Dialed In with Chico Brenes

Chico Brenes is a true OG who is genuinely aging like fine wine. Lately, he’s been staying busy in San Francisco, living an active lifestyle filled with skating, surfing, cycling, and, of course, handling the day-to-day at his brand, Chico Stix. In our latest “Dialed In” installment, we caught up with Chico to learn more about what keeps him stoked, the evolution of Chico Stix, his favorite video parts, dealing with injuries, and how Remind insoles have supported his impressive routine and habits. This ripper exemplifies what happens when we treat our bodies right and prioritize health and wellness, and continues to inspire us all—on and off the board.

What’s up Chico! Thanks for the time. What’s been going on lately? 

Just been here in SF doing my thing. Surfing, skating, cycling. Just trying to stay busy. 

What’s your typical daily routine look like these days?

Right now just working on Chico Stix. Always trying to come up with ideas for graphics—or trying to do projects to go with whatever graphic I’m doing. I just did something with Jeremy Fish. He’s an artist here from the Bay Area. We did an in-store thing at FTC, people came and got their boards signed. But yeah, man. Just always trying to think of ideas and stay busy. Stay moving. 

I love all your morning posts. Cruising on your bike, “morning radness” and all that. Tell me a little more about that. 

Yeah, I like to start my day with my “morning radness,” I guess. Just something that inspires me, like an old skate photo or whatever. I’ll start with that. I’m up early, too. So I’ll get up super early, make some coffee, do a “morning radness” post, check the surf. I’m pretty blessed that the beach is only 10-15 mins away from me, so I can just go early in the morning and get it. For me, that’s the best way to start the day. Take a plunge in the water, get some good waves then come home and see if I have any orders or anything. As soon as they come in, I like to get them out right away. I want people to get their stuff fast and do it all myself. And after that, just go skating, man. Go to the city or one of the parks. The new plaza in the city is fun. A lot of people have been skating Embarcadero right now because the fountain is empty. I’m actually heading there in about 30 minutes or so to go skate. 

Solid routine! On the heels of that, how important is it to stay on top of your health and wellness routine these days?

It’s very important, especially as you get older, you know? If you want to keep skateboarding, cycling—or whatever physical activity that you’re doing—the older you get, you have to take care of your body. For me, the best thing I did was stop drinking 7 years ago. Right away I just saw my skateboarding improve and just felt so good. I just kept telling myself, “You’re skating the way you are because you aren’t drinking and going out.” I try and eat better now that I’m older, too. I try and tell the younger generation to be careful with everything you put into your body. I seriously wish I had somebody tell me that when I was younger. And I know it’s hard when you’re that age to listen, like, “What’re you talking about old man?” You know? [Laughs] I say to myself, “Imagine how many more video parts I could’ve filmed if I would’ve been healthier.” So I just think it’s very important to take care of your body. Your body is an amazing machine, man. If you treat it right, it’s going to perform incredibly. That’s all I can really say. Better late than never. 

How has Chico Stix been going? I’m a huge fan of all the shapes and stuff. Seems like you’re genuinely having fun with it.

I feel like it just kind of happened organically, you know? I’m stoked. That’s the way I’ve pretty much grown, just a grassroots type thing. Yeah, man. I never imagined being able to run my own business. It’s always been a dream, but I always realized how hard it was. I tried to do it before—I had my skate shop and tried to turn it into a brand and yeah, just realized how hard it was. So that’s why I kept prolonging it and not wanting to do it. But I started riding all the weird shapes after I got injured and people kept asking me like, “What shape is that? It’s crazy that you’re riding like an 80s Tommy Guerrero shape doing some of those crazy tricks.” So I just thought why not put out some crazy shapes that I enjoy. It all started with that Big Boy 9”. That was one of the first shapes I started riding after my ACL injury and all that. I set that board up just to cruise around but remember throwing out a nollie heel and it just flipped perfect. Next thing you know, the flips were coming, then all my normal tricks. It was crazy. I rode that board for like 5 years straight. I’ll ride whatever shape, but I always go back to that Big Boy 9. I can ride that for the rest of my life. 

So awesome. This might be hard, but what’s your favorite personal video part and tell me a few reasons why?

I guess it would probably be Give Me My Money Chico. Just the traveling we were doing…we were going to Asia a lot. China. Just skating all these different spots. But I guess another would be the 411vm “Chico” issue that [Anthony] Claravall did. It was one of the last issues. I just remember Claravall telling me, “We’ll go to China, we’ll go to Nicaragua, Puerto Rico,” and I was just like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever.” [Laughs] But all of it happened and he was able to pull it off. I was feeling good on my board and I just feel like he got the best out of me. I’m really proud of that part. And it wasn’t with a company or anything like that. It was just a homie project. He was like, “You decide who you want in the video.” So I was able to pick the people who were in the video to share the part with me and it was so rad. I feel like that was one of my favorite parts. And of course you can always go back to the old Chocolate videos. The acting and all that was super fun. 

Classics! Switching gears a bit, but what’s your favorite Remind insole and how much of a difference do they make in your daily life? Especially after that injury?

For me, I just ride my signature Cush. As soon as I put my shoes on, I just feel like I’m walking on clouds. I put Remind in my chillers, in my skate shoes—everything. After going through that injury, I just felt like my feet thanked me after using the insoles. But yeah, mine are the only ones I use. The Cush.  

Solid choice! What skaters out there are getting you stoked right now?

Just anyone out there who’s thinking outside the box. Everyone is good and there’s just a lot of skateboarders out there. But anyone who thinks outside the box and does tricks that are super unique that we don’t normally see…that stokes me out, man. People who are creative. 

You nollie heeled and fakie big flipped a 2x4 plank of wood…what’s next!? I was hoping to see a new Chico Stix shape stem from that [laughs].

[Laughs] The reason I did that was mainly because when I was riding all those crazy shapes, people were commenting like, “Man, Chico, you can skate whatever! You can probably skate a 2x4!” And I was like, okay…lets see. I was at Home Depot with my daughter and cut a 2x4, came home and drilled some holes for the trucks. I remember at the time I was looking for some 109s—some small Indys—but I couldn’t find them so I just put some 129s on them and thought this is crazy. This isn’t gonna work. I remember going to Protrero and trying to flip it and it was like a helicopter—went all over the place. But the more I started messing around, it just started working. Kind of like roll the dice and just see…and it worked [laughs]. And that’s been my thing with Chico Stix. Whatever you have lying around, just go out and have fun and enjoy yourself. You have people tripping over sizes and wheel base, but just grab whatever you got and enjoy yourself. Have fun. 

That still blows my mind! But that’s awesome to hear. Well, what’s the rest of the year looking like? And is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’d love to do some guest collabs and just continue living the lifestyle that I live—waking up early, surfing, skating, cycling. Just keep it moving. Once you lay down, that’s when you get old. Just keep it moving.