I skateboarded from my early teens up to my mid thirties.
Did you do it mainly for fun, or as a method of transportation?
Oh, it was definitely for fun.  It was mostly street skating, with the occasional trip to a vert ramp for good measure.
There are a lot of different skateboarders that have influenced the skateboarding culture.  Did you follow anyone in particular?
Alva, Hosoi, Hawk, Mountain, Natas..  I like all of the early influencers.  I'd say my favorite to watch is Rodney Mullen.
Rodney Mullen is pretty amazing.  He invented several trips, including the 360-flip.
Yeah, it is amazing that he still skates and innovates.
14; over the following decade, he won 35 out of 36 freestyle contests, thus establishing the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport. Over the following years, he turned from freestyle, translating his accumulated skills to a newer, different form of skateboarding.
Mullen has appeared in over 20 skateboarding videos and has co-authored an autobiography, entitled "The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself", with writer Sean Mortimer.
Early life.
Mullen was born in Gainesville,
Gelfand in Florida in 1976, and the almost parallel development of the grabbed aerial by George Orton and Tony Alva in California, made it possible for skaters to perform airs on vertical ramps. While this wave of skateboarding was sparked by commercialized vert ramp skating, a majority of people who skateboarded during this period didn't ride vert ramps. As most people could not afford to build vert ramps, or did not have access to nearby ramps, street skating increased in popularity.
Freestyle skating remained healthy throughout this period, with