Spicy Ride, Allan, is a staple of the Urban Baltimore scene. He is one of the first non-meadery throwers I met, and he’s proven to be an insightful, friendly and inspiring person since that meeting so many years ago. We caught up outside of BATL Stockyards late one night during IATC. Fair warning: I was a little bit tipsy by this point. Let’s see if you can tell during this axe thrower interview!

How long have you been throwing?

Since 2018.

2018?

No, that’s a lie. Hold on.

I’m really glad I’m doing this interview.

So I came for a bachelor party for the first time in December of 2018. I signed up for my first league that started the first week of January of 2019. Yeah. So I’ve been throwing competitively since 2019.

Nice. Why are you at IATC right now?

I want to prove to myself that I can actually compete at the highest level. I’ve done it in the past. I’ve performed really well in the past, but recently I’ve not been performing well. And this is hopefully a redemption arc for myself, to be honest.

I’m throwing really well right now and I’m hoping that I can keep that going enough to make it into day 2, at least. I don’t have any high hopes of winning this thing at all. But I’m here to just prove to myself that I can compete with the big boys and girls and people.

Humans.

Humans in general. Yeah. So watching everybody throw over the course of today, I’m like, oh man, just throw me in. I just want to compete. But yeah, I’m hoping that I can actually show up and be well and do well.

Do you think there’s anybody that you can directly tie to where you are right now as a thrower?

That got me here?

Yeah.

Yeah. Axe James, for sure. So Axe James is, she’s been my double partner for the longest time. We won 2024 doubles at IATC. But even before that, if I had a question, if I had somebody that I needed to look at my throw, if I had a new idea that I thought was going to work, I ran it by Alex.

Alex has been there for me since the very beginning, since I started throwing. So I think both of our journeys have sort of intersected and then became one over time. So we’ve been kind of linked at the hip for a long time until she retired. But yeah, we’ve been really joined up. So we’ve been in Baltimore in particular, the two of us really saw an opportunity to grow the community. And to do so, we had to get more competitive.

I missed my very first IATC. I started in January, so obviously I didn’t make it to the first IATC because it was in February at the time. And then the pandemic hit and then things were going crazy. But once we kind of get back into the run of things, in probably 2021, the two of us decided that we needed to be competitive.

So we started doing more in Baltimore to get that going. We started running clinics. We did a bunch of stuff in Baltimore. And I say we, at this point, but I was not working there. I’m working there now, but at the time it was just Alex working there, and I was trying to be involved in as much as I possibly could, especially for rookie clinics and things like that, just trying to get people a good start so that they would continue.

And we had such success with all that stuff. And the people that are here [at IATC], I can tie directly to those efforts – and those people are freaking killing it today in particular. A lot of that I can link directly to those experiences where we decided let’s make ourselves better as a community, not as individuals.

But yeah, Alex is my number one. Has been there for me since the beginning, has been there with me since the beginning. So yeah.

Speaker 1:

Is there a secret weapon that you have when it comes to axe throwing?

Speaker 2:

So this goes back to Rob Alex.

Set plant throw is our number one thing. We say it to ourselves constantly in Baltimore. He started it. He says it to himself every single time he throws and it’s just a reset. So if you get into your brain, you start throwing off your own rhythm.

It’s just a step, plant that foot and throw the axe. That’s it. We all know how to do it. It’s just a reset of like, cool, am I stepping first and planting that foot before I let the axe go? Or am I just letting it go because I’m nervous? So if you’re letting it go too early, you’re not planting that foot. So just step, plant and throw. And that comes from Alex drilling it into us. And then honestly, the back of every lotto shirt tits up, slow down, breathe. Those are just words of wisdom that we can all live by.

We see it in Baltimore, they still wear their shirts constantly for the podcast, which is great. But we see the back of them all the time. And when people are throwing, it really is just a constant reminder to do those three things.

A piece of advice you give to a newer thrower?

Listen to those around you. Watch those around you. That’s the biggest thing. I remember when I first started throwing, again, I didn’t make my first IATC and I didn’t go to Canada because I didn’t make it. Why would I? I was a new thrower, I was a rookie. Why would I spend all the money to go to Canada? But when those folks came back, because it was really for Baltimore, that was the second year they’ve gone up. So 2018 and then 2019 was the first in Baltimore. They went up in 2018, a couple of them, and then 2019 they went up a couple of them. When they came back, they came back with wisdom.

They came back with, “Holy shit, have you seen this guy throw? Have you watched this person throw? This person’s throwing fucking one-handed big axe. That’s crazy. This weird Canadian pinch grip, let’s try it.” That came from just people watching other people throwing.

If you can watch people that are better than you throw, you can only advance. You can only learn from them. You don’t have to stick with what they’re doing. You don’t have to be somebody else. But try some things that are out of your comfort zone. Try some things that are working for other people and then evolve them for yourself.

That’s the best advice I can give. And when people ask me questions like that in Baltimore, they’re like, “Hey, what can I do to get better?” I’m like, “Let me watch you throw. Let me give you some things that you wouldn’t normally do. Try them. It’s going to feel awkward. It’s going to feel uncomfortable. Just try. Watch these other people throw in your league. Who’s better than you right now? Who do you look up to in your league? Watch them throw. Even if they’re differently than you, try to mimic what they’re doing and then evolve it for what feels comfortable for you.”

If you can do that, you grow so fast versus trying to figure things out for yourself. Nobody here needs to figure anything out for themselves. We’ve been doing this for a while now. There’s a process we all go through. There’s only so many ways to throw an axe. So watch people that are better than you. If you can do that, if you can watch people that have similar throw styles as you, in particular, if you get the privilege of being around enough people that have throw styles similar to you.

If you go to tournaments, if you go even just different leagues, sign up for a different night. At Baltimore, we’re really privileged. I’m not going to lie. We have leagues most nights of the week. Sign up for a different night. You’re going to be with a different group of people that you’ve never met before that all throw differently than you because they’ve learned from themselves.

If they’ve learned from different people and you’ve learned from. If you can pick that up and you can take it and learn from it, you’re good to go. And again, you don’t have to master what they’re doing, but try it.

Come in for a practice hour and throw weirdly that feels uncomfortable and it feels weird. Try for an hour. See what happens. The worst thing that happens is you say this sucks and I’m never going to do it again. The best thing that happens is it changes everything about what you’re doing. That’s the best thing. The worst thing is that you walk away from it and you go right back to what you’re doing.

Anybody you want to shout out or anything you want to add?

Yeah. Right now, so Dena Glisan. Gleesan? I can’t believe I don’t know how to pronounce her last name, to be honest. I don’t think I’ve ever said her last name out loud.

Speaker 1:

It was the first time I’ve heard it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Dena owns Urban Access now in Baltimore. So the Urban Axes ownership has changed over. Dena has taken over ownership of Baltimore. I want to shout her out for sure. She’s absolutely killing it right now. She’s taken it over and immediately has made a difference in what we’re doing. Not to say we were on a bad path before because we were not. We were not on a bad path, but she is already, because she’s involved in the community, she’s growing leaps. She knows everybody there. She’s already started things, different events, different formats, different things that we’re doing just to get us back to a rhythm of learning from each other. Because we sort of lost that in Baltimore a little bit. Three years ago, we were running every Friday night, we did a tournament. There would have been legends. We do that every Friday.

We had marathons all the time. We were bringing people in that weren’t normally there. And then we sort of went stagnant for a while. Dena’s bringing that back. She’s doing different stuff. She’s trying different things. And even if it flops, who cares? Yeah. But she’s out there and she’s trying something new for us.

That’s the biggest thing I can say is that Dena’s doing things, not for herself, not for the business. She’s doing it for the throwers. She’s also doing things to bring the public in for sure. But for us as a league community, she’s trying new things, which is awesome for us. It’s giving us a reason to practice again. It’s giving us a reason to come together again when before it seemed like an obligation that we were like, “Oh, cool. There’s a marathon league. We should all do it.” Now we want to do it.

And that’s a completely different feeling. We haven’t felt in a long time in Baltimore, so it’s a completely different vibe. So Dena, for sure, big shout out. I would say our top competitive throwers right now at Baltimore are freaking killing it. They’re everywhere. They’re doing everything that they can and they’re rising and they’re bringing us up with them.

I don’t consider myself one of these people, but the people that are coming up, Mighty Mouse is absolutely killing it this week right now in IATC. She’s doing great. She’s also killing it at home and every tournament that she’s in.

Ericka — Bows is absolutely killing it everywhere she goes. And she’s lifting the community up on her freaking back everywhere she goes. It’s freaking fantastic.

Rob Alex is bringing his absolute best everywhere he goes. We’re doing freaking fantastic things. But he’s raising the bar every fricking two weeks. He’s only getting better. He’s giving us something to shoot for. Yeah. We all hate him. I’m not going to lie to you because he’s so much better.

I’ll tell you a funny story. Two weeks ago, I told myself that I was going to make a shirt for this week that I didn’t actually make it. But is it: Probably the second best thrower in Baltimore?

That’s because Rob is hands down without a doubt whatsoever the cream of the crop in Baltimore.

Yeah. But he’s lifting us along the way. He’s not an asshole. He’s not rubbing it in that he’s so much better. He’s showing up to every event. He’s doing everything he can. He’s coaching rookies on the side. He’s doing everything he can to raise us up and it’s freaking awesome. It gives us something to shoot for, not just as throwers, but as people. He’s doing fantastic.

So the people in general, like Jenny is freaking killing it everywhere she goes. She’s bringing everything she can to every event that she can do. And she comes to as many events as she can go to.

Nikolai also showing up to every event he can go to. And they’re bringing those things with them. They’re bringing the energy to everywhere they go. They bring it back home too.

After this moment, we just said “yeah” appreciatively at each other for a few minutes, then hugged it out.

Big thanks to Allan for this interview and, frankly, everything he’s contributed to axe throwing. He’s a gem.