TSR FreezeRide Starts off 2010 Right

By billmccaffray • 14 years ago • Wakeskate, Wakeboard

On February 13 & 14th Texas Ski Ranch hosted the seventh annual FreezeRide to kick off the 2010 season. After a long off season, FreezeRide always launches the Tournament season at TSR and reminds us just how fun TSR can be when the sun is shining and people are riding! This year riders from as far away as California, Minnesota and Florida joined the always-present group from Kansas City Watersports that are anxious for the start of their season. Local riders such as Tom Fooshee and Bret Little had an ever-increasing group of riders that made it even more difficult to defend their home site. Aaron Reed is still recovering from an injury that has kept him sidelined, but was a huge part of FreezeRide by hosting the second of three Obscura demos for this spring. Obscura brought in heavy hitters like Danny Hampson and Grant Roberts to promote the new line from Liquid Force. While Danny was also recovering from injuries, Grant competed in both the boat and cable competitions whenever he wasn’t tied up with the wakeskate demo that was being held on the Rixen Little Bro two tower system. Add all of the unbelievable riding to the Texas Hold’em Tournament, Spring Break Style Show and festival atmosphere and you get one of the best FreezeRides ever.

The morning began with frost on the grass and the competitors being able to see their own breath. FreezeRide lived up to it’s name with morning temperatures in the 30’s, but as the sun rose over the cable lakes, the temperatures climbed and the smooth glass conditions were ideal. Marshall Lewis (TSR) distanced himself from the other intermediate riders while Ryan Sanders (KCW) was able to beat out the advanced field made up predominantly of Kansas riders. Ryan will be attending Texas State in the fall and Mike Olson (KCW owner) was demanding some sort of trade all weekend long as the fear of losing one of the top cable riders in Kansas was almost to much for him to handle. The only consolation we could offer was the first and second prize in the Texas Hold’em Tournament that went to Mike and Bob Sanders, Ryan’s dad, who took the prize money and felt the game should be renamed Kansas Hold’em.

The pro divisions were as impressive as always with most riders showing no signs of rust from the offseason. Bret Little uncharacteristically had two falls, which opened the door for the rest of the wakeskate field. While Oury Yarbrough landed flip trick after flip trick it was Grant Roberts backside three and backside bigger spin that took the title. Grant had won boat competitions at TSR before but this was his first ever win on the cable. In the pro wakeboard division 80% of the riders rode a board that had Tom Fooshee’s name on it which may explain why he walked away with the FreezeRide title. 2009 USA Wakeboard National Champion Cody Johnson rode well and Josh Rice, 2005 World Games Champion, made a strong showing after a long lay off to finish second and third respectively. While the three riders are among the top cable riders in the world, Tom showed that his domination of the WWA World Series over the past two years will be showing no signs of slowing down for the 2010 season.

While the action was going on outside, things inside were heating up with the 2010 Spring Break Fashion Show. TSR displayed the latest fashions from Nike 6.0, RVCA, Reef, Volcom, Billabong and many more. The shop also hosted a “Style Your Sole” event where customers could hand paint their TOM’s shoes with whatever unique style they desired.

On Sunday TSR hosted their first boat lake competition in some time. This was the first event in which TSR utilized three different lakes for riding, if you don’t include our winch pond. As always the event was pulled by the Nike 6.0 X-star from MasterCraft, and with a full lake the wake was better than ever! Marshall Lewis and Marshall Waters took home the intermediate and advanced wakeboard boat titles in the first events of the day. In the wakeskate division Oury was able to flip the script behind the boat and beat out Grant Roberts who had won the cable event. Bret Little was able to salvage the tournament with a podium spot and third place finish. On the wakeboard side of things Tom Fooshee was able to edge out the defending champion Brett Hickey for yet another title. If Tom wasn’t such a nice guy we might get tired of seeing him on top of the podium and writing his name on the checks!

In the end everyone was ecstatic to have the boat lake back and be able to have multiple tournaments simultaneously. A tradition that TSR began back in 2003 with Cable, Boat and Winch events all in the same weekend! If you missed FreezeRide there is much more to come in 2010. On April 23-25 TSR will host the Corpus Christi Invitational as part of the Texas International Boat Show with over 40,000 spectators and $15,000 in prize money. Also here at Texas Ski Ranch we have the 8th annual Cablestock competition and festival coming up May 7-9. Wakeboarding, live music and girls in bikinis walking the beach are just a few of the many attractions that make up Cablestock. For additional information visit www.TexasSkiRanch.com. For information on sponsoring events please email blake@cablewakeboard.com