Thursday, October 26

AFL Round 3: Cleveland

By Chris Day
BMXonline.com

I don't know about you, but no matter how much I plan out my trip and try to do everything according to that plan, either my own forgetfulness or circumstances beyond my control seem to jump up and say "Hi, I'm your roadblock." Sometimes it seems like I'm the king of "Oh no, I forgot that __" after I'm a mile down the road. This time I pulled a double before going to the airport! The first time I had to turn around I was only seven or eight blocks away before realizing that I didn't have Chris Young's number for when I landed in Ohio. That turned out to be critical since Chris forgot I was coming in that night! The second time I had to go back home was when I began to break my bike down, and realized that I didn't have my socket wrench with me. We all know you can't break your bike down w/out that socket, so I jumped back in the truck & did my best "Speed Racer" impression with about an hour to go. Ever wonder what the hell that guy flying down the street is late for? Chances are that he's late for a flight he absolutely can't miss, and he forgot something at home.

Back at Dad's house with about 40 minutes left, I broke my bike down faster than a NASCAR mechanic and yelled "Let's go" to my sister who watched and snickered I'd never make it in time. But like a mailman in bad weather, nothing stops me from my appointed rounds, the event from going on, or having a good time doing it; it just makes things more interesting for a moment. Once again, late to the airport with 20 minutes till my flight leaves, which at LAX on Labor Day weekend is a total "Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 3," in super 3-D! Getting through a maze of psycho bus drivers that cut you off every chance they get is a feat in and of itself, and of course my airline was on the other side of the airport. After I got my boarding pass and ran up the stairs to the infamous metal-detectors, I was told to open my backpack to reveal some tools. I was going so fast that I forgot to pack my tools in the bike box, so I just threw them in there and took off. I had no idea they had rules about tools in your carry-on bags! They told me to go back down and check the tool bag onto the flight! You should have seen me run full-speed down the escalator with a full backpack and dragging a rollaway bag! So the traveler's tip here kids is this: no more than 2 tools in your carry-on bag ok? Thank you, please drive through. Luckily for me, the plane was running a few minutes late as well, so I was able to retain my perfect record of making flights.

After a short layover in Houston at Bubba's Bar & Grill, I finally arrived in Cleveland to be picked-up by Chris Young and his fiancée Michelle. They were gracious enough to let me stay in their home where Chris also operates Infinity Cycles.

These AFL events are turning out to be the most fun us flatlanders have seen in a long time. We have as much fun at the event as we do before and after it. We all know that most riders look forward to hanging out after the event as much or more than the event itself.

The day of the event turned out to be pretty good because it wasn't raining, and it wasn't too hot, and the DJ (DJsyko) showed up early and began spinning tunes by 11am. We have to give huge props to the Christian Heritage Assembly of God Church pastors and Dan "the man" who helped us set up tables, tents, and audio equipment with a smile. You have no idea how valuable that is to you until you find people as nice as they are.

They happily supplied us with so many needed items that we cannot even begin to thank them enough. They truly did what every church should do: help people in need. Thanks to them we had a great event, and plan to go back next year and make it even better! The turnout was decent in both the beginner and expert classes: 10 in each. We had so many products to give out to the riders that we displayed it all from the back of Chris' truck! Every amateur rider who entered walked away with at least an AFL logo T, their choice of one of our sponsor's shirts, a hat, and two assorted products supplied from our sponsors! Quite a return for a $35 entry fee don't you think? That's what we're all about! The winner of the beginner class was Jeff Smee from Pittsburgh, PA. Jeff walked away with a Standard Tao frame, Standard bars, Odyssey grips, two shirts, a hat, an Oryg cable, and a big smile!

Second place was a tie between Ron C. and Dave Petrin, who each received a pair of S&M Castillo bars, Odyssey Modulevers (Ron), Brickhouse stem (Dave), grips, cables, a hat, and two T's. Ironically, there was a tie for second in the expert class too. Ron Morris and Tom Gully both received a final score of 88.25 to tie it up. We needed to move on to the Pros, so we couldn't have a run-off to settle it. Trent Field came all the way from Alberta Canada to nab the "third" spot, and in case you didn't know, Trent is really good, and a heck of a nice guy to boot. The top spot in Expert for the second time in a row was none other than Vermont's Gabe Kadmiri. This recently turned16 year-old is on fire, already busting hikers and killer bar flips with flow. Look for him to come up to the Pro ranks sooner than later. Gabe scored the killer expert package with an Infinity Alter-ego frame, S&M bars, Brickhouse stem, grips, cables, hat, and two T's. Gabe is such a hot up-and-comer that he was offered a sponsorship deal with Infinity Cycles that he declined to ride for Hoffman Bikes.

We came up with a new way of judging that we think helps weigh the more important areas of riding a little better. Rob "Tex" Thayer just got back from the European flatland contests where he was a judge at one of them and he suggested the idea. He thought that we should put more "value" on the difficulty score than the other three areas we judge on. Our judging system scores a rider on four categories of their run: difficulty, originality, variety, and consistency. Each judge scores on only one of the categories.

The rider's final score is based on their best of two runs. We decided to score difficulty at a higher range of numbers than the other categories. For example: 1-40 was an "ok" run, 40-80 was "good," and 80-100 was a "wow!" The other three categories were scored on a 1-50 scale: 1-20 was "ok", 20-40 was "good", and 40-50 was "wow!" These numeric scales, combined with the single category allow a judge to easily focus on how high a score the rider really deserved instead of guessing. Judging flatland is so subjective that you really have to take a different approach as to how you view their performance. We constantly strive to communicate with all the Pros as to how they view judging, and what theories they have. Maybe in the future we will have a secret balloting system that the Pros write down who they thought should place well. The AFL, and soon to be IFL take great pride in our flexibility and communication with the Pros as to how they want their league to run. In addition to the change in judging, we also did something new with the Pro purse distribution. Instead of giving most of the money to the top three places, we decided to give each pro an even cut of the purse. They all thought that was a great way to get all the Pros some well-deserved money, and take the pressure off as well.

The Pro class turnout was an interesting mix of riders who don't usually enter contests; instead they basically hide out in their own hometown. This group included Brandon Fenton, Jeff Deroche, Aaron Frost, Brian Rybak, Scott Powell, and Shawn Burnham. It's great to see that the concept of the league can get Pros who don't go to traditional contests, to show up and enter our events. Shawn came out from Nashville where he works at XXX skatepark. Unfortunately, Shawn just couldn't seem to hit his links like he wanted to, but Shawn has such a kickback attitude that it didn't seem to bother him at all. Fourth place went to Aaron Frost who said to me that he never goes to contests, but he had such a good time at ours that he would make an effort to get to our events whenever possible. That's the kind of impact we're trying to make on Flatland. Aaron recently took his brakes off in order to push his progress and was doing all kinds of killer front-end walk-arounds, time machines, etc. Third place went to Scott Powell who is one of those riders that's been riding for so long, (14 years) that he doesn't need to go to every contest. We were lucky enough to do an event near his Chenga World Skatepark, so he could make an easy trip down the road to hang out with us. Scott pulled an upside-down mega-spin to decade for major props in one of his two runs. Brian Rybak nailed the second spot with all kinds of cool, original stuff. He's got this one front wheel bar switch where he keeps one foot on the pedal and keeps crossing the bars up, switching hands, and pushing the tire. I saw him do six of those switches the night after. Yeah, I'd say he's pretty good. Amazingly enough, we wound up with a tie for first place! I can't remember the last time I heard about a tie for first in a flat comp! Brandon Fenton, and Jeff Deroche both received a best-run score of 216. Both Jeff and Brandon had one really amazing run each to put them in the top spot. For Brandon, it was his first run, and for Jeff it was his second run that made the difference. Brandon's good run was totally smooth, slow, and clean pulling almost everything he did. Jeff's second run was really aggressive and fast with lots of switches, bar-flips, and spinning tomahawks to name a few. I was really pleased to hear all the Pros say they had a nice relaxing afternoon at our event, because that is our goal each time.

I'd like to encourage each and every Pro flatland rider to make it out to our events this upcoming year. This league was built for every one of you, and it needs your attendance and support in order for it to grow. Huge thanks go out to Odyssey, S&M, Standard, Etnies, Infinity, XS, and Up-Time for supporting this event. Special thanks again to BMXonline for allowing us to communicate our art form to our industry.