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ELEVATION3 - THE STORY

ELEVATION3 - RESULTS

BEGINNER

1. John Krause

2. Elias Odeh

3. Jayson Hatcher

4. Jesse Edwards

5. John Obeidin

6. Danny Harrison

7. Nicholas Doslatte

8. Joey Muniz

9. Juan Puerto

10. Lee Ortiz

EXPERT

1. Justin Miller

2. Jeffrey McIntyre

3. Henry Davis

4. Dave Weathersby

5. Chris Anderson

6. Adam Garcia

7. Carey Matthews

8. Kelly Baldwin

9. Diego Tejada

10. Lee Edwards

11. Richard Delgado - "Tweety"

12. Chris Balles

The flatland event that wasn't supposed to happen because of financial constraints, turned out to be one of the best flatland events of the year, so they say. We say this because that's what we heard from many of the riders and spectators who showed up from all over the country to the Dunamis Designs and Huck Industries yearly flatland event titled ELEVATION3. It's the fourth event of it's kind, yet only the 3rd time under the Elevation name. Thanks to sponsors such as Red Bull, Target and the many others listed below, Elevation3 made its mark. Did it elevate flatland? Of course it did? Will there be an E4? - Who knows, but for now here's the story of #3, short and simple:

The official event was scheduled to take place Saturday, October 4th, but to our surprise, it really started Friday night, the 3rd. As we approached the Food Town parking lot, which was the designated pre-jam location, we looked in amazement from some 50 yards away as we saw a parking lot FULL of riders. There had to be some 50 - 70 riders out there. It was like a big phat party! That parking lot scene was definitely an indicator of what was to take place the day after. Lots of crazy riding. A good vibe. Reunions of many sorts. Networking. And many tired looking brothas who looked like they had been driving all day and needed some serious sleep or about 10 Red Bulls. After about 4 hours out there riding and hanging out, we headed back to the crib to eat and get some sleep. Many continued to ride until 1 or 2 in the morning. The next day was going to be crazy.

As we approached the Airport it was cool to see the old WWII airplanes sitting outside of the hanger looking all cool and WWII like. Those planes definitely added some bigness to the event. Is "bigness" a word? Anyway, once things started up and riders started showing up, it was on! First to arrive were some of the Dallas crew Alex Worden and Scott Ditchfield and the representative from NYC, Jeffrey McIntyre. Scott must have only been out there for less than an hour before BAM! his back wheel blew up. Yeah, that's right, it blew up! He did something to where his back wheel came down hard and most of his spokes just busted. I believe he was running some titanium spokes and something crazy happened. He spent a good while relacing that wheel outside. Only Scott would carry a bunch of extra spokes with him. From then on, rider after rider after rider kept showing up and the vibe in that hanger began to kick in. Just to name a few, we had Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, Chicago, New York, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Yugoslavia, Canada, Michigan, Colorado, Atlanta, and many more states and local cities in effect.

The hanger was a good 5600 square feet of riding area. The floor was a little slick but over all it was said to be smooth and fairly good for riding. There was also space right outside the main hanger doors to ride for those that needed a little more room. Steve Mulder was doing what he does best, with his high speed death trucks and bike variables. Ruben Castillo, who we appreciated seeing at a contest, was flowing with his smooth front wheel antics. Art Thomason, who has been to every Elevation faithfully and has been a big help and vital part of these yearly events, was showing his skills on the dance floor. Jeffrey McIntyre, who is a Dunamis and Huck team rider, was showing us how they do it brakeless and aggressive in New York city. That boy rides and rides, and even if he's too tired to ride, he says he'll keep riding. (Look for an extensive interview with Jeffrey on this site in a couple of weeks.) The Louisiana crew was doing their thang, with Terry doing phat link after phat link. He's more dialed now than I've ever seen him. One trick that he was working on that he'll probably have very soon was his pedaling death truck deal to jump up, throw the front wheel down making the back wheel pop up off the ground, catch the back pegs in his hand and land in a hitchiker going forward. Is that crazy or what! You'll see it soon. Matt Wilhelm, who took a hard fall early in his day, was bustin out as usual. The fall only made him push harder because look, he took first in pro. One guy I enjoy watching is Henry Davis from Tampa,FL. He's a pretty stocky guy, but when he rides, he makes it look so smooth and he flows so nicely. And I can't forget Justin Miller, who showed up early also, and pretty much took over the floor for a while. He competed in expert, but he's so dialed with lots of moves, that I would encourage him to try entering pro in his next few comps. Many nice switches coming from him and he does those kickflip hitchhikers with such ease. Good job Justin.

PRO

1. Matt Wilhelm

2. Terry Adams

3. Alex Worden

4. Art Thomason

5. Mickey Gaidos

6. Steve Mulder

7 Scott Ditchfield

8. Ruben Castillo

9. Scott O'brien

10. Ron Monis

11. Brett Crowther

There was so much good riding all day long though. Can't remember it all. One thing I do remember clearly though, was that crazy halftime show we had with the BBoy crew "Viscous Germs", courtesy of Cultural Elements. This breakdance crew went off! Picture a guy doing a back flip, landing on his head and then bouncing off and landing on his feet. No hands. Those guys stole the show. They made flatland look boring for a little while. They were even calling out riders to battle them on the floor. The only problem was that they kept calling out a group of guys close to them that were beginner riders. Terry, Art or Wilhelm could have taken them on. But it was all good and entertaining. Much props to that crew.

Because of the many goodies that sponsors hooked us up with, we were able to hook up all of the classes with some fairly good prizes. Trend Bikes hooked us up with the Infinity frame that was won by a kid in Houston. Thanks for the help Trend. Flatlandfuel in conjunction with Axion shoes sent a huge box of stuff! Props Visual, you guys have hooked us up 2 years in a row. Props to Props. Off Road Peddler bike shop is the best bike shop in Houston and the world! Chris at Brickhouse bikes is the nicest guy you'll ever want to buy a stem from. Shane with Backlash and Ronin, though very busy was able to help out. Bobby Carter with Diversion gave us prizes over a month ago. Thanks. Humble Skatepark, you rock. Neon Media hooked stuff up the day before with a box load of "Essence" videos. Thanks guys. And at the event, Kaos Agency.com hooked things up with a box of videos. People were literally throwing stuff at us. Even people who knew nothing about flatland were coming up to us telling us what a good event this was. At one point, a gentlemen who owns an air conditioning company named Stewart's System Services, handed us a $100 bill to go towards the pro purse money. We didn't know what to do. We were shocked at the warm response we got from everyone and the good vibe that eminated from that building.

We owe so much to the many riders that showed up for the event and the many supporters of flatland. You guys helped make this event what it was. All of the sponsors listed below, we thank you for your help and support. And to those of you who think that flatland is all about riding and progression, think again. Flatland is more than that. It's about people and relationships. I got more out of this event from the people that I met and the relationships that I built. That's what has made Elevation bigger and better every year.