Jan Welch began inline skating in 1989 in Austin, Texas. He founded Scum Magazine in 1995, which won Best Sports Website at the 1999 SXSW Interactive Media Festival. That year, Jan moved to San Diego to join Daily Bread Magazine and later co-founded Rat Tail Distribution, behind 4x4 Urethane, Vicious Bearings, and Nimh Skates. In 2017, he started Big Wheel Blading to promote the sport, and in 2024, he launched Dream Urethane. Jan's extensive experience has made him a leading expert in the inline skating industry.

Mount Wars

The first inline skate to set the standards and conventions for hardware was the Rollerblade BladeRunner skate. Since inline skates were conceived as a summer training tool for hockey players,…