Ian Nichols, notorious within New York City's subculture of longboarding and skating, would probably consider himself to be just an ordinary New Yorker who loves to skate. Ian is one of the co-founders of the "infamous" Broadway Bomb. It all started in October of 2002, Ian and a group of friends dared each other to a longboard race through the busy streets of Manhattan. Considering all the risks of riding into commuting pedestrians, aggressive taxi drivers, and moving cyclists, those factors are what made that first race (and every race to follow) all the more challenging. In the years following that October of '02, Ian and his colleagues started what would be known to be the largest unsanctioned longboard event there is. In the more recent years, due to the rapid growth of attendants, the city, with use of its police force, has attempted to disrupt and stop the event. This had led to Ian facing various legality and court issues with the city as a result of being a founder and an organizer of the race. After receiving subpoena's from the city during the fall season of 2012, Ian was forced to "call off the event" via the race's website and Facebook event page. That happened to be the first year of riding with a new goal of dogding police barricades, avoiding police vehicles, and even officers who were attempting to pull people straight off their boards as they rode by. 2012 was the first year when riders were "subject to arrest". Despite the police being involved, that was not enough to stop the thousands of skaters from doing what they love to do, skate.
With attendees reaching nearly 4,000 people in the recent years, every third weekend of October riders from all over the U.S. and even some from Canada, all travel to New York City just to take part in the 10 mile push race. It will and has always been open to the public, for the novices to the professional riders and everyone in between. The only catch is that you ride at your own risk, then again just remember, the slogan happens to be "You Could Die". Here's to the 12th annual Broadway Bomb, lets keep the race alive and strong throughout the upcoming years, skate or die New Yorkers!
Photos by: @StephenEsguerra
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