Ryan Ruegg aka BADGERCLIT Interview

Badger and Thomkat.

I first remember Ryan Ruegg, AKA @badgerclit as some kid shredding bmxer Stevie Churchill's local skatepark.  I never saw too much about him other than clips here and there, and eventually I heard his name as someone to look out for in the future.  This summer he showed up at Chicago jam and took home amateur MVP, then a month later was killing it at the San Diego street jam.  The dude kinda came up from nowhere so I hit him up to see where he comes from, and what he's been up to lately.

Jordan Jasa:  So first of all, you just got back from a cross country road trip, right?  How was that?

Ryan Ruegg: Yea haha it was crazy I had the best time. I'd do it again fasho. I can't believe it worked out how it did to be honest. We made it 3/4 of the way back before having any car troubles or anything and it didn't rain once the entire trip.


Who all was with you?  What were the main stops?

It was me, Lew Hobbs, Jimbo Hawkins and Draven Woolley. Lew has been one of my best friends/go to scooter pals for a while and I worked at Woodward all summer and Jimbo and I had become very good friends from that. That's the crew I drove to Chicago with. And I met Draven the first day of the SD trip. We had a lot of stops. Me and Lew met Jimbo and Draven at Woodward from CT and we stayed there for a night then went to Kentucky in the morning. Jimbo is from Kentucky so we stayed the night at his house. (am I elaborating too much haha?). Well we rode spots in Kentucky the next day and then headed to Missouri. I think the next stop was Tulsa, Oklahoma and it was 106 degrees out so we said fuck that. Then we drove through Texas and stayed at a rest stop pavilion haha we set up our hammocks in the rafters. It was extremely windy and we woke up to find out there were like 500 windmills a football field away from us hahaha it was crazy. Next stop was Albuquerque New Mexico skatepark. That park is crazy if you're ever in the area its 1000% worth stopping there. We met some homies there that found us weed after bein dry for two days it was perfect lol. Then we went to Phoenix, Arizona. 100+ temps there too so we made moves to SD and got there a day early.

Downside tooth shot by Max Peters.

Before that trip, you were in Chicago for the street jam.  How was that experience for you?

Best weekend of my life. I met so many people. First street comp I'd ever been to.

Its always the best weekend of the year, no doubt.  What was your favorite moment from this years?

Seshing that rail spot, or at grant.  I finally met so many people that I've been Instagram homies with for years lol sounds stupid but it was cool for me to be in the same environment as all of them for once.

Haha not stupid at all dude, the internet is how I met almost everyone I know in scootering.  This year we let Chris Aponte stay at our house, who I knew solely from snapchat hahaha.

Hahaha yea he's a homie.

So whats up with the sponsor situation, did AO hook you up?  How did that happen?

So the day we got to Chi we had nowhere to stay and it was like midnight and Lew is already on AO and shit so he hit up Corey and Elliot and all them and they were like yea come thru, so we stayed at the apartment Andy rented. So I had met Tanner, Elliot, Corey and Andy that night and it was cool and then they saw me do some stuff at the jam and they were kinda hyped and Ian announced that I got AM MVP and tanner pulled me aside after and said he wanted to put me on.

Did it change your mindset at all, knowing that you're riding for a company now? Like, are you more motivated to go out and send it? Being a part of a team, having the chance to be able to travel if you're killing it everywhere you go?

Nah I didnt feel that in San Diego but there's a lil pressure for this Seattle jam, honestly I feel like I have to make an impression. The last spot at the San Diego jam was more of a sesh than a competition. It was awesome. I love riding with Issac haha his attitude motivates me. And David Coe, that's my fuckin boi.

Double peg to front board to heelwhip.

Yeah I was gonna ask you about that rail sesh.  What's it like being at the top of an 18 rail, knowing you're about to hit it and possibly eat a lot of shit?

It's like any other rail haha I've eatin WAY more shit on little down rails than I did on that 18. It was definitely intimidating but watching other people throw down made it look easier.

That shit was too gnarly.  So lets back up, where are you from? When did you start riding?

Bristol CT. About 5 years ago I started only scootin. I skated for a while. I rode my ultra pro to the park with my skateboard on my back for like a year then I just started progressing more at riding and I was over skating.

180 shot by Mankong.

Who, or what inspires you today to ride?

Well on the day to day just riding with Lew and all the homies at Rockwell. Their squad is @theforestboys you should check em out haha they all shred.

Will do!  So whats with the name "badgerclit"?

Haha I had a feeling that was comin. A while ago one of the homies from the original Rockwell generation said I looked like a badger one day.. and everyone started calling me badger... so ya that's how that happened and then I was trying to think of something clever and my friend's name on twitter at the time was "clitlord69" and I just copped clit from him haha.

I was always so confused as why this kid on instagrams name was so weird haha.  You got a video in the works yet?

Uhh I mean there's gonna be a video from the road trip but as for an actual video of me no I'm trying to travel a lot more just to film.

For sure.  What do you like to do when you're not scootering?

Hammock and cannabis with my pals.

Word.  That'll about cover it, got anything else you wanna talk about?

Not that i can think of.

Haha aight, thanks for your time dude.  

Check out Ryan shredding in the videos below and follow him on instagram @badgerclit.