Behind the Scene: What has Richie Eisler aka. Dr. Dick been up to? - 07/09/29

1. Yo Richie, what have you been up to lately?

Haha that’s a good question because I have been up to a lot of things lately. In the last year: I spent a month in Australia, got home and began study for a Masters of Business, tore ligaments in my ankle shooting for Featuring the World on Halloween, went to a giant party in Lake Louise that made the national news for being too rowdy, spent the winter busy with school, work, skating and partying too much, traveled to Mexico and China for school courses, finished the MBA, went to Europe and toured around with the Hungarian and Polish guys and then just recently topped it all off exploring Greece, Spain and Morocco with my girlfriend.

2. How was the Europe Tour?

The Europe tour was pretty sweet. There were minor problems and injuries that brought things down sometimes, but that’s the same with any tour. Overall it was great. I met a lot of new friends and visited some amazing new places. I am definitely happy to be home, though. It was difficult and exhausting to spend two months trying to communicate in other languages.

3. Where are you going next and what for?

For the next couple months I will be road-tripping around Western Canada to collect footage. After that, maybe Brazil? I managed to hit 5 continents in the last year, so I’d like to complete the collection with South America and Antarctica next! (Originally, these questions were sent to me while I was still in Hungary, so I guess the answer at that time would have been “Greece, Spain and Morocco to chill on beaches and ride camels in the desert.”)

4. USD wanted to send you over last year, but you couldn’t come. How did that happen?

Yeah, I was supposed to be on the Be-Mag tour last summer, but I thought it would be more fun to fracture my skull and spend the summer trying to regain my smell and taste! I have told this story a few too many times, but basically I went skating the day before my flight, fell, hit my head, got up dizzy, went to the hospital, found out I had a fractured skull/concussion/bleeding brain, spent a week laying around home and that’s that. Thankfully, everything worked out and I am fully recovered.

5. What are your plans for the next month?

Well I am looking for jobs around home and also in places I would like to live (such as Australia). I am also looking at investing in a house. I might buy a house and get a few renters to move in and pay for it. I still work at the police. It has been the perfect job for flexibility with school and travel. I’m not sure how much longer I will stay there, but I just recently started working on a new position there, doing CSI type stuff with surveillance video. I basically try to grab still shots from crimes and enhance them to help with identifying suspects. It is pretty interesting. As I said earlier, I will also be heading off on as many road trips as possible, so I will be skating/filming a lot and also working with the conference. My new undercover wheels will be out soon, so I guess you can be on the lookout for another “sweet sixteen” promotional video. Mizous are up next! We will also be popping out another skatepark edit; I’m sure people remember the last one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2NRZh9qlu74.



6. I heard you enjoy school, what is next for you?

True story. I don’t know what else to say about “what’s next”…Eventually, I think I would like to do a PhD and begin teaching as a Professor. I think that is a job I would enjoy. Haha then I’ll be Dr. Dick/Professor Dick!

7. Can you give us more details about what you have studied?

I completed a Bachelor’s degree in Media Production and a Masters of Business Administration. I studied Media Production because I love creating things and capturing memories. I studied Business because I would like to
find a job that hopefully combines business and media. The MBA also moves me one step closer to a PhD. It was interesting to study subjects that are so different. The people I went to business school with were completely different from the people that I took film with. And the two subjects really call attention to different values. I think this combination gave me a great mixture of perspectives.

8. Tell us something about your scene and the city you are living in.

I live in Regina. It is a small city of approximately 200,000 people. We have hot summers and cold winters. Sometimes I hate this city and other times I love it. There isn’t a lot to do and it is very flat, so we have almost no skate spots (making me wonder how everyone I skate with got so incredibly good). As much as it seems like a dump, the people are great and everywhere you go, there will be people you know. I also love that it is so disconnected from the drama of the skating world. I am happy that I have been able to make something from skating from the middle of nowhere - without living in a media hot spot, going to too many contests, dealing with
the ridiculous egos, etc. It seriously feels like I am just doing my thing, having a blast, as if I have nothing to do with the skating industry, but somehow I do. It’s amazing.



9. How is Canada compared to the States? Do you miss Canada already?

Comparing Canada to the States is a pretty large topic to cover! The countries have a lot of things in common, with just as many differences. As far as skating goes, America has better weather, better spots and so many incredible skaters, but I prefer skating in Canada. After skating pretty much everywhere, I have realized just how special the attitudes and personalities of bladers in Canada are. Anyone who has traveled here to skate can attest to just how fun it is. Do I miss Canada? Again, I am a bit late completing this interview, but yes I missed Canada when I was
overseas. One day Be-Mag had that little clip of my friends stealing stuff from my house and it was so nice to see everyone! It’s a little off topic, but technology is amazing. I was sitting on the other side of the world watching my house, family and friends, knowing that they had shot it that day or only a few days earlier. Compare that to 50 years ago and I would have been sending/reading letters that took forever to be delivered. I can’t wait for things to progress to the point where we are shooting in HD with our cell phones and streaming it live to sites like youtube. It’s not far away.

10. What is the best for you about rollerblading?

The best thing about it is that it is what you make it. If you want to be crazy, you can be crazy. If you want to be relaxed, you can be relaxed. If you want to be competitive, you can be competitive. If you want to do it at 530 in the morning, you can do it at 530 in the morning. You don't need a coach, a team, a sports complex or anything else - just yourself and some blades. The amount of fun I have challenging myself and playing around on wheels is too good to be real. I love how it is something that can change as I change. As I get older, the way I want to skate changes and I can just skate differently. No rules or limits. I can’t believe how much this simple activity has shaped me as a person. I love the mental focus I have gained from skating, the physical control, the emotional thrill, everything. And the roadtrips with friends! There is something about the feeling you get setting off on an adventure to some random new place. I have made friends around the world and experienced so many things that I would have never known otherwise. This activity/lifestyle has completely shaped who I am and yet if I try to explain how or why to anyone who doesn't rollerblade, they just don't get it.

11. You turned pro for USD and you are definitely not making tons of money, how do you feel about the whole industry, right now?

Yeah I am not making any money from USD right now. I could definitely use some extra cash, but at the same time it isn't such a bad thing. For one, I haven't fallen into the drop-out rollerblader trap that seems to capture so many. I mean, as amazing as it would have been to get paid for a few years of rollerblading only to end up squeezing my inflated ego into a McDonald's uniform, I guess I missed out. As for these days, getting paid to skate would take a lot of the fun out of it and add more pressure. And, it's not like a few years ago where the pay was actually worth something. Now it's like you deal with all this pressure and you burn yourself out over something you love - just to make as much money as you could have made on a paper route. I am pretty happy to just be enjoying skating and some of the opportunities that have come with it.

As for the industry, I think it is pretty funny right now. The fact that some people feel like such superstars is ridiculous. Some of our top "role-models" are embarrassing. However, on the positive side, skating is probably the best it's ever been. The progression of style and tricks has been unbelievable, and for every bad apple there are many more who are doing positive things. The slimming of media support and finances has also really created a period of "survival of the fittest", which is actually strengthening the industry at the core.

12. What is going on with Undercover? It is super well known in Europe, but not as much in the States. Any plans on how UC is going to be the shit out there?

Undercover is still going strong. They asked me to manage the team, which basically just involves tracking people down for photos or info or whatever. In the meantime, the image has been reworked and a new team has been assembled. Both will be presented with the new website, which should be up any day now. Be on the lookout for that at theconference.org The wheels have also been improved - no more cracked cores, and the urethane lasts much longer. I guess you'll just have to get a set of my new wheels and see for yourself! Haha

13. Which skates are you skating right now and why do you love them so bad?

I am always skating classic thrones. I really like the way they skate and the fact that you can customize all the parts. They have good flex, slide fast and last forever. Normally I skate my own wheels and frames, but decided to switch it up for a bit and rock some grey boots with white frames, freestyle.

14. How are you dealing with injuries and what was the worst you got so far?

This has been the worst year ever for injuries. I went a long time without any problems and then in the last year I smacked my head and tore ligaments in my ankle. It sounds crazy, but the ankle injury has been the worst, by far. I still have trouble bending completely forwards or sideways, so this causes problems with a lot of aspects of skating. I have also had a few minor muscle sprains and bruises, but of course they always seem to pop up on important trips or filming days. It has been really frustrating.

15. Any shout outs?

This time I think I'm going to change it up a bit and give a shout out to anyone who has ever let me sleep on their couch!



Skateshot and I-view by Grand

Tags: behind the scene canada dr dick europe greece richie eisler undercover usd what have you been up to