Interview and photography by Joseph ‘Ginge’ Piggott
So what is your name? And tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Mae Bicheno, and I’m 20 years old. I’m from a small village called Little Eversden, which is in Cambridgeshire. I grew up there, and I also lived in New Zealand for a few years when I was a kid, which was pretty cool, then I moved to Bristol two and a half years ago, for uni. And I now live in Horfield, believe it or not.
How is it spelled?
Not with a ‘w’.
What got you into skateboarding?
So, this is actually kind of embarrassing; well, for me it is, other people might not be embarrassed by it, but I actually used to do longboarding for ages – don’t laugh – and that’s what got me into it. In the second lockdown, me and this boy called Oli (Winterbotham) used to go down to this skatepark called Haslingfield, and he used to teach me how to actually skate on this tiny 7.5” Decathlon board. It snapped after three days, it was really bad, but he taught me how to skate, and I thought it was really cool, then I got into it properly when I moved to Bristol.
And you made loads of Tik Toks.
I made loads of Tik Toks (laughs).
What was it like growing up in rural Cambridgeshire? Was there any skate scene there?
No. There is a skate scene in the city of Cambridge, they’ve got some really cool things going on at Jesus Green – shout out to the Jesus Green boys, they’re all pretty sick and they make good videos. But where I grew up, it was in a tiny village, so… there’s nothing going on (laughs). Just dirt tracks and crusty roads, and one skatepark ten minutes away, which they’ve recently redone and now it’s cool, but it was a metal ramp, and it was bad… shocking.
So how was it moving from there to a city like Bristol?
It was so different. When I moved here I moved straight into halls, the good old Nelson and Drake, and it was a high-rise building; it was so freaky. I went from seeing fields to massive buildings, and I was so overwhelmed. But I do love it now that I’ve got used to it, and I definitely wouldn’t be skating if I hadn’t moved here.
Safely inside the Brunel Way DIY ecosystem, Mae locks into an after-dark Slasher Bowl frontside feeble.
And whereabouts do you skate in Bristol?
Brunel Way mini ramp. Big up the Brunel Way mini ramp crew; everyone down there is awesome. That whole place is like my Holy Grail. That’s the best place to be in Bristol, rain or shine, may I add. Everyone builds the ramps down there, it’s all DIY, and then you’ve got Daveside and Curbside just nearby; what more could you want, really? Everyone is super friendly. I started out learning to do fifties and feebles there, and now I’m part of the crew and we’re all friends. It’s the best spot to be at.
Is there anyone from the crew you’d like to shout out from that scene?
Honestly, just everyone, especially George Hider who puts everything together and helps everyone build the ramps; he’s sort of in charge of it all. And also shout out to Reuben (Kerbes). I think he’s just come out of hospital, but he’s had a really bad skate injury and he hasn’t been able to skate, so shout out to Reuben.
You’ve been riding for Gratitude now for… how long now? A couple of months?
No, that was in May.
May was only a couple of months ago, wasn’t it?
That’s nearly a year ago (laughs).
OK, so you’ve been riding for Gratitude for nearly a year. How did that come about?
I don’t really know how it came about, but you came up to me and you were like, “Ben (Haizelden) is pretty keen to have you on the team”. Then there was a little Daveside jam, at the Slasher Bowl, and Ben came over and was like, “do you fancy riding for Gratitude?” It was a couple of days after my birthday, so it was sort of a late birthday present, and I was like, “oh my God, yes. Obviously. 110%”. He gave me a beer, and I was like, “can I give you a hug?” He said, “yeah, sure”, then I started riding for Gratitude. Which is awesome. And epic.
That was pretty Cosmo TM.
(Laughing) It was pretty Cosmo TM.
And now you’ve just been down to Cornwall on a trip with all of the Gratitude crew. How was it meeting the team?
It was so fun. Obviously I didn’t really know everyone that well, like I was closer with a couple of people, but it was my first time meeting most of them. I’m also the youngest, and the only girl, so I was bit nervous at first, but everyone was so lovely; it was an absolute blast. Even through it was raining the whole time, I literally had so much fun. I skated loads of parks I’d never been to, the whole crew is sick, they’re some of the best skaters I’ve ever seen skate in real life. Sleeping on the floor, eating greasy breakfasts, putting up with boys farting (laughs).
There wasn’t that much farting.
There was.
Mae prepares to make contact with a sheltered Bristolian bank by way of a shadow avoiding beanplant.
Does anyone inspire you, both in and out of skateboarding?
In skateboarding, Alice Smith. There’s this one video I remember watching of her skating the mini in Cirencester, the old mini ramp there, and she was in this cool outfit doing epic tricks with an epic style. I remember watching this before I could really skate, and thinking, “no way, I want to be exactly like that”. And I’ve been obsessed with her ever since. She’s brilliant. She’s one of the best skaters. Who else inspires me? Amanda (Perez); I think she’s a sick skater. Her clips at Dean Lane, she does the push back fifty... that’s so cool.
Any favourite tricks?
Yeah. Back smith with the foot. Front feebles, I love front feebles. I really want to learn hurricanes, and another that’s in the works – I’ve landed it once – is the back smith grind, frontside revert out. Just you guys wait. Give it a few months and it’ll be on the Gram (laughs).
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Cycling. I love cycling. It’s so fun (laughs). I love baking. I made a good carrot cake last week, actually, with marzipan, mini carrots on top, then I used coriander to look like the leaves, but obviously you can’t eat that bit, because who wants to eat coriander on a cake? I love going on walks with my dog, I want to eat my dog (laughs). No, I love going on walks with my dog, and just being outdoors in general; I think it’s really therapeutic. Another thing I’m trying to get back into is gymnastics. I used to compete in gymnastics when I was a kid. I stopped doing it but I can still do some tricks. So on Mondays I’m going to start going to a freestyle gym class, and try to learn to backflip again, but on flatground, and not a trampoline. I’ll teach you.
Even on trampolines, I can’t do backflips.
You can come with me, backflip into the foam pit.
This spot has undeniably seen better days, but a few misaligned paving slabs can't deter Mae and her boardslide transfer into the bank.
What do you do at uni?
I do Drama and Creative Writing. It’s my final year now, so I’m going to be graduating soon, and I’m on final projects, writing a short story.
Are you getting nervous about life after uni?
No (laughs). I feel like I should be, but I’m not at all. I’ve never been like that though. I’ve never been nervous about exams, messing up or what the future has in store. After uni I’m just going to work, then I want to travel, nothing specific really. Just have fun, keep skating, enjoy life…
…go pro, make millions…
…go on The Great British Bake Off and give my carrot cake to Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, give Paul Hollywood a kiss on the cheek (laughs).
Oh, you’re skating for Petticoat! What’s Petticoat?
So Alexis Lewis, she started up a brand called Petticoat. We’ve done one video premiere at Strange Brew last April, and we’ve got another video coming out in summer I think. It’s a brand for women and marginalised genders, and everyone on it is awesome, and they all shred, all the girls. I’m looking forward to that; we’ve been out doing some street skating and getting some clips. It’s really exciting, that the Bristol skate scene, especially for girls, is on the rise. Alexis is doing an amazing job getting that sorted; she’s always getting us out filming, because we’re pretty lazy, to be honest… or maybe I’m speaking for myself (laughs). Anyway.
So do you skate with the Petticoat crew?
I normally just skate at Brunel Way mini ramp, and I’ll see who’s down there when I get there, or I have the Disco crew. I skate with them sometimes, not recently, but I do skate with them if I go to Dean Lane, but they don’t come down to Brunell Way much, except A-Don (Alex Donlon). Then obviously the Petticoat crew, and all of the girls in Bristol
Are there any skaters in Bristol you want to shout out?
You.
No.
Obviously you, for helping with this interview and just being great with all of the photos and stuff. And for also being a pretty crazy, gnarly skater.
This is so whack. Is there anyone else we can talk about?
Yes, I’ll shout out someone else. Do they have to be from Bristol?
Nah.
Oli Winterbotham who taught me how to skate, many moons ago. He doesn’t really skate any more, the loser, but I force him out when I go home. I’ve given Reuben a shout out already, and shout out to the boys of 511, who are all of the boys that I live with. I love them all, and they all skate too, so they’d love a shout out. 511, just to reiterate.
Which road?
I’m not going to say the road. I don’t want people coming to my house (laughs).
Follow Mae - @maebicheno
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