Mike Bouchard #2.

"Smith grind while on a Ricky Mission."

The dearly departed Mike Bouchard.

A Ricky Mission refers to skating with Ricky Oyola. At the time Ricky had a bunch of refrigerators and other obstacles that he would take to spots to make them more interesting. The end result might only be a 5-0 or a tailslide, but when you do it on something rigged up that looks different and is difficult to skate, the effort is worth it. You don't always have to blizzard flip into a grind and then impossible out.

If anybody has any pictures or stories of Mike, please email them to his sister Pamela. Her email is djandbg at msn.com. Be sure to label the message in the subject line as Mike Bouchard so she will know it isn't spam. The family misses him a whole lot and any positive things about Mike's skateboarding are appreciated.

Note: This was a spread across two pages. That's why the milk crates look a little weird on the bottom.

The photo is by Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky.

Strength - October 2002