Gerhard Nel intervies Mike Upham: Mike Upham is a pretty underrated skater. A formidable street skater, his images have graced the pages of the (now extinct) Blunt Magazine more than once. Mike jumped on the scene a while ago, and his original prawn-like style, fast, low tuck, loooooong slides and skills on the jump ramp soon started turning heads. Now that the intro is over, it’s an honour for  [ Read More ]

Gerhard “Steeze Pony” Nel interviews Paul “The Pope” Du Plessis I should write an awesome intro about my friend Paul. I should tell you about his backflips, high IQ or big-ass toesides. I should tell you about how he single-handedly “invented” the modern standup slide (or powerslide, if you are one of those skate everything puritans) for us South Africans. I should tell you about Paul’s serious cross-stepping skills, which  [ Read More ]

Congratulations to Gerhard on his new sponsorship with Lush! Read the interview on the Lush Longboards Blog. Lush: Here’s Gerhard, the newest member of the Lush family and our representative in South Africa, the aptly nicknamed “Steezepony,” likes to core wheels, and wishes he had Albatross wings. Lush: If you were a wheel, what size, colour and duro would you be? Gerhard: A 74mm Cult Mystothane Wheel in the Death  [ Read More ]

Written By: Gerhard Nel Photos By: Anton Joubert If you haven’t raced in Mossel Bay, start filling that piggy bank. Mossel Bay is a sleepy surf-mecca, new to the sport of downhill. Waves Surf Shop, the local surfstore/skatepark, organised the race. Much like the town, the organisers (Sheppie and Co) are on a mellow vibe and new to the sport of downhill. Their experience in organising events, though, made them pass the  [ Read More ]

Review: Cult Classics Technical stuff: Size: 70mm Contact patch: 32mm (it gets broader as you wear them in J ) Durometer: 80a Hub Setting: sideset Inside Egde: radiused (that means its round – refer to figure 6.66) Other Features: The wheel is reverse coned. (When new, the inside lip is higher than the outside lip – refer to figure 6.66) Thane compound: the infamous and mind-reading Mystothane My setup: PSB  [ Read More ]

Weary from a long battle against the initial 2mm’s of Psychathane on a fresh set of Death Rays, the cultist ventured to the Cornerstone Slide Jam. Upon arrival, this Spanish Pony and his feral herd were met by a savage horde of thane abusers getting their fix. The skidders grew in numbers quickly as the sun scorched down upon the pagans. These street shredders were skating hard and laying their  [ Read More ]

First Nature in association with Cult wheels is proud to announce the sponsorship of SA’s very own “steeze pony”, Gerhard Nel. Gerhard will be the first ambassador for Cult wheels in South Africa. In his 3rd year of shredding the streets, we felt it was time to get SA riders the hype they need. We had a chat with Gerhard and this is what he had to say: First Nature (FN): What  [ Read More ]

100 kilometers per hour on a skateboard? Anyone who has entered a downhill skateboarding race knows that this is not too difficult to achieve given the right hill, equipment and a bit of experience. Those who are not aware of the growing sport of longboarding would think you’re crazy for going over 30km/h on a skateboard. “100km/h on a skatboard! Are you frikken crazy?” was the title of a pre race article posted  [ Read More ]