Quote from: ride_flat43 on June 03, 2013, 07:57:06 PMQuote from: D on May 30, 2013, 08:24:59 PMIt's a fact that the kind of obsessive focus that lets you repeat the same trick 10000 times for 12 hours a day every day is exactly the same thing as the people who have to count the ceiling tiles every time they leave the room. That's not a judgment on the way someone lives their life, that's a medical fact. Doing whatever it takes to reach a goal is the same as pointlessly counting tiles?Yeah, its not as if people doing other sports or arts don't spend this much time or more with their activity, but for some reason when we do it, we're "crazy".
Quote from: D on May 30, 2013, 08:24:59 PMIt's a fact that the kind of obsessive focus that lets you repeat the same trick 10000 times for 12 hours a day every day is exactly the same thing as the people who have to count the ceiling tiles every time they leave the room. That's not a judgment on the way someone lives their life, that's a medical fact. Doing whatever it takes to reach a goal is the same as pointlessly counting tiles?
It's a fact that the kind of obsessive focus that lets you repeat the same trick 10000 times for 12 hours a day every day is exactly the same thing as the people who have to count the ceiling tiles every time they leave the room. That's not a judgment on the way someone lives their life, that's a medical fact.
Quote from: Flatgod on June 03, 2013, 11:15:03 PMQuote from: ride_flat43 on June 03, 2013, 07:57:06 PMQuote from: D on May 30, 2013, 08:24:59 PMIt's a fact that the kind of obsessive focus that lets you repeat the same trick 10000 times for 12 hours a day every day is exactly the same thing as the people who have to count the ceiling tiles every time they leave the room. That's not a judgment on the way someone lives their life, that's a medical fact. Doing whatever it takes to reach a goal is the same as pointlessly counting tiles?Yeah, its not as if people doing other sports or arts don't spend this much time or more with their activity, but for some reason when we do it, we're "crazy".D deems to have a lot of contempt for people who spend time doing something that they simply find fulfilling. He believes people should only spend time on activities that can earn them money. He sounds as if he's full of regret, thinking he wasted time riding flatland. My assumption is that he got into it hoping it would someday be huge and he could make lots of money. Either that or he's pissed that he doesnt have the free time to be at current pro level. He thinks pro flatlanders should change their way of riding so they can make a better living riding flatland. If you have to ride a style you dont want to ride then you wouldnt be making a living doing what you love to do. Might as well just get a normal job instead. If everyone rode like Tim Knoll its quite possible that an edit of spinny turbining tricks would go viral. I like Tims riding, its entertaining and shows what an incredible apparatus a bicyle is but I can see why some people might be annoyed that their style isnt as appreciated.
I don't feel like I'm superior to people, but what I AM is realistic about flatland and not particularly optimistic about its future as a professional SPORT (not as an activity or a hobby) That doesn't mean I don't like BMX. There isn't one thing I've said that isn't true. There's nothing wrong with doing something just for personal satisfaction. What I was talking about was people quite literally throwing EVERYTHING else in life away to do an activity that ONLY gives personal satisfaction. Being able to do 10 whiplashes but unable to care for yourself isn't a positive thing. That's not a good life choice. I wish flatlanders could make more money that they currently do. I'd love it if the K or Chase were as well financed as Kelly Slater or Rodney Mullen. There's nothing wrong with riders trying to do things that the audience would want to see in order to make themselves more successful, especially if the alternative is having to work a low paying, menial job that is less fun and less rewarding than bike riding and would take away from riding time. I'm not regretful about my BMX career at all. I can honestly say that I accomplished everything I wanted to do. Outside of bikes, I have a creative job I actually like, and I find it quite rewarding. (I also fought with my teeth to get there, which would NOT have happened if I had spent all my days working on halfpackers. ) Here's some universal truths we'd all be better off just accepting: Flatland isn't something people can make a living doing, at least in the United States, unless you want to travel 50 weeks a year doing school safety shows. There isn't enough money in flatland contests to make a living. Flatland as a professional sport took a huge hit 10 years ago when it was dropped from the X Games. Flatland is NEVER going to get more attention than ramp riding, in either mainstream media or the regular BMX media. No matter how fast you spin or how hard your tricks are. Flashy tricks are ALWAYS going to get more attention than super technical tricks that are more difficult. No matter how hard and progressive the trick you are doing right now is, in five years someone who's younger than you will call it lame and dated. Even in our own little culture, what we do is very ephemeral - it's art that doesn't hold it's value, even though you have to work and work and work in order to learn a new trick. Flatland, for some reason, is a magnet for many wayward and troubled kids. Many flatlanders have major difficulties in other areas of life. Most flatlanders are somewhat eccentric, many are downright strange. Many flatlanders have such a single minded focus on progression and increasing difficulty, coupled with a social element that mainly puts them around other riders who share their same value system, that they tend to forget how foreign and hard to understand flatland is to anyone who doesn't ride. People will not understand the difficulty of what you are doing. This does not make them small minded or uncreative. It means you are part of a very small niche within a niche sport that is almost impossible to appreciate unless you also participate in it. That's the worst of it. But IF you can deal with all these facts, then flatland can be a very fun, rewarding activity. It's still one of my favorite things. Exercise, creativity, freedom, patience, determination, focus, camaraderie, balance....it's all parked in the garage.
Neat video. It's not flatland, but it doesn't seem to me that Tim concerns himself with calling his riding one thing or another. He just does stuff on his bike. That's cool. That's what he's always done. I don't really see why it merits the level of debate that's going on here.
I think this discussion and bitching in this thread probly should continue elsewhere.Start a new thread in open talk.This thread got way of topic. Many times
Flatland minds run wild.
For all we know, those who dedicate their lives to flat may have been bums otherwise. Wierd, eccentric people don't typically get very far in life anyway.