A lot of times when I post on flatmatters, I am very conscious of the fact, that it can be seen that I post only Am, Master or Pro rider level videos or related content, what about the beginner riders? Maybe your a beginner reading this,and think how can I get on flatmatters? You are the future of flatland! You may well be featured next….Who knows? Welcome to a new section of the site… New Blood! This brings me to my first interviewee, Jimmy Kibbons, from Chicago, USA.

Ok Jimmy, first things first, congrats on just winning the York Am Flat contest in beginner class, how long have you been riding? And im always curious how did you get into flatland, it’s not that well covered in the mainstream or BMX media?
Thanks Effraim! Im super happy that I got first at this contest really. The guy who got second was pulling good tricks and had a flawless first run and I touched a few times on both of my runs so I thought I was gonna get 2nd for sure but I guess the judges like my spinning Matt Wilhelm style. I’ve been riding for about 3 years now and speaking of Mr Wilhelm, he was the guy who inspired me to start riding. I started bmx when I was 13 doing ramps and street, but when I searched how to bmx tricks I found the Matt Wilhelm videos I got interested and started flatland at 14. And yeah Flatland isn’t covered very much in the media, but its still surviving and strong. Well that’s my opinion anyway..

Thats great! How important is the AM Flat series for you, would you say it motivates you as a beginner rider, gives you something to aim for?
Yeah it pushes me to progress and gives me certain goals for my riding like to move up in the ranks, which ill be doing for next years Am Flat Circuit.

You looking at moving up to the Expert class?
Yeah and I know that class has a bunch of riders with good skills so im gonna really have to take time and practice a lot more to be at that level.

You live in Chicago right? So how do you deal with the harsh winters there? Do you ever ride with Matt at all?
Yup I live in chicago. And I hate the winter because I can barly ride. When I do ride though I ride in my 10 x 13 basement which is really scary haha. I ride outside if there isn’t snow on the ground and its at least 30 degrees and I when I’m lucky I go to this condominium with an underground parking garage, but I have to wait for a car to come up then I race down there before the door closes and when I get down there I get kicked out by the police, because its private property so during the winter its really hard to ride. So when I get the chance I ride in Matt’s warehouse, which is really cool so I get time to ride and we can catch up on things with each other.

Yeah that does sound harsh. How many contests have you competed in this year? Have the contests helped your riding level?
I’ve competed in 2 contests (Indy 1st place and Tunner Evolution 1st place) and yeah of course they have helped my riding level they push me to wanna be better and place well so then it shows that I’ve been working hard during practice.

So two wins you must be in with a chance of the overall title Jimmy?
For this year?

Yes for 2011? Finals in Buffalo, New York, in a few weeks, are you attending that?
Ohhh yeaa buddy, if you check the am flat circuit am rankings now or soon I should already be at 1st overall.

Thats awesome! No I haven’t checked that, so your first year competing, and your leading with two wins. Can’t do much better than that! Lets wrap this up Jimmy, can you give some advice to any beginner riders reading this, who might wish to enter a contest?

To any beginner riders out there, I might be a beginner rider and I might have little experience in the BMX world, but I know that if you push yourself to do what you wanna do, it will happen for you!

That’s great Jimmy, thanks for your time, great to see some New Blood up in the mix putting in some work, flatland needs a new generation of kids coming through. Good luck for the next contest!!!