Tricky

While most of my outdoor pursuits this holiday weekend involved 30-some-odd bags of mulch, rakes, a lawnmower and other similar implements of destruction, I did get in one cool related thing.

My friend Josh is a renowned flatland bmx guy - used to have a full ride with Team Schwinn back in the day. Watching this guy throw down tricks is completely astounding. The balance, grace and sheer strength required is way-cool.

Shooting photos while he rides is something I've always enjoyed, and he needed some for an ad that one of his sponsors wants to do. So, it was off to try out a new parking lot in Saline.

As a kid, I was in on the early days of flatland (I even still have a couple of pairs of Van's!), but it's pretty amazing to see how it evolved. One of the most impressive parts are the bikes themselves. Full rotating brakesets, oversized pegs for more standing points. These bikes are also built like tanks. Everything is super-rugged.

It's always cool to see how Josh choreographs tricks, too. Just doing the trick isn't enough, but there needs to be a graceful entry and exit strategy. It's wild to see it evolve.

Unfortunately, just like my road riding, the wind is not your friend in flatland. But we got some great images neverthless. I hope you enjoy them and can see some of the grace and poise of this really cool sport.

Hope you had a good holiday weekend!

-Sean-