I don't know why this has bothered me, but I'm sick of seeing it: I'm tired of people saying "Yeah, I ride everything: dirt, ramps, and street." It sounds a lot like that scene from Blues Brothers (82K WAV file):
"What kind of music do you usually have here?"
"Oh, we got both kinds: We got country and western!"
The latest issue of Ride (February 2001) had a perfect example of this: "[Fit bikes are] for riders trying to ride all the discipines: street, ramp, and dirt" — Robbie Morales
Not to take anything away from Robbie or any other dirt/street/ramp rider, but what the hell happened to flatland? Is flatland now such a completly different sport — as different from "regular" BMX as, say, skateboarding — that it's not even included with the rest of riding?
I know that flatland is so complex that you practically have to specialize in it to be any good; the same can be said for ramps. But for someone to call themselves an overall rider or say that they ride "everything" — everything but flatland — well, that's not really true.
Not to sound like a grizzled old man, but "back in my day" you just rode: if you were in a parking lot, you rode flatland. If you were at a mini ramp, you rode that. If there was a wedge ramp around, you rode that. No matter what was around, that's what you rode — there wasn't this need to say that you rode one type of riding exclusively. Granted, you tended to be better at one thing than another, but that didn't stop you.
Next thing you'll hear flatlanders saying "Yeah, I do everything: rolling, scuffing, and flip tricks!"
Home :: Winter 2000 :: Flatland
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