A Session At Dave Bergthold's Ramp

Laban Pheidias closing in on a big lien to tail

Dave Bergthold just had his 41st birthday

Dave Bergthold slides around a long boardslide transfer

Mike Sinclair - back smith

Brian Howard helped with building the ramp

Aaron Astorga also helped build the ramp

Old guys love a session with other old guys. There's no one switch flipping, no TAPS, no gangsta' beats thumpin', and there's usually some suds flowing as part of the session. Mike Sinclair, former Blockhead rider, joined up with some of his old teammates for an old guys' session with Dave Bergthold, Aaron Astorga, Brian Howard, and Laban Pheidas, among others. I'm pretty sure it was Dave Bergthold that started Blockhead back in the day. Check out a few photos to your right.

We have an Old Guys' Session of our own every week. Every Tuesday night, join us here at the Skatepark of Tampa. If you're older than a quarter-century, you skate for $3. We won't tell anyone how old you really are. Kids can already tell you're over 30 if you're rocking leopard-print Pro Designed knee pads, though.

Here are a few questions I asked Mike about these photos:

Rob: You used to ride for Blockhead, too, right? What's the brief story on that? Was that your one-day pro model company or was that Zorlac or something?
Mike: I used to ride for Blockhead from 1988-1993, until it turned into Invisible Skateboards. I was never pro for Blockhead, but you can catch some sketchy video parts of mine in the Blockhead box set. Those were the days were you just filmed for a few days and then turned in your tape on VHS to your team manager. I was pro for like a week on Zorlac and I got to choose one of three terrible graphics that were shown to me. I blew my knee out the minute I chose my graphic. Fun times!

Rob: I sorta' kinda' remember, but what's the brief history of Dave Bergthold?
Mike: Dave Bergthold started up Blockhead in his garage in Northern California around 1986. Dave moved himself and the company to San Diego in the late 80's and built the first Blockhead mini-ramp in his backyard, that was much bigger than this one. Sam Cunningham was the first pro for Blockhead. Sam skated the ramp just the other day.

Rob: What do these guys do for a living now?
Mike: I work at Fallen. Brian works at Fallen. Aaron is trying to market some type of new skate-wax. Laban lives in LA and films, acts, and still rips. Dave films for Fuel TV and has started up Blockhead again without a team, but he does have a ramp again. The old Blockhead team was too many to name, but here are a few of the old riders: Rick Howard, Jeremy Wray, Steve Berra, Jason Dill, Dan Rogers, Sam Cunningham, Laban Pheidas, Mark Wyndham, and Rick Jaramillo. Rob: Thanks for the info, Mike