ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Ok so we are now 35 days away from The Texas Sizzler and yet the contest calendar stills show no Main or Major status what is the problem?

Of the three races in North America, two of which are the same listing under two different levels (Sizzler), none have been given a ranking. All racers who are interested in the main benefit the ISSA has to offer racers at this point are looking for this information to plan their schedules and the ISSA is dragging it's feet- no way to gain support of the riders spending the most money on the sport.

According to the site Oregon State Games wrote their application on 11/01/2009 and the Sizzler wrote their application 11/30/2009 with the last update of the calendar being on 12/01/2009, that at best means the ISSA has taken 81 days so far and still no status on either event.

Reading through the very nice work done by Pat Chewning on the ISSA Contest Sanctioning Process document I realize this should be diected at the ISSA Regional Contest Coordinator but I have no clue who that might be and do not have the energy to go hunt through the forum to find out. The document also lacks the information of how long an organizer can expect to wait for a decision and response to his application.

Will we have this information before the event takes place?

OK not that it really matters we still do not know where the tight and hybrid will be held either...

...or what hours the "meeting" Friday night will be. I've asked this question online, offline, by email, to several different people, for three weeks...no answer. I had to book a flight on Thursday, with an extra hotel and extra rental car day (latter two not booked yet) because I could not determine if I would make it to the meeting in time when arriving late Friday. Is the meeting from 5-7? Is it from 7-9? 7-10? Makes all the difference in the world to my plans, yet nowhere in the signup page is the meeting time mentioned, much less how late it goes for those arriving later Friday. I also asked if I can fill out the waiver and get it notarized Sat. AM, or in advance here in VT. I got some conflicting info from different people who are not race organizers, but still nothing from the race organizers. Nor have I gotten an answer about whether they plan to use A/B classes (as the signup implies) if the event has MAJOR status...which as above is undetermined. I am looking into going to Miller's race instead.

I understand JA has some extenuatiing circumstances, but someone should be delegated to take over, or at least respond with an "I'll get back to you by X day" so I at least know the emailed questions to TTASLALOM@GMAIL.COM were received.

I don't want to come off as a dick (maybe impossible) but I wanted to take this season seriously, and with all the time and money spent on training and equipment, travel, time off from work; IMO we deserve a bit more than to be left in limbo about all this.

-RF

Competitors,

We are diligently working towards finalizing the “downtown” location for the Hybrid and Tight Slalom events. We should have a pretty firm answer from the city on Monday. When we began the permitting process in January, we were dealt a major curveball. The city of Austin requires 180-day notice to facilitate a request for a street closure permit. We are doing everything in our power to get the city to waive this for us, and we are very close to securing the 1200-1500 blocks of San Jacinto Blvd, which is one block from the hotel.

Fridays rider meeting will take place somewhere around the 8pm mark. There will be very informal “meet and greet” taking place all afternoon, and up until the meeting, where riders will be able to check in, and get their waivers signed and notarized “free of charge”. Hopefully an 8pm Riders Meeting will jive with peoples travel plans, but if there is an overall consensus that this time should be later, that change can be made

Waivers can still be signed on Saturday, and we will have a notary on hand “free of charge”, at the race.

Regarding Race Format,

I am leaving the race format in the hands of the ISSA officials that will be on hand and that will be addressing the riders at Friday’s and Sunday’s racer meetings. (Jonathan Harms, Gary Fluitt, and Dan Gesmer.) I will do my best as race coordinator to have them make a statement regarding this as soon as possible. Therefore competitors will be able to make informed decisions as to which division they choose to compete in, or if they will choose to attend the Sizzler at all.

Please understand that we are doing everything in our power to not only ensure the success of our event, but also push the envelope on the growth of our sport, and in my heart I believe this is the direction our sport needs to be pushed.

I really appreciate everyone’s patients, as planning an event of this magnitude is far from easy.

Rick Floyd wrote:...or what hours the "meeting" Friday night will be.

Can a man get an answer to a direct question? Some people are flying in from other states and trying it figure out an itinerary that works for the event and their schedule, this question has been asked several times and not fully answered. What time will it begin and what time will it end. It is asked above once more and even though a reply is given it doesnt answer the question asked simply states "somewhere around the 8pm mark".

As someone who worked very hard to change the scene for downhill racing events from spending half of a day doing paperwork and receiving money at every event to a pre-registered pre-paid world so all one had to do at an event is check in, I see the Sizzler seems to be going backward in organizational standards. I fully understand the need for liability waivers and although a notary is only necessary when the signing is NOT done in front of the person requesting the signature to require that this notory be from and legal to notorize IN Texas means that everyone MUST do this at the event which takes time that is not necessary. It really doesn't even make sense to pre-print the form because your marks MUST be made in front of the notory.

Jordan I must say I disagree with your statement "we are doing everything in our power to not only ensure the success of our event, but also push the envelope on the growth of our sport, and in my heart I believe this is the direction our sport needs to be pushed."

Approximately 30 days prior to event:
1. ISSA status not granted
2. Race location for two of three events not secured.
3. Race format not announced.

I sure hope this is not the direction our sport is going and I can assure you I am not alone in this thinking. And yes I know what work it is to organize and run an event, I have been running successful downhill racing events for the past ten years.

Jourdan - I know you are busting your ass to throw a good event and raise the level of the Sizzler production to new heights, nobody doubts that and I'm sure we all appreciate it - and I know you have had additional "fires" to put out - but a friendly reminder to make sure to look at it from a racer's perspective along with an event organizer's perspective.

We all need to plan for attending these events well in advance, including travel/hotel/car/time off from work, all of which must be taken care of 1-3 months in advance of the event.

Also, some of us (or maybe just me do stuff like:
- Train specifically for certain courses / race formats / start methods
- Plan a season around races by their status (if competing for season points rankings)
- Plan to arrive on a specific date/time to assure things are as relaxing and smooth as possible and/or leave room for travel delays, so it is imperative that meeting and event times be pretty darn specific. What Neil is refrring to above is that it would be good to know not only a Friday meeting START time, but also an END time so we know for instance that if our flight gets in at 9pm, that the meeting goes until 10:30pm and it is worth our time to travel downtown, or not - or to leave extra time in the next AM if we need to do paperwork etc.
- Ask specific questions about the event...so a contact email address listed in an event announcement needs to be monitored regularly, or not listed as a place to ask questions.

I think this is the root of some of the frustrations Neil and I are outlining above.

Feel free to contact me to discuss any of this. It could only help to enhance the experience of the event, now and/or in the future. I hope you are not feeling like we are ungrateful for your work, quite the opposite. It is a lot to take on, and I hope you lean on us racers for input and assistance.

One thing I have noticed with all my other sports in the past, is that the best events are the ones where the organization of the event includes a healthy dose of understanding of a competitors perspective...and those events that don't consider that perspective tend to experience problems and/or some dissension.

-Rick

Being the opening act for the ISSA is an honor for us. Some times you have to wait due to city guide lines. That must be followed These are situations beyond our control. The City of Austin has 8-12 weeks for the city council to gives us approval. This is starting from the beginning of Janurary. Even we have to wait. The bid cannot go in any sooner. So we wait. We will not push the Texas Sizzler dates back to accommodate no one. But I also can understand your frustration.
1. We are trying not to race in the middle of NO WHERE.
2. We are shooting for downtown Austin. A few steps from the City Capitol
3. This has not been done in years, most DownHill Slalom Races are held in the backwoods or where no one can see you race. And I mean NO ONE. Except so senior citizens and the local farm animals.
4. Every Sizzler that we have run has been SUCESSFULL. BigView was awesome and it raised the bar. No one has even come close to reaching the magnitude of that hill. Too bad the locals blew it out.
5. We allways run a very casual race, with a back yard ramp style atmosphere.
6. As someone who has and is working very hard for the DownHill Slalom Scene to progress.
7. Cast stones else where WE don't need you. I have been successful running our Texas Outlaw event, not one failure yet. Those of you who have been to the Texas Cold Fusion Sizzler KNOW what to expect. Why because you are not some hick who just came out of the back woods and does not know how a slalom contest is run. And really you don't. No you don't.
8. Dan Gesmer has been at the Timing helm for years at our contest and we our grateful to him for that . He is a class act.
9. I stepped away this year from running the event. Frankly I was tired and needed a break, tired of skaters demands, bitchin, whining, when they should be skating. FXCK THIS AND I MEAN FXCK THIS. I AM FROM TEXAS. WE ARE AND ALLWAYS WILL BE THE ORIGINATORS OF " SHUT UP AND SKATE.
P S For a back wards organization as I said before. We have been a sucessful one. We are attempting to get exposure at our race where some one can actually see a person. Not at the Outlaw or in the middle of know where. Now that sounds backwards to me.
Neil please mention what large grand scale event you have attended where people lined the streets near the state capital or where the purse is as big and legit as ours. There has not been one so far. Jack Smith is the only person whos race I have attended that actually had spectators, and down town festivals do not count. Which race bro ?
Your Amigo O G Eddy Texas Outlaws. See all my friends at The Texas Cold Fusion Sizzler in a couple of weeks.

Bigview. For those of us that skated it. It was EPIC. Damm how this backwards organization managed to pull this one off I do not know. Nothing of its magnitude has been seen since. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

I just wet myself.

Past Texas Sizzler Champs. Real skaters, they came, they threw down and they skated.
Kenny Molica 2008 Texas Sizzler GS Winner.


David Price. BigView DownHill Winner 2007 54 mph



And this bro is a champ. BIG TIME. He came all the way from Canada to race. Did not ask questions. He knew we had done this before. So he shut up and skated. And for this I respect you Loui. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws. Backwards I think not Sir.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtjJ_Wb1gk0

Match this hill if you can. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws. Those of us who were there know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPCIUGgSljY
To the following skaters thank you for coming down to Texas to skate with us over the years.
1. Keith Hollien-Florida
2. David Price-New Mexico
3. Paul Price-England
4. Louis Richard-Canada
5. Kenny Mollica-Ohio
6. Chris Chaput-California
7. Richy Carasco-California
8. Pierre Hazzera-France
9. Joe Iocavelli- Connetticut
10. Lynn Kramer-California
11. John Stryker-Washington
12. Brad Jackman-Washington
13. Lynn Kramer-California
14. Karl Floitgraf-North Carolina
15. Chris Barker-Colorado
16. Zak Maytum-Colorado
17. Dave Pirniack-Colorado
18. Martin Reeves-Colorado
19. Joe Mc Klarren-Colorado
20. Gary Glasser-Colorado
20. George Pappas-Colorado
21. Chris Pappas-Colorado
22. Cat Young-California
22. Trish Erickson-Utah
23. Claude Regnier-Canada
24. Marty Schaub-Georgia
25. Douglas Fox-Oklahoma
26. Bruce 'Norski' Bjortvedt-California
27. JBH-Saint Louis, MO
28. Ricky Byrd-MS
29. James West-New Mexico
30. Brian Werner-MA
You see these skaters believed. They believed that my organization. The Texas Outlaws have a reputation. And we deliver what we promise, or die trying. Promoting DownHill Slalom till the day my heart stops beating.


Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

I had written a response but in trying to keep the peace I re-read it and no need to respond to anyone other than Jordan.

Nobody puts Eddy in a corner!

Settle down guys. In a perfect world this would all be worked out now, but...

The Outlaws are trying to put us downtown. They could announce the back up spot as our venue, but I'm willing to wait and see if they can get us a race in downtown, that what we all want, is it not?

As far as Status goes, me and the BOD have got to take the hit for that. We are debating several issues, and what we give the Sizzler is germain to our debate. Please know this will be at least a MAIN.

I'm signed up, bought airline tickets, ready to go. If it takes me an extra 5 minutes to get my waiver documented on Friday night or Saturday morning, I'll take out my angst on the free beer and fish tacos while I'm driving around in the Dirty Limo.

Joe

I spoke to Gary Fluitt the other night. I let him know we did not care about what status we recieved. We are STOKED to be hosting our race again. I get to race with my friends and chill, meet new ones. As I said before, we have been sucessfull in our endevours as far as throwing our race. Come on down and have faith. I allways have had faith. And my faith has gotten stronger over the last two years. BIGTIME. I believed I would be riding in my contest this year. It is the time of year that the Texas Outlaws are being busy bees. An INTENSE time for us. Outside pressure does not help. And I am just Texas Proud. That is all. My team mates and I have found our selves in interesting situations at every Sizzler. And thank GOD we have prevailed. I believe when a person has good intentions. They will prevail. I know The Texas Outlaws will. Or die trying. We love throwing our contest every year. It is a blast. On Sunday night when I look around at the room at the award ceremonies. I smile. That is the best feeling in the world. Come on down and enjoy yourself. If we are kickback, laidback style. That is just us. We try very hard not to stress out at our contest. No in house fighting, dirty laundry or politics with my Team mates. We are truly glad to see you. Neil you are welcome to come to dinner with Joe I, Joe I SR, and myself on Friday night. It is on me. No beefs here. Peace. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

No beefs ever existed here.

I accept your gracious invitation but only if you sit in the corner

Right On. Not fair. I am allways in the corner. Dinner it is my amigo. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws. Now I got to Fed-Ex and get a Team shirt out to our new Texas Outlaw some guy named Henry Hester aka Bad H.

Yup, add an OUTLAW to the Masters division with Hester, fo sho!

Eddie...please remind me to never stoke your ire. You can get in some ass!

Neil...please, buy your plane tickets, book your room, you'll have more fun than Eddie's three-peckered billy goat he keeps in the back yard.

Look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Eddy you punk ass bitch you left my name (and the CHIxILL crew) off your list. "Jordan" is spelled "Jourdan" BTW... I am booked and will be there around 8PM, maybe later maybe sooner. get my drink ready. We got to get Goad outta' St. Louis for this...

OK Eddy.

Rick Floyd wrote:OK Eddy.

Haha - classsic

Rick & Dr. No,

I wasn't saying that you shouldn't ask questions or don't deserve answers. I'm just saying hang on.

Joe

Yo Top Sider my appologies. Did not mean not to add your name to the list. Slalom folks my good buddy Mr Steve Lavin. Steve, The Stevinator, Steverino, the Stevemeister. Steve Captain of the US Stevinstein, Stevadiva ding dong. Glad you are coming down bro. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

Known Fact

Eddy will hug anyone if there is a camera around

PAB comment retracted Eddy! I love you man. Joe, Eddy hugs me when there is no camera around too you know...

That's the least of what he does.

Joe your pop is such a huggable. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

Joe Iacovelli wrote: As far as Status goes, me and the BOD have got to take the hit for that. We are debating several issues, and what we give the Sizzler is germain to our debate. Please know this will be at least a MAIN.

Joe

Joe Iacovelli wrote:

Rick Floyd wrote:OK Eddy.

Haha - classsic

Rick & Dr. No,

I wasn't saying that you shouldn't ask questions or don't deserve answers. I'm just saying hang on.

Joe

The BOD was where my OP was aimed Joe- For my situation atleast, I only race tight and hybrid-no GS, so in having to wait to see if we are going to have a hill to race on the air fare goes up. BOD should be requiring that an event has atleast a road closure permit and insurance before it not only gives status but allows an organizer to advertise any race as an ISSA sanctioned race.

As I stated before I support what Jourdan is trying to accomplish but what if they do not get the permit? I have spent $1000.00 (bringing the boss this time) on airfare, $600.00 on hotel, $300.00 on rental car. I can cancel the car and the hotel but airfare will be lost or atleast cost me $200.00 to change it.

As of right now The Texas Sizzler has Main Status. The BOD is drafting some changes which will be made public shortly, but regardless of nomenclature, the Sizzler's status will be "Main", at a minnimum.

I think I undrstand the issue Neil. Are you worried that if the permits don't come thru for downtown, there is no race? Jourdan and the outlaws have a back up spot locked up for Sunday, but we are holding out for approval downtown.

I just confirmed this with Eddy that this is true and I'll ask that a picture and description get put up here. So basically this race is as sure as any approved ISSA race. They have permits, insurance, police reserved. The only difference is that there is an alternate (and better location) for Sunday.

Neil, I'm sorry we have not been more clear. I enjoy your company, book it and meet me and Fatboy at the Salt Lick BBQ on Friday afternoon.

Joe

The back up hill is less than a 10 minute drive from hotel
I have many pics and vids of this hill

I know every person has a different view on things, in this situation I would have announced something such "we have secured a location for the tight and hybrid but before we announce the location we are awaiting word on approval of our desired location....".

Let's all who are about to spend hundreds or thousands to go ahead and do so.

No need for pics, I have faith in the boys from Texas and have heard of their events (too laid back in some instances....Eddy!) from many racers.

I booked all my arrangements three weeks ago.

Joe, I fly in early Wednesday and will be in Hondo (west of San Antonio) visiting family unitl sometime Friday, if I make it back in time I will definitely join you guys.

Agreed, I think I must have been filling in the gaps from personal knowledge and didn't get what you were asking. Glad it's all working out.

Joe

Texas crew always brings the hills and speed.

can someone post google map directions to the event sites? thanks!

Rick Floyd wrote:can someone post google map directions to the event sites? thanks!

Eddy just said no on Silverfish. Probably get them Friday night.

The Outlaws have very bad experiences with their venues getting busted by a-holes getting all gnar with the locals.

I'd like to get them in advance - have family and friends coming who will need to know how to find the races - email works.

Read again Wes. We are talk about the secret spot where the Austin Texas Outlaws ride. They guard their secret slalom spots BIGTIME. Not the hill where the Sizzler will take place. I will ask one of the boys to post up directions and we will have maps with directions at the hotel as well. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws. Rick I thought you were not coming Amigo. Glad you are.

At the time I thought it was weird. Everyone's been talking about Oasis Bluff and rode there in the past. Kind of late to make it a secret now.

Eddy Martinez wrote:Read again Wes. We are talk about the secret spot where the Austin Texas Outlaws ride. They gaurd there secret slalom spots BIGTIME. Not the hill where the Sizzler will take place. . I will ask one of the boys to post up directions and we will have maps with directions at the hotel as well. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws. Rick I thought you were not coming Amigo. Glad you are.

Eddy - did you get my last PM?? I tried to be clear that I had not made a decision at that point, maybe I wasn't...sorry. I found the GS hill myself on Google Maps today, but still would like direcs for Sunday.

Just got a PM from Jason B. with full direcs - thanks Jason!