- To work as part of a team.

- Have there own transport (desirable but not crucial)

- Are flexible to work anytime

- Reside permanently in the UK

The position will start out as a trials number of shows leading in to a contract.

All applicants must send inertia shows in a short video of there riding and reason why they would be suitable for this position to 
info@inertiashows.com

Below is a Link to a compilation video from some of our work over the last 2 years with Relentless energy drinks doing shows at over 50 university and festivals up and down the country:


Many thanks,
Lee Musselwhite
Managing Director

Inertia shows ltd
Events, Tours & Promotions

Web: www.inertiashows.com

Welcome to the madhouse :Dez Maarsan lost bmx edit

Travis Collier cali trip edit by Chad J


Travis Collier in California from MACNEIL BMX on Vimeo.
Clips of Travis Collier riding flatland in California. Filmed by Chad Johnston.

Friday 19 February 2010

White friday- Flat Trick Honours – The Turbine.




Flat Trick Honours – The Turbine.
There would be many names (jesse Peunte, Jimmy Petite, Dylan Worsley just to name a few)  that have helped pushed the Turbine into the twenty First century and helped turn it Into one of the important elements of the new school style.  But I doubt that not many will argue that Sam foakes has taken the Turbine to level beyond!
I’ve wanted to get some concentrated footage of Sam’s Turbine finesse for a while now. I had the chance at the beginning of the week, but it was the first good dry day for so long! There was no way I was going miss the chance for a good session spending it filming, so what you get is a few short clips of Sam at the end of a heavy sesh,  Sorry!  but it still makes the point. I can’t help but use Effraim’s catchphrase here....Enjoy!!!
Today Was A Good Day! from James White on Vimeo.

Richard Aguayo "My Way Edit"

Lil bit of LA flavour for y'all, enjoy!

Richard Aguayo "My Way Edit" from MTX Studios on Vimeo.

Flatland Fanatics is born

This came in late last night:

Me (Sascha Heydeman) and Philipp Uricher, are building a new Flatland Company "FLATLAND FANATICS",we will start with some shirt`s and the first desingn is available now.And there is already a small Team !

Other designs of shirt`s and a small first series of Flatland Part`s will coming soon !



contact: flatlandfanatics@gmx.de

How to Cliffhanger by Matthias Dandois

Great instructional video by fat tony with Matthias Dandois.

Thursday 18 February 2010

New Breed: Steve Lapsley interview

Welcome to a new section on flatmatters, New Breed, is dedicated to Am riders, you guys are the future, you are the riders buying parts helping the pros survive, spending your last pockets of change to get to a contest, (this can happen in pro life to.) Sometimes I feel Flatland can come across very elitest, all you see is incredible riding, how do you get to that level?, and maybe you are a beginner and cant relate to it at all. New Breed is an attempt from myself and Joe Miller to give you guys some coverage, encouragement and respect you deserve. Keep riding!


Intro:Effraim.
Interview: Joe Miller.

Ok, tell everyone who you are, where you call home, and how many years have you been riding?
I'm Steve Lapsley, I'm 27 and live in Buffalo, NY, USA!  I've been riding flatland on and off for about 10 years or so, with a 5 year break from '03-'08 while I was in the Army.

Now you are the Mastermind behind the Am circuit. How did you come up with the idea, and what are your goals for the circuit?
I wouldn't call myself a Mastermind! Hahaha. I came up with the idea about 2 years ago actually.  I bounced the idea around on Global a bit and got a pretty positive response.  It came from a combination of ideas and thoughts.There has been a lot of talk about the lack of "Pro" flatlanders in North America I read a bunch of opinions as to why that is and opinions on how to fix that.
More big money contests in the US, more sponsorship support, more peer pressure etc. 
I looked at it from a different angle though, from an amateur perspective. Over the last few years I have been to a few events and one thing I noticed was TONS of amateur flatlanders attend these events! 40 plus amateurs in Toronto is almost the norm. Last year at Fight w/ Flight there was over 40 amateurs in attendance. To me, the problem wasn't how do we get more pros in the States, but how do we get more amateurs to actually compete and not just show up! So I posted the idea on Global again this past year and decided to just run with it. Some of the big names in the US flatland contest scene contacted me and said this was long needed and to take it to what ever level I could. I basically just took that motivation and have been going with it since.
As far as goals... I think I have already exceeded them! Haha. 43 amateurs came out and actually competed in Round 1 of the circuit (Red Bull Fight w/ Flight 2010)! So I guess my new goal would be to have that trend continue! I want the circuit to help push AMs to get together, inspire each other, support this sport and compete. Also, I'd like to get a Beginner Class for the circuit next year.Not all the events were having that class this year.Fingers crossed for next year!

When we spoke @ FWF I got the impression that you felt the Am circuit would help Ams of all levels be able to guage where they should compete, such as when to move from beinner to expert, to master, and eventually Pro. Are there going to be hardline criteria, such as say master year end champ must compete Pro the following year, and so on down the ranks, or is it more of a guideline to guage where you belong class-wise?
Flatland is a very personal form of BMX. Each rider sees their riding in a different way and on a different level. I would like to think that the circuit would push the top Master Class riders to go up to Pro. However, it is a very personal decision and I will leave that up to the riders for now. As far as going from Beginner to Expert, or Expert to Master.Yes! There will eventually be a hardline criteria for moving up.


Being from Buffalo, which is worse, the winters, lack of flatlanders, or the Bills going to the Superbowl four times in a row and still no title?
Ha! I don't look at it like the Bills lost 4 Super Bowls. I like to be a cup half full guy and tell myself that they were the AFC Champions 4 years in a row!
The lack of flatlanders in Buffalo isn't that big of a deal. I have basically been riding by myself for as long as I have been riding.  I am pretty close to Hamilton, Ontario and there are a bunch of riders up there (within 45 mins to and hour from me). I try to get up there to ride with Adam or Winter is the worse of all the above! It is snowy and cold and icey for about 5 months out of the year and there are no indoor or undercover spots for me to ride. I basically take the winter months off. I try to keep the rust off a little bit by riding in my basement or garage though.


Sorry 'bout that last one Steve, just had to know. So when you are riding, do you find it easier to learn established tricks, or do you prefer creating your own tricks/switches?
At the level of riding I am at now I'd say learning established tricks. I need to learn the basics/established tricks before I feel I have enough bike/body control to invent my own tricks. I do try to add my own style to whatever it is I am doing though.


When did you first see Flatland, and who/what got you started?

This is pretty cliche but... RAD! I think I first saw the movie Rad when I was 5 or 6. I have been hooked on BMX ever since.

Music is a huge thing for a lot of riders, what are your top five songs/artists at the moment?
I listen to a bunch of different styles of music. Right now I'd have to say...
1. Matisyahu - Struggla.
2. Drake - Uptown.
3. Common - Announcement.
4. Kid Cudi - Soundtrack 2 My Life.
5. Mos Def - Life In Marvelous Times.




I'm an Indy guy, so winter makes it really hard to ride. I think Buffalo may actually mean SNOW in some native American languages. How do you get by during the winter months, does it drive you crazy?
I watch a ton of flatland web edits! I mess around with Twitter.I try to resist the urge to switch my bike/parts around. When all else fails, I ride in my basement!


I see soooo many possibilities with the AM Flatland circuit, any plans to make it global in the future?
I'm just letting it go where it goes right now.I am trying not to set my hopes too high.There has only been 1 round so far.But hey, never say never right!

You told me at FWF that you were really pushing for the Master class at all four of the events this year. How do you think the experiment is going so far?
Well I'd say it went great! There will be a Master Class at all 4 stops on the circuit. I can honestly say that it was the guys at Fight w/ Flight (Alan Young and Jake Jackson) that pushed the Master Class. Jake called me up to tell me there would be a Master Class for FWF and I tried to find ways to make it work with the circuit and my points system. The best answer was to see if all the other rounds were going to do it. I think it was inevitable whether there was an AM Flatland Circuit or not. The diversity in the level of riding in one class is too great. I know that the guys in Toronto for the CFO have been mulling over the idea for years.Everything just fell in place this year.

I spoke with Todd Gully from Chicago at FWF, and he said jokingly that the Master class should be called "Pro's with Jobs". What's your take on who should ride master and who should ride Pro?
I believe that going up to Pro is a personal decision that each rider has to decide on their own. However, I think some riders just need that little bit of a push to make the jump. It would be awesome if the AM Circuit helped facilitate the jump.Eventually I think it will.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you Steve, for all your hard work and dedication. Anyone you would like to thank?
A bunch of people have helped me get this thing going. The sponsors of the AM Flatland Circuit... Pat for FlatlandFuel, Hector for Byke Project, Ron for Sulfer Blitz and Tony for Mountain Top Fab. Those guys are great and have been HUGE in helping me out! I want to thank my wife for supporting me and putting up with me sitting on the computer and phone everynight working on AM Flat Circuit stuff. Everyone I have bounced ideas off of... Hector Garcia, Lee "Huck" Edwards, Jake Jackson, Alex Poirier, Prasheel Gopal, Pat Schoolen, Bryan Huffman... My dad for helping me create the point system.

Thanks again Steve, for taking time to make this interview both informative and inspiring. Any last words of advice for someone wanting to be a Flatlander?
Just ride!The AMs are the future of this sport! See you at one of the stops! Oh, and buy a t-shirt from me live at an event or on flatlandfuel!Hahaha! Support the cause! Thanks Joe!




Ronny Engelmann Boomerang variations Vol 1

Duke and Cooper Euro travels edit


Duke & Coops take Europe part 1 from Jon Dowker on Vimeo.

J-F Boulianne 08-09 Contest Edit


Contest Edit 08-09 from FermeTaGueulePisRide on Vimeo.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Circle Cow part 2 bmx force edit

Second half of the video i posted earlier today that froze.

Circle Cow XI part B from BMX-FORCE on Vimeo.

Circle Cow videos

Check out this edit from Bmx force crew, Denes whiplashes then to x hand whiplashes at 2:43, the edit freezes up at 7:39, but enjoy anyway...

Circle Cow XI from BMX-FORCE on Vimeo.

Some clips from the final battle between Matthias and Adam Kun.

Circle Cow 2010 Final from Greg P on Vimeo.



Circle Cow 2010 Final part 2 from Greg P on Vimeo.
4th place finisher, Stephan Fabien.

11 ème Circle Cow - 14/02/2010 from Greg P on Vimeo.

JomoPro 2010 Flatland Promo Video


JomoPro 2010 Flatland Promo Video from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.

15 year old kids sponsor me edit

This kid is whopper mad!! Awesome level for kid so young.