THE TEXAS FLATLAND ROUND UP

San Marcos, TX    July 9th, 2005

Write up by: Cesar Calderon

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Pulling up to the contest area and seeing familiar faces is just an awesome feeling! In the distance, I saw a big group of flatlanders occupying a basketball court. Bike racks & flatland stickers on cars in the parking lot as we were pulling up was just part of the atmosphere. The night before was a sign that Saturdays competition was gonna be a good one. Chris Balles pulled up, greeted a few people and said he was going to open the doors to the contest area. As soon as the doors were open, riders poured in like ants on food. The area was about half a basketball court in size, and the ground was wavy and slippery in some spots. As talented as us flatlanders are, we all got used to the floor as best as we could and started jamming. At one point I heard some riders commenting on the contest area and jokingly stated that when Terry Adams shows up He's gonna want sprinklers on the ceiling turned on and gravel and rocks thrown on the floor during his run, then he would be happy with the contest area. The contest area was located right on the river, and the attention being drawn by us flatlands was awesome. Half naked girls walking up to check out the contest area was nice!  Chris, chose an Awesome Area!

The contest kicked off Saturday at 12:00 PM with the Beginner Class. Much respect to the beginners. Flatland is a difficult sport that's always progressing and getting harder! Kickflips, Barflips, Brakeless Tricks, Impossible Combos.....! To see all this difficulty and just be starting out, and still wanting to hang in there, takes a lot of Dedication and Passion. There were 11 riders in the Beginner Class that will become the future of flatland. All the beginners were awesome. The top 3 beginners were... 1st Nick Deslatte... 2nd Jesse Edwards... 3rd Mando Stevens.

The Expert Class was 9 riders big, riding in two groups. There were riders representing Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and even Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to the lack of space the riders still rode awesome! The judging had to have been tough. There was some awesome runs being thrown down. Some of the highlights of the Expert Class was Jeff Smee doing brakeless mega spins to decades, hang-5's on the pedal, and no handed time machines. He couldn't quite pull it together during his run and ended up getting 8th place. Diego Tejada had some hard combos like his hang-5 to switch footed steam, step over to crackpacker, whip the frame behind his back and go into a halfpacker. Diego came up with a 4th place finish. Lee "HUCK" Edwards was throwing down some pretty technical front wheel linkz with crazy style and flow. Lee was jumping out of hang-5's to steam rollers, direction change, step into crackpacker and barflip out. He was also throwing down turbine hang-5's. Lee secured a 6th place finish. The top 3 expert riders ended up being... 1st Kelly Baldwin... 2nd Adam DiClaudio... 3rd Sean Marr

The Pro Class had 6 riders, and they all ripped it up. It was awesome to see the Southriders (Terry, Scott, and Eugene) there supporting the cause. All the Pro riders have incredible talent. Alex Worden pulled off one of the craziest tricks I've ever seen. He was rolling crossfooted on the pedals in a dumptruck position. Sick!!! Scott Ditchfield was the showman, getting the attention of the crowd and pulling his linkz at the same time like it was nothing. Will Redd was tearing it up brakeless, riding with the legendary Chase Gouin style. Scott O'brien took a 3rd place finish with his crazy front wheel combos. Art Thomason got 2nd with all sorts of turbines, cliffhangers, crossfooted hitchhikers, pedal steamrollers all seamlessly linked together. 1st place finish went to Terry Adams who didn't seem to be bothered at all by the small size of the riding area and the wavy floor. Terry always seems to have some new huge trick to throw down like jumping from a blender to a dumptruck glide. What will he come up with next?

This was the first ever Texas Flatland Round Up event and it was awesome. A huge thanks goes out to Chris Balles for his time and money that went into planning this event. Also, a huge thanks goes out to his family, sponsors, and anyone one else that helped make it happen. Keep up the good work Chris. Can't wait to be at the next Flatland Round Up.

PRO CLASS

1st Place Terry Adams
2nd Place Art Thomason
3rd Place Scott O'brien
4th Place Will Redd
5th Place Scott Ditchfield
6th Place Alex Worden

EXPERT CLASS

1st Place Kelly Baldwin
2nd Place Adam DiClaudio
3rd Place Sean Marr
4th Place  Diego Tejada  
5th Place Chris Anderson
6th Place Lee Edwards
7th Place Cesar Calderon
8th Place Jeff Smee
9th Place Chadwick

BEGINNER CLASS

1st Place Nick Deslatte
2nd Place Jesse Edwards
3rd Place Mando Stevens
4th Place Kenny Boucher
5th Place Joey Thompson
6th Place Jim Mckay
7th Place Clint Majors
8th Place Mark Dandridge
9th Place  John Obeidin    
10th Place  Josh Duffek
11th Place Phlip Kelso