In terms of raw snowboarding energy, Mike LeBlanc is second to none. He wore everything on his sleeve. His victories, his famous defeats, but most importantly, he showed incredible passion. Passion for a lifestyle for which he contributed so much. His part in 2004’s Love/Hate shows the many dimensions to Mike’s riding from rail technicality, massive backcountry airs and his signature ollies to flat. Not only did he film a part, but he also produced the film through KidsKnow Productions and Holden Outerwear, which he and Scott Zergebel had founded the year prior. We tracked down the man himself to get the inside scoop on filming for Love/Hate, we hope you either love or hate it.
You took some pretty heavy slams that year. How are the knees holding up?
Falling is always part of shredding. I kinda liked it actually. Most things I really wanted to do and that were pushing my limits were gonna have crashes, and they helped me figure out what to do to get a shot. Im 41-years-old now and I feel great, I think yoga, time to rest, and a decent diet all along the way really helped me with that.
Can you take us through your ollie over the barbed wire fence?
The fence ollie was something I was looking at for a few years, and I had been standing on the top of it for the whole summer. It’s in Salt Lake City and it was forecasted to snow a bit in the city in early October. I was on a meditation retreat just down the street from the spot, so I had called Andy Wright and Shane Charlebois to come shoot photos and video. I had a short window of time between the next meditation period so I said, “Be there at 9:45, because I have to be done at 10:30.” When they showed up I had the spot all set up and I did it first try. And I made it back to the retreat on time. I have too say I was probably putting out some stoked energy to the meditation group that next day or so. Extra cool was Andy sent in the pics to TWS and they ran it the next month on the cover. That rarely happens, so that was extra cool. You usually have to wait a whole year to see a photo come out.
What was the best part about filming that year?
Well I produced the movie and it was sort of a Holden movie as we just launched the brand that year before. So getting a bunch of the new and unknown rippers like Justin Hebbel, Darrell Mathes and Andy Forgash in there was awesome. But equally awesome was hiring Shelby Menzel to edit with me. He came from strictly a skate background and brought that outside and raw perspective to it. Also hiring Jesse Burtner from Think Thank Films, Justin Eeles from People Films, and Cole Taylor of Technine films to be a part of it was clutch. They brought a lot of experience and we were able to capture a lot of elements they were into. A little skate, some creative, some great filming and some G shit. Finally working with a bunch of riders that weren’t on the Holden team that I love and are friends, like Marc Frank Montoya, J2, Travis Parker and everyone else. It was a great year!
