Next month, ten years since the last time bladers made the annual pilgrimage to the midwest, Bitter Cold Showdown will take place at Modern Skatepark. For anyone keeping score, the loss of North America’s largest blade event was no small matter. It was a tentpole event for the whole calendar year, and at the time it was the best opportunity around for interfacing directly with fans and customers, thanks to the revolutionary trade show component. But now it’s back, for a one-day advanced competitor event, so we caught up with event creator Daniel Kinney to learn more.

The Final Results for the ONE Blade Awards are ready to release! The blade community continues to evolve and the ONE Blade Awards allow us all to voice our thoughts and determine a benchmark of agreed upon standards to carry forward. It's also the chance to celebrate the people, events and products that make blading not only possible, but are working tirelessly to push forward to new horizons for our culture.

In his time on blades, Stéphane Alfano has established a reputation as one of the world's most thrilling bladers. Known for logic-defying transfers and seeking out high-risk situations, he has dominated competition tours, wowed crowds, and alienated fellow skaters with his abundance of self-confidence. But now, gaining perspective with time, maturity, and the experience of recovering from an injury, Stéphane is ready to return to rollerblading. He recently spent a month traveling and skating throughout Mexico, taking his trademark fearless approach to a wide variety of spots and terrain.

As has become blade tradition, on the first weekend of November some 300+ competitors from all across the world descended on Santa Ana, California for Blading Cup. This fall event following the first-ever spring event in April made 2022 the first time there had ever been two Blading Cup events in the same calendar year. And like each event before it in this long-running series, the fall 2022 event was even bigger, better than ever.

Now living in the first restriction free summer after The Covid 19 pandemic, the smell of opportunity was in the air once again. For the most part the vast majority of people were taking advantage, myself and Radek Kojtych included. We had already spent years forever talking of “working together” on a project. But it was this post-Covid atmosphere that finally made us grasp the nettle with both hands.

Out in Arizona there's a new shop that's making its mark at events and across social media, and that outfit is Kulture Ride Supply. Owner/Partner Bobby Dixon has come out of blading retirement like so many fellow skaters that were part of the boom generation, but thanks to his expanding family, he and the kids have found their way back to the skatepark, where Bobby's passion has been reignited.

The Mile High Battle is one of the longest-running street comps in blading -- if not the longest -- and this year saw its 23rd showing in the streets of Denver. Skaters like Adam Bazydlo, Danny Malm, Andrew Kramer, and Zach Savage fought across a variety of challenging spots for a generous prize purse and the bragging rights that go with winning this prestigious event. ONE editor-at-large Jeff Stanger worked with Jeff Gonring and photographer Drew Kennedy to document the action and brought back this report. Take a look and put the 2023 MHB on your blade schedule.

A little mid-week jaunt down into Devon and beyond was in the cards, all in aid of cracking on a new project featuring Billy Murton. It was the late addition of Matt Smith that turned the business blading mission into more of a road trip with the boys. July was treating us all the finest summer weather the UK could muster, and with one spot to the good and many more to go we headed into Redruth for two of Cornwall’s more infamous spots.

After a long period of dormancy, recent years have seen an abundance of innovative blade products enter the market. From skates to frames to liners, our maturing community has begun to experiment with the form of our equipment, expanding the limits of what is possible on skates. We think that is pretty cool. Enter the FR Skates UFR Antony Pottier Street, a new iteration of the beloved FR/Seba shell style...

Los Angeles has a new blade retailer and event coordinating hot spot in the form of Astral Blades. This small, family-operated and blader-owned business supports similar companies within the skate community with a dedicated approach to grassroots development. Coming in fast on the scene with inventive skate events that bring together wide, diverse groups of people on wheels, Chris Rosi has a vision for what the scene needs and is taking steps to make it happen.