Asbury Park is Cursed (pics by Jon Stettler "JSteady")
April 17th, a day I had been waiting for. Something great was going to happen down in Asbury Park. A great flatland jam was set to happen and an after party at the Wonder Bar.
Wrong. Arriving to the jam spot, I noticed that there was a bunch of people running throughout the boardwalk and the surrounding areas. I met up with Jon, Jon’s lady friend, Buddy, Kool-Aide, and Brett.
And what do you know; the gates are locked to where we were promised to have a spot to ride. Awesome.
However, it was still rather early in the morning, so we all kept optimistic about the situation. Oh, did I mention it was about 45 degrees outside?
We decided to take a ride down to Mookie’s shop, Brielle Cyclery. Where we talked with Mookie about possibly having the jam inside his store, which is pretty big by the way and we should have a small jam in there one day.
Mookie told us about the fundraiser that was going on was for kids with special needs and they had permission to use the old Casino to run through. However, we were told that we could have permission to ride there.Things weren’t looking too great.
Mookie proceeded to tell us there was a nice parking lot alllllllll the way down the street that was chained off, so no cars would be coming in or out. Brett and I pedaled down there and the parking lot was like riding in a sandbox, mixed with rocks and other garbage. So, that was out of the question.
Eventually we just decided to jam in this tiny pavement part that was attached to the old carousel. After about a half hour session, the wind started to pick up and the guys from Long Island came through. The crew consisted of Will, Lou, Ryan, and Eric.
Just got a video from the main man in charge of promoting Flatland BMX in New Jersey. Bud "Budz" Wingren just dropped a little edit on Vimeo from the last flatland gathering there. Scope it and come on out to Asbury on the 17th for a chill time. Thanks to Bud for the vid!
A contingent of NJ flatland riders took the trip up to the Mountain Top Fabrication 1300 Jam this past weekend. JSteady (Jon Stettler) was there and lensed a bunch of shots for our readers perusal. JSteady and his cohorts are looking to amp up the flat scene in the area and we are gonna try to make some stuff happen over the next few months. For now though check out a few of these shots from the jam and head over to here for all of Jon's shots from the day, Mountain Top Fabrication 1300 Jam
Flatland Resurgence! Sayreville shots from James Johnson!
Written by Brett Middaugh
Monday, 20 April 2009
In the early 90's and late 80's flatland was MONSTROUS in New Jersey. Over the past few years it seemed to have tapered off with most of the riding being done very underground and many riders preferring to hang by themselves. Word got out to James Johnson that a flatland jam was going down at Sayreville Skatepark this past Saturday and he swung by Spider-Man style. BMXNJ was lucky enough to have James send over a few of his shots from the day. Check them out below and on Read More as well as here. Looks like the legacy of the flatlanders from LePage, Smith,and Jones, to Guild, Wilson, Teo, Rodney and all the rest has come home to roost. BMX, ladies and gents THIS is the underground.
We showed the previews of this video by BMXNJ autuer Louis Orth a couple weeks ago. He's got the final project done and has put it out there for everyone to peruse. It really captures the feel of your flatland BMXer with the lifestyle of riding and the hours of practice and mistakes and...repetition it takes to get even one trick down. The diversity of BMX riding in NJ has always been amazing and this new video from Lou shows that it still exists to this day. I recommend everyone who's into BMX take a look at these videos. Flatland is the hardest discipline in BMX, rock on those who stay on the ground.
loudogg on the site and BMXNJ Szine contributor, Louis Orth has been working on a video with his lady called"Repetition". I have to say that the word repetition sums up incredibly well what it takes to be a BMX flatland rider. Hours of repetitive practice to learn just the basics is the order of the day and at times, frustration levels can get pretty high. The feeling of accomplishment that you get from finally pulling that "trick you've been working on for a week", is quite a rush though and always worth the effort.
NJ has always been a hot bed of flatland freestyle, even boasting a world champion rider by the name of Craig LePage, formerly of Peregring Bicycles. Here's a couple of Lou's videos on this and the following page. Look for more flatland from BMXNJ in the coming months as new facilities come into being in NJ.
You've seen his videos, you've read his posts. This is the man riding his scoot. Adam has been around for a looonnggg time and has done the whole move to cali and be a pro thing as well. He contributes a lot to the site and although he would never put up a post of himself riding, the staff here (me) felt everyone should know that Adam is a shredder as well. Here's some footage of Adam Guild.
Adam Guild has set up a myspace page for all the video work he has been doing on bringing the classic Doses videos back on the scene. Tons of 90's and early 00's footage. Go become a friend to the Doses crew.
No arguing, no discussion. The best female flatland freestyle rider in the world comes from New Jersey. Her name is Erin Donato. Soft spoken, laid back but a ripper in the flat realm, Erin stepped up ladies riding to a level that is better than many pros. I've know Erin since she was a youngin back at the 4H club in Somerville and it is a real pleasure to announce that she is now happily married.,..
and still shredding. Lifestyle of a BMX flatland lady. Enjoy the video and remember that is a woman out there.
Footage compiled by Adam Guild. Mike is one of NJ's longest running continously riding freestylers. Known to bring his intense flatland into street moves he gets some flow from Ralph at Animal Bikes and also had a part in their latest video last year. Check out this NJ legend.
NJ BMX Freestyle 
