It seems common sense that the "higher, faster and wider“ - approach in snowboarding is doomed to hit the brick walls - some people just didn't get the memo yet.. Luckily there are guys like Ted Borland who constantly keep reframing what can actually be done on a snowboard so that we can finally stop one-upping each other with rotations. Ted Borland's riding could be described as the love child born from a threesome with Scotty Stevens, Jon Kooley and a magician from the county fair. In his THINK THANK Almanac part, Ted jibs rolling tubes, does backflip-wheelie-frontflips and other stuff that dreams are made of. We had a serious TED Talk with him to try to explain the inexplicable.
What does it feel like to be a magician?
- Not really sure what that feels like, but sometimes I wish I knew! Would be nice to have some magic tricks up my sleeve.
Have you ever considered travelling to county fairs, making some extra dollar with incroyable jibs as "The Great Ted"?
- Haha, nope I can't say I've ever considered that line of work, but I've kind of always wanted to be a carnie, so I'd be pretty down.
What other Think Thank shreds would make suitable circus performers?
- Brandon Reis would be an incredible circus performer. Flips on command and not afraid to embarrass himself! Hammid could be the worlds strongest man, Lucey could be the tallest man on earth, and Desiree could probably pull off the bearded lady. This kind of sounds like a freak show, which seems more appropriate anyways I guess...
In your Almanac part, you were leaping off a corrugated tube whereat it started rolling downhill, hit a bump and came to a halt at your designated landing spot so that you could tranny-find it. Did you give this trick a name yet?
- Haven't thought of a name for that one, but it was kind of a borrowed idea that Sam Hulbert had. I just kind of thought of a different way to try it. I'm sure he would come up with a very interesting name for it though. Something like "the rolling muskrat stomp" hahaha
Since this is our first ever TED-Talk, could you use some catchy phrases and explain why snowboarding is not about winning? This doesn't have to make any sense at all.
- Well it doesn't need to be a competition but your definitely not losing anytime you go snowboarding that's for sure. So I guess you could say it's kind of like winning all the time?
Which riders and video parts have influenced you the most?
- This could be an insanely long list... But off the top of my head I'd say Jeff Anderson and Clancy from Full Metal Edges, obviously every Burtner, Genovese, and Stevens Think Thank parts, Travis Parker and David Benedek from Afterbang, Kooley and Hebbel in love/hate, and a lot of the early Mack Dawg movies of course. I should also note that any of the other parts from any of those videos could make the list... I'll just stop here otherwise this could take up the rest of the interview haha
Give us one good, untold Delores story.
- There's so many. You guys probably want a juicy one but I'll keep it mellow for now. One time driving across the country Lucey ordered two pizzas in the next big town coming up while we were all sleeping and woke us up in front of the pizza place. Great surprise to wake up to! A sketchier story was right after we got to Michigan on that same drive. We kept hearing crazy noises from the van and realized that something was grinding underneath the van and shooting sparks all over the place. Sooo naturally we ignored it and just kinda kept it going for a while before Lucey did something about it haha.
Worst person to share a hotel bed with and why?
- Sean Black. He sleeps naked. Either that or Sam Hulbert cuz he likes to take all the blankets. I pretty much just take the floor nowadays.
How'd the bowl cut you received in Michigan end up working out for ya? How long did you keep it?
- It worked out pretty well. It was either that or I had to dye my pubes like everyone else. My girlfriend was definitely happy with my decision. I think I kept it for about two weeks haha.
Best bowl cut in history?
- Louie Barletta
What movie projects and crews are you hyped on right now?
- I think Rendered Useless will be really cool. Lots of kids that are different and cool to watch and I think the video will have an interesting take on snowboarding. Also always a big Videograss fan.
What's next for Think Thank?
- We were working on the twelfth video, Methods of Prediction. It'll be Lucey's second video where's he's in charge. It's going pretty well so far! Lots of mini-shred again, as well as the street hammers. Expect Think Thank Almanac meets Patchwork Patterns!
You’ve always had a handful of nicknames, but who pegged you with Borlando Bloom?
- That one sounds like a Burtner nickname. Haha
Will we ever get more BundyVision?!
- For sure! Keeping it going on Instagram for a while. peep @bundyvision for almost-daily parts.
What’s on your signature Spedelli’s pizza?
-Chicken, pesto, garlic, artichoke hearts, onions, green peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, and sometimes bacon. It's called the pizza vision. If you're ever in SLC make sure you stop by Spedellis and check it out!
What is the Lunch Ramp Gang? How harsh is the initiation?
- it's a pizza Gang. Don't really know how to describe it but imagine a launch ramp in the form of a slice of pizza. So if you like both of those things, you should understand the need for a gang. You have to do a puke tornado to get in though.
Current status of the BoneZone?
- It's in a transition phase. We're working on finding a more permanent spot for it so no cops or skiers can fuck with us anymore. But it will definitely be back bigger and better than ever...
Where do you see snowboarding going -ridingwise- in a best case scenario? We know the answer is in the riding of yours and others, but could you try and verbalize it?
- Dang that's a tough one. I like where snowboarding is going. I think it's in a really cool place right now. There's definitely a lot of bullshit, but that's life I guess. But snowboarding is awesome and I think always will be no matter what depending on how you take it. I'd like to see more individualism in snowboarding. Do it for yourself. Nobody should be competing with other guys doing the same tricks but with a couple more stairs or a jump that's 20 feet bigger or something. Who gives a shit about that. One-upping needs to go away. I just like watching people snowboard like themselves. I don't like people who snowboard to be in the cool kids club, or to please the companies with a lot of money. Those people or companies don't care what's best for snowboarding, they just wanna see a profit or look cool. So we need to get away from that. More people need to just snowboard how they like to snowboard and not worry about what anyone else thinks.
Ted's the man.