The Rollerblade Invasion of One Rockin' Texas Town - 05/11/16

Welcome to Texas . Home of ‘The Live Music Capital of the World.' Where the weather may turn on a dime and the population is as eclectic as a Tex-Mex buffet. Expect to find live music most random nights of the week, starving artists being edgy at any coffee shop, and lighthearted hippies prancing about town. Austin , TX : the setting for the most recent rollerblade invasion.

Welcome to “Not Your Average Spin to Win Competition” held by Connections Skate Shop through the hard work and dedication of Jason Howard and Chris Fleener. October 1 st , 2005 was the lucky day for this siege of bladers upon the quaint city of Austin , TX. With skaters traveling from all regions of Texas , large representation was found from Houston , Dallas , San Antonio , and the ATX.

The destruction of law and sanity began at Barton Hills Elementary, located near the greatest place in the world, Barton Springs. Warm ups involved a long, sweet ass handicap rail of perfect slide-a-bility and design. After the heavy hitters of Texas had warmed up, re-acquainted, and were ready to battle; Chris Fleener declared the beginning of the onslaught upon the 14 stair rail, equipped with drop rail option, located in the back of the elementary school. Highlights consisted of Fritz Peitzners smooth alleyoop tricks, Andrew Hales 270 topsoul down the drop rail, Tim Howells wicked wallride to kindgrind, and ‘up and comer' Ryan Stevens display of how frontside torques are done. As the new generation of Texas bladers battled for the second spot, local police arrived and put a stop to the nonsense, resulting in the hasty evacuation of this once innocent elementary school.

Second spot provided an ample supply of skate terrain options: with kink rails, drop rails, long mellow yellow rails scattered across the campus. The focus was the long yellow rail centered at the school, with highlights from local Brian Freeman a.k.a. Lil' B representing hard with “270 this to jump around that do a spin, whoopty whoop.” Chase Rushing brought Texas style to the rail with all around favorite's backside and topsoul, woohoo! Jose Gorbea and Mark Bidgoli sessioned the kinks like a practice rail with Jose busting out backside savannah to topsoul to coolness and Mark Bidgoli pushing the level above and beyond with a negative fishbrain down the steep kink rail that most children would rather dream about than skate.

Last spot was Texas . A huge, warped, 50 stair rail with rocky landings on either sides leading to a track that was not even rollable. Sounds like a blast. With most skaters choosing to sit it out: Fritz Peitzner, Jose Gorbea, Jason Howard, Zach Gutwieler, Brian Freeman, Ryan Stevens, and Tim Howell tested the limits of the human body. Respect goes to Tim Howell for nearly landing kindgrind and allyoop topside acid, yes you heard me, down this rail. Almost. Jason Howard and Jose Gorbea were the last skaters battling as the sun set across the wide open Texas sky. The competition ended with Jason Howard landing a topsoul to mizou to topsoul to backslide, yes backslide, back to topsoul to gap across the curb to land on the sketchy ass track. Well shit, I have never seen that before. The day ended with a product toss, and skaters looking forward to mayhem all night long.

Competition Results:

1st Jason Howard
2nd Jose Gorbea
3rd Brian Freeman

Thanks go out to the support from rollerblading's leading companies: Connections Skate Shop, Razors, Mindgame, Ground Control, Jug, Able, Kizer, USD, Second Regime, 4 X 4, Eulogy, and Six Won Six.

- Bowen La Cava

Top: Ryan Stevens: Torque

Brian Moore: Ao Topporn Mark Bidgoli: Neg Makio
Chase Rushing: Backside	Jose Gorbea: Topsoul
Jason Howard: Topsoul