Ricardo Lino is one of the most inspiring people that i have ever met through blading. Anyone that has ever spent time with the super friendly Portuguese will understand what life should be about pretty quickly, fun! As a part of the USD Euro team he traveled the world and had features in a variety of magazines, including Daily Bread and a Be-Mag cover. He is the one guy you always wished would be on your tour, super positive and a pleasure to be around.
Today “The Lino“ is a Fixed Gear Bike Pro, he is still teaching kids how to blade, organizing events, building skateparks and making videos. Everything Lino touches, he puts in all his heart and soul.
Keep on doing your thing Ricardo. Life’s good!
Shot by Pietro Firrincieli
Hey Ricardo, where are you right now and what did you do before you started answering this?
I’m at Work right now, just had lunch and I‘ve been working on a rollerblading edit feat. Samuel Dias all morning.
Whats your normal day like?
Usually I wake up at 7:30, start working at 9:00 on academia dos patins, and I’m out around 5:00. If my job that day didn’t had any riding at all, by that time I grab my bike and get some street riding done. Then go home around 8pm, make dinner with my wife and chill a little watching TV series or some rollerblading or bike web edits.
For those who don’t know you, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and your blading background? What sponsors did you have and stuff like that?
For those who don’t know I started rollerblading when I was around 2,5 years old, been a speed skater for along time, I was part of the Portuguese team until the day I found out that I could use my rollerblades on the streets. It was around 17 years ago. I had a couple of sponsors but the highlight was being part of USD Euro Pro team in the USD golden age. I travelled a lot because of rollerblading. Met a lot of good people and had really good times with it..and I STILL DO!
Am I right that you had features in Daily Bread, Be-Mag and ONE Magazine? How did you do that? I know that Ryan Shude even came to visit you in Portugal to shoot an interview.
That rarely happens to Europeans…
Well you right and wrong 😉 haha..I did have interviews in international magazines, like Be-Mag and Daily Bread, but I never had an article or something in ONE magazine, maybe cause when ONE came out strong I wasn’t on the top of the game anymore. As for having Mr. Ryan Schude here, he is BY FAR, my favorite photographer to shoot with. He came all the way from America when no one knew me and we met each other, a couple of years later I was on USD and had a travel budget witch I could spend to go shooting or to competitions. Somehow I really wanted to show the spots I always love to ride in Portugal and asked Ryan if he would come if I payed his trip here? Called USD asked them to spend my travel budget to bring my favorite photographer here and made LOTS of material because Ryan really knew what I was capable of.
As seen in Be-Mag
After working hard to make yourself a name in blading, you decided to step back at some point. For me personally it just felt like you disappeared from one day to the other. What exactly happened?
Well I never wanted to step back from the rollerblading industry, but there was this time when I finished my graduation when I had to get myself more into work and didn’t had the time I need to blade professionally. I mean, I never stopped to love having the rollerblades on my feet but by the time I started working in something else and it felt good to put my blades on when I wanted to (even if it was everyday) and not when people wanted me to.
I even made a “come back” like 5 years ago, USD was again arms open to me but this time my body couldn’t handle it.. too many badly recovered injures stopped me from doing what I love the most. These days I cant blade anything with impact or my feet will swallow like 2 potatoes, so I’m limited to coping blading.
A few years after it got quiet around your blading, it seems like the whole Fixed Bike media is doing features with you. You quickly became a huge name in that sport, right?
Haha. I don’t know what to really say about it, its like I cant live without the adrenalin rollerblading, bodyboarding, biking or these kind of sports put into me. Maybe bringing my EX professional rollerblader knowledge into this bike rider thing helped me a lot. I remember looking at photos and edits and think “this photo could have been shot from this side” or “this guy should try this rail”..my rollerblader mentality and knowledge made my name in the fixed gear industry.
As seen in Daily Bread Magazine
When did the whole bike thing started? And why did you chose Fixed gear instead of BMX for example?
The whole bike thing started around 4 years ago when my car broke and I didn’t have a way to go from place to place. While I was saving money for a new car I got my self a bike, then I saw this kind of bikes wit a fixed drive chain, witch were really simple..no brakes, no gears, less to steal from me. Got a bike from eBay and that was about the same time when my feet problem started from rollerblading, somehow my adrenalin need made me try new stuff on the bike, started watching videos just like I used to watch blade videos and somehow started spending a lot of time doing it and having lots of fun.
It may seems weird to be able to ride bikes and not blades but the reason is simple. When I ride the blade all my weight go straight into my feet and when I ride the bike I got 5 point where my weight is going, 2 feet, 2 hands and a seat.
The reason why I ride a fixedgear bike and not a BMX is I DON’T KNOW..hahah..It simply turned out this way. I also ride rollerblades and not skateboards, I mean it was natural, and the bike fits me better since its bigger then a BMX, I’m not to small as you know..haha
Even if its two totally different things, I guess the whole balance thing is still kinda the
same? Did your blading skills helped you to get better quickly on the bike?
My blading skills totally helped me a lot of the bike. The main thing is, your feet is strapped to the bike, and what other extreme sport you know with the feet strapped to something then rollerblading? Also when the spots that I love riding are the same I used to do on the blades, inside me theres something like “you know you can do this, you did them on the blades, just go for it, you got this..”
Is the Fixed scene aware of the fact that you were a blading Pro before?
I am the PROUDEST rollerblader on earth and I will always be, who knows me knows how much I breath blading!!!!
Comparing the two scenes (blading and fixed bike) whats the biggest differences and what is similar?
I kinda compare both, its like rollerbladers are hated by skateboarders, fixed gear riders are hated by bmxers, both industries are small but this makes us stronger groups.
The biggest difference is the wheel size, it feels so good to be able to ride the spots I always wanted to but my blade wheels we´re to small for it. Right now I can go over everything… BIG FOOT style.
You’re making money with it? Signature frame maybe?
Well, to tell you the truth its possible and I had an opportunity, but for now I wanna keep it the way I’m doing it, for the fun and for the love I have for it! I do have my day job and its related to this kind of sports so I cant really complain about it.
As for signature part of the bike, we´re working on it 😉 some ideas on the table…we will see..
You’re still blading and you’re still pushing things forward with teaching kids and building skateparks. Can you tell us more about the two things?
Off course, I studied sports and physical education and I work at a company called academia dos patins. My work over here is to teach kids from how to blade to how to backslide down an handrail. I also do the media content for academia, like videos, event photos, etc . And one of our main occupations is to build skateparks, and I gotta tell you all I FREAKIN LOVE WHAT I DO FOR LIVING!!
Besides teaching, are you still blading for fun sometimes? Or you spent most of your free time on the bike now?
I will always blade for the fun 😉 I usually put my blades a lot to film other people and usually always get some tricks done. But on the streets its mostly cruising. Of course if you put me in front of a bowl or a miniramp I‘m gonna shred it until I cant breath no more…
What next? Any chance to see you at blading events again, or maybe even a little online edit?
Well next I’m trying to help a big rollerblading company to come into the portuguese market, hopefully it will work. I also plan on organizing competitions over here in Portugal (rollerbading and fixedgear) and I should be traveling a little this year. I wanna meet my main bike sponsor from the states in NYC and maybe go to a Red Bull invitational competition in San Francisco. And I wanna be in Berlin for the SUMMERCLASH!!!
Thanks for taking the time doing this. Talk to you soon buddy. Shout outs?
Thank you everyone who ever helped me living the way I do, I freaking love it. Thank you JOJO, Thank you ACADEMIA DOS PATINS for my daily work, Thank you USD (Mathias, Mark Korte and Bauer) for all you guys did for me. Thank you Ferdy and Andy for keeping me fresh on them Razors skates, thanks to Mirek from Hedonskate for sponsoring me to ride my bike with a rollerblading shop, means a lot to me!
Thanks GRIME BIKES, you guys made this man right here live a dream for the second time in his life, thanks Rinng Parts from Japan, thanks to the 100% Portuguese CHOOSE CLOTHING, thanks Zontrac straight outta Germany and thanks ELYTS.
And the last but the MOST IMPORTANT, a big thank you to my family for all the support. My parents and sister who has always supported me in what I do and to My lovely wife Soraia for truly understanding me and being on my side on the good times and on the bad times.. LY!
DONT FORGET TO CHECK www.theLINOlife.com
PEACE!!!!!
Ricardo Lino
http://vimeo.com/41239253
vimeo.com/56558025
http://vimeo.com/60197791
