Sometimes I feel like I’ve been on a comeback since forever, I started skateboarding in 1986 and went through a lot of good times and bad times over the past 34 years, but the comeback was always one of the things that kept me alive. Every time I got hurt it was a mission to get strong again and go relearn the things I knew so well. As you get older, it only gets harder, but the feeling you get when you ride away clean is enough to keep anyone going. This video was released in 2012 during one of my many returns to the world I love – Skateboarding….
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Hippie Mike – Pimpin’ in the Parks
One of my all time favorite “Just for Fun” videos, filmed by Laine Siebert in 2013, it was just about a day skating 2 of my favorite skate parks while dressed up in my Pimp Suit Halloween costume. It wasn’t anywhere close to being Halloween which made it that much better. There’s nothing easy about skateboarding with a cane in your hand, especially when your vision is being blocked by your fuzzy brim pimp hat and pink boa, Haha
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Protest Skateboard Original Team Video – Never Give Up!
In tribute to my Dad who passed away on this day 8 years ago (April 29th, 2012) I have released the Original Protest Skateboards Video – Never Give Up – on YouTube. My Dad always taught me to believe in myself in everything you do and that I could accomplish anything I put my mind to, as long as I was committed to never giving up. I’ve lived with this mentality for as long as I can remember and can definitely think of some awesome success stories that came from it. That’s probably why I’m over 40 years old and still skateboarding.
Filmed for between 2003 and 2005, The Original Protest Skateboards Full Length Video – “Never Give Up!” contains Street Footage, Park Footage, and YES, riding on 2×4’s. This video stars some of the original Protest Skateboards Team Riders such as Cisco Gooding, Jon Irvine, Jeff Cole, Carrie Williams, and myself Hippie Mike, as well as a full part from Brad Danyluk and the original Hippie Mike 2×4 Part. Previously unavailable online, check out the roots of Protest Skateboards, and why we will Never Give Up… Edited by Hippie Mike – 2006
Here is the full length video released on YouTube for the first time
Filmed by: Justin James & Hippie Mike
Starring: Cisco Gooding, Jon Irvine, Jeff Cole, Brad Danyluk, Carrie Williams, Hippie Mike, and more…
You all know I’ve been on this scene for a long, long time. But some of you out there have only known me for a few years, so you might not know the old Hippie Mike. I grew up a full street skater since we had no skate parks unless we built them ourselves somewhere. So I had lots of flip tricks and loved drops and gaps. It was 2004 when I blew my knee and had to give up a lot of what I loved to do, but I never slowed down on my skating, I just changed up my style a bit and stopped doing big drops. When you see me now I’m usually cruisin’ some fast tranny lines or gettin’ tech on the quarter pipes, but this video takes you back to before I got hurt and was out in the streets all the time finding new spots.
I made this video for my Dad as a Christmas Gift in 2003. It was a montage from my skating from that year. Everyone knows I loved my Dad and I used to send him footage of my skateboarding all the time, I’m not sure if he even watched it, but I think he did. Either way, this one was for him.
Filmed on an old Hi8 Video Camera, it’s a little pixely but definitely worth a watch. Get to know the Hippie Mike you might not have had the chance to meet in the past, a drinkin’, lovin’, Happy Hippie who had lots of talent, determination and heart
It was about 2004 when I built the 2×4 skateboard.
I built it to prove to the kids I was teaching that you can balance on anything. But I made the mistake of taking it down to Bear Creek Skate Park the evening I put it together and realized that I could actually skate it. I even did a kickflip off the bank launch on it that first day. It was gonna be trouble…
I started skating this thing all the time. I kept it in my trunk and pulled it out whenever I thought of something to try. I let the kids ride it every Friday at the Skateboard Camps I was running and they all thought it was awesome. All it was, was just a straight up 2×4 – 36” long, gripped on top and sitting on original Gullwing Pros and Powell Peralta Mini Rats. It’s in my laundry room right now, just waiting for another ride. I think the last trick I ever did on it was a switch blunt – indy out on my ramp, or maybe it was the jitterbug. Either way it’s been a year or two.
We had some good times, me and that 2×4 – kickflipped a roof gap on some portables, pop-shovits, manuals and boardslides, all kinds of craziness. I still remember early grabbing the 10 stair at Brookswood Skate Park on it and everyone going wild. One time I showed up at Brookswood for a contest in 2005 and I only brought my 2×4. 75% of the people there didn’t even know it existed, but they’ll never forget it after that day:
First run, I threw down a solid line to start, Kickflip on flat, then a big pop shovit, and then boardslide down the 4 stair kink rail; turned around and blunt transferred over the spine in the bowl to a 50-50 and then a rock fakie; jumped out of the bowl, cleared the path and early grabbed the 10 stair… Killed it!
Second run, started off with the same line, then went back and forth in the flat banks with a kickflip fakie, a fakie kickflip and then pop-shovit body varial; and of course, one more early grab off the 10 stair.
The crowd loved it, and somehow I got 4th place. Nice! I didn’t do it to win, I just did it for the fun, and I was stoked that I had 2 flawless runs.
I was filming way out in Aldergrove Skate Park about a month ago for my “Show UP Mike” contest and this kid showed up and the first thing he said to me was, “Hey, did you used to ride a 2×4? I remember you from a contest at Brookswood.” I just laughed. Good times.
Another great one was this Volcom – Wild in the Parks thing at Tsawwassen Skate Park in 2006. I had ridden my 2×4 at Tsawwassen so many times it was basic. I kickflipped up the step up no problem, early grabbed both sets with different grabs, and some other stuff, but this was a day for historic moments so I decided I was going to boardslide the Blue Rail down the 6 stair. Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t ride rails any more, but here I was hopping on to this handrail on my 2×4 and making it. So I stuck it down, Blam!! I had never even attempted to boardslide this rail on my normal board, so I have to admit I was pretty stoked that I just did it on a 2×4, maybe a little toooooo stoked. I stuck it down again for my video camera so I could watch it myself, and then I talked shit: “Joyce Rail, tomorrow. It’s goin’ down.” Any locals to the Lower Mainland should know the Joyce Rail – long green 6 stair rails, fairly high, out of a tennis court and you need plywood to land on. About 12 of us went out the next day for me to do this boardslide.
First try, got on it and jumped off;
Second try, slid the whole rail and jumped off;
Third try, came up strong, full commitment, knowing I was going to land it…
Nope.
I clipped my front wheels on the bottom of the rail, leaped over the rail trying to clear it and caught my inner thigh on the end. Smash! Faceplant.
It took me 3-4 weeks to massage out this blood clot trying to form in my leg, but it was worth it. I was getting way to cocky with that 2×4 board and needed a good dose of reality as to why I should not be riding it.
The 2×4 skateboard was built to prove a point to kids, but instead it ended up proving a lot about skateboarding to myself. I learned that I can ride anything and still rip it. It helped me express my inner self and I realized that this board would push my limits to another level, and I thank every day I got on it, and every trick I did. I’m sure someday it will rise again, but can’t say when.
Until then, enjoy what might just be the strangest skateboard video part you ever see:
From the video “Never Give Up”, 2005
To the song “This Was My Life” by Megadeath
Hippie Mike – The 2×4
I’ve been skateboarding now for 26 years, and I would say I have learned quite a lot of tricks, but the best thing about skateboarding is just running as fast as you can on to your board and surfing the concrete. Today’s generation doesn’t always understand that concept. They get dropped off at the skate park, practise their tricks all day, get mad when they can’t land them, and call their Mommies to come pick them up. That’s not what skateboarding is supposed to be about.
Skateboarding is about Freedom – Freedom to express yourself in any way you feel. I can skate for hours without doing any tricks and without ever leaving the ground. Just cruisin’ and carvin’. Some days my favorite thing to do is just grab a couple buddies and hit up the Surrey Downhill 3 or 4 times. You should try it some day. Quit worrying about who you’re impressing and just go skate.
Since the “What the F” video came out in 2010, I haven’t really been filming too much. I’ve kind of just been keeping to myself, riding my ramp at home, slashing around at Chuck Bailey, and just going back to the roots of why I love this sport. But it’s time to giv’er once again. Through all the injuries that have plagued me over the past 26 years, and the changes in my body structure due to some of these injuries, it is still my greatest passion to be out there on my board.
Here’s a little taste of the footage you’re about to get from the old Hippie Mike. Enjoy it, and get ready for a whole lot more….