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Ultimate Boarder competitor: Ryan Wichert |
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Written by Paul Raymore
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
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One week, three boards, one champion — the first ever Ultimate Boarder™ competition kicks off on the snow April 13 at Squaw Valley USA with local riders, including Ryan Wichert of Incline Village, in the hunt.
Ryan Wichert
• Age: 25
• Hometown: Thousand Oaks, Calif.
• Current residence: Incline Village (moved her in 1994 with his family after the big earthquakes in Southern California that year)
• Home mountain: Diamond Peak or Squaw Valley USA (and he’s on his snowmobile if not there)
• Favorite skatepark: The Incline Village skate park (although he just skated the coolest ramp he’s ever seen in a subdivision called The Ranch outside Santa Barbara)
 • Favorite surf break: Ryan rides for the Trilogy Arts team and has recently been surfing around Santa Barbara with the Trilogy Arts crew. Grew up surfing County Line, Zuma Beach and Ventura.
• Strongest discipline: Snowboarding. “That’s where I can just kill it, blindfolded.
• Why did you sign up to be a part of this? Trilogy Arts Team Manager Ruben Sanchez grew up with Ultimate Boarder founder and CEO Tim Hoover, and Ruben introduced Ryan to Tim at the Snowsports Industries tradeshow in Las Vegas. And then Ryan came out for the Tahoe tryouts for the original reality show idea. And he’s been on the list ever since.
• How long have you been skating, surfing and snowboarding? “I grew up skating: I got my first skateboard at 3 years old — a Tony Hawk with green wheels underneath my Christmas tree. And then I started surfing, and I remember I bought my first surfboard at this garage sale that I was driving by. They were selling this Kennedy surfboard for like $70 or something... And I first paddled out at Ventura, where the [Ultimate Boarder surf] competition is at. That’s where I would go if I didn’t want to go to school: I’d claim sick, and then an hour later I’d be like, ‘All right mom, let’s go to the beach.’ And an hour later that’s where she’d take me... I started snowboarding when I was 13, and then professionally snowboarding about five years ago when Ruben [Sanchez] found me and picked me up for Trilogy Arts.”
 • Favorite trick skating, surfing and snowboarding? Skating — backside 360 kickflip body varial. Surfing — floater. Snowboarding — frontside 720.
• What sport is the most difficult for you? “Skating is really difficult sometimes. Surfing is just tiring. I’ll go with skating, just because I get hurt too much on the skateboard.”
• What makes you a good all-around rider? “People used to say ‘Ryan, why don’t you just pick one and go be a professional skater or surfer or snowboarder.’ And I was like ‘I don’t need to be a professional anything.’ That’s why I’m glad that Ruben found me — because he knew that I loved all three so much that I didn’t even care to get paid. I grew up surfing my whole life, and I grew up skating my whole life, and I grew up snowboarding — I don’t play tennis or golf or croquet — those are the things I love doing. I’m doing one of those three no matter what, any time of the day... And I love every single one as much as the others.”
• In what sport have you hurt yourself the worst? “I’ve hurt myself more skating, but I’ve kind of put myself out of commission more snowboarding. Hurting and breaking ankles and stuff like that is definitely from skating; but I’ve had my concussions on the snowboard too... I’ve never been hurt on the surfboard. Water is a little bit softer than concrete and rocks.”
• Ever competed in anything like this? “No, just snowboard comps... And I had a skateboard comp when I was like 14. But nothing like the Ultimate Boarder.”
• What do you think your chances are for winning the whole thing? “Knock on wood, but I’d say pretty good. I’m not worried about the snowboarding. I know Keir Dillon and Todd Richards and those guys can do 900s and all that stuff. It’s just going to be who can stick the sickest run. So I think I’m going to have a pretty good chance. I’ve been going to the skatepark every single day, making sure I can get like a minute-and-a-half run. And if I can do that up here, down there it’ll be like a two-minute run... I’m going to have my hands full for sure, but I’m just going to have fun with it. And, if anything, that’s what’s going to be what makes me win. But I’m definitely nervous... Why did you have to ask that one?!”
• If it’s not you, any other bets on who might be the best all-around riders? “I’m worried about this guy from Norway. I just saw him at Squaw and we were sessioning these jumps and he was doing really good. And one of the photographers was telling me that he’s a really good surfer and skater. I was also really worried about Terje [Haakonsen], but I don’t know if he’s in it anymore because I heard he hurt his shoulder. So I’m worried about Todd Richards, Kurt Wastell, Keir Dillon a little bit... And then my team manager is saying he’d watch out for all the little guys we don’t even know.”
Photos by Ruben Sanchez
Check out other local riders in the Ultimate Boarder competition:
• Andy Finch (Truckee, Calif.)
• Dave Brumm (Alpine Meadows, Calif.)
• David Burright (Truckee, Calif.)
• Rick Gravesen (Alpine Meadows, Calif.)
• True Love (Kings Beach, Calif.)
• Or, go back to the main story about the competition
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
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