Photo: Carlos Rohena

When I first met Lino Gonzalez, he was probably about 16 or 17. Every so often, my brother and I would drive out to this grimy little indoor park in his hometown, Southbridge, Massachusetts. There were a bunch of good riders out there but Lino always stood out to me. As a rider, he was completely original and dialed, ignoring the trends of the day and truly doing his own thing. As a person, he was kind, funny, and really easygoing. Over the years, Lino continued to progress always doing his own thing. But everyone knows that. He’s still the same as ever, just a mellow, modest dude having fun on his bike. I recently caught up with Lino to find out what he’s been up to lately.

ITG: Name, age, where you live?

Lino: Lino Gonzalez Jr., 25 years old, 978/508 mass

ITG: How’s married life?

Lino: It’s great! I never thought I’d be married so young, but its dope. I’m not gonna be one of those people who smile and fake it though, there are good times and tough times, just like anything in life, but it is definitely the best, and we’re very happy.

ITG: I got married young too, people kind of bugged out on it at the time, but we knew it was right for us. I’m sure it was the same for you guys. Switching gears though, how’d you get into riding in the first place?

Lino: I’ve always been riding some type of bike for as long as I can remember. But with bmx, I’d have to say my older brother got me into it. I saw him jumping over over stuff and doing flatland in front of our house and I was hyped. I guess that’s when I started.

ITG: Do you ever ride flat anymore?

Lino: Last year, I put a freecoaster back on, and that kind of made me want to ride more flat. During the winter, I ride flat a lot when its too cold to be jumping on stuff, hahahaha. I still like it as much as I used to, it’s all riding to me.

ITG: That’s sick. How’d a kid from Southbridge, MA wind up on Animal, or Torker for that matter?

Lino: Hahahhha, oh man. I had no idea you knew about the Torker thing.

ITG: Hahahahaha, yep.

Lino: In like ‘98 a few of my friends and I kinda formed a team that would do shows at local events. The guy from the local shop used to hook us up with stuff here and there, and he knew the Torker TM at the time. He told him about us and sent him a VHS tape. A few weeks later we were rollin’ on some brand new Torker completes. Being a 14 year old kid from Southbridge who never had much, I was beyond hyped hahahahaha. I still have that frame actually.

ITG: What? That’s so sick you still have that rig.

Lino: Being on animal just kinda happened. One of my boys was friends with George D. and eventually we started chilling a lot. I’d go to jersey or he would come up here. Over time, I became close with Bob and Ralph too. Then when “Can I Eat” came out, I had a part and was on the team.

It was never a cut and dry “ok, you’re on the team now” type of thing. They weren’t looking to add anyone to the team, and I wasn’t looking to get on, we all just became good friends and everything else followed that.

ITG: That’s always the best way. I saw on your blog that you’re planning some kind of jam. That’s sick. You always seem to have something in the works — jam, homie video, web site etc. What motivates you to work on stuff?

Lino: Yeah, we’re gonna bring a dope grind box to some basketball courts in Boston, and have a lil jam. Just to try and get everyone in the area together and have a good time. I feel like there’s nothing like that going on around here. There’s such a dope scene between the Worcester and Boston areas, so it would be dope if everyone came through and chilled and rode. I’m trying to get some prizes together for people who end up doing dope stuff on the box. I just want to chill and try to build the scene. With 90east there’s no real plan. Just a like minded group of friends. We’ll see where things go. We’re working on a video — coming in the fall… maybe. hahahaha. We got some tee shirts too. As for the motivation for all this? It’s the friends and good times. Trying to keep that going for as long as possible.

ITG: That’s f*cking rad, dude. Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this interview.

Lino: Thanks for the opportunity.

To learn more about Lino visit 90east and Animal.