Name: Alex Poirier
Age: 21
Sex: Male
Location: Petrolia/Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
When did you start riding?
I remember riding little bikes when I was like 10 and hitting jumps with them, so BMX has always been an interest to me. I started riding flatland probably around 16 years old, at least riding strictly flatland and not doing stupid tricks like frame stands, ha ha.
How often do you ride?
This varies a lot, I mean, in the Winter (late November to late March) I pretty much don’t ride except at contests because it’s near impossible for me to find indoor spots, and riding in -30*C and four feet of snow isn’t even worth trying.
Once spring comes along I start riding, doing about an hour a day, building my mental endurance back up until sometimes I’ll ride 6 hours a day with Prasheel and Andrew Wylie. But I also take a lot of off time whenever I get sick of riding and I just throw the bike aside and chase girls or drink way too much.
Do you ride contests?
I do ride contests, as much as possible; in fact, it’s almost rare for me to miss a contest in North America. Prasheel and I drive absurd long distances to make it to contests.
My biggest success would probably be JoMoPro; I somehow took first even though I didn’t ride very well. Tyer Gilliar got 2nd and we both struggled with the floor. Also, on the way to the contest we picked up Cory Fester from the airport, proceeded to drive five hours, then Prasheel realized he forgot his passport, so we had to turn around, making us drive an extra 10 hours on an already 25 hour drive, so to make the contest we couldn’t stop over night anywhere, it was terrible, and I think we all felt like death by the time we got there. Luckily Red Bull/Joe Mamma hooked us up with a ridiculous amount of Red Bull for the trip and I somehow managed to win apparently?
Where do you ride?
When I’m in Ottawa, I ride at Carleton University’s campus. This place is bomb. Endless amounts of gorgeous girls walking around, sometimes they even add me to part of the campus tour, something of like “and you’ll see this guy here bmxing year round for hours and hours”. It’s great when you get sick of trying a trick and you just sit down and enjoy “the view”.
When I’m in Petrolia, I ride an old tennis court that’s been turned into the worst skatepark imaginable. With terrible ramps and a box and rail, good for young kids I suppose, but not much you can do with it.
Can you tell us a bit about the riding scene in your town?
Ottawa probably has the best scene in Ontario, with Prasheel Gopal and Andrew Wylie, making it have a high level of skill and we all love to ride, party, and go to clubs, we manage to have an amazing time when I’m there. It’s pretty ridiculous actually, during the summer our daily routine was to ride all afternoon, go back to my apartment, cook dinner, then go to the bar. The next day we’d wake up, nurse our hangovers, post stupid stuff on Global, maybe make a video or watch whatever new videos Effraim posted, then repeat.
In Petrolia it’s a little different. There are a few riders here, Scott Fowler (Muse17 on the forum) and Ryan Huggett who just picked it up again. We rarely get together though. I really enjoy riding by myself and just staying focused, but we do gather once in awhile and I yell at them to learn tricks.
Imagine you could make a flatland world tour, which 5 places would you like to visit for riding and why?
First off, Germany I think. After seeing the contest Frank Lukas put together with different regions, they got a really awesome scene out there, and Chris Bohm just seems to be flying off the walls constantly, screw riding, I want to party with him.
Next would be Paris, France, an obvious choice on most people’s lists I’m sure for obvious reasons.
Next, Austria, to ride with Michael Sommer, that guy is so good, and his riding spot looks gorgeous, plus his videos are always full of humour, and he just seems like a cool dude.
England, to ride with the TGM guys would be awesome.
Lastly, I would hit up Hungary, they seem to have a ridiculously skilled scene, and it looks like they have some wicked spots. Can you tell I want to get the hell out of North America? Ha ha.
Is there a goal you would like to reach concerning your riding?
Not really, its fun going to contests and doing well, and I’d love to compete on a pro level someday, but it’s all water under the bridge. Becoming pro seems next to impossible these days, so I’m just having fun with riding, making little video edits, and stealing Prasheel’s tricks is what has me most concerned these days.
Which trick/combo do you work on at the moment?
Lately I’ve just been chasing Prasheel’s tricks, which isn’t anything like my normal riding, so I’m just working on whiplashes and doing more of a slow rolling style just to change stuff up and keep motivated. As for my style, my current two tricks I really want to hit, is footjam decades (stupid close), and frame tomahawk jump to x-footed wheelchair (which I don’t believe has been done before). Matthias and I have a bet to who can hit that first, and so far, I think I’ve come closer then him as he sort of gave up because it’s ridiculously painful quite often.
What kind of music do you like? Tell us your 3 favourite songs…
This is a tough one. Lately I’ve just been ridiculously into crazy electro stuff (The Bloody Beetroots) and the new Kid Cudi album. But sometimes I ride to ridiculous metal (Gojira), and whatever else, I’m not picky.
Tell us 3 things you like and 3 things you don’t like
Like: Bikes, Girls, Beer.
Dislike: Prasheel, clown pants (baggy jeans, ha ha), people taking flatland too seriously.
What is your job?
I studied Computer Science, but was receiving bad grades, mostly from skipping class to ride my bike and going on road trips and missing lots of class and tests and stuff. Clearly my priorities are a little messed up, but right now I’m taking a year off school to save money, ride bikes, and do whatever.
I work at a factory that makes air filters; I just work in the warehouse though, doing paperwork and super easy tasks. I currently work the midnight shift, which kind of sucks, but I have zero supervision, and sometimes I just fall asleep, or I sit around and see how far I can throw a marker into a box (I’ve gotten pretty good at this, ha ha).
What are your hobbies besides flatland and do they influence your way of riding?
I’m sure I’ll be called out on this, but I am interested in fashion, and if I had the money and was daring enough, I’d probably try and go to school for it, how awesome would that be, a program that is completely dominated by females, and homosexuals (or whatever the politically correct term for them is right now). I can’t think of a better situation. I played hockey pretty heavily for awhile, but haven’t for the past couple years, other than that, I like girls, drinking, dancing, and riding bikes.
Bikecheck:
Frame: WTP Sinus (I dunno what year, I wanted to be more like Prasheel, so I got the same frame as him) Forks: Odyssey Zero (Prasheel stole my bike one day, and put zero degree offset forks on because he hated that I rode minimal offset, they’ve been on ever since.)
Bars: KGB Sarvet/Some street 2-piece bars (Prasheel’s old bars), can’t decide which I like more.
Cranks: Profile (these are currently seized on my bike because I didn’t know the spindle was titanium and I didn’t use ti-prep, ha ha.
Sprocket: I dunno, but it’s also seized because the bolt is titanium, ha ha.
Back Wheel: Not sure what the rim is, Nankai freecoaster though.
Front Wheel: Araya Himiko RB-J1 (the heaviest rim in existence? I think so! Prasheel has been begging me to give him my front wheel since I’ve known him)
Front Hub: Primo Pro (4 sealed bearings, and the biggest flanges you’ve ever seen!)
Back Pegs: G-Sport plegs (been riding these since spring time. Prasheel bought them for me because I was riding an aluminium peg that was snapped in half and I was too lazy to buy new ones)
Front Pegs: I forget, but I have some new sequence ones I’ve been meaning to put on, but my front axle is 14mm and the pegs are 3/8ths and I’m lazy.
Stem: Brickhouse (that’s right, the heaviest stem in existence possibly, Prasheel gave me this, it has a hilarious Canadian leaf on the side of it, despite Prasheel’s obvious being from India, not Canada)
Grips: Two different ones right now because I couldn’t find a matching pair.
Tires: Odyssey Freq G, 1.75 on the front, the back is 1.85 I think, not sure why.
Pedals: Odyssey…The plastic ones.
Barends: Who needs barends!
Seat: Macneil Collier one, with the nose chopped off of course!
…I think that’s everything…
Last words... This is the place for shoutouts, wise words or whatever you would like to tell the world:
Prasheel, I hate you. I have awesome parents (who read global a lot, so be nice to me!), stop taking flatland so seriously guys, I wear girl jeans, ummm…Pralex website up soon yo! Global domination soon…