2024 has been an exceptional year for inline skating. With the community slowly adjusting to some level of normalcy in a post-Covid world, skaters from all over are making the most of their time and enjoying life and all that comes with it. That often means spending time with friends and loved ones, traveling to new locations, and of course, strapping on the skates for a fun session. We decided to speak with some of Blading’s best and brightest stars to see what 2024 brought them.
JAKE DOTSON
Where did you start 2024?
At the start of 2024 I had just finished up a part for Red Eye Wheels in honor of Festivus, and was a couple months into filming another crew video after Illegal Smiles was done at the end of October. Plans for the year were about the same as any other year lately, just to stay healthy and get out as much as I can with the guys here in Seattle to skate.
I wanted to have another part for Red Eye for the second colorway of a wheel that they were doing for me, and also put together something for Razors that I was proud of. Also just to keep some consistency with my friends up here about getting out and filming for this next video with everyone.
Where did you end in 2024?
By the end of the year I had checked off a few of the boxes. I was able to get the Red Eye part (For-Ev-Er) out by March, and was really happy with how the second set of wheels turned out. I also had a part for Razors (Spring ‘24) wrapped up about a month after that in April. I was really happy with a bunch of the clips in that. Shout out to Josiah Blee and Neil Christenson for being down to film.
I was able to contribute to a couple other Razor projects throughout the summer too, the SL Sky team edit, that they gave me a shot at editing for them. And also a few clips for the Cult Level One team edit that Json Adriani put together for us. All the while continuing to work on this video with the guys up here, doing a lot more behind the camera has been a fun thing to take on and I’m learning a lot from it, and having that to work on keeps us all motivated to get together when we can to get outside.
What are some of your favorite memories from this year?
My favorite memories, skating wise, this year were some of the day trips we’d take to different places around Washington to go find new stuff to skate. It’s hard for everyone to try and plan some big out-of-state weekend trip to film, as fun as that would be, we’re all busy and have responsibilities outside of skating.
But we’ll do a small version and just load up the cars early on a Saturday or something and head out to a different part of Washington to get a change of scenery and get out of the city. It really motivates everyone and it’s fun to find some new stuff to skate. Then we will just go until dark and be home that night. We had a few great ones this summer to Wenatchee, Bellingham, and Portland just a couple hours away.
What were some of your favorite musical artists or songs that you enjoyed this year?
According to my Apple Music version of the Spotify Wrapped thing, my top artists for 2024 were Eminem, Shannon and the Clams, and (thanks to my 12 and 9 year old daughters) Taylor Swift haha.
What are some photos or videos that sum up your experiences in 2024?
What did you wish you had done in the year but missed the opportunity?
Things I wish I could have been able to do this year would just be to get to more events. BladeCup, Winterclash, more street comps. I always have a great time seeing old friends and meeting new people. It’s more about the excuse for everyone to be in one spot together and skate than competing for me, so that would have been fun.
Did get to one though, went to Windy City Riot in July, which was a first for me. Had a really fun day and saw some great skating. Thanks to Andy (Wegener) at Razors for helping make that happen for me. Wish I could go to all the things all the time, just needed at home with the family though, and that’s a blessing too. So it’s all good.
What are you looking forward to in 2025?
In 2025 I’m looking forward to finishing up this video, and being able to show everyone the hard work that all the guys have been up to since the last one. As well as just being able to watch another year of progression in rollerblading and seeing what comes next. Happy New Year everybody.
Photos provided by: Matt Crissinger, @pizza__bones
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