TEAM NoBull Bayou Battle: Jan. 8, 9, and 10, 2016

Presented by Carve Skate Shop and Landyachtz

     This guide is everything you need to get ready for the 2016 Bayou Battle garage race! The 3-day battle takes place in the heart of the Texas garage scene, the 9-story Hobby Center garage. The 3rd Annual Bayou Battle is the first and largest fully legal garage race in the world! This year's Bayou Battle starts with a skate session at Houston's giant Spring Skate Park (the largest skate park in North America) and a 16 mile IDSA sanctioned push race along the Galveston sea wall on Friday, January 8th. 

     The main event takes place this Saturday, January 9th, 2016! The Bayou Battle features some the fastest garage skaters in the world and offers divisions for women, groms, and masters to allow everyone to get plenty of board time. For 2015, the race attracted hundreds of riders from across the country looking to claim the $3,000 winner-take-all prize! This year, the prize is even higher! 

The event will roughly follow this schedule: http://www.bayoubattle.com/schedule/

• Friday, January 8th: CHECK-IN at Carve, LDP caravan leaves at 1PM, LDP at 2PM, North Houston Skate Park 2-7PM, Dinner and Awards at Jenni's Noodle House 8-11PM

• Saturday, January 9th: Race Day! CHECK-IN and Breakfast at Carve 9-10AM, Qualifying at Hobby Center 10AM-3PM, Raffle at Carve 4PM, MAIN EVENT 7-11PM

• Sunday, January 10th: EZ-7 Ditch Skate Jam session 1-5PM

TRACK DETAILS:

     The main event takes place at the Hobby Center parking garage in downtown Houston, Texas. The garage is a 9-story double helix with all right hand turns. The finish line of the race is on the closed road at the exit of the garage! This year, the race will end just down the street from the entry/exit booth of the garage. 

The key to garage racing is pumping.. and in Texas, they really know how to pump for the win! Texas-rules garage racing is a little different. After the push line on the top floor, grabbing, pulling, rubbing, and battling for the win are encouraged! Even down to the last few feet the race is interesting! Bring a short wheelbase deck with narrow trucks and fast/grippy wheels if you want to keep up. Although, racers will have anything from purpose-built short boards with slalom setups to directional double drops and every other type of setup imaginable. If you are bringing a ThreeSix, use the shortest of the 16 wheelbase options on your topmount and dewedge the rear truck for grip, stability, and pumping power. A 50°/40° split with a soft front and harder rear is easy to get on most truck setups, but stop by Carve Skateshop before the race to get what you need to dial in your split and bushing setup!

     The tight right hand corners are different for regular and goofy stanced riders, some love all rights and some don't. Either way, staying low and consistent while taking a good racing line is the best recipe for a fast run, but don't forget to pump. If you're gonna race in Texas, you gotta do some pumping in the straights! The Texas riders who race garages like it's a religion know the secrets to fast lines and powerful pumping, be prepared to be part of some world-class garage racing!

     The weather in Ohio is usually 50-60F but in the mid-40s at night in October. Layer up, you'll be walking a lot and sitting a lot. It's not going to be snowing or anything crazy and on a sunny day, the hill feels pretty awesome in the high 60s to low 70s and the fall colors of the trees make for a great backdrop to the racing!

Weather/WHAT TO BRING:

The weather is supposed to be between 60F and 45F at night. Layer up, you'll be walking a lot and sitting a lot, but also skating a LOT. It's not going to be snowing or anything crazy, but it might get cold!

Like most events, you don't have to bring anything really. There will be food at Carve, beside Carve, near the park, near the garage, near the LDP race. Bringing a cooler with wheels is always a good idea! There should be food trucks and stuff at the event as well! Bring a blanket and some camping chairs! Bring cash for swapping gear and buying stuff. BRING A CAMERA!

That’s all you need to be prepared for the 2016 Bayou Battle! Check out the Facebook event page to stay updated! Go to www.bayoubattle.com for all the other details. If you have any comments, suggestions, or pro-tips that weren’t covered send them to us through the Contact form! 

- THREESIX DOWNHILL TRACK GUIDE: NoBull BAYOU BATTLE -

Written by Isaac Cogdill (@IsaacMTSU). This event guide is the second of many ultra-detailed race summaries from ThreeSix Downhill written to give readers all the information needed to be prepared and make it out to support an event! I go to as many events as I can to shoot photos of everybody, meet people, support riders on ThreeSix decks, and sleep in a car or bum floor space to bring you everything I can to spread the sport of downhill longboarding!