Wake, BCSD was last weekend and you took 3rd place. Congratulations! What was the event like for you?
Thanks! BCSD is something I always look forward to every year. My memories of Bitter Cold are quite different than most other people’s. My dad started bringing me to Bitter Cold when I was only 10 years old. We would leave my mom and little brothers at home and have a “guy weekend.” He has taken me every year except this one — he couldn’t get off work — so my mom got to have the Bitter Cold experience. When I first came to Bitter Cold, it was like a dream to watch the Pros who you normally only read about in magazines skating in person. Maybe you’ll even meet them and talk to them or, even better, skate with them! I kept working on improving myself each year and did better and better every time, eventually making it past qualifiers to the Am event. Then placing high enough in the Ams to compete in the Pro event.
This year was definitely one of my favorites. Each year I enjoy walking around and looking at the new products at the trade show. This year the coolest thing was the new Create Original suspension frames — I can not wait to ride them! They also had the new Amall Bowl Contest which was pretty cool. I went through the back entrance to watch the warm-up session because I knew that it was going to be impossible to find a seat to watch it. I got to see a bit of the bowl contest but once there was so may people that I couldn’t see anymore, I went and got warmed up for the Am contest. I skated well and ended up getting 2nd and qualifying to the Pro division. I skated the third heat in the Pro division and ended up qualifying to the Pro finals! My goal was to make it to the Pro finals this year because the past two years I would make it to the Pro qualifiers but couldn’t make it past that. I skated really hard and ended up getting 3rd place at BCSD! Definitely one of the best trips I have ever had.
How about the other competitors? Did you get a chance to see what the other dudes were doing during the finals?
Chris Haffey, CJ Wellsmore, Montre Livingston, Kevin Lapierre, Julian Bah, Roman Abrate, Jeff Howard, Brett Urbas, David Sizemore, and myself were in the finals and skating with all of them was incredible. These are some of the best skaters in the world that I have been looking up to since I started skating when I was 5, and now I am competing with them! That was such a privilege for me. They were all really having fun in the last round and everyone was pushing each other to do bigger tricks. I was kind of watching some of their tricks when i wasn’t going. One of my favorites was when Montre did full cab truporn with the look back at everyone in the crowd.
What was your favorite trick you landed?
Definitely the Hurricane Top Acid on the rainbow rail.
Tell us about the trick you were trying at the very end — looked like Fish to TTP? What was it exactly?
Well, the first time I tried it, it ended up being Fish to True Top Soul, but I thought I’d have a better chance of doing True Top Porn instead. So I went for that, but every time I either wasn’t leaning the right way or I was missing the TTP.
How about when Haffey and CJ gave you their turns at last trick? What did you think about that?!
Honestly, I was not expecting anything like that when I was skating in the comp. Chris came up to me and was like “Wake, I want you to have my last trick…” I couldn’t believe it. It was Chris Haffey! I am still in shock about that. I felt honored and I really wanted to land that trick so I tried it. I didn’t land it and then everyone was saying one more, one more and I went for it two more times but I didn’t get it. After they called the contest, I went and said thank you to Chris and CJ for letting me have their last tricks. It was honestly the best and craziest comp I have ever skated in.
This year introduced the first-ever Aggressive Mall Champion Bowl contest. CJ won that too, but what did you think about having that event before the main contest?
The Aggressive Mall Champion Bowl was pretty awesome! I saw more of the beginning and the warm-ups of the contest because I went out and got warmed up for the AM contest about half way through the bowl contest. Congrats to CJ for killing the bowl! I was skating the bowl with him Thursday night and he was destroying it! I think having that before the main event was fine. It shouldn’t have worn out the competitors too much and if they had it after the main event, I think most of the spectators probably would have left after watching all the other skating.
Did you get to eat at Coney Island? If so, what’s your poison?
I ate at Coney Island at least once each day over the BCSD trip. The best meal I had there was definitely breakfast with pancakes and eggs and always chocolate milk. Last time I went was definitely the best though. It was Saturday night after the comp ended and the whole place was filled with bladers. When I walked in, everyone started clapping and cheering and chanting my name, “Wake, Wake, Wake!” I felt very humbled and very appreciative that people enjoyed my skating.
As we all know, turns out this is the final BCSD. Are you glad you got to compete in the event while it lasted?
When Daniel Kinney made the announcement, I gotta say I was upset. It made me think of all the Bitter Cold Showdowns I went to; great memories growing up with this competition. I always dreamed of winning the Bitter Cold Showdown one day but I am very happy and honored that I was able to place Top 3 this year. I always looked forward to seeing the rollerblading family out at BCSD — it was like a family reunion each year. Since one door has closed, I know another will open and who knows what the next big contest will be that is equal to the status of BCSD.
What’s next on your schedule?
Well, since I’m back home, I am soon going to be traveling around with an extreme sports show team called Enemy Opposition that does skate/bmx demos for schools, fairs, churches, etc. I am also going to Pow-Wow in Florida on May 3-4, Camp Woodward East over the Summer, maybe even Summer Clash! I have never been to Europe so that would be awesome! Hoping to come out with edits all the time and show my love for skating!
Anything else you’d like to add?
Yeah, I want to say thanks to Daniel Kinney for putting on one of the best contests in rollerblading and we will surely miss it. I also want to thank all the people that help make my Bitter Cold trip possible. I want to thank my sponsors: Denial, Razors, Roller Warehouse Skateshop, Create Originals, and Gorilla Workshop. Also make sure to check out my Fan Page on FB and my website wakeschepman.com where I am posting a “clip of the week” every Friday to encourage everyone to go skate! Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed my trip to BCSD!
All right Wake, thanks for your time and keep shredding. We expect to see a lot more of you in the future.
Anytime… I’m always blading! It’s my life!
Check the ONE @ BCSD XIII edit here.
