RollerCon 2013 Virgin Recommendations

One of my favorite things about my G Spot is that I get to give away goodies to my readers.  This is only made possible because I have amazing followers who share the blog with their Roller Derby family, spreading the Derby Love.  This time, I get to give away a goodie pack of Bones stuff:  Bones Bearing Washer Bottle, Speed Cream, 8-pack of Super Reds (or 16-pack of Reds), Bones Bearing Tool, and Bones Stickers!  But wait, that's not all!  I also have a purple CSPC Triple 8 helmet to give to anyone the winner chooses. 

So without further ado, the winner is...HardKore Lena from Athens Ohio Roller Derby who submitted the name "Kitty Liquorbottom." 

Congratulations!  Have fun with your goodies!

Craziness at the Black and Blue Ball

I have been working on a blog post about how to keep your toe stops from coming loose and falling out, but with RollerCon coming up next week I don't think I will be able to post it until after the festivities.  If you are having this issue and would like me to send you the article, send me an e-mail at 2N1SkateShoppe@gmail.com.  The article is complete, I just need to take some photos to include to enhance the verbiage.

This will be my 5th RollerCon in a row and I'm just as excited as my first one.  I don't have any recommendations specifically relating to gear, so this is just general advice:

1. Keep your schedule loose!  There is nothing worse than having your heart set on a specific class, only to find out that it already filled up, was cancelled, or you got drunk the night before and woke up too late to attend.  If something like that happens, brush it off and don't give it another thought.  There is so much going on at all times during the convention, you won't have trouble finding something else to occupy your time.  Come on, it's Vegas!

2. Don't go crazy!  It's amazing to be amongst so many fellow Roller Derby fanatics, and it can be quite overwhelming, but that doesn't mean you have to keep up drink-for-drink with your new buddy and wind up puking into the pool during the Black and Blue ball (yes, that supposedly happened.)  It's okay (and expected) to have fun, but if you overdo it, you may not be able to put your skates on the next day or two due to a nasty hangover.

3) Have a battle buddy!  This one comes from my time in the Army.  A battle buddy is someone who is supposed to look out for you and keep you out of trouble, and you are to do the same for them.  This may mean you take turns getting trashed, find a way to keep your buddy from going over their limit (booze, gambling, staying up late, etc.), or making sure they don't go back to some random person's hotel room when they may not be able to make the best decisions for themselves.  If you pick the right battle buddy, they will not only keep you out of trouble, but also will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and into situations you wouldn't have thought to get yourself info if you were alone.

If you follow those 3 rules, you should have no problem staying happy and out of trouble while experiencing new adventures.  If you have an interesting story from a past RollerCon, whether it be a tale of woe, humor, or just plain strange, please feel free to share it with us in the comments.  If you are heading to RollerCon next week and happen to see me, flash me the shocker...it will make my day.

Until we skate again!
Shocker

Summer Shocker

This is going to be my last post for a little while.  Our summers in Alaska are quite short so we tend to make the most of it by going camping, hiking, fishing...pretty much any outdoor activity.  My league, the Rage City Rollergirls, takes some time off as well which makes it more difficult for me to test products and I would rather take some time off than post reviews about products that I haven't been able to fully try out.  In the meantime, why don't you go back to the beginning and re-read (or read for the first time if you are new to the G Spot) my articles on skate maintenance.  You should be changing your cushions out about once a year, depending on how much you skate, and while you have your skates disassembled you can easily check to see if you need to replace your pivot cups or if you have developed any small cracks/breaks in your trucks or plates.

Karen "Glitch" Corcoran

For the past few weeks we have asked for you to submit a Roller Derby haiku in the comments section which entered you into a contest to win a set of Heartless wheels.  After reading through them all and having fans vote on FaceBook, we finally have a winner!  Congratulations to Karen Corcoran (aka Glitch) and her victorious haiku:

Pulses are pretty,
But I beat all the jammers
with ugly Street Hogs

Nice right? Our other 2 finalists, Laura Wilcoxon and Kayla Cline, as well as all of the other entries were awesome and I really appreciate all the creative juices that flowed to create them.

Our next give-away is this awesome package of Bones Stuff!  Bones Bearing Washer Bottle, Speed Cream, 8-pack of Super Reds (or 16-pack of Reds), Bones Bearing Tool, and Bones Stickers!  All you need to do to enter your name in this drawing is post a comment with the Roller Derby name you've seen or heard that you think is hilarious, interesting, poignant, raunchy, or just strange.  You don't have to know them personally, but if you know what league they are affiliated with please post that too.  Actually, just post both of your leagues, that makes it easier to find you later when you win.  When I choose a name, I'll also send a purple Triple 8 CPSC Helmet to any skater of your choice as well!

I know most of my readers are from the Roller Derby world, but this goodie pack is perfect for any skate/longboarder as well so if you would rather post your favorite skate/longboarder name then have at it.

I'll draw the winner(s) on July 22nd, so you have a month to get your entries in.  Please spread the word of the contest (and, my blog of course) far and wide.  The more people visit this site, the more stuff I can get from sponsors to give away!

The last thing I needed to talk about was that I will be taking some time off.  Up here in Alaska we only get a few very short months for summer and it is usually spent traveling, hiking, fishing, outdoor skating, etc.  So, I'm going to take a little time off from writing reviews here, but I am trying out some Atom Lowboys (95a) and Jukes (93a), I got some new Juice wheels that are brand spanking new to the market so that's exciting, and I'm expecting to get some new toestops from Crazy Skates very soon, so I should be able to get back into the swing of things (blog-wise) quickly upon my return.

I hope you all are also able to enjoy the summer (Northern Hemisphere readers, of course) and, as always:

Until we skate again,
Shocker