Bubbles. Extreme bubbles. That’s what I think of when I connect with this girl every time. Her energy is unstoppable. So is her courage. Her personality? Bubbles. She’s adorable and has a unique sense of humor that made me chuckle throughout her interview.

Soon to be 24 years old (on March 1), Rastafarian Micku Murgolo is a super longboarder….a power slider…a free styler. I had never even heard of this particular sport (power sliding) until a friend of mine who has designed boards told me about Micku. His words were, “This girl is hot!”. My words in response were, “Hook me up!!!”. For an interview, that is!! I was amazed looking at her photos – sliding on her longboard down steep hills with crazy curves, pullin’ 180’s and 360’s all the while. What!? Have people gotten this crazy with it?

Anyway, I was stoked that Micku would talk to us and give us more detail about her passion – throwing herself at lightning speed down the concrete trails. So listen to her here and make sure you check out the sick video of Micku in action at the end:



Photo by Jon Huey

RRRG: Where are you from? Where do you live now?

MICKU: I was born and raised in Venezuela. I currently live in New Jersey.

RRRG:  You have an exotic name by “US Standards”…..what is your background?

MICKU:  Ohhh well, you already know where I’m from but I can’t tell you about my name…its a secret!

RRRG:  Awwww maaaan!  We want to know the secret to the name!!  Well, okay, maybe next interview.  How long have you been power sliding/skating?

MICKU:  I started longboarding about 8 years ago

RRRG:  How did you get involved with this sport?

MICKU:  It all started when I was in high school back in Venezuela…I had a few friends that would bomb hills pretty much everyday after school, so one day I decided to try it and fell in love with it.

RRRG:  Did you ever skate street or vert?

MICKU:  Actually last year I got my first street deck (normal) so I’m going through the learning/wipe out process….I’ve been trying mini ramps too..they are so much funnnn!

RRRG:  Was there any person or people in particular that inspired you to get into it?

MICKU:  Yesss! Many of the local shredders back at my hometown (Valencia) skaters like Jesus aka El Chupe, Payo, Leo Ojeda, Jorge Maldonado, Cesar ”Cabezon” and also the power slide king: Sergio Yuppie from my neighbor country (Brasil). All these people inspired me when I first started skating and today every single skater I see motivates me and helps me become a better skater! Especially New York /Jersey skaters.

RRRG:   Can you please explain the sport? (where it started, a little of the history behind it). Are you racing on a timer? Are you racing other people? What’s the deal? :)

MICKU:  Foh surrrre…! Well, skateboarding first started as a crosstraining for surfing (when the ocean was flat) they would skate their boards as if they were surfing waves… doing cross steps, carving, etc. The first boards consisted of a plank of wood, rollerskate trucks and metal wheels..gnarly right? Since then, obviously everything started to evolve:  board shapes changed, wheel materials, etc, the disciplines also grew..now we have so many disciplines such as pool skating, slalom, street, downhill, powersliding and more.

My favorite disciplines are: downhill and what I like to call free style which involves power sliding! Downhill is very simple, if you are competing most likely you will be racing with other people; normally hits of 4…the goal is to go as fast as you can and get to the botton of the hill alive.. haha!

My definition of freestyle is surfing a concrete wave! Skating with flow, throwin’ some slides (very stylish rotation maneuvers), walking aka board dancing, and carving hard!


Photo By Jon Huey

RRRG:   Were you afraid the first time trying it out because of the high speeds?

MICKU:  Nooooooo because I had a helmet on and I felt invincible… haha

RRRG:   Well…if you ever do/did get nervous or start to feel afraid, how do you control it?

MICKU:  Mmmmmm what I would do? The best thing I recommend is to start slow; ride the hill or any spots you wanna skate in sections so you can check out the conditions and that would help you feel confident and confortable..and yeah wear your HELMETS!!

RRRG:  Are there many girls involved in this sport? Or is it mostly guys that are power sliding?

MICKU:  Yes, its mostly guys..BUT more and more girls are getting stoked about the sport! Actually about 2 years ago I got the chance to go to Canada and compete at Danger Bay…there were about 23 girls that raced that year… so far the most I’ve seen all together in one place! The women’s scene is also growing here in New york…also Bustin Boards has a girl’s crew too (Jenica, Nat, Annah, and myself)

RRRG:  Do you compete often? Are the competitions and are they local, national or international?

MICKU:  Yes I do…when I can afford it. My first competition was ‘Lomas Xtreme’ in the year 2002 and then I competed in 2003. I won 1st and 2nd place in the “women’s freestyle” competition (Venezuela) then after I moved to the U.S, I competed  in a bunch of local events in NY/Nj such as the ‘Central Park Race’, the ‘Broadway Bomb’ and the ‘Cloisters Slide Jam’. My first national competition was in California at the ‘Slidefest’ 2007 then ‘Slidefest’ 08 (the best time ever because I received 1st place in the women’s competition and 3rd place in the OPEN class competition with the guys). Also, in 2009 (Brasilian shredders took over the podium) I competed internationally at races like ‘Danger Bay’ in Canada and ‘Go Fast Speed Days’ in England…Im looking foward to hit some races this year again!

RRRG:  That’s incredible – you’ve done incredibly well and have even gotten to travel to some cool places. Up to how fast do you go on those downhill runs?

MICKU:  Well that’s depending how fast you are willing to go….I think the fastest for me was at Eastbourne going somewhere around 70 kmh (about 43 mph) but there were people doing 80 (about 50 mph) that day! It also depends on your weight, wind conditions and tuck or downhill position.


Micku flippin’ out in Costa Rica

RRRG:  That is so insane…..that’s fast..! Does your family ever get freaked out by you doing this?

MICKU:  They used too…now they support me because they know this is what I’m passionate about!

RRRG:  What other passions do you have currently? What other passions do you want to try that you haven’t yet?

MICKU:  Skating and snowboarding are my top two! I practice them as much as I can when I can! I also love surfing; I’m just hoping that one day I could shred on it like I do with the other two because I SUCK at surfing.. haha I’m also looking foward on getting a dirt bike just for fun. I learned how to ride at my friend’s freestyle terrain in his back yard in France ..sooo much fun!


Photo by Francois Portmann www.freshpaved.com


RRRG:  What are your future plans? Personal and in regards to this sport.

MICKU:  Well, I’ve been thinking about organizing workshops for girls because my plan is to get as many girls involved into skating and organizing events for them to help motivate them. Also, I would like to organize a legit competition with sponsors in Venezuela because we NEED IT…and just spread the stoke.

RRRG:  Are you sponsored or affiliated with any company(s)? If so, who are they?

MICKU:  Yesss.. I’m sponsored by BUSTINBOARDS; they are the most original longboarding company because they offer custom boards. They also have a shop in Brooklyn, check it out! Thanks to them I got a chance to create my first prototype freestyle board and they been supportive to me! Thanks fam (Ryan, Mike and King)

RRRG:   Any other shoutouts? :)

MICKU:  Shoutouts to L.I ripper BUTTONZ ,my crew BUSTIN (Jenica, Nat, Mike King and Ryan) to my GRAVITY friends (Will J, Breamo and Sergio) and to the TEAM VALENCIA 4:20 keep shreddinggggggg ya’ll!


Photo by Will J.

Interview by Christine Cauble