Dylan Rieder: 5 Videos That Defined Skateboard Phenom’s Career
Dylan Rieder, who died after a battle with leukemia at the age of 28, had style practically brimming out of his Huf shoes: He rode smoothly, popped super high and seemed magically at ease on his board. He was a joy to watch, the way anyone meant to be riding a skateboard is joyous. From the time he burst onto the scene in Transworld’s A Time to Shine in 2006 when he was 18 to his most recent full part, “Cherry,” Rieder was a unique and dedicated skater who fucking loved skateboarding.
“Most people don’s go to work just ’cause they feel like going to work,” he said in his A Time to Shine part, sounding incredulous at his lucky life. “Skateboarding is a job; you gotta work at it…[but] what would you rather do? You get to ride your skateboard everyday. That’s what you get to do.”
To celebrate the wondrous style that was Rieder’s natural gift and to demonstrate his radness, here are his best video parts and a few clips from his too-short life and career.
1. Transworld’s A Time to Shine
While this part – the one that put Rieder’s skating on the map – is a total hammer-fest, to me it’s the little things, aspects of Rieder’s ability that would become his calling card. Note, for instance, how stylishly he goes from backside tail to switch over crook at 1:29, and then the way he lightly pops an ollie off the curb afterwards, which later became the cool way to end any rad clip. Also: his ollie impossible tail grab (a Rieder staple) and his ender!
2. Alien Workshop, Mind Field
Rieder’s first part for Alien Workshop, who he rode for until 2013. His ender here, a fakie tre flip down a big five, is glorious.
3. Gravis part
Rieder’s Gravis part is pure style (with plenty of ripping, of course), and again it’s often tiny details. Check out that nollie he does after popping a huge frontside air on the steepest vert wall at 0:35, or the effortlessness (and speed!) of his lines. And my god, that ollie impossible tail grab at 4:30 is a thing of beauty.
4. Street League, Arizona, 2010—Ollie impossible over the fence
This shit is just ridiculous: a super huge impossible over the fence at Street League. And to top it off, Rieder uses this as his chance to leave. What an exit!
5. Supreme, Cherry
From the first line of Rieder’s Transworld Skateboarding Award-winning video part, Rieder is in full Rieder mode – smooth, effortless, and with such monster pop (check out how much pop he’s got when he kickflips out of a bluntslide at 2:00!). And it ends so fittingly: Rieder lands a huge kickflip over a gap and just keeps riding away, still going super fast, off into the city, a lovely image to keep as the final one of a truly remarkable talent. Keep pushing.
Skateboarding phenomenon and model Dylan Rieder died on Wednesday at the age of 28. Watch here.