It's on the tip of my tongue ... I've been searching for days on end for the best way to describe Louisville, Ky., the site of the next ESPN B3 contest. It's not an easy thing. Even a year later, I'm still sorting out all the madness that transpired there last year, both at the comp and out on the town. Louisville is an enigma, it's like a scientific experiment where you mix country western with urban, stir in a great skate scene and a toss in a couple of bars that can only be described as, well, surreal.

When it comes down to it, the town is all about having a good time. Case in point - they throw one of the biggest parties in the country: the Kentucky Derby Festival. This is an all-out three week bender which leads up to the Kentucky Derby, the "mother of all parties." It's a great excuse to drink a lot of mint juleps (the local specialty), blow stuff up and have a big skateboarding, bike and in-line event called B3.

That's right, the ESPN Bikes, Blades and Boards competition will be stopping by Louisville again to add to the Derby madness from April 20-22. This will mark the third year B3 rolls into Louisville and for good reason - the entire state shows up to check it out. Last year's event was the biggest stop on the entire tour, drawing a crowd around 100,000 strong. Of course, it didn't hurt that Thunder Over Louisville was going on that evening. The Thunder is one of the biggest firework shows in the country and every pyromaniac's dream. They actually close off a major bridge for a day, lace it with fireworks and do their best to blow it up for a solid half-hour. It's a beautiful thing.

If you had to describe last year's competition in three words, it would be "out of hand". There's something about a huge crowd that just makes everyone go crazy. There's also something about Mat Hoffman making his big comeback that makes everyone want to go off. However, it's the insane nightlife of Kentucky's biggest city that really tops it all.

Imagine if you will, a bar, a bar unlike any bar. This is a bar where you walk through the front door and are greeted with banging techno music and lollipop-toting ravers bouncing around the floor. Now you come out of the restroom later in the night and mistakenly take a right instead of a left, an innocent enough mistake made by many in the course of an evening. But this one has dire consequences. Instead of finding your way back to the rave where you began your evening, you are standing in the middle of a country western line dance. Oh yeah, that's right, there's really only one place in the world where you can find a true Techno/Country multiplex bar and that's Louisville.

B3 kicks off this Friday with the Bike Vert Final and Skateboarding Park Prelims and continues through Sunday. Thunder Over Louisville peaks Saturday evening when the sun goes down, but the "country rave night" lasts all year long - so bring your whistles and metallic rhinestone cowboy hats with blinkers.

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