News

Blading needs more shops. When's the last time you tried on a pair of skates at an actual skate shop? Yes, not many have the opportunity to pick up their goods like that. But it isn't only a matter of over-the-counter experience that may (or may not) include professional advice on what to get; local shops literally "make" scenes. This is only one of the topics that are discussed in this Company Profile with Roc City Skates out of Rochester, NY. Others being dedication and love for the sport, entrepreneurship, permits and a certain unnamed jerk. Read on.

Check out Dutch Rollerblading Magazine [MAG] with its November release. This month featuring KapotHard Report, Le Swizz in Amsterdam and many, many photos!

Last night CX-Games had an after party for all the athletes and staff to end a great event. We all had a great time but when the alarm went off at 8am we were all wishing we would have got to sleep earlier. Either way today was a day that we had all been looking forward to due to the fact that we would be going to see The Great Wall of China one of the wonders of the world. CX had arranged a van to pick us up at 9am and once we all piled in everyone was back asleep before the car started moving. An hour and a half later the car stopped and we all woke up. We had arrived at The Great Wall.

As I made my way to the bathroom around 9am my legs felt like I had walked across the great wall ten times. Usually this would concern me but due to the fact that yesterday was so great I was content with the way I was feeling. The best trick was scheduled for 1pm and like clockwork Franky picked me up at 11:30am and we headed to the event. As we made the drive the sky was grey and the fog was thick giving the day a very Halloween type feel. As we drove to the event we joked about how spooky the best trick was going to get!

The phone rang at 8am and through the Chinese I heard the name Silhan. Though I didn't know what the voice was saying I knew something must be wrong with Mathias. Yesterday during practice he had a slight fall that kinked his neck and now today that small kink wouldn't allow Mathias to move his head at all. Franky decided it was best if we all went to the contest and that he was going to take Mathias to the hospital to make sure nothing serious was wrong.

The Infernal 10 Years Anniversary Raffle on Be-Mag ended yesterday and we had a whole bunch of participants for this. So if you've won you can consider yourself really, really lucky! And now the curtain rises for the three winners!

As we entered the course around 2pm you could sense the excitement as well as some nervousness affecting most of the competitors. With only 30 minutes of warm up time before the contest everyone was very eager to get warmed up and finalize their run. The contest format was 2 runs, 60 seconds each, and they take your best run. Along with all the international competitors there was also three Chinese skaters who had moved on from the China National contest the day before. Due to the fact that the skatepark was very spread out everyone had different tricks and unique lines which was very cool to see.

Since the weather took a turn for the worst yesterday with all the rain and dropping temperatures my expectations weren't very high for today. Surprisingly driving to the event the sun was out and the temperature was the highest it had been since arriving in Beijing. As we made our way to the course the mountain bike contest was running late which was fine because it gave me some time to decide how my line was going to be laid out and what lines would required the most practice. As always the local skaters were super welcoming and looked happy to see us which made the feeling more like a skate park session than a contest.

Before a contest everyone is always so excited to begin practicing and most of the time the anticipation is the hardest part. Everyone woke up this morning excited to go to the event site and check the course out. Even Horn and Mathias were in great spirits and dealt with the jet lag really well. We all went to a small coffee shop near the site and as everyone began to wake up the weather began to get worse.