By definition, a "ringer" counts as one who enters a competition dishonestly, but for the purpose of this column that word is utilized a lot less literally. Although the rampant team member addition-and-substitution scenario at the Vans Roadblock contest on Saturday, July 3rd in Vancouver started out as slightly confusing, it instantly became well-accepted as the norm. It actually made the whole thing a lot more interesting albeit more difficult for judges Mitch Francis and Zane Cushing. Even the Roadblock DJ, who was originally supposed to be Rico Uno, was replaced by Vinyl Ritchie (who does actually spin real records).

"Ringers, dude," reiterates Cyrus Thiedeke, who emceed the event (and can also be heard doing in-game contest announcing in Skate 3). "The ringers are going to decide this one. These guys are killing it. I don't like competition in skateboarding, but this is fantastic; it's good for the crowd that includes skaters, strange women, people wearing Ed Hardy, and dudes walking little dogs – Granville Street's really weird like that."

The contest was held on a closed down block of the busy, pedestrian-friendly downtown nightclub/shopping district. As a bonus, the normally super rough street was repaved during pre-Olympic urban rejuvenation efforts. In terms of format, the contest pitted 4 Metro Vancouver skate retailers against each other and had each shop provide its own unique obstacle. Each team would take turns skating the obstacles, one-at-a-time in 15-minute jams, and each obstacle was tagged with $1000 cash to be spread amongst the shop squad who killed it.

"One team could dominate each obstacle and win it all," Vans Canada Marketing Manager Bobby Gascon said before the event. "We wanted to have a different type of skate event where it's more community-based, involving the shops and getting them to work together. It's pretty simple, and it's basically a diluted version of the Downtown Showdown. If we can bring the Roadblock across Canada, that'd be great."

Coastal Riders brought a homemade metal-frame bench that's somewhat of a family heirloom. According to Mike "Hashbrown" Schulze, it was fabricated in shop class years ago by a former team rider, and has been with the Surrey skateshop ever since. Dustin Locke, Jordan Zazula, Adam Fontaine, Scott Tyson and ringer Stacy Gabriel rounded out their team. Coastal's Magnus Hanson and John Hanlon would've definitely posed a serious threat, but they were on the road for Beat The Heat in Medicine Hat, AB (where Magnus took first and apparently pocketed $5000).

Commerical Drive's BLVD Skateshop brought the kicker to double-sided steep bank crowned with granite slabs – definitely the contest favourite. "That'll be the showboat obstacle," as Cyrus Thiedeke said. Corey Klim, Nick "Nugget" Moore, AJ McCallister, Chris Connelly, Desmond Hoostie and Cameo Wilson (BLVD's ringer from Las Vegas) rounded out the team.

"My friends, Corey, Nuggs, and AJ skate for BLVD and I just crashed at their house last night," Cameo began explaining his pinch-hitter status. "They woke up, like, ‘We've gotta go to a contest,' so I just came down with them and met Kevin Kelly who asked me if I wanted to skate."

Downtown's Underworld dragged their difficult coping-lined A-frame manual/ledge device onto Granville. "It turned out a little bigger and steeper than we originally planned, but it works," Dustin Montie mentioned. In terms of their roster, UW's Chad Dickson, Montie, Micky Papa, Jorden Murray, Adam Hopkins and Arte Lew were skating, with no ringer in sight.

"I didn't know what to expect this morning, especially not knowing what the rest of the obstacles were," Chad Dickson said post-Roadblock. "We've got a strong team and I knew something good would come out of it. Everybody killed it, except me [laughs]. I kind of blew it because I was up at 6am watching FIFA."

Last but not least, Main Street's Antisocial went all-ringer with an impressive makeshift roster since their entire actual team was out of town. They rallied up Boyd Young from Australia, Brett Gifford, Mike Vince, Joey Williams, and Spencer Hamilton. To further Antisocial's Roadblock challenges, their obstacle was unfinished and unfortunately disqualified from the event. It was decided that the $1000 prize earmarked for their contest feature would be put towards a best trick cash jam open to anyone who wanted to skate the Coastal bench and BLVD bank after the contest was all said and done.

Joey Williams, hardflip.

After ripping all day, UW teamster and TM Dustin Montie hung up on a lipslide across BLVD's obstacle, opening up a 4-stitch gusher. "He's a strong kid and he walked away on his own – he's doing fine," Chad Dickson mentioned after the fact. Turns out, while Montie was getting sewn up at St. Paul's, the Underworld dudes were tallying up his loot-share after they claimed much of the prize purse. UW won the jams on both their obstacle and the Coastal Riders bench, taking $2000. While the rest of the team looked ready to spend their earnings on double hi-balls at the afterparty in Gastown, Micky Papa had other plans: "My share will pay for half of my new rims [laughs]."

"Overall, the contest was butters. Everyone skated well, there was a positive spirit, and we got some paper," said BLVD's ringer Cameo Wilson, whose skills have had an immediate impact during his short time in Vancouver. That "paper" he referenced was the $1000 BLVD took for winning their own obstacle overall.

Push.ca has all your Vans Roadblock visual needs well covered [video on its way -ed.], so I'll hold off on typing out trick highlights. I will mention that Steve Berra, Rob "Sluggo" Boyce, Colin McKay and Torey Pudwill were spotted in the crowd taking in the contest followed by the Vancouver premiere of Transworld's Hallelujah at the Vogue theatre.

As for the summing up the Roadblock, Cyrus Thiedeke took a moment away from the mic to help close this column fittingly: "This is some winning shit right here. There was a lot of money up for grabs, but I don't think that's it. I think it's all about shop status."

Nick Moore, crooked grind.

Photos: Brian Caissie

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Related:
On The Horn with Micky Papa
Banner Year: Chad Dickson
Rise Up: Arte Lew