The Louisville, KY X-Trials was the first time I had ever heard of Effraim.  It is a name that I won't be forgetting any time soon though.  During practice he was one of the few riders that was relaxed enough to just look over and say "Hi!" to me and introduce himself.  After watching him make his way through the first two qualifying rounds I was pulling for him to do well.  In fact he did so well that he landed third place.  Not to bad for a guy that hasn't been having his face splashed all over ESPN or Ride magazine.  He does make an appearance in the new Canadians IV video from Jason Brown though.  Of all the riders I talked to and interviewed after the contest Effraim was the friendliest and most talkative of the bunch.  This interview was over about thirty minutes before we stopped talking.  He let me know that he is sick of the dissin' of Trevor that goes on just because of all the talent that Trevor does have and how he HAS put it to use to go in his own direction.  He talked about how hard it is for him to learn tricks but how cool it is that he has the time to ride.  Hey, we even talked about the local scenes and what was going on with the weather.  Effraim got where he is by practicing his butt off.  He doesn't take it for granted and he doesn't expect to be where he is at.  He is as psyched to be here as anyone could be and he accepts it for all the hard work he has put in.   Hopefully we will see him at the X-Games this year in San Francisco.  Look for him!

~P~ Name, age, where are you from?

E. My name is Effraim Catlow, I'm from Southy England, and I'm 25 years old.

~P~ How long have you been riding?

E. 15 years. I started out at Southy skatepark. That's where I grew up. Tons of good riders there. I used to ride mini ramp, vert, everything. I now focus on flatland but I still do everything. More fun that way!

~P~ You got third place today. What do you think of that and how many more contests are you going to make it to?

E. Actually I'm really surprised. I can't believe it. It's like a dream come true. Just qualifying at all was unbelievable. The best competition of my life, definitely.

~P~ So you're qualified for the X-Games now. Are you going to make the trip?

E. If I've got enough money to go yeah I will try to. I would imagine I will be there but... I haven't got a sponsor. I don't think GT is going to pay for it. That's coming from the team manager so....

I'm going to Richmond though. Staying in North Carolina with Scott Sharpe. I met them at the X-Games- pretty cool guys and they invited me to stay there.

~P~ Who do you ride with?

E. Just a couple of kids?

~P~ Oh... any little kids you want to give props to?

E. Ummm- All the locals at the skatepark. Mike O'Connell, Dennis Wingham, a guy named Tristan- he's pretty good.

~P~ What's your favorite trick?

E. Anything that I do that's original. I try to do all original tricks now. Ever since I started riding I've been working towards that and all my tricks seem to be heading towards completely original now so I'm pretty happy with that.

~P~ What kind of bike are you riding and are you sponsored for it?

E. I'm riding a Dyno Slammer- the new one. I'm not sponsored by them to ride it. I got the frame for free but basically I paid my own way here and paid my entry fee. I don't consider myself to be sponsored by anybody. They helped out, so it helps out a little bit.

~P~ Kind of a cosponsorship?

E. Yeah. My main sponsor is just myself and Mom and Dad really.

~P~ Do you parents give you a lot of support?

E. Yeah. My Dad is involved in a competition called the King of Concrete which is the longest running BMX competition in Englan... actually in the world. It's been running 11 years- 12^th year this year. Pretty much the best competition in Europe.

~P~ How is the scene in England and are there other competitions you go to out there?

E. The scene I would say is massive now actually. It's really good. Same as the U.S. but there are a few riders over here that are up a level. There are some really good riders like Simon Tabron, Jamie Bestwick, Zack, this guy called Pale (?) is coming up. If he was here I'm sure he would have qualified. But some of the rules... I guess you have to qualify for pro here (in the U.S.) in the amateur class. So I'm not sure how that would work cause he IS pro. There are competitions in England and in Europe. But we need a series the same as this. There is definitely a demand for it but sponsors don't want to know in England. That's the way it is. Especially flatland. Tons of good flatlanders but most people wouldn't know any of them.

~P~ Where do you think flatland is heading?

E. More towards skateboarding actually. For my riding definitely. I look to skateboarders for a lot of the tricks. Breakdancing kind of brings in some of the tricks. I think flatland is just breakdancing basically- but on a bike.

~P~ What do you when riding gets you down and when you are in a slump?

E. Practice a lot more to get myself out of the slump.

~P~ You use riding to get yourself more motivated?

E. Yeah- Basically BMX is my life completely so I practice in the winter 8 hours a day if I can- sometimes more. Sometimes if I do get a little burned out I will go hit the ramps and do flatland tricks on the deck. Stuff like that.

~P~ What do you think of ESPN's flatland coverage?

E. This year it seems to be a lot better actually. That new format seems to work out. Give riders a lot more chance to show what they can do. But it's a little bit tiring. How many times did I ride? Ummm... Seven- one minute runs. Kind of hard to focus. I just lost a lot of it in the finals- didn't know what was going on.

~P~ What was your worst injury?

E. I broke my leg.

~P~ How?

E. Riding vert. That kind of put me off. Six months was the longest time off my bike. I don't normally miss a day. So if I miss a day- I must be ill because I don't miss a day at all. Where I live the weather is pretty good all year round. It doesn't snow hardly. It snowed once this year for about a half an hour. The weather gets pretty cold but not as extremely cold as it can get in the states. So I have it pretty good. There's an indoor car park to ride in and a gymnasium that I've got. It's perfectly smooth. So if I can't ride in the car park I'll always go to the gymnasium. I'll also be getting the key to the skatepark when I get back so I'll be riding there a lot.

~P~ What kind of music do you listen to?

E. Nearly all hip-hop stuff. Freestylers Fellowship, Tribe Called Quest, stuff like that. I usually ride with a walkman on but I can never do it in a competition cause the music is to loud.

~P~ How much time and dedication do you think it takes to get to where you are today.

E. For me it's taken a lot longer I think. I'm not a natural rider so I think I have to work a lot harder than everyone else. When I was 12 I used to ride twelve hours a day the skatepark was open all day and I would be there from open to close. Now it runs more towards flatland but I still practice pretty much the same. I think with flatland if you are starting out if you ride two hours a day you'll be doing alright. As long as you are riding 5 days a week. For me though it's seven days a week without question. Definitely.

~P~ Any last words or people you want to thank or say hi to?

E. I'd like to thank my parents actually for supporting me. GT for helping me out with the bike and mainly just to everybody in flatland- just keep working out if it's not going for you just keep doing it. You'll progress. I mean I'm not the most natural rider. But you just got to try to do your own tricks as well. Don't copy what is already there. You have to copy to a degree but try and go in your own direction. Don't just Xerox whatever you see. Just be yourself a little bit.