RICK THORNE INTERVIEW
Ryan: I’m hanging out with Rick Thorne at the Tony Hawk Gigantic
Skatepark Tour at Merritt Island…
Rick: Yo yo.
Ryan: How’s the Tour been so far? How’s it been with
skaters and bikers going together?
Rick: The whole skate/bike thing is pretty cool,
you know what I mean, like, we all know back
in the day how the skaters treated us bikers.
Since I’m from the Old School…(laughter).
Ryan: The Skatepark of Tampa is bike-friendly. We have a “Bike Day.”
Rick: I know. I know. But see the whole point…I
think it’s cool because I’ve been down with
Tony (Hawk) for about 10 years, all these guys,
Cab, whatever, and I think it’s cool because it
lets people know. We have a big problem with
bikes, we’re where skating was 10 years ago;
you’re not allowed to skate here. See, bikes
aren’t allowed to ride anywhere.
Ryan: Even the parks now, the public ones…I was in
Vegas not too long ago and there was a park
that bikes couldn’t ride at.
Rick: A lot of people look at bikers like being big
complainers, but you have to put yourselves in
our position. We get charity handouts once a week to
ride a park, and I understand, but I think that
bikers just need to start stepping up and opening
their own parks. And they are, but it’s not us
against anyone else; when you’re not allowed at
public parks, no one is allowed to ride street –
anywhere you get kicked out, plus the skateparks…they’re so
closely related (skateboarders and bikes), but they’re
still not joined together. So this tour helps
kinda’ join it together.
Ryan: You know our course is designed for skateboarding;
everything is real small.
Rick: We ride that too, though.
Ryan: On Wednesdays, when we do Bike Day, they go over
pretty good. I notice you’re wearing a wedding
band; did you just get married?
Rick: I got married to Madonna, a skater. She came to
the Skatepark of Tampa while she was around for a contest.
Ryan: This is the one you were first dating when we went
to dinner that time, right?
Rick: Yep.
Ryan: Well congratulations, Man. How long have you
been married now?
Rick: Since October. So seven months.
Ryan: You’re a veteran.
Rick: Dude, you don’t even know. She’s badass. Straight up,
when you least expect it, it’ll smack you in the face,
you know what I mean? There she is. Boom. You either
act on it, or you don’t. With her I had to, she’s badass.
Ryan: How does she handle you going on the road and taking off?
Rick: See, that’s the thing; she’s just like me. She’s a
skater, she rocks Dickies and white t-shirts and she’s not
like a Nordstrom chick. You know what I’m saying, like
real pricey. And since she’s got goals to compete and
skate and stuff, and we’re in a band together. Our band’s
called All Scarred Up. She understands. I mean, we miss
each other, but she’s busy skating, kicking it with her friends.
Ryan: That’s great.
Rick: You got married, too?
Ryan: Yeah, like two weeks ago in Vegas.
Wedding Video 1 - Ryan and Lori
Wedding Video 2 - Elvis shows up
(Windows Media Player required)
Rick: Yeah! Congratulations, Dude.
Ryan: That’s what I’m saying, ‘cause I know how you feel right now.
It’s a great feeling. That’s cool; I’m stoked for you.
Rick: I’ve lived both lives. You know, single, on the road,
doing this, that, whatever, but you reach a point if you find
somebody you really love, it’s nothing compared to playing
the game every night. I don’t want to live my life without
her to be very honest.
Ryan: That’s really good; we’ll end it with that.
