So yeah the trade show....I have managed to avoid this bro-down showdown for several years now but with the new roles I am playing in the industry I figured it might be a valuable experience to roam around the show and to see what's happening in the world of shred. Not too much has changed; a moderate level of creativity, nudity and drunken bros confined in a maze of booths under the harshest flourescent lighting in a convention center pumped full of air that makes your eyes burn and your feet ache. So after a solid day of high-fives and searching for drunken/hungover TM's I made my way to the rider Poll Awards for more of the same.

So let's talk about the rider poll awards, I always think it's so weird that snowboarders, surfers, etc. partake in these sort of produced award showy events, not that there is anything wrong with them but they always feel a little like a prom, you get all dressed up, everyone gets drunk at 7, people vote for kings and queens, the photos look like fun but while you are actually living out the experience you're constanly trying to convince yourself that it is cool and we are having soooo much fun. Not that I have ever been to the prom but the photos always looked cool.

Since high school is my favorite analogy for the shred scene and the way I behave in general let's stick with it for a moment longer but instead of Prom think ten year reunion. Jen Sherowski and I were scoping out the scene at the rider poll awards and we had this startling realization that we have been coming here and doing the same shit for the past ten years and realized we were basically at the same party we were at ten years earlier only now we felt slightly more pathetic and instead of everyone being a rider they are now running the industry which is mildly concerning, it's like realizing all the fuck ups from high school are now the teachers. So yeah, drink up.