Global-flat.com Board
English => General Flatland Forum => Topic started by: Johnnyjohnsturr on April 29, 2010, 07:51:32 AM
-
Is he gone forever? What's the deal?
-
last i heard hes done
-
like not riding.. ever again?
sigh
-
Then where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? lol
Actually, I think I saw him in a contest in 2009. Can't remember for sure though.
-
He has not rode his bike since Ninja Spin last year. He is done for now.
Working and running his construction company.
He was and is one of the best for sure!!!!
-
Does anyone know why he quit?
Was there a specific incident that caused this or is it a simple matter of human evolution ?
-
He decided to stop riding kids bikes and do something manly. So manly in fact that he has to cut down his chest hair with a machete. He doesn't even use tools to build homes. He just saws through wood with the palm of his hand and the buildings hold themselves together by his sheer will alone.
dude's intense.
-
He decided to stop riding kids bikes and do something manly. So manly in fact that he has to cut down his chest hair with a machete. He doesn't even use tools to build homes. He just saws through wood with the palm of his hand and the buildings hold themselves together by his sheer will alone.
dude's intense.
would this make more sense to me if i had met justin miller?
-
No. No not really hahahaha
-
Can't knock a guy for doing what he has to to take care of his own... total respect for that. Guess we'll be seeing the new "Where's Faris/Miller?" threads now? -_-
-
I was wondering why we did not see him @ jomopro to defend his title...
-
Where's Raphael Chiquet. Matthias told me at jomopro that he broke his ankle ,but dang its been a while since we've seen these guys anywhere.
-
Where's Raphael Chiquet.
He got a interview in the last Cream, # 38
-
He has not rode his bike since Ninja Spin last year. He is done for now.
Working and running his construction company.
He was and is one of the best for sure!!!!
wow such a long time to be off the bike.
-
Where in the world is Johnathon Tamayo. The last I heard he hasnt ridden since Jomopro ^_^
-
I've seen this kind of thing in flatland before. Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time. Later on they burn out and go on to other things. Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. With nothing left to prove and very little chances of making anything resembling a decent living, I can't blame Justin at all. Or Faris, for that matter.
-
He decided to stop riding kids bikes and do something manly. So manly in fact that he has to cut down his chest hair with a machete. He doesn't even use tools to build homes. He just saws through wood with the palm of his hand and the buildings hold themselves together by his sheer will alone.
dude's intense.
sounds like the life of chuck norris
-
Where's Raphael Chiquet.
He got a interview in the last Cream, # 38
i dont get why him and ucchie dont just bust out with back AND front wheel... theyd killl!!
-
I'm riding a KHE frame, so all I have to do is learn his tricks and were all good!!!! LOL J/K I got madd respect for Justin, I can see following that riding style........but DAMN!!! THAT CONSISTANCY!!!
-
Makes me feel honored to of witnessed his next to last competition at the very first jomopro. Was my first time witnessing him ride in person..And it was nothing short of epic. His flatland creativity aswell as presence will be missed. Much respect to Justin Miller.
-
well we know hes got time to ride. cause no one in construction is working alot in good old usa. j/k. no seriuosly. j/k
-
"D: Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time. Later on they burn out and go on to other things. Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. "
WTF kind of post is this?? If you honestly have this perspective you are obviously a dumb idiot to put it lightly.
-
:angry:
-
Justin Miller interview (June ī07):
1. Please introduce yourself for those who donīt know you.
Im Justin Miller form Saginaw, Michigan USA. I am 21 years old and have been riding about 9 years.
2. Tell me how did you came in touch with flatland and what riders impressed you the most, back in the days.
Back in high school I had a friend that did a few tricks on his bike. For some reason I was so amazed by that and I had to do it. So 9 years of riding and here I am today. I remember I rode for a few months without even knowing what flatland was called. I just loved to do it so I kept riding. Then finally I discovered this whole world online with bmxtrix and theflatlander.
The first riders that I saw were chase, and kevin in dorkin 10. They really impressed me and were also a big influence.
3. What riders do you respect today?
I have a lot of respect for all the riders out there. I do lose respect for people when they talk about me. Im all for being competitive ,but you don't have to call me out and try to intimidate me. Thats when I lose respect for rider when they are cocky.
4. How much do ride and where do you ride? Do you ride alone or with others?
I usually ride 4-5 hours. Its really depends on the day. If its windy I usually dont ride because i get frusterated. About a km away from my house there is a church parking lot that I ride at. They are cool with me riding there. I usually ride alone or with my wife but mainly by myself.
5. What motivates you to ride?
Something inside me really just keeps me going. Contests do keep me motivated to get dialed and practice a lot but i just like pushing myself.
6. What do you think of contests? Do you like it or is it stress?
Contests are ok, but if i didnt have to do them i wouldnt because I stress out so much. I try to look for perfection in my runs and when i cant get that I start to stress out. I also stress out because to keep riding so much I need to do good at contests to pay the bills. Its a big cycle.
7. Do you like competition? I remember those discussions around the final run at FlatRing last year.
If I didnt have to do contests I wouldnt because i put a lot of pressure on myself. I love to ride, but the pressure I put on myself to ride good really weights on my current feelings towards riding. I really didnt like flatring because of martti. I hate when riders are cocky and act like that. I treat everyone with respect and have never done anything to anyone.
8. What would you say, are the main differences between american and european scene? Do you like europe?
To me the scene in europe is much better. I guess thats because, in europe, people are much closer together and can support every contest there is. Also europe really have the support of some big companies who put some big bucks up. Of course i like the euro scene. I go to more euro contests than american ones.
-
"D: Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time. Later on they burn out and go on to other things. Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. "
WTF kind of post is this?? If you honestly have this perspective you are obviously a dumb idiot to put it lightly.
OR... maybe he's a person who acknowledges that trying to support a wife/family while maintaining pro-level riding skills is very hard considering there's not much money to be made in flatland? Some people have to make that decision, and flatland doesn't always win out even if the love is there.
-
Whatever happens to him in the future, he will always be one of the greatest riders I've ever seen or known. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person and as a rider.
-
"Ultraman Zoffy:
Quote from: wolverines on Today at 03:35:31 AM
"D: Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time. Later on they burn out and go on to other things. Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. "
WTF kind of post is this?? If you honestly have this perspective you are obviously a dumb idiot to put it lightly.
OR... maybe he's a person who acknowledges that trying to support a wife/family while maintaining pro-level riding skills is very hard considering there's not much money to be made in flatland? Some people have to make that decision, and flatland doesn't always win out even if the love is there. "
You know we are talking about Justin here, correct? And you know his wife rides do you not? I am not sitting here and trying to blow sunshine up someone's ass, but still to this day, riders work hard constantly to pull harder and harder tricks. Weather it be at ANY LEVEL. I myself, and I am sure ANY other rider will tell you that out of the top 5 reasons they ride is for "the accomplishment of the trick". If you don't believe in that, then your in denial.
Furthermore , I understand where you are coming from and backing up a assumption of "family matters" , but then again, I can freestyle off about 20 riders that have families and still enjoy riding and progressing on their bikes for the time they have. I have to say, it just overwhelms me when "good parents" are still able to juggle time to ride, yet progress in life itself as just great genuine people.
TJ, good post! One of the short(and I say short) things we agree upon.
-
"Ultraman Zoffy:
Quote from: wolverines on Today at 03:35:31 AM
"D: Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time. Later on they burn out and go on to other things. Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. "
WTF kind of post is this?? If you honestly have this perspective you are obviously a dumb idiot to put it lightly.
OR... maybe he's a person who acknowledges that trying to support a wife/family while maintaining pro-level riding skills is very hard considering there's not much money to be made in flatland? Some people have to make that decision, and flatland doesn't always win out even if the love is there. "
You know we are talking about Justin here, correct? And you know his wife rides do you not? I am not sitting here and trying to blow sunshine up someone's ass, but still to this day, riders work hard constantly to pull harder and harder tricks. Weather it be at ANY LEVEL. I myself, and I am sure ANY other rider will tell you that out of the top 5 reasons they ride is for "the accomplishment of the trick". If you don't believe in that, then your in denial.
Furthermore , I understand where you are coming from and backing up a assumption of "family matters" , but then again, I can freestyle off about 20 riders that have families and still enjoy riding and progressing on their bikes for the time they have. I have to say, it just overwhelms me when "good parents" are still able to juggle time to ride, yet progress in life itself as just great genuine people.
TJ, good post! One of the short(and I say short) things we agree upon.
That was a lovely post, Wolverine, but for some people, the decision is that if they can't devote the time to maintain their standard of riding, some times flatland loses out. It's neither negative or positive, and definitely not something to call folks a "dumb idiot" over.
-
Please re-read this post, then re-read mine. I will even break it up for you, and you can still determine if your assumptions are correct. It was the final sentence that really got to me, and validates my statement of someone being as dumb as a box of rocks.
""D: Sometimes the very best riders are the one are the most intense about it for a short time.
Later on they burn out and go on to other things.
Considering the amount of time you have to put in to flatland to be anywhere near pro level vs. what you get out of it I can't necessarily blame someone for hanging it up after a few years. "
-
http://www.fise-events.net/index.php?p=riders&afficher_fiche_bmx&lang=fr&page=2 (http://www.fise-events.net/index.php?p=riders&afficher_fiche_bmx&lang=fr&page=2)
he will be in FISE
-
OMG MOYA! IM GOING TO TALK IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I HOPE HE IS!!!!!
-
I knew he hadn't competed in a while but i was almost certain he was still riding. Some people tend to think that just because someone doesn't compete that it means they don't ride - not true.
-
I knew he hadn't competed in a while but i was almost certain he was still riding. Some people tend to think that just because someone doesn't compete that it means they don't ride - not true.
Unfortunately, in this case...It is.
-
I knew he hadn't competed in a while but i was almost certain he was still riding. Some people tend to think that just because someone doesn't compete that it means they don't ride - not true.
Unfortunately, in this case...It is.
I can kinda relate to just having to stop doing something you obviously love.
I've played music my whole life, always been 100% committed and sacrificed alot-got to do and see a lot of cool sh*t along the way and play in a band that's at the top of their class and had to walk away to focus on working for myself. As much as I love playing and miss it, I haven't sat behind a kit since my last gig-over a year ago. It doesn't mean that I'm never going to again. I just know if I dabble in it, it will suck me right back in and I don't have time for that level of commitment. I had blown other good money making career choices in favor of playing music and had an good career opportunity come up, and had to decide. Wasn't easy.
-
It's better to burn out than fade away.
-
I'm hard headed, I'm pretty cynical about BMX in general, but I definitely have perspective on things. And make no mistake, I'm not wrong about this.
As for my credentials, while I can't say I'm DMC, I think I've done enough in this sport to speak freely and know what I'm talking about. I won't go into it here but you can ask anyone who knows me about who I am and what I've done in BMX.
Anyway, so where were we? Ah yes, pro riders and quitting flatland. So if I was so wrong about what I was saying, where are all the great pro flatland riders that have been able to support themselves, their families, buy houses, cars, put their kids through school, and live comfortably? I know of TWO in the US. One owns his own business and tours endlessly, so that leaves us with ONE U.S. pro who makes a enough of a living riding to support himself, buy his own house, get married, etc. And neither of those guys I would consider rich. Not like Ryan Sheckler or even Jamie Bestwick.
So what about everyone else, all the rest of the pro riders? If they are young generally they live 10 to a house and live on very, very little money. If they are older then in most cases they have a spouse who supports them. It's not talked about a lot in this industry but it's a fact. I'm not making any judgements on how people choose to live their lives, people can do whatever they want, but this is currently the way things are, at least in the U.S.
There's a myth that if you are a good enough rider, you can show up in a video every now and then, and occasionally show up at a contest and make enough money to live comfortably for years. You can't. The winnings at most contests would barely pay for travel expenses. Several thousands dollars sounds like a lot of money but when you've got a $1400 mortgage (like many adults do), $300 car payment, etc. then you can start to see that's not enough to make ends meet.
In 2000, when Andrew Faris said that he was quitting flatland because it "had no future", he wasn't saying that progress wouldn't be made, that tricks wouldn't get harder, or that flatland wasn't valid or fun. It's just that doing it for a living is very, very difficult, there just isn't much money in it at all, and in the long run, that's a problem for a lot of people. The amount of time you have to put in to be a top pro prevents people from pursuing other career paths, but in 99% of all cases most pro flatlanders don't make enough to live on without doing endless school safety shows.
I don't know how old you are or what your status in life is, but believe me, once you get past a certain age, most people get tired of living with 7 riders in crappy apartments or living in their parent's basement. Do you really want to ride 10 hours a day to make less than the assistant shift manager at the local McD's? If so, more power to you. But don't be so indignant when someone else decides that their time and life are better spent pursuing other things at least full time.
Just to clarify for the folks here who won't get it, I'm talking about riding for a living here. No one is saying that flatland isn't a cool thing to be involved with, or that it isn't fun, or that it's only worth it if you are getting paid. I'm in my 22nd year of riding and doing tricks on little kid bikes is still a lot of fun, I hope it always will be.
-
D, I have no idea who you are, but you are well spoken and clearly far more intelligent (and realistic) than "wolverine" aka "lardyard glide king" aka Tim K aka etc.
Just from the short interview posted above, you can see that contests put a lot of stress on Justin which he didn't like, but to make riding his living, it was something he had to do.
I can understand and respect Justin's perspective on everything, and you can't blame dude from moving on with the rest of his life. It is a shame that he isn't riding at all anymore, but he seems like the type of person that if he can't give riding his all and do what he wants with it, he'd rather focus his time/energy/attention on something else that makes him happy.
I do miss his presence in North America and in contests though. :(
-
Thanks Pralex. I think we've met before at the ATL jam. I'm Darren Hough. I was the old guy on the blue FBM doing mega spin to perverted decades that day.
-
I've had to walk away from a passion (soccer). Over time, you struggle to keep up your commitment, especially once you took it to the top level you could take it to. For me, it's just hard to find a place and a group of players to play with. There is a certain level of excellence I HAVE to maintain, or I just won't play because I get frustrated knowing what I use to be able to do. Luckily I got to walk away on a good note, and begin exploring other things such as distance barefoot running, and of course, flatland.
If pro's want to walk away because of jobs/life/family/burn out/whatever, it's their choice. I completely understand if he did walk away, or if he just isn't competing but still riding. Hell, even if he is just going to choose 1 contest a year to ride, I get that too. You gotta do things that make you happy.
-
The only thing that worries me is that in order to be a top pro now, or in order to compete on pro level, you have to be able to live on it so you have enough time in the day to ride and keep up. How can you compete against someone like Wilhelm, Terry, or Matthias? They all do it for a living. That's their life. How do you show up to a pro contest and ride against guys that can do their runs to such a high degree of difficulty without riding 5+ hours a day? I struggle most days to get out for an hour and a half because of work and school and I can't fathom having the freedom to get out for that long. When I do ride for that long, I can learn 1-2 tricks a day and by the end of the session I can hit most of my stuff first or second try knowing full well it might be 3-4 days before I can get out again.
It's not just the riders being able to support themselves, but I worry we're going to see riding stagnate to some extent simply because guys can't ride at that level and sustain it for as long as they do.
Video parts will always remain and what not, but I doubt that anyone will be able to ride on a competitive level like Justin did for years doing some of the hardest tricks in the sport (hiker kickflip to backpacker, to backpacker kickflip in ONE link!?) in their contest runs for a long time to come.
It's not that there aren't good riders out there, it's just that there aren't many good riders who have the freedom to get THAT dialed.
-
Justin was one of the very few young amateurs (back when he had the red Ares with red tires) who I saw ride in Expert and said to myself, "yep, he's gonna be a pro." Sometimes you can just tell when riders "have it."
-
Thanks Pralex. I think we've met before at the ATL jam. I'm Darren Hough. I was the old guy on the blue FBM doing mega spin to perverted decades that day.
For sure I remember you! How's things?
lol, Tim K was supposed to be at that Atlanta jam, he was flying in, but apparently hit a deer on the way? lol, deer do not fly, silly Tim.
-
Someone ask Terry Adams....He posted a link on his web page about Justin learning a new trick and he took a pic of him doing it. He came to visit Terry at his house not too long ago and talked to Terry about business decisions and his future.
-
Justin was one of the very few young amateurs (back when he had the red Ares with red tires) who I saw ride in Expert and said to myself, "yep, he's gonna be a pro." Sometimes you can just tell when riders "have it."
absolutely... i remember thinking the exact same thing
-
"Pralex:
Quote from: D on Today at 04:45:45 PM
Thanks Pralex. I think we've met before at the ATL jam. I'm Darren Hough. I was the old guy on the blue FBM doing mega spin to perverted decades that day.
For sure I remember you! How's things?
lol, Tim K was supposed to be at that Atlanta jam, he was flying in, but apparently hit a deer on the way? lol, deer do not fly, silly Tim. "
Is this the case of " snail mail"?
But since you would like to know, and for the interests.....I was driving down 75, and in reference this was the around the time I got a horrific pm from another member here telling me " I hope that your family dies in a plane crash". Well like I had stated in my pm to you. My Mother passed away a few months after this private message, and trust me, it didn't go over well to remember that.
As far as deer flying- I don't know if they have reindeer in canukland. =)
Well I hope this clears everything up for you, and sets the record straight coming first person and not hearsay.