058: Todd Richards/Action Sports Senior Citizen
Hossegor omnibus! Yep. I headed to France for a quick 48 hour Quik Pro trip, and ticked off three podcasts while I was at it.
This first instalment is with somebody I had an inkling would be a brilliant guest, and he didn’t disappoint: the great Todd Richards.
The word ‘legendary’ doesn’t really cover it with Todd, who during his 90s heyday helped set the standards that continue to define snowboarding to this day. Todd’s what you might call an action sports lifer – somebody who has been immersed in skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing since he was a kid and who is showing no signs of slowing down now he’s nearing action sports senior citizenry.
He’s also brilliant company, and we had a great time trading stories and gossip about the sports we love. As I soon realised, Todd knows that ultimately our whole thing is a completely frivolous waste of time that also happens to be the greatest thing in the world, and his chat is that of a person who has spent a lifetime becoming increasingly comfortable with this essential truth.
He is also brilliantly opinionated on everything from Terje’s boycott to the state of snowboarding today, and full of great one-liners. Yes snowboard geeks, your ship has come in. Grab the popcorn, and settle down for an enlightening 90 minutes with one of the greats.
Big thanks to Todd for this one. I really enjoyed it. Hope you do too.
If you only have five minutes…
Listen to this section - Todd on Terje's boycott.
Connect With Todd
Show Notes
- The third day of jet lag
- Red Bull Airborne
- Fun little waist high waves.
- The recent shark attack at Todd’s home surf break.
- Keane Hayes
- The psychology of surfing in the aftermath.
- Todd’s early snowboarding experiences
- Beginning skateboarding in 1984.
- The early culture of snowboarding.
- Early snowboard media.
- Skateboard influence starts to creep in.
- This is Snowboarding
- Western Front
- Tahoe City Dump Sessions
- The east coast/west coast pissing contest.
- Influence of Jeff Brushie.
- The slow pace of progression.
- The Tenney Mountain Snowboard Bash
- Finding the early influences as the scene coalesces.
- How snowboarding doesn’t take care of the legends.
- The recent trend for marketing snowboarding nostalgia.
- ‘Snowboarding isn’t really interesting right now’.
- How we ended up in this stylistic cul-de-sac.
- The difficulty of marketing vanilla youth.
- How the outlaws were pushed out.
- Snowboarding follows skating two years out.
- The joy of fucking around on a snowboard
- Early Colorado street skate influenced scene
- Todd’s move west.
- Start of Morrow Snowboards – ‘the first artsy snowboard company’.
- Scott Clum’s visionary art direction.
- How Todd’s mum gave him the push he needed.
- Todd’s early Colorado crew
- The tribalism of your early twenties
- Influence of The Hard, the Hungry and the Homeless and Pocahontas
- ‘Captain of fifth place’.
- How the first win unlocked the competitive door.
- First time Todd saw Terje ride.
- First ‘Scanner’ wave.
- How Todd learned to cope with nerves.
- The importance of gaining confidence.
- How the bad stays with you.
- Learning to find your own place in the field.
- ‘Was the rivalry real? It was really real’.
- Terje to Jimi Scott
- Todd on ‘choking’ at the 1998 Olympics.
- The cultural importance of Terje’s boycott.
- How Todd was sucked into the Olympic hype…
- …and got ‘fully rattled’.
- The conflict between trying to win and keeping your self worth.
- ‘I jocked out’
- Nagano – the event itself.
- Shackles off at the post-Games World Championships.
- Todd’s views on Terje’s boycott today.
- The toxic power of the Olympics
- How Todd rationalises his own involvement with the Olympic circus.
- The difficulty of calling tricks.
- Todd’s overview of the 2018 Games
- ‘I’m almost more stoked on the progression of women’s snowboarding than men’s’
- Sage’s frontside 10 rewind.
- The eternal debate – how to progress without resorting to ‘one more’.
- Todd’s role today.
- Entrepreneurial sideline with the Saint Archer brewery.
- Surfing – Todd’s first love today.
- ‘It’s therapy’.
- Coping with being an action sports senior citizen.
- ‘Take advantage of your body and mind being in sync while you can.’
People Mentioned
- Peter Benchley
- Steven Spielberg
- Chris Cote
- Chris Roach
- Craig Kelly
- Jeff Brushie
- Rob Levine
- Tom Hsieh
- Terry Kidwell
- Andy Coghlan
- Chris Carroll
- Trevor Graves
- Shaun Palmer
- Jeff Grill
- Mike Ranquet
- Shawn Farmer
- Pierre Wikberg
- Travis Parker
- Roan Rogers
- Dale Rehberg
- Nate Cole
- Tom Sims
- Brad Dorfmann
- Brad Steward
- Rob Morrow
- Scott Clum
- Adam Merriman
- Jay Isaacs
- Stevie Alters
- Whitey McConaughey
- Josh Hemminger
- Damian Sanders
- Steve Blakely
- Mack Dawg
- Todd Franzen
- Tam Windell
- Kevin Delaney
- Terje Haakonsen
- Sebu Kulhberg
- Tucker Franzen
- Jimi Scott
- Dave Mailman
- Ron Chioti
- Ross Powers
- Darcy Sharpe
- Max Perrot
- Ed Leigh
- Tim Warwood
- Craig McMorris
- Markus Kleveland
- Red Gerrard
- Sage Kotsenburg
- Jamie Anderson
- Chloe Kim
- Anna Gasser
- Yuki Kadono
Places Mentioned
- Encinitas
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Donner Ski Ranch
- Tenny Mountain
- Breckenridge
- Florida
- Oregon
- Boulder
- Vail
- Norway
- Sugarloaf Mountain
- Mount Bachelor
- Mammoth Mountain
- Tahoe
- Hossegor
- Jaws
COMPANIES/BRANDS/ORGANISATIONS/BANDS MENTIONED
- Red Bull
- WSL
- Jaws
- Thrasher
- Skates on Haight
- International Snowboard Magazine
- Snowboarder
- Absolutely Radical
- Action Now
- Sims
- Burton
- X Games
- Girl
- Chocolate
- Plan B
- DC
- Welcome Skateboards
- Spring Break Snowboards
- Lame
- Afterbang
- Joyride Snowboards
- Disneyland
- Vision
- Division 23
- Vans World Championships
- US Open
- Quiksilver
- Miller Coors
- Saint Archer
- Villager Coconut Water