SATURDAY: 9:00 AM- Another 75 degree sunny day in the forecast (AWESOME). This was the day that I came to Louisville for. This will get longwinded here so put on your reading glasses....

After a quick McDonalds breakfast we headed over to the contest area and I warmed up so that I could take out Andrew Farris, Trevor Meyer, and Day Smith. NOT! After six months of rough weather the sun had left me pretty badly burned. NOTE TO SELF: Bring sunscreen to Richmond, VA comp! I was also sore from so much riding and the street so the first hour of riding was spent just loosening up. If you haven't gone to a contest before then you may not know what it is like to try and practice flatland in a limited area. It is similar to putting twenty tennis players on ONE court and throwing tennis balls out and telling them to try to play. Surprisingly there were not many collisions that occurred and everyone seemed to be getting used to the riding area.

The 24 pros were broken into 6 classes of 4 that meant that there would be 12 in the semi finals and 6 in the finals. I don't envy judges. I was glad I was riding and not sitting behind the notepad having to write down the score on any of the riders because they are all phenomenal. The top 5 riders were nearly flawless and all original. Some surprises were in store for the preliminary round. Sean McKinney, Day Smith, Leif Valin, and Mike Steingrabber were NOT transferred on. In fact after not making the cut Sean cut out and decided that he just was done for the day. Last place from a rider that is much better than he was on Saturday. Day Smith, always a crowd favorite couldn't pull it together for his final sixty-second run and landed in 22^nd place. As much of a bummer as it may have been for him, he is still pre-qualified for the X-Games this year in San Francisco.

Mike Steingrabber is one of those riders that just has tricks that flow. His ability to pivot on the peg while the bike is rolling and snap into positions that let the bike continue to roll must be seen to be understood. His practice was nearly flawless, yet he didn't make the cut, so he could only place as high as 13^th, which is exactly where he did finish. Matt Gipson was only a couple of spots down with his original flow and style.

The guys that advanced to the second round but didn't make it into the finals included the 12^th place finisher by the name of Perry Mervar- brought in by GT for the contest. Perry was famous in 1989 for being one of the top pros of the time. He took about 8 years off from riding to finish up school and is back. Being a top pro of the 1980's is no small feat and Perry was one the first (if not THE first) to do multiple hitchhikers (jugglers). Rollades, spinning, and the legendary jump of doom (jump from the rear pegs to the handlebars) landed Perry in 12^th.

Scott Powell pulled in 11^th. His new sponsor hasn't provided a bike yet so you can count on him riding his Rigid until there is a new bike under him. He rides without rear brakes and just wasn't able to hit a double decade or a windshield wiper in his runs. I was really bummed for him on that because those are SO incredible. On the other hand- 11^th was good enough for him to get the qualify for the X-Games this summer- Props to him!

Art Thomason brought in tenth with Alex Jumelin scoring ninth after busting crazy combos all day.

A big surprise was Chad Degroot getting cut at the second round and only finishing 8^th, which meant he wasn't leading in the consolation round. His focus on street has held back his ability to progress much as a flatland rider. Nevertheless he was bringing the street to the flatland course and hit an AWESOME rollback 180 to a bunnyhop FULL barspin that he landed while still rolling backward!

Gabe Weed brought home the top non-final round position at number 7.

The finals were not about to disappoint the spectators but were going to bring some surprises. Dan Rigby couldn't quite do what he wanted and only landed in the number 6 spot.

5^th place went to the owner of some of the coolest spinning variations on both the front and back wheel. Sean Peters just didn't have the touch he needed during the finals to get any higher. On the other hand, 5^th place cash was his and isn't to shabby.

After struggling for most of the qualifiers and even having a questionable transfer into the final round Andrew Farris just couldn't seem to hit the tricks he wanted in the final round. His fourth place finish was possibly a gift considering the number of tricks he just wasn't able to pull. This is VERY disappointing because Andrew is one of the riders that I have a ton of respect for and pulls a ton of new tricks at every single contest. Check out the pics and vid of the contest if you don't believe that! His FULL barflip into backpackers where beyond belief. He was also doing the 180 rollback into a few different tricks. First was the rollback to bunnyhop 540... think about it. He also hit a rollback to 180/snap to a g-turn with a 360 barspin thrown in at the end. Finally he was trying rollback whoppers. For those who don't know trick names that is a 180 rollback to a bunnyhop tailwhip that he lands going forward. AWESOME! To bad none of that wanted to happen during the final round. But when you have SIX minutes of riding it isn't surprising that you miss a few tricks/rounds. He is still one of the best in existence today.

The top three riders all had interviews... if they aren't available yet on the site then wait a month... they will be.

The number three spot went to an unsponsored (GT gave him a frame) rider from England by the name of Effraim Catlow. Effraim's style consists of doing original tricks that are nearly impossible. Imagine a normal cross footed e-squeak with your right foot put on the back RIGHT peg. Whatever. Followed by a coasting wheelchair with both feet standing on the pedals. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Unreal. He was really nice and has a really good attitude about the sport. Since he feels like he is NOT one of those natural riders that tricks just come to. He worked hard for his tricks and his third place finish qualified him for the X-Games this year. That is, if someone will help get him TO the X-Games... any volunteers?

Second was locked in by Redlines new bad ass- Jason Brown. Reading a recent issue of Ride (or was it Plus?) I think I saw that most pros consider Jason the BEST contest rider in the world. I would have to agree. His style is fast and incredible. He does back to back to back runs in which he NEVER touches the ground (maybe once or twice). New tricks, boomerangs to hitchhikers, multiple rollback hitchhikers, barflips faster than the eye can follow and a style that is all his own and hasn't really been duplicated by anyone. AWESOME. He may not get the gold (almost ever) but he maintains his attitude about the sport. He is a true flatland rider for the love of it and is psyched to be a key designer of the new Redline (aluminum) flatland frame. LOOK FOR CANADIANS FOUR to be out by the time the Richmond contest rolls around. I think I could watch Jason ride for a couple hours and not get bored.

Well... with all these names being thrown around there must be one that hasn't been heard yet... Hmmm. Let's make first place a big surprise and say that Trevor won.... just to be original. You have to question GT Bicycles for dropping Jason this year, but they still kept their iron man by the name of Trevor Meyer. He (once again) took home the gold and the win for GT. It seems that the ENTIRE GT team is on the Dyno Slammer. Questions are there as to the reliability of the aluminum Show frame. (Let's see what Redline has to offer!). Nobody seemed surprised when Trevor was called up for the trophy. Trevor's cycloned (forward to backward to forward) death truck at the end of his run was totally on the edge of his balance and pushed further than I've EVER seen. Trevor is back in 1999 without the constant pinky squeaks for which he caught so much flak about. He now is throwing in hitchhikers and some nice barflips and spins to make his style all his own.

When the contest was over many of the riders took off. I hung around and rode some more. It was cool just hanging out with the pressure gone and more area to ride in. Just chilling out and having fun. Leo Dumlao who finished 18^th was being frustrated by Kim (who was staying with us) because she was doing barspins standing on the pedals and he couldn't do them. He was catching HELL from his friends. he-he If you haven't tried a barspin on the pedals on a flatland bike then you don't really know how tough it can be with the short frame and low seat... but it was definitely funny. It was cool to see that Kim and another girl were out after the comp hitting up the flatland. Not enough of them are in the sport and it will be interesting to see if any of them show up next year for the amateur (beginner) class BS contests.

We went out for anther street session on Saturday night and called it a night at about 2:00AM. Awesome!