Lodge Legend, Morten Tietze

Morten

Text: Morten T, this was the best Tim Payne ramp ever, 7 place at the EU championships in Madrid, Spain, Early 90s, late 80s foto: Morten Frodin

Name: Morten Tietze

Current: Job / school: Senior Tester / Datamatician and ISTQB certified

Where are you from? Vallensbæk Denmark

Where do you currently live? Kastrup Denmark

What nationaly do you feel the most? Danish

Family status: Happily married 10 years with a son age 6 🙂

Age: 49

Sponsors: Back in the days it was Santa Cruz, Gullwing trucks, speedwheels and Converse

Years of skateboarding: 12 years (my body gave up on me in 1992)

Board size: Old school fish shaped (can you believe it)

Wheel size: DAM…. What ever it was at the time.

Trucks: Gullwing (I just loved my grove)

I change set up every: Not anymore…but still have my last sponsor board somewhere.

Current Board trend: Not really….too old.

 

Please state your type of terrain on your board in hours, days and years or other

(Skatepark) Flow Street->not much of that in the old days

Miniramp: -> mixed it up with vert

Long board: ->naaa not really

Vert: ->My home away from home!

Bowl: ->not much but did ride some with non other then the legendary Salba (Steve Alba)

Freestyle: ->Think I had a board at some point.

Please tell us about your daily DAY by the hours, (or tell us about your longest day the last week’s) We want to know how your day is looking like

 

06.00-> Wake my son up and prep him for school

07.00->We ride our bikes together to school

08.00->Arrive at work and commence the fun of testing code 😀

09.00->second breakfast

10.00->game of foosball

11.00->lunch in the sun….as long as it is there

12.00->Meeting, test suite prep etc.

13.00->Prepare the company Christmas party

14.00->Last snack before my ride

15.00->Go ride my recumbent bike around Copenhagen area, usually between 50-80 km

16.00->still riding

17.00->still riding

18.00->Home and start up the grill so we can BBQ

19.00->Dinner done

20.00->Son to bed

21.00->Wife to bed (she has to get up at 04…. 🙁 )

22.00->Maybe a quick game of league of legends (OMG at the age of 49??? )

23.00->Sleep

24.00->Sleep

01.00->Sleep

02.00->Sleep

03.00->Sleep

04.00->If wife is off from work, I get up to take a morning ride before work

05.00->Usually around 30-50 km

 

faelleparken1990 Fronside stale fish, early 90s, Copenhagen. Please check a young Rune Glifberg in the back.

faelleparken1990 Fronside stale fish, early 90s, Copenhagen. Please check a young Rune Glifberg in the back, Stoppe in the back also !! foto: Morten Frödin.

How are you doing at the moment?

Overall I am doing well, great family, nice little house and a good job with really nice collages. But my body could be better…the last 30 years of abuse has take its toll.

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

Ahhhh the list is too long. But I was born with a bad back and messed up my knee back in 1983 and I am still struggling with that. Had a knee operation 3 years ago, so it is somewhat crazy that I ride my bike as much as I do.

When did you start to skate and why ? what tricked you into this ?

It was late 1970’s that a good friend from Vallensbæk got me into it. We went to kalkbrænderihavns (one of the only two shops at the time I believe) to purchase my first skateboard. A Variflex Voodoo with Tracker trucks I believe it was. The hardcore skaters at the time always meet up at Storkespringvandet in the center of Copenhagen. The gave me hell over the choice of brand and that went on for quite some time, until I finally was accepted as one of them.

Please comment your feelings about Skateboarding in the

80s Coming out of the 70’s where it wasn’t a big thing; it seemed to pick up speed and popularity in the 80’s. Still heavy underground thing and we were never really accepted anywhere. We mostly did street, and spend a hell of a lot of travel time to get to a ramp and skate for a couple of hours. It was hard dedicated times!

early 90s Big boom and everyone knew about skateboarding. Vert was the main event everywhere, and most big city’s had some form of skateboard facility. We did some many demos all over the Denmark and Scandinavia that I cannot recall them all anymore. Just the face that we were a part of ‘Grøn Koncert’ (A big Danish music festival that has been running forever) speaks volume.

2000 Skateboarding transcends into something new.

2010+ Skateboarding takes on new dimensions that I for one never ever thought possible!

Do you feel skateboarding is in a good way ?

I have lost touch with skateboarding and don’t really know the state of it today. But back in the days, it was truly a calling. A way of life and not something you just did as a spare time activities thing. I see some of that coming back in trend in the top level pool and street, where people are crazy gnarly and 100% committed now a days. But for me it was a calling, and something that still lives with me and will be there for the rest of my life even I cannot skate anymore. I still dream about new tricks and it hurts that I could not continue with the biggest calling of my life….skateboard!

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

Hot and cold so to speak. For me skateboard has always been about expressing yourself and less about being judged by others. That said, I must admit it would be exciting to see it happen.

Where do you stand in terms of politics ?

Not much into politics. Live by the motto: ‘Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you’ –Confucius

When I chill, I chill with,

Mostly my family these days. I still chill with Carlos Veloso-Strange, Lars Iversen, Allan Myrup and Kenn Joensen but not often enough.

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

Recumbent bicycles…. 🙂 Because of back and neck issues, my new found hobby is recumbent bikes. It allows me to ride and get my daily exercise which is really great. It has escalated to the point where I ride anywhere between 200-400 km a week and even competed in the Danish Championship for Recumbent bikes.

Dream session would be,

If my body would allow it, a massive old time wooden vert ramp session with all the old guys from the Copenhage Skateboard team. Mikael De Stoppelaar (R.I.P.), Søren Aaby, Nicky Guerrero, Frank Messmann, Søren Greve. I have so many fun memories with these guys.

Lately I have been working on,

Building up a new Recumbent frame into a working bicycle with great long distance help from my recumbent builder friends Thom Ollinger (former world record holder and world expert recumbent bikes builder) and former distance coworker from Nokia Mika Helander (home builder of the first ever full suspension Recumbent bike and active national CX competitor on his homebuild Recumbent bikes)

When I was little I would like to,

Play with Lego…. That tradition has continued with my son. Together we have build many things, amongst others the Lego Mindstorm EV3 robot and programmed it to do fun stuff.

When im home I like to,

Just relax with the family, maybe watch some movies together.

I normally call my homies for,

Birthdays or special events.

Your homies are,  Carlos Veloso-Strange, Lars Iversen, Allan Myrup, Kenn Joensen and my brother.

I enjoy going to,  The movies, but mostly we just stay home…ha ha

Foto: unknown

Foto: unknown

Favorite drink is,

I am somewhat of a beer geek, a passion I share with former world roller-skater champion and longtime friend René (The Viking) Hulgreen. My highest rated beer is still the Westveleteren 12 and a beer I always welcome with open arms if I get the chance. I am also the house photographer of Amager Bryghus where René is a brew master at.

Favorite food is,  Sushi

Favorite drug,  I was never really into that….

Favorite music,  I get a kick out of Die Antwoord these days.

Favorite film,  Got to be The Matrix

Favorite skateboards brands,  Santa Cruise of cause 😛

Favorite skate film,

Still think the Bones Brigade Video Show is what set things off for me in regards to skateboard. That and seeing Nicky skate in Herlev for the first time back in the 70s.

Favorite skatepark,

Fælle Parken was like my home anway from home.

Favorite spot,

Fælle Parken!

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

My wife …. 😀

When I cook, I cook,

Steaks over the grill

To go to resturant is,

Sushi or steak

To go to trick is,

properly best known for my fakie thruster in the days. I just loved that trick.

Fakie Thruster

To go to trick when you are farked is,

…. Ha ha…. fakie thruster

To go to trick when you are winning is,

Properly a massive frontside air or alley oop 50 50 to lipslide to smith grind

TOP 3 Cities,

Copenhagen, Barcelona and Miami

When I travel, I always bring,

My pillow …. Ha ha

Best travel advice I can give is,

Be prepared for anything life sends your way

 

Foto:

Foto: unknown, in case you know, please comment

Best life advise I can give is, Enjoy, be happy and worry less

Are you good with money ( do you plan, safe it, cash in or blow it )?

Ah not really, but we do live our life’s in the persent and not in the future.

Best travel memory you want to share?

There are some many, but one that comes to mind is the Danish skateboard delegation going to Prague back in 1988. That trip is just so unreal I cannot even begin to describe all the crazy details that went down. It was World Cup finals and it was held in the Prague national hockey stadium with a capacity of 55.000 people. Remember this was before the end of the Wall and very much a socialistic state. We where greeted with our own guide and interpreter and we where treaded like royalties. Located at some very fancy hotel everything included. The ramp was a crazy un-skateable metal ramp, where each metal plate was unsupported so it would wobble and give when you landed on it. When the contest finals ended, the crowed just took to the floor and started steeling our equipment, because they could not afford to buy their own. Very scary. That night at the hotel, everyone got so drunk and people started thrashing the hotel really badly. Fire hose was rolled out and turned out in the Finish room, water everywhere. Someone broke into the kitchen of the hotel and had the munchies. The Danish crew was first to go that next morning, and they held back our passport and wanted us to pay for the damages. It took an hour of argument until we finally agreed to pay the ridiculous amount of something like 2000 kr and we got our passport back. By that time we only had like 50 minutes before our airplane would take off. And as I remember it was one of the most hairy van rides of my life. Somehow we managed to drive all the way up to the entrance of the airplane, skipping security in the process and were then put onboard just in time for takeoff. OMG that was sick.

When I do not skateboard I,

I only skate in my dreams now….

My fitness program is,

Bicycle most of the times.

Anything that concerns you at the moment ?

Not really

When I get old I want to,

I am old…. DANG

I would NEVER,

offend anyone on purpose

I would like to see more of,

Good karma

That one time where I was in jail because of,

Did not happen

I should do more of,

Photographing skateboard, I don’t do that enough these days.

Prag 1988, Morten T Foto: Morten Frödin.

Prag 1988, Morten T Foto: Morten Frödin.

My future looks like,

Taking care of my son and wife, travel and see more of the world.

I dream of some day that,

technology somehow would fix my body so I could skate again

The book I currently read is,

The Way of the Web Tester: Automate Your Tests

The best travel I have been on,

Hard to say, there has been so many. But I do recall two really great trips. One with Søren Aaby, where we just cruised California and visited many crazy people and saw some awesome stuff. Skate places like Tony Hawk’s, Upland (before it was torn down), Big Kahuna ramp in Texas, Lance Mountain’s etc. And the other really great trip was a lengthy stay at Bod Boyle’s house where we also skated some very cool places like Christian Hosoi’s, Pool session with Salba and a bunch of other stuff.

On Netflix / youtube

I watch, Skateboard competitions

 

If I could change the world I would,

less violent and hate.

Everybody should own a,

Recumbent bike, they are so much fun.

The hobby I have, no one knows about is,

playing League of Legends….damn now it is out…ha ha

I will never get rid of,

my skateboard.

I would love to be in a movie with,

Been there done that. One of the more funny appearances I had in the early 1990’s was with the TV show called ‘Tv2 Elevatoren’. It was a show that most of the families in Denmark watched Saturday night together in the sofa. I had a small part in the intro, and saw myself rolling over the tv screen countless times over the years during the show was running.

Any regrets in life so far ?

No, I try to learn from my mistakes and don’t make them again. I do regret that I wasent able to continue skating!

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

Instagram…. 🙂

Quick memory notes:

 

Nicky Guerrero: We have skated some many great places together. Most notably was the gigantic vert ramp at the Trocadero in Paris at night. What an event!

Mikael De Stoppelaar: wow what a huge bummer about his death. I only just meet him again in 2014 and he seemed to be in a great spirit about life. We had so many fun memories skating and doing demos everywhere. I remember practices a double on the vert with Mikael, which we would do at demos. We even did a special Levi’s Demo for Levi’s Europe at some point together.

Foto: Morten T

Foto: Morten T

Søren Aaby: We worked together, skate together, traveled together and skated the same team for a long time. It was Søren who got me on Santa Cruz. One fun anecdote was going to Hamburg Germany for an event. Ken Park was there as well. Ken and Søren agreed on doing a double, but somehow they misunderstood and ended dropping directly into each other. As Ken was almost twice as big as Søren, Søren was thrown off his skateboard and seriously knocked out. When he woke up 5 minutes later, he had amnesia and could not remember how we got there or why we where there.

Frank Messmann: We worked, skated and traveled together until Frank took off and did his thing with the skateboarding industry. His and Kim Carlsen’s apartment in Nørre Allé acted as a go-to meeting place for many after party’s. His involvement in Danish Skate Import and in skateboarding in general. Still have very fun memories of the Powell Peralta warehouse in Amstadam with the brilliant ramp he had build for his European team.

Søren Greve: Many road trips were spend with Søren, especially the ones where we would sleep in the back of my station car.

Rune Glifberg: Believe I shot his first video part for Deathbox back in 1991 and tried to get him on Gullwing Trucks but I think Rune did not like the trucks so he skipped that sponsorship. ….. ha ha

Morten Frödin: Owner of the legendary Helsing vert ramp. Co create of Skating magazine with the help of Frank, Søren, Lars bernt, Steen Kelså, Kim Carlsen etc. etc.

So many fun memories from the skating days. The Copenhage crew with Mark Fowlie, Rasmus Skousen, Jason Fine, Christian Nymand, Lau Ebbesen, Nikolas Eades, Thomas Kring, Thomas Madsen, Tonser Thomas, NC, Frank Ø, Ebbe Lykke, Steen Kelså, Steve Claar, Kim Carlsen, the Plass brothers etc. the list goes on and on. (sorry if I left anyone out)

All the great people and memories from Skateboard will stay with my for the rest of my life!

Cover of Skating , Morten T

Cover of Skating , Morten T

 

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1 Response

  1. Tietze says:

    Thanks so much for sharing and giving a little bit back to skateboarding!

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