Alright, where to begin...First of all these terms are totally meaningless and their meaning changes as time passes. I think I sort of missed the "old school" train of hopping stationary tricks. I started riding as midschool was on the way out. Rolling tricks and the use of all brakes, decades, pinky squeaks etc...While new school I suppose focuses more on pumping and turbining tricks.
What does all this have to do with riding? Nothing really. I haven't had the pleasure of travelling to Europe so I don't really know anything about their scene other than the pros, but in North America, midschool and new school riding are currently going head to head in the #amflat circuit. And midschool is arguably winning.
The top riders in master class being Jon Dowker, Prasheel Gopal, Tyler Gilliard, Todd Gully, Ron Monis, Mark Kuhlmann, Joel Schallhorn and myself (Alex Poirier). The midschool riders obviously being Jon Dowker and Todd Gully while Ron Monis kind of borders between mid and new. Pretty much anytime Jon Dowker is at a contest I rule out first place because his consistency is something I just cannot catch. Todd Gully the past two years has also taken over podium positions consistently and has pretty much a guarunteed top 3 spot in the #amflat circuit. Dowker would also be up there if he had made it to more circuit stops (where you at Jon? Stop letting the new school kids win contests). Ron Monis (fortunately for us) seems to choke on his contest runs but if he was hitting his stuff he would be a top 3 contender for sure.
These three guys are the reason you see guys like Tyler Gilliard, Joel Schallhorn, Prasheel Gopal and myself going for new harder tricks in our runs, because if we don't pull out the stops we cannot catch their consistency mixed with their high level midschool riding. Ron, Todd and Jon are amazing riders and competing with them in the same class is so much fun. This brings me to a point (not that I really have a point).
Vet class. I'll be honest...I hate this class. Tricks are tricks, they all have a level of difficulty regardless of what time period they are from. Jon Dowker and Todd Gully are proof that decades, pinky squeaks, and many more non-new-school tricks can win master class. I don't even like the separation of expert and master class to be honest. I think expert should be divided, the top experts should be in master, the bottom should be in beginner.
Anyways I pretty much made this post because I wanted to highlight how awesome master classes midschool riders are. Riding with them is so much fun (and partying with them is even more fun).
With that said, I cannot wait for Battle at the Border in Bufflao for the last stop of the amflat circuit. Hopefully Tyler Gilliard, Jon Dowker and Koit come to this one as its been forever since we have seen them. Lastly, Steve Lapsley and his family are awesome. The amflat circuit is going in such a good direction and I can't wait to see what riders jump up classes for next year (Jimmy Kibbons, Joe Cicman, Alexis la Grassa, Johnny Tamayo).
I was hoping to solve why Ron Monis is sexy as I wrote this, but I couldnt figure it out...The fact remains though.
