Round 1: Toronto Expert Class winner Ron Monis answered some questions from Shaun Lapsley!

Shaun Lapsley – Ron, what many people may not know is much like Kevin Gallien, FU8 was also your first win! It’s been a long time coming! After all these years of riding you sure choose a great time to grab your first win, beating nearly 20 riders! Have you ever competed with such a deeply talent class?

Ron Monis – The Masters class has always been stacked with talent. I’ve always had stage fright whenever I competed. Seeing everyone throw down in practice always made me nervous. When Masters/Expert were combined I knew that competition was going to be tough, especially now that I have guys with deep bags of tricks like Todd Carter and Joe Cicman to worry about, oh and there’s always Pralex!!

SL – Yea, that list goes on, great riding! This year the judges table was moved, as well as the spectators area slightly adjusted. Fat Tony really got the crowd hype! Did that motivate you to get through your links and throw down for the crowd?

RM – I think just landing my first trick was a big confidence booster for me. Everything else just seemed to fall into place, but I always loved the vibe in Toronto. Everyone there was just happy to ride so I kinda fed off of that, and I was happy to pick my own music which was key. But really, I just came to Toronto to dance!!

SL – That was one heck of a bicycle boogie! Huge congrats are in order! FU8 Expert class winner! Stoked to announce your the current leader for the 2012 AMFLT Circuit Expert class! Next stop is JoMo Pro, proven to be one of the best contests in the United States, likely to bring some fresh faces, are we gonna see you there? (What you got in mind for that Luna you won?)

RM – I’ll be at JomoPro! I’m looking forward to riding with everyone again and meeting new people. As for the Luna, I’ll probably just hang it. Thanks again

Better late than never. Shaun Lapsley did a great write-up for Round 1 of the AMFLT circuit in Toronto. What better way to hype up Round 2 than a quick run-down of what went down last month! Shaun (Pictured on the left) got 2nd Place Novice! Congrats. Here it is… his view of the contest!

The AM Flatland Circuit is officially underway! The first stop, Toronto, Ontario! Canadian Flatland Unlimited 8, an annual event organized by The Canadian Freestyle Organization. FU8 was a 3 day event held March 2-4 at The Better Living Centre. CFO and The Better Living Center stepped it up to a whole new level this year. A red carpet led the way through the massive arena filled by bike enthusiasts, vendors, spectators, and riders alike. Drastic improvements were made to the “street” course, requiring a new location. The flatland area made a few slight changes. Judging tables, as well as the spectator’s area, were relocated. A $4,000 pro purse set the stage for a truly international contest. With that being said lets jump right into the happenings of the weekend.

Plenty of room to practice, a solid playlist from DJ Chris Pergentile, out came the smiles Friday night at the jam session! Riders knocked off the winter rust getting used to the riding area. Contest organizers “OSD” Old School Dan and Jayme Sinyard did a great job to keep the floor dust free, perfecting the amount of soda being added to the water while mopping the floor. Twitter buzz had riders trying to verify which pro’s would make it to the contest. Dom wasn’t at the jam but rumor had it he would be there all the way from the chek republic. Was Moto going to make it in from Japan, would he travel alone, did he really put brakes on? Alex J was at Fise last week, would he make a stop before going back to France, was Terry Adams returning to defend his title? Which of the Canadian pros would make it this year? It was a great night of riding. Hype was really building.

Saturday morning: the much anticipated day of amateur contest! Amateur riders arrived for a warm up session. The Novice class would kick things off to be followed by a very talented Expert class. 7 competitors were throwing down in Novice practice. Spectators really got to see the fundamentals. Megaspins, pinky squeeks, hang fives, steam rollers, carl cruiser, cliff hangers, bar rides, barflips, decades! Whoa! The field seemed very evenly matched. A contest for the taking, who was going to throw down once Fat Tony announced their name! First up, yours truly! Everything sure changes when my name is called. Legs shaking, sweaty palms, tough to relax. I’m sure all riders attempt to prepare for this, but there is no replacing that feeling when the floor is yours. Took a couple deep breaths, I tried to settle in, but once you’re in front of the crowd, cameras, judges, and fellow riders, you just have to throw down. I rode extremely well! The best flatland performance of my life! Landed my first trick, first combo! Second trick, second combo! Hit the third combo! Touched down during my last trick and finished my run. I felt great about my riding! I know I am only a Novice rider and my tricks are not very difficult, but for me they are. Even when practicing very rarely do I land all of my combos back to back. I was so stoked! I have been riding approximately 2 years. In that time I have met so many incredible people. Many of these riders compete in the same class as I am. To me this is what riding is all about! Riding with friends, sharing the progression, having fun at the contest and seeing riders stick there tricks! After my first run the pressure was gone. Win, lose, or draw I did the best I was able. I wanted to place well but I also wanted to see the fellow Novice riders throw down, and that they did! All of the Novice riders really put it together for their runs. It was a very close competition. Incredible runs from Rebecca Pergentile, Fox Kingsmen, and 15 year old new comer Kevin Gallien had everyone wondering who would step on the podium Sunday. The stage was well set for the Expert class. The crowd began to grow. The other Novice riders and I joined them.

Expert class! Some AMFLT familiar faces including last year FU7 Expert Class winner – Frank Macchio, Ron Monis (on a solo mission all the way from Chicago Illinois) from the Plywood Hood,York, PA – Lincoln Harbenger, veteran Bryan Huffman, Danny Sirkin super fan – Joe Cicman, California OG Todd Carter, Canada’s own Team Pralex (Prasheel Gopal, Alex Porier, Mark Kuhlmann) were all ready to throw down with tough competition from all parts the United States, Canada, and even France! 4 heats, 5 riders per heat! Rules were as follows: The first heat would complete their first run, then take it from the top of the order, after each rider in the heat got both the next heat would begin. This really seemed to keep the riders hot! The top 5 riders qualified to the finals. Finalists would get 2 more runs, keeping their best score to find out who would make the podium, and who would be crowned champion! By this time the crowd was really deep. Full set of bleachers, spectators filing along the entire riding area, it was about to go down! With so many riders came many different styles of riding. Some of the riders I recognized from video edits, many I had rode with in FU7, others I had seen at various contests or jams, but a few I had never even seen or heard of before. It really was a great showing of flatland. The crowd was really into it. Fat Tony did a great job of hyping the crowd but also took a second to educate people new to flatland about exactly what was going on. I’d like to think maybe even a few spectators might start riding flatland thanks to this contest, all of the participants, organizers, and anyone else included should be proud of that. In my short riding career I must say one thing is constant at every contest I have attended. I sure am glad I didn’t have to judge! Being at the level of riding I am, I have no place judging these riders or saying who rode well, but I sure agreed with the judges, some crazy original styles, tricks, and links came from the finalists: Todd Carter, Ron Monis, Adam Pergentile, Prasheel Gopal, and Rudolphe Clavelier. It really was an honor just to be a spectator and appreciate the finals. Ron and Todd both were so dialed stringing together some serious combos! Prasheel and Adam, both repped Canada with pride, showing exactly why they are at the top of such a talented class of riders! (Unfortunately Rudolphe Clavelier was MIA for the finals.) It was too close to call! Saturday ended with a crazy buzz in the air. Everyone wondering who would take the top spot in Expert Class!

Sunday: Everything a Pro flatland contest should be. Again I have no business judging professional riders, but feel free to judge them yourself at

http://www.youtube.com/amflt

where you can see the first and second run of each professional contestant! Enjoy!

JomoPro 2012 is one month away! Round 2 of the circuit is coming up quick. Fat Tony has been crazy busy with helping organize this years event. Here is a look at the promo video. Also, in addition to our events page, be sure to check out www.jomoproflatland.com for official info.

Here is the first Blog Post from the wife of Steve Lapsley, Christina. This is hopefully the first of many Blog Posts she will write “From The Outside Looking In”

Had you asked me 5 years ago what I thought of attending Flatland contests from an outsider’s point of view I probably would have responded without much enthusiasm. It was a sea of boys on bikes…not a female in a 10 mile radius. I would plan my contest strategy accordingly; bring a comfortable chair and a really good book or two. To say I was bored with the scene was an understatement. It’s a sad thing to state considering I didn’t know much about the sport or the community. It got to a point in my life where I started to give my then boyfriend time limits of how long I would attend contests. Anyone who may have been within 5 feet would have heard me complain “I’m not coming to these contests anymore once we are married; none of the other riders bring their wives or their girlfriends”. I was really looking forward to my ‘out’ but then something started to slowly happen…the women started to show up & things got interesting.

Now let’s fast forward to 2011 a very different scene. With all of my being I have started to believe that Flatland & its events are a place that riders and their families can enjoy together. In my own experiences I have enjoyed seeing more and more females attend contests and it has been refreshing to see that some have even been brave enough to even bring their children along. It has been a pleasure to meet many of the wives and girlfriends of the Flatlanders that I have grown to love and consider a part of my extended family. I remember being the only girl totally out of place then slowly I wasn’t the only one and now I can walk into a contest area feeling not only completely comfortable but excited to see some of my acquaintances. It is a completely different type of community now than it was back in 2005. There is a real sense of closeness among the people who ride and their families; each contest is something we all look forward to because we are able to catch up in person.

Another great thing that has happened in this community is that the women are banding together and are interested in doing things while our riders are jamming before the contests. At Round 5 of the Am Flatland Circuit I took a handful of the wives wine tasting in Niagara County. I was more than happy to spend the day playing tour guide so that we could get to know each other while allowing the guys to spend the day enjoying what they came to do. This was also a much better alternative to sitting in a hot parking lot all day. I hope that in each city some of the other wives will continue to do the same. Let’s spend one day enjoying ourselves and when it comes time for the contest we will be more than happy to give the riders our full attention!

It is my hope to keep building on this type of dynamic for the Flatland scene and always know that when you come to my hometown you will always have a place to crash and a tour guide to show you around.