“Athens, Ga., via Michigan flatland/trails/street rider Dane Beardsley needs to be commended for being very patient with me. A few weeks ago, Dane approached me with a private link to a new video he had been working on for the past six months or so, tracking his latest flatland progression, from front wheel rolling links filmed in Jersey City during last year’s New York Marathon, to hip fakies at the trails.
I was immediately impressed with the video, but also amid the production chaos that comes with working on the 2012 Street League Skateboarding Series. (Yes, I do more than BMX around here.) I asked Beardsley, “Can you hold onto it till next week?” He responded yes, and then had to deal with probably two more rounds of me saying the same thing before I was finally able to give it the proper attention it needed here. I apologize, Dane, please forgive me.
As evidenced by the above video, Dane Beardsley’s riding is not like your everyday brand of popular flatland riding. For one, he has no bad tattoos. And two, he’s not overly concerned with fast, concentric front wheel combinations. He’d rather let his links breathe, while layering on the difficulty. He’s also not dominated by front or back wheel links — he breaks it up evenly. And he’s not afraid to throw some rail hops and trail riding into the mix. I guess you could say he’s the porridge that Goldilocks chose in this crazy world called flatland.” – ESPN
