By Rob Brink

When all was said and done at Dew Tour in Boston a few weekends ago, you might have noticed someone different up there on the podium. Not because he’s a stranger to placing high or winning contests… but because he’s relatively new to the pro contest scene. That person would be Ryan Decenzo.

With his new Globe United by Fate part having just dropped (nollie down El Toro, anyone?), a second place finish in Boston and a free ride to the next stop in Portland… things are looking pretty good for Decenzo. Take a few minutes to get familiar with him because he’s not going away anytime soon.

Ryan! Where you at right now?
Corona, British Columbia.

Right on. Are you still on tour?
Yeah, I’m on the RDS tour right now. We were just in Alberta and now
we’re doing BC.

Who are you rolling with?
Me and my bro. Paul Trep, Ryan Oughton, Sascha Daley, Micky Papa and
Machnau.

Are you guys doing demos or filming?
We’re filming. We’ve been street skating but we’re shooting with Nick
Scurich from Thrasher. We’re doing demos and stuff. Doing it all.

So, was Dew Tour Boston your first pro contest?
No, I went to Slam City Jam last in Calgary a few years ago. I got
third place or whatever. I like pro contests because it’s fun to be
with dudes who are better than you and pushing it. Sometimes when
you’re stuck with people in a lower level, it’s like you’re just
doing your own shit and being lazy because it’s easy or whatever.

Have you ever skated against guys like Cole, Sheckler and
Rodriguez before?
I dunno if I’ve skated with all of those heavy hitters in one place
like Dew Tour, but for sure I’ve skated with them all in different
contests.

Do you skate a differently when you’re going against these
gnarly contest pros or is it the same as you would at Tampa Am or
something?
It would be the same thing except you get more fired up when they’re
landing more tricks and you’re seeing them do it. So you want to land
your stuff more consistently and have your tricks on lock better.

So, you’re automatically qualified for the next Dew stop in
Portland...
I think I’m automatically in the finals for the next one. I hope so.
It was a struggle getting through all that qualifying. But if I have
to do it again, I’ll do it again!

So, you and Chet [Thomas] are talking about going pro for
Darkstar?
Yeah, I don’t really know when it’s gonna happen. Maybe when we
figure out some graphics and stuff. Things are kind of stagnant right
now with the economy. Chet’s not in any hurry. We’ll figure it out.
We wanna come out with a sick, solid graphic. We don’t want to just
throw anything out there.

So that’s the end of am contests for you!
I’ve been kind of over them for a couple years now. A couple people
convinced me to skate Maloof so I did.

You were in the am contest there?
Yeah, I got third. But we had to skate in the middle of the day and
it was like a million degrees and I was like puking the whole time.

Oh, you were one of the pukers! There were a lot of them. It
was awesome.
I was probably the first person to puke. It was just that hot.

I was actually keeping a running count of everyone who was
puking all weekend. Peter Ramondetta, Torey, Dyet… a bunch of
people.
Everyone was pushing it man, if you’re not skating ‘till you’re
puking, then you’re not skating hard enough.

So do you prefer a plaza course like Maloof or more of a
transitioned skatepark course like Dew Tour?
On the Dew Tour course you can flow a lot better. You don’t have to
worry about always running back up the stairs to try another trick.
That wears you out a lot.

Where you living now?
In Huntington Beach with Dyet. It’s pretty sick. Haven’t been up in
Vancouver too much lately.

How old are you?
I’m 23.

So how is living with Dyet?
It’s pretty good. We don’t see each other all the time. We’re on
trips… I’m in Canada and he’s in Utah. We’re pretty all over the place.

He’s got good energy.
Yeah, he’s pretty funny.

When he won the bronze at X Games he was just running around
cheering all day afterward. It was rad.
He should be psyched. He’s always telling me that. “I’m gonna kill it
at the X Games!” and I’m like, “You better kill it and you better
quit smoking for a couple days before or whatever will help you win.”
I’m pretty stoked for him.

So what’s a trick that your brother can always get you on in
a game of S.K.A.T.E.?
Man, there are so many. Switch backside flips. He’s got those every
try and I don’t have those like he does.

How about one that you can always get him on?
For sure a nollie impossible.

Oh man. Is he younger than you?
Three years younger.

How does his skating differ from yours?
He can approach stuff switch with a lot of control. Which some days I
can, but he can do it every day of the week so it’s pretty sweet for
him. But he really doesn’t jump down stairs as much as I do, so like
if I’m skating some stairs and he’s trying to skate ‘em with me, he’s
like, “Man, I’m not used to this!”

Were you skating before him or did you guys pick it up at the
same time?
We picked it up the exact same day. We were always into the same
hobbies. It went from cruising around on BMX bikes to grabbing
skateboards, which was way more fun.

What do you like better about Cali than Vancouver and what do
you miss about Vancouver that you don’t have in Cali?
There are a million things that you don’t have in Cali that you have
in Canada. You’ve got a lower drinking age here and all the outdoor
skateparks and no helmet laws. Just way more lenient street skating
here… those sorts of things. But like, when it rains or when it
snows… it sucks. So being in Cali I can just wake up every morning
and know the sun is shining. Sometimes you wake up in Canada and you
look outside and it’s just a bummer.

It’ll rain for weeks. Weeks! So do you have a girlfriend?
Yeah. She’s from Montreal.

What’s the difference between American or California girls
compared to Canadian girls? I used to have a girlfriend in Vancouver
and it seemed that Canadian girls were a lot friendlier.
Yeah, I think they are for sure. The girls in Cali are kinda stuck
up. They don’t wanna talk to you or they think they’re too cool. I
don’t know what it is.

How does a Red Dragons tour differ from a Darkstar or Globe
tour?
Let’s just say that there’s a lot more beer flowing. Since RDS tours
are always in Canada we get pretty wild. We have homies here and stuff.

I’m thinking way back to the old Whiskey series of videos.
That was the beginning of the RDS crew right?
Yeah.

So are you like, third generation Red Dragon?
We’re the third generation for sure. Maybe we even got the fourth
generation here.

Are you guys recruiting and training the fifth? Do you have
some 15-year-olds ready to go?
Yeah, we got some.

You just had your Globe United by Fate Part drop and it’s
pretty sick. But are you filming anything else right now or was that
the last one?
Yeah, we’re filming for another RDS video. Everybody’s got parts. I
think I almost got a part.

What was the most embarrassing day of your life?
Hard to tell. Maybe when I’m skating around at the Dew Tour and
people are just yelling “Ryan!” all the time and I turn around and
Sheckler is standing right beside me and I’m like, “Crap! I always
keep forgetting.” And I’m looking directly at these people who are
yelling “Ryan!” There’s probably just some awkward situations where I
was looking at these people and they’re like, “Why are you
looking at me?”

That’s all I got for you. Thanks for taking out the time to
do this.
No problem, I’m just shopping at Wal Mart… getting socks and boxers
for this trip.

Mandatory tour supplies! What’s been your strangest purchase
on a tour so far?
Probably a little potato gun. It was pretty awesome while it lasted…
until it got clogged up with potatoes.