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Bod's contest demeanor
is all focus and determina-
tion when he's on the
a long way to go just to see skating, but I went and
I was blown away. I had never seen real ramp skating.
ramp-long frontside I got Steve Caballero's autograph on an early edition
Skatepunk zine.
ollie during the Melbourne
Ramp Riot, November, 89.
Photo: Scott Needham.
This was before I knew Douglas or Lucien or any
of those guys. They were all skating in the demo
together. It wasn't even a demo, it was like a gathering
of the few skaters who were around. That evening blew
me away. I went home and said, "Skating is something
I want to do.'
When did you first skate outside of the U.K.?
In 1984 I got this terrible job packing self-watering
flower pots so I could save up to go to summer camp
in Sweden. My friend's dad paid me to do it. I worked
my balls off, saved my money and went to Sweden
with my friend. We sat on the train for like thirty-two
hours-all the way across Europe. We couldn't buy
anything to eat the whole time because the guy on the
train would only accept the currency of the country
we were in and we were too scared to get off of the
train, in case they left us. That was a bit of an adven-
ture. We didn't have reserved seats either, and the train
was full, so we had to change seats every few hours
or sleep in the aisle. We got to Sweden and the
counselors were Lance Mountain, Mike McGill and
other top pros. I was freaking out.
Recently, the first time I ever did well in a contest,
I was wigging out because I had to skate against Mike
McGill. I was sitting there about to ride thinking,
'Man, three years ago, I was a little kid and Mike
McGill was teaching me how to do backside ollies.
Now I have to skate against him. I shouldn't be here.
I should be skating for another ten years before I ever
get a chance to come against these guys." I was really
stoked just to be able to skate against them. I still feel
strange riding against them. Those guys were people
that I looked up to and read about in magazines. I'd
study Thrashers that would come over. I'd read every
letter printed. Then we came to America and we'd see
everything from the magazine and it just wouldn't seem
real. You had spent so much time looking at it and
reading about it, then suddenly you're sitting right next
to it and taking part in it.
For the first time in five or ten years, a lot of younger
skaters are pushing Caballero, Hawk, Gator, Chris-
tian, Alba and the big boys. You're one of the new
breed; who do you consider your peers?
There are a lot of them coming up. Reese Simpson
has been there for a long time, but he's strong now.
Danny Way, obviously. I mean he's fifteen, he's got
twelve years left in front of him. Easily. It's insane
how good he is.
In a contest, you know four of the top ten are going
to be Christian Hosoi, Tony Hawk, Jeff Phillips and
Chris Miller. But any one of forty other skaters can
also make the top ten. Contests are going to be dif-
ferent from now on, I think. Different people will be
in the top ten every time. When someone has a good
day, they'll be in there.
Do you think the top four will change?
There are so many good guys coming up, it's bound
to be too different. Look at the amateurs right now-
look at Mike Conroy, Sean Miller rages, Buster
Halterman is outrageous. That's three guys right there
and there are a million more. All of those guys are
working for it, they're not on some pro trip.
We're talking about the young and the restless.
We're talking about the young rippers who are going
to destroy us. Personally, I don't even think contests
can be judged. You can't judge someone over someone
else. It's wrong to do that because who's to say who's
better than the next person?
Are you really competetive about it?
I don't go out there to beat anyone. That's stupid,
because if you think that way, you're going to end up
bummed. I'm happy when I skate well for myself,
whether I place twenty-seventh, fifty-first or last. It
does feel good to place high, but it's not the whole
reason for having a contest. It's everything else. It's
a big gathering of friends. Contests in Europe aren't
even contests, they are just an excuse for everyone to
come together and skate.
the sense that mostly skaters came out. It was a place
to meet your friends from other countries. In Europe
it's tighter. You have friends a long way away, in dif-
ferent countries. It's not just the next
state, it's a different country, where
you have to travel through borders
and everything. Steve and I used to
travel around a lot to see people.
You'd go to the European
championships?
We tried to if we could get there.
Sometimes we'd set off for the Euro-
pean Championships and never
even get there. I remember one con-
test, I think it was 1985, we set off
to go to the European Champion-
ships and just gave up. We almost
Van's Ramp contest. Photo:
Chris Ortiz.
got there, but we had no money, Steve was ill and we Layback grind to tail at the
didn't want to move. We just stayed at Claus' and skated
his ramp. That was good enough because we hung out
with a bunch of people we hadn't
seen for a while. You don't have to
go to the contest to have a good trip.
What's your contest record for the
season?
'89
I entered a lot of contests this
year. I started doing well at the '88
(NSA) finals in Dayton, Ohio,
where I got sixth. That was a freak
out for me, a kick in the head. As
long as I make the cut, it's good
enough. After that was Michigan.
I kind of slammed and got ninth.
Danny Way won, but I think Reese
Simpson should have. Right after Michigan was the
Vans contest. That was a good one. That ramp was
all weird. After Van's, I went home to England.
Is that when you really started ter-
rorizing contests?
Yeah. There was so much going
on over there.
Did you go straight into a contest
when you went over there?
I was home for six days and then
I went to a contest in Swansea. I won
that. Two weeks after Swansea, I
went down to South Sea. Losi won
that and I got second. That was a
fun contest with a laid back atmo-
sphere. The skatepark is there to
skate when you don't want to ride
the metal ramp. Munster was two weeks after South
Sea. That was a disorganized, busy contest, but cool.
It was good to see Americans come over and take in-
terest in Europe, because Europe has so much to skate.
What were the crowds like in the early years in What did you place in Munster?
Europe?
Munster was big. When I first started skating con-
tests, the only people there would be the skaters and
maybe a few others. It was more of a gathering, in
Sixth. Then the weekend after Munster was
Docklands in London and Losi squashed me again.
In your hometown?
In my hometown. But that was (Continued on page 90)
Bod's only session at the
legendary Buena Vista
pool-blue hair hurricane.
Photo: Kevin Thatcher.
Last licks at Crystal Paice,
London. Photo: Mike John.
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