Mark Sundell
Powerslide Fitness Pro
Name: Mark Sundell
Country: US
Current Location: St. Paul, MN
Loving to skate since: 1985
Riding for Powerslide since: 2013
Current Skate Setups: I have 4 use case-specific setups: Fitness/Distance/Trail: Swell Triple Black / Cast Aluminum 3x110 @243 / PS Vortex 110mm/85a / Wicked Twincam ilq9 Classic. Urban Distance/Exploring/ Weapon of Choice. Kaze / Ego SL 110 3x110 @ 243 / UC Team Blank 110mm/86a / Wicked Abec 9. Urban/ Freeskate / Skatepark. USD Sway 60XXI with Myfit SPC Liner / Kizer Level 2 / UC Team Blank 76mm/86a / wicked Abec 9. Winter: Next Black / Kizer Flux (modded to fit 110’s)/ PS Torrent 110mm/84a Wicked / Wicked Twincam Rustproof
Favorite boot: Kaze
Favorite frames: 3x110 Cast Aluminum
Favorite wheels: PS Vortex 110
Favorite bearings: Wicked Twincam Rustproof
Why do you love to skate? There is nothing I’ve done that comes close to the experience of skating. Skating is exploring. Skating is flying. Skating is meditation. Skating is freedom. Tell us about your personal philosophy, ethic, and value as a skater! As for skating… Do what is fun. Do what is challenging. Pave your own path. Don’t worry about what’s cool. Less talk more rock. As for being a human.. Be honest, be kind, find the joy in what you have.
What keeps you pushing forward in skating? Every day I get to skate is a good day. The days I get to skate I feel like a kid on the last day of school, I’m watching the clock till I can bust out and go skate!
What is your favorite place to skate? I’m pretty biased toward the Twin Cities. The give and take about living in Minnesota is we have winter for longer than most (sane) people would like. But. We have a mindblowing amount of beautiful bike trails. Miles and miles and miles of connected trails that connect downtown to forests, to open prairies, by lakes and nature, and behind cool buildings. I’ve been skating here since 2013 and I still haven’t skated all the trails here!
What is your favorite trick? In regards to fitness … using my aggressive background to be able to recover from a potentially gnarly spill? What was your greatest success? In regards to my skating involvement… I would say the first time I had in my hands, a production unit of the first frame I designed for Powerslide, the Kizer Level 2 frame. It was my biggest dream to be able to design for, and directly contribute to, skating. It is so amazing to have worked a frame through the whole process: from concept, through ideation, and 3D modeling; then when you get the real thing in your hands, it is always even better than you imagined! What continues to be awesome is I still get giddy about new stuff. I think I will be forever a grom fanboy.
What is your favorite race? Chasing my shadow. 99.9% of my time on skates is solo/lone-wolf style. I’ve never been much into competitions.
What advice would you like to give? treat people how you want to be treated and don’t be a jerk.
Any hobbies outside of skating? I’m a pretty big nerd, I love watching Sci-Fi and reading comics. Other activities include cross-training for skating: kettlebells, running, or using the elliptical. I live a pretty clean straight-edge lifestyle, I practice Zen Buddhism and I’m a strict Vegan. I love to tinker with my skate setups and come up with crazy skating designs in my laboratory. On top of all that and skating as much as I can I have a wonderful wife and two awesome teenage kiddos to hang out with. And a full-time day job. My day-to-day life is pretty packed, that is why skating is so important to me and helps blow off steam I build up from the week.
Do you have a life philosophy or phrase that inspires you? “The barn burns down, now I can see the moon”.
What is your favorite moment in skating? The moment just after you just get your skates strapped on and you stand up.. that first push off.. all the stresses and distractions are left behind, it’s just you and your skates and the adventure begins!
