Lodge Guest, Björn Handell

Name: Björn Handell

Current: Job / school: Brand & Marketing at tretton37 (Software Development)

Where are you from? Malmö, Sweden

Where do you currently live? Dalby, Sweden (Small town/village)

Family status: Married, 2 kids

Age: 43

Sponsors: Not really but I get some love here and there

Years of skateboarding: About 34

Board size: 8.5 with a 15inch wheelbase (It is all about the wheelbase)

Wheel size: 58

Trucks: Indy or Ace depending on mood (Indys right now)

I change set up every: Deck, more often than I need too. Wheels if they flat and trucks as seldom as is humanly possible.

Current Board trend: I am sticking with functional popsicle shapes even though I have a few decks lying around home with enticing pool shapes. I might try one eventually.

Please state your type of terrain on your board in %

Street: 2%

Skatepark  4%

Miniramp: 14%

Long board: Not since that one time in 1996

Vert: 30%

Bowl: 50%

Freestyle: 0%

 

Your daily DAY by the hours, (or tell us about your longest day the last weeks)

 

06.00 Woke up half an hour ago, just finished a light breakfast

07.00 At the gym.

08.00 Still at the gym, probably working on handstand variations

09.00 Morning meeting at work

10.00 Second breakfast, I eat a lot

11.00 Work

12.00 Lunch skate at the awesome new skatepark in Lund

http://skatelund.se/soderlyckan-skatepark-lund/

13.00 Lunch (actual food)

14.00 Work

15.00 Fika, It’s a Swedish thing, you wouldn’t understand (hint, there is cake)

16.00 More work

17.00 If weather permits I skate a bit in “my” bowl in Dalby. A nice miniramp kidney just outside my houseJ

19.00 Dinner with family

21.00 Winding down, sometimes with a beer or two, sometimes binge watching TVseries (right now I am watching Gomorra)

22.00 See above

01.00 Sleep

How are you doing at the moment?

Pretty good, everything important is as it should be.

 

 

 

How is your body at the moment , (injuries, knees, and so so ) ?

Recently injured my neck/shoulder blade. Still not sure what it is or what sort of prognosis to expect. Hurts a lot and is a bit annoying, trying not to worry about it.

Please comment your feelings about Skateboarding in the

 80s

Got my first board in 81, at the time very little of what happened in the rest of the skateboarding world reached me or my friends. We just found it fun and that was sufficient in of itself. A couple of years later we started getting copies of skate videos. Not sure which video that was the first one I saw but once I saw H-streets “Shackle me not” my mind was blown and my destiny set. I wanted to replicate what happened in that video more than anything in life.

Btw, I skated mostly street in the 80s, only a small amount of transition going on then.

90s

Wheels were a bit small, pants too large and tricks slightly silly at first. I still think back on this period with warm feeling, the sessions were tight consisting of a small group of friends, not a bad recipe for a good time. Skate parks (if any) and spots sucked though.

As the 90s progressed I moved from street to bigger and bigger transitions and when it was over I was pretty much only skating Vert.

 2000

Lots of Vert for me, sprinkled with some nice sessions on concrete as Sweden and not least the city of Malmö decided it was time to start investing in public skate parks.

Injured my back quite severely in the mid 2000s, took the better part of four years to get through. Once I was back on board trusting my body the Vert scene in Malmö was pretty solid with the ever growing Vert Attack comp once a year. Still stoked on every Vert Attack sesh that has ever gone down!

2010+

In my forties now, weird to think I am still skating at some sort of level. At this point my goal is just to have fun. It’s not about chasing tricks; I am happy with just doing it! Thankful for everything!

When I chill, I chill with,

My family

I’m have been on a mission lately in (with)

This last week I am afraid my dates have been with an MRI machine.Other than that I like to photograph a lot. Most likely my skate missions include snapping pics.

Dream session would be,

5-10 stoked friends, loud music, and a few drinks afterward! Pants optional! Keep it simple folks!

Lately I have been working on,

Grinding longer! Getting better at photography!

When I was little I would like to,

Skate like T-mag, now I wan’t to skate like J-mag (fat chance haha)

When im home I like to,

Avoid chores

I normally call my homies for,

A miniramp sesh and a few beers

Your homies are,

They know who they are!

I enjoy going to,

Fakie

Favorite drink is,

Aperol Spritz or Mojito

Favorite food is,

Seafood takes first prize, I’ll try anything though, most things more than once.

Favorite drug,

Do painkillers count?

Favorite music,

Ranges from Singer songwriters via Heavy Metal to Blues and old Jazz.

Favorite film,

Star Wars, original trilogy!

Favorite skateboarders,

Hard to pick and I fear any list will be incomplete. But if I have too: Miller, Gonz, Hensley, Crum, Hendrix, Glifberg, Hewitt, Burnquist, McKay, Way, JMag, Olsson (Jocke, goofy power), Armanto, Perelson & Wilkins.

Favorite skate film,

Video Days

Favorite skatepark,

Many nice ones to pick from (including my “own” bowl in Dalby) but I will go with Faelledparken CPH. Love that place.

Favorite spot,

The miniramp in Folkets park Malmö

Favorite woman / men (blond, fat, thin, big, small)

Married my favorite

 

When I cook, I cook,

Something on the barbeque

To go to restaurant is,

Something in Italy

To go to trick is,

Pivot to fakie

To go to trick when you are farked is,

Fs slash

To go to trick when you are winning is,

Millerflip (haven’t done one in years)

TOP 3 Cities,

Copenhagen, Camogli Italy, NYC

When I travel, I always bring,

A smile

Best travel advice I can give is,

Just do it!

 

Best travel memory you want to share?

I once hung out with Pritchard and Dainton known from Dirty Sanchez. It was, well, interesting. They were in possession of large amounts of spray deodorant + lighters and used them on each other. There were flames, burnt facial hair and an unforgettable smell.

When I do not skateboard I,

I might be working or hanging with my family

My fitness program is,

Severe (Gym, Yoga, Gymnastics and not least skateboarding)

When I get old I want to,

It would be cool to fs grind a Vert Ramp when I am 60.

I would NEVER,

Push mongo, do benihanas or carry my board holding the truck!

Where do you stand & please comment with skateboarding in the olympics ?

On the fence, trying to be positive. I know some of the people involved and they seem to have their head on straight. Curious to see if the skaters will be wearing a uniform. Also, it would be kind of cool if US sends Grayson Fletcher, I would love to hear a normal sports caster try to make sense of his skating. I might apply for the job of National coach btw, haha!

I would like to see more of,

No handed tricks, I just love good ollies, cabs, half cabs, nollies etc!

That one time where I was in jail because of,

I talked myself out of it, was totally guilty thoJ

I should do more of,

Stalefish grabs

My future looks like,

Hopeful

I dream of,

Cameras & lenses. You can always get more.

The book I currently read is,

Aeronauts by Jim Butcher (Fantasy, sort of)

The best travel I have been on,

Italy, many times. Forza Italia!

The worst travel(s) I have been on was,

Can’t think of any particular horror story.

On Netflix I watch,

Get Down

If I could change the world I would,

Less hate, more love!

Everybody should own a,

Selection of single malts. If you by chance do not like it, it might come in handy when I visit!

The hobby I have, no one knows about is,

Portrait photography, still trying to get the hang of it.

I will never get rid of,

My camera gear (may swap parts though)

I would love to be in a movie with,

Any Star Wars movie will do! If someone at Lucasarts reads this, don’t be a stranger!

Any regrets in life so far?

Well, I once tried inlines, it is still a dark patch in my soul!

I currently follow (social media, instagram twitter, Facebook)

Lots of photographers and also a disturbing amount of fitness and gymnastics accounts!

Life advise so far?

If something in your life sucks, do something about it. Never mind what other people think, if it works for you, stay with it!