King of Flatland Reunion!

Twenty five years ago, one of my favorite events was the King of Flatland contest series held in New Hampshire. It was an excellent series, many of my memories from that era are still vivid, and some of the riders back then are still friends today.

Now, it appears I'm having my mid-life crisis, manifested as a renewed obsession with my BMX bike. Apparently I'm not the only one, as old-school and reunion style BMX events are becoming more and more popular. I consider them my generations "classic car shows."

By Kieran Chapman

Having gone out to the Old School BMX Reunion at Woodward West earlier this year, I was pretty excited to see that there was another old school event on the calendar, one much closer and more meaningful, yep, a 25th Anniversary King of Flatland!

The events were organized by the Cote family, and I don't know if they'll ever know how much WE, the riders, appreciated their efforts. Maybe we didn't at the time, but looking back, and and knowing now how much time and energy goes into planning and orchestrating a single event, let alone an annual series of events, I can't say "thank you," enough. I got a chance to say thanks though, on August 4th, at Rye Airfield, the site of the anniversary throw down.

By Tony Long

Some of the original KoF guys have never stopped riding, and it shows in Jimmy Cavanaugh's and Sean Maher's skills. Others, like Tommy Simpson and Greg Macomber haven't been on a bike in years, but they still have some moves. It was a great mix of skill sets and styles, and I was psyched to see everyone that was there. Some guys travelled quite a distance to be there, Darren Pelio from California, David Tufts from Mississippi, Jared Souney from Oregon, a crew even came down from Canada. That makes the event international.

Aside from the fact that is was blazing hot, the event was, well, super cool.  A very mellow vibe with some great riding by everyone. I'm really psyched to be back on the little bike. I don't have the time to spend hour upon hour practicing, but I'm having fun struggling against gravity once again, while my mountain bike, road bike, and cyclocross bike hang in the basement gathering dust.

I didn't take many pics at this event... that's pretty atypical of me, but I knew that if I had had my camera, I would have been more focused on getting pics than I would have been on riding, and well, with so many other great photographers there, why bother. There's plenty of great coverage out there about the event, including those aforementioned great photographers, so DEFINITELY check out some of these links.

• ESPN.Go (be sure to check out the photo gallery)
• Keiran Chapman's Flickr Photos  
• Chad Doyon's Photos  
• Fat BMX  
• Flat Matters Online 
• Ground Control BMX (Canada)
• Jared Souney
• Tables and Fables
• YouTube
• Vimeo (classic contest runs from the late 80's and early 90's)

By Jared Souney

Will there be another event next year? Will we see MORE riders from back in the day? I'm betting on "yes," on both accounts.

Thanks to John Cote junior and senior, thanks to Geoff Carlton for the sound system, and thanks for all of the sponsors and their generous donations to the event. See ya next year!

• Flatlandfuel.com
• Blue Steel Cyclery 
• Maximum Velocity
• Cote Riggers
• Animal
• Remorse BMX
• DK Bicycles
• Independent Fabrications
• State Farm
• Bailey Works
• Busytown Bikes
• Ski Chair
• Rye Airfield
• Kink Bike Co.
• Porkchop BMX
• Tables and Fables
• BMX Pros Trick Team
• Harding Metals, Inc
• Smuttynose Brewing
• Tree Bicycle Co.
• S & M American Bicycle Co

Northshore Freestyle Team partial reunion!

Tommy Simpson rockin' an original T-shirt!