Grand opening of Wheels and Gears Skate Shop today

Kyle Austin - aka Collyde - is hosting the grand opening of Wheels and Gears, the new derby and skate shop today in down Troy. Massacre and I stopped by last night during Troy Night Out to say hello and wish him well. Massacre also made the first purchase ever in the new shop!

Collyde actually started his business in January 2011, however the storefront is a new development. Over the past year, he's been a traveling roadshow of derby gear and supplies, tabling at our bouts as well as traveling out to Central New York for Central New York Roller Derby bouts - he's a sponsor for our leagues as well as the Utica Rollergirls and the Green Mountain Derby Dames. He's interested in working with other leagues - both near and far, so definitely reach out to him to find out about sponsorship.

Collyde doesn't just have derby gear, he can also hook you up with skateboarding and bicycle gear.

Besides the business, Collyde has been involved with roller derby for almost as long as the Hellions have existed. While talking with him last night, he told me he got involved with derby about 5 months after the Hellions started, which would be early 2009. Collyde has occasionally officiated our bouts and has been around in other volunteer capacities as well. Now he's here to support our league and others by providing a local place to buy derby gear.

While we were in the store last night, Collyde and his daughters were getting busy for their big opening day. (BTW, Collyde says he is accepting applications for employees, although his daughters said they'd be happy to work for gummi worms"). He did have time to show us around the space, and like I said, Massacre made the first purchase at the store.

Like most buildings in downtown Troy, the space has some unique features. The inside has some punk-y exposed brick, and Collyde is also working on bringing out the subtle features of the various moldings. He did some paint work to bring out a molded design on the wall. Check it out -- it's very "Troy".

Collyde's business knowledge of the derby world's needs is growing. I like to shop around, but from my research, I've found that his prices are comparable with places I might order from online. Now that there's a local shop, derby girls (and guys) can get what they need right away.

Collyde and Massacre talking about bearings.

Another cool feature Collyde added to the store: an old fashioned cash register.

Collyde administering his first transaction.

Mmm, Beirut.

Check out the grand opening of Wheels and Gears today, October 1, 2011, in downtown Troy. Tomorrow's store hours are 1:00pm - 8:00pm. By the way, the shop is right next to Beirut Restaurant - yum! Collyde told me proximity to Beirut may have been a contributing factor to picking his location. Sounds and tastes good to me.

WHEELS AND GEARS

186 RIVER ST.

TROY, NY 12180

Catching up on bout recaps: HoTRD vs Utica Roller Girls 4/23/11

On Saturday, April 23 we shipped out to Utica, NY to take on the Utica Roller Girls. I was excited about this bout as I was selected to be the captain, and we also had three brand new players on the track: Explosive Echo, Lehman Smothers, and Naughtia Nitrous! It's crazy - I can't remember derby WITHOUT these girls now!

Back (L to R): Coach Doc Hazard, Explosive Echo, Mathundra Storm, Lehman Smothers,
Delinquent Dollie, Disharmony, Torya Anewone, Con-tagious, Sweet Madness,
Valerie Valkyrie, Coach Kitty P, Coach Hanna Solo Front (L to R): Deadlie Mercury, Spam Ghetti-ho's, Nymph O'Maniac, Naughtia Nitrous,
Baby Nuclear (as mascot!), Short Temper

Captains meeting. Photo by Janelle Rodriguez Photography

Look at all those lovely women!! I love bouts with new girls. URG also fielded several new players. Being the captain was an interesting experience. As captain, you have the special privilege of being able to (respectfully) address the referees (believe me, they only want to deal with one or two screaming/upset players, not a whole team).

The final score of the game was 162 Hellions – 69 Utica Rollergirls. I'm sorry I remember more details of the game...but here are a few more pictures:

Disharmony and Explosive Echo build a nice wall on the inside line, while URG's offense attemps to create a whole for
their jammer, Jenerator.  Photo by Janelle Rodriguez Photography

Hellions build a three person wall in the front.  Photo by Janelle Rodriguez Photography

HoTRD jammer Naughtia Nitrous neck-and-neck with URG's jammer, as Torya Anewone looks to do something about that...Photo by Janelle Rodriguez Photography

My one year bout-aversary

The bout flyer from last year - May 8, 2010.

I can't believe I missed my one year bout-aversary!! That is to say, my very first roller derby bout one year ago: May 8, 2011 against the Utica Rollergirls!

Since then, I have played so much derby! I joined the Hellions in September 2009 - I am almost a two year veteran of the team.

Looking back, I have played in 10 bouts total, plus Empire Skate Showdown on Long Island last September.  WOW! My "record" is four losses and six wins.  Not bad :)

Tomorrow, when we play Garden State, it will be my 11th bout.

One other interesting thing is that tomorrow, my boyfriend, "Massacre", who refs for the Hellions but also plays for the Capital District Men's Roller Derby league, will play in his first bout ever!

Bout in Utica this weekend

This weekend we''re traveling to Utica to take on the Utica Rollergirls! My first bout ever was against this team -- just about 11 months ago.  And ... exciting news ... I will be the Team Captain for this game!  Sweet!  The Hellions switch up team captains for different games.
My Grandma and brother live in Utica, so I'll be heading up in the morning to Utica for a family visit.

Utica Rollergirls Season Opener

Saturday April 23rd

Utica Rollergirls vs Hellions of Troy

Doors @ 6:30pm; Whistle @ 7:00pm

New Hartford Rec Center 4 Mill St New Hartford

Tickets $10 at door, under 5 free, $5 ages 6-12.

First ACRD Mixed Scrimmage

On Saturday, October 2, Shockratease, Mr. T and I headed out to Syracuse for the new monthly open scrimmage hosted by Assault City Roller Derby.  Girls from Utica, Assault City, Rochester, and Central New York were there, plus a good handful of refs and NSOs from the area.  I've met some of these girls before through games, scrimmages, and tournaments before, so it was nice to reconnect and also make some new friends.

ACRD practice space.

ACRD practices in a retail space literally in a mall.  Their space was just big enough, and they had some mattresses on the wall in key places where clearance is tight. I did collide with one a couple times, which was actually kinda fun, haha. We had a few people peek in through the entrance into the mall - but official spectators were not allowed due to space limitations.  I can't imagine what people were thinking when they peered in and saw 30 girls in fishnets skating in circles.


ACRD did a really great job organizing the event.  Teams from all over the upstate/central area were invited and I thought we had a pretty good turnout.  It was a mixed scrimmage, so we all lined up in order of perceived skill level and were assigned either black or white. I ended up being on a team with mostly Utica Roller Girls and a few CNY girls, so that was nice.  Shock was on the other team, but she got to play with Blaze from ACRD (who I mentioned in my recap of the CNY vs. ACRD bout).  She's not quite as scary in person as she seems on the rink (again, I mean that in a good way!) but she is seriously an awesome skater and a great proponent of roller derby.

First ACRD mixed scrimmage.  Photo by Pete Rodriguez.

Happiest place on Earth.

The two teams were very evenly matched.  I didn't jam, but I did get a chance to play pivot a couple times.  It was cool to work with different girls and everyone was really nice about sharing tips and tricks.  Pied Viper was on the opposite team (I also wrote about her in the CNY/ACRD recap) - she was kicking butt as jammer but I managed to stop her maybe once or twice.  Wooo!  This scrimmage was great because I got to play with girls who I've admired from off the rink before.  I had a lot of fun.  Thank you Assault City!


And of course ... no trip out to central NY is complete with out a stop at FasTrac.  Can't wait until next month!

The Happiest Place on Earth?

Every time we go out to Utica we stop at the Exit 31 FasTrac.  It's become a tradition.  This is just a short post celebrating our not-so-secret love affair with a gas station No.  It's more than that.  It's a titanic emporium with enough food, drink, and entertainment reserves to satisfy an army of derby girls. And it's a great place to gas up before hoping on the 90 back to the Capital Region.

The last time we were at FasTrac was a beautiful Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago.  The Utica Roller Girls invited a few Hellions out to their space to play in a scrimmage with them against the Roc City Roller Girls new home team: the Rottenchesters.  Rambo and I made the trip to Rochester (to play the 5-H8-5s) with URG a couple months ago to scrimmage them before, so I was excited to play with Roc City again!  Plus URG = <3

Slushies in Hellions colors!

But this isn't about that.  What, are you here to read about Roller Derby?  Well, derby isn't all about roller skating.  It's also about wonderful road trip hijnx with friends.

Drumstick, Shock, Storm, and Beau preparing their
 FasTrac milkshakes.

Stylish!

The first thing you need to know about FasTrac is that there is a variety of frozen beverage to satiate you before you depart the great city of Utica.  They have this magical machine that makes milkshakes.  All you do is pick out a frozen flavor cup of your choice, stick it in the machine, press a button, wait a minute while it whirls around, and TAH-DAH!!!  A delicious frozen beverage.

FasTrac also has a fine selection of small gifts, gags, snacks, and candies.  Check out the fabulous zebra ring we discovered.  Perfect for a referee!

How could a place called FasTrac NOT cater to roller derby?  See you next time, FasTrac!

More About URG Bout

I wanted to mention in my last post that Shockratease and Kitty were also at the last bout - playing!  The Utica Roller Girls are our sister team, so sometimes we have girls fill in if one team doesn't have a full roster.  It's also great to work so closely with URG, because sometimes we are able to go to each other's practices and learn something new from each other.


A girl on URG has one of my favorite derby names: "Betty B. Ready" and her number is "L8".  I think that's so clever!  haha.  Two of my other favorite girls on URG are Pink E. Racer and Anita Grenade.  I met them when I was still fresh meat, so they still (and will probably always) endearingly call me Turd (short for Turducken!)

Looking nice in brown and gold.

Utica played the Rideau Valley Vixens from Ottawa, Canada.  They were a really solid and fun team.  I loved their uniforms.  They also had nice matching gold helmets.  I thought it looked very sharp.  One funny/cute part at the bout was after they played the American National Anthem, they played the Canadian National Anthem and all the Canadian girls sang along to it.  Canada was also SUPER fun at the after party.  I wish I could've stayed longer, but I had to get up wayyyyy early to run the Boilermaker!  As Eloda described it, "derby girls take 'dance like no ones watching' to a whole new level."

NSOing

Last weekend I went to Utica for the weekend.  I was running the Boilermaker (5K) on Sunday, and there was conveniently a Utica Roller Girls game that Saturday night.  Perfect!

So, I got to the venue and sat down next to Eloda Sarcasm (Hellions love to  road trip out to Utica!)  I was excited to watch some derby because I am usually just PLAYING it.  Not 5 minutes into me being there, however, someone asked if I'd like to help out with the bout.  OK, sure!  There was free t-shirt in it, so why not? ;)  


PS, do you like my dress?  Funnily, it happened to be featured on a blog post by a girl I just met, Courtney, this weekend.  Who knew I had style?

Working the box

It takes a lot of people who put on a roller derby bout.  Besides skaters and referees, you also need Non Skating Officials (NSOs).  These people are responsible for keeping score, tracking penalties, and moderating the penalty box, among other things.  I got to work the box with Beau T. Call (one of our refs - he was just NSOing this bout though) and a girl from Utica.

Penalty Timer for iPhone/iPod touch

In roller derby, you can have no more than 5 players in the box at once - two blockers from each team and one jammer.  When a player is sent to the box, they serve a one minute penalty, and the timer stops inbetween jams.  So -- we're we going to use 5 stop watches??  


Nope!  Luckily, in the age of the iPhone, there's an app for that.  Between the three of us, it wasn't too bad at all.  Somewhat confusing at times, especially if there were more than 3 people in the box.  But all in all a good introduction to NSOing for me!  Plus, I still got to watch the game, and pretty much from the best seat in the house.  However, mad props to Ursula, who is our usual "penalty mistress."  She can penalty time for every player in the box pretty much without blinking an eye.  Much respect to our NSOs for doing the jobs that make the bout happen and go smoothly.  Thank you!

Hellions Tell All

I'm working on a recap of the bout from this weekend. If you're itching to hear the details sooner than later, stop by Badass Burrito tonight in Troy. The Hellions will be guest bartending and regaling tales of our bout against the Utica Roller Girls.

That's me on the right with the white helmet. Look at that

solid three person wall!

I will say that I had a GREAT time on Saturday. My first bouting experience was everything I hoped for. More to come!

Two thumbs and rostered for the next bout.

Monday night at practice our roster for our next bout was announced. Our second game of the season is coming up, and I was not on the roster for the first bout. Not being picked was a learning experience: derby is competitive and it's important to prove you're solid with your skills or coaching is just not going to put you out there. People had been encouraging me to get aggressive -- play like I was mad at someone -- play like derby was where I could let all my frustration out. But it was wasn't quite clicking. After I didn't get picked for the first bout, it was time to play like my spot on the roster depended on it. With that in mind, let me tell you - the aggression and determination follows.

I've been skating with the Hellions since mid-September 2009. The Hellions' next bout is May 8, 2010 -- 8 months since I first strapped on skates. We'll be playing the Utica Roller Girls (URG) at the New Hartford Recreation Center in New Hartford, NY at 7pm. This will be a special game for me because my dad is from the Utica area and I've visited out there my entire life. My grandma and great aunt still live out there -- a while back I attended a skills testing event hosted by URG and I invited my aunt and grandma to come and watch. Needless to say, they told my whole family that I was now a "professional roller skater". They're actually the only two in family who have seen me skate. I can't wait for everyone else to come see me in action. I'll let them be the judge...and more importantly, my teammates and coaches. After 8 months of skating, I've learned a lot. My teammates have told me I'll learn more about the game from my first bout than that whole time period combined. Have you ever prepared and prepared and prepared for something, only to have the best learning experience be the first time you actually put your new skills into actual use?

Edit: I also want to mention that when Beefcake was reading down the list of rostered skaters on Monday, my name was called second to last. Talk about building up the suspense! Why second to last? Well, actually, people thought I was the last name to be called, until Beefcake pointed out he only read 13 names (a full roster is 14 skaters). Who would be taking the 14th spot? Surprise! We are also welcoming back Sonic Euthanizer, who is now back on the track after the birth of her daughter. Very excited to share the track with all our great veterans, especially Sonic.