Starting as a lone wolf skateboarder from the Norwood area of the Bronx, Kiefer Dixon, 22,  has won fame and a few nice paychecks from his speed and stamina on a longboard (a long skateboard). He sat down with the Norwood News to talk boards, hand-standing his way through Times Square, his recent win in Puerto Rico and how the borough has influenced his style.

This is the second in a series focusing on exemplary Bronx youth. If you know of a young person in the borough you think deserves recognition or you are that young person, send us an e-mail at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

How did you start out on the longboard?

The first board that actually made me like speed skating was given to me by these Jamaican dudes. They said they had a longboard laying around and always saw me skateboarding. It was faster than the one I had at the time, and I was always by myself, so the speed was definitely what entertained me. The Bronx isn’t the safest place, but I’ve always kept moving.

Do you have a reputation forming in the borough?

My reputation around here is that you’ll never see me walking. If I’m on the train, people are like, ‘what are you doing here, don’t you skate?’ Everyone has some story of me doing a trick or riding on my hands through a busy intersection. Even my brother’s bus driver says he’s proud of me because he never sees me on the corners with my pants down.  My trick that I’m know for the most is my handstand on the board. I’ve done handstands through traffic, down hills, through 42nd Street. The longest I’ve held it is four blocks going down Broadway.

You won the Adrenalina Skateboarding Marathon in Puerto Rico this summer. Tell me about the course.

This one was one of the easier races I’ve skated. It was 12 laps, with some downhill and on a highway that was closed off, so it was on smooth pavement. It started raining right before the race started, but for me, skating 365 in the rain, in the snow, the heat, I thought, this is an advantage for me. In the race I think I got up to 25 mph because it was wet. The fastest speed I’ve ever gone up to was like 40 mph on the Williamsburg Bridge. I was trying to go faster and faster, bombing it straight down.

My preferred race is the Warrior’s Race, from Van Cortlandt Park to the Cyclone at Coney Island. It’s like a marathon except you’re flying through the city in the middle of the night. This year it started at 9. My team held the record of an hour and 52 minutes.

How is your style of skating been shaped by the Bronx?

In Puerto Rico, I won racing in basketball shorts. That’s what people in the Bronx do all the time, they walk to the corner store or sit in front of their house wearing basketball shorts. All the top contenders got the spandex racing pants and all that, and they lift weights and they got to eat right to train. Me, I’ll be at McDonalds eating my burger. I don’t work out and I have eight wins this year. I just skate, skate, skate. My style is aggressive. When you see me skating through traffic and a car is coming at me I don’t flinch; I look the driver in the eye. I like to represent my skating as a form of transportation, too. Every morning I see the buses sardine packed going down Gun Hill; I’m happy to be one less.

Has your sponsorship with Bustin Boards changed skating for you at all?

It’s not like regular sponsors because they’re still a young company; they’ve been making boards for 10 years. So, I don’t get paid to skate, but they pay for travel and if I need parts they’ll help me with that. I don’t consider it a job because I love skating and I don’t get a monthly check. The pay from Puerto Rico and Florida was nice though. I made $15,000 in Puerto Rico and $1,500 in Florida for coming in fourth place, but I pushed my fastest time in that race.

Tell me about the board you have with you.

When I made it, I didn’t measure anything, I did it all by eye. I like riding big boards because I feel more comfortable and faster, but I made it narrow so I could get through tighter spaces. I got these precision trucks from my sponsor. They’re small so I don’t step on my wheel. I have it angled so it’s super stable and so I don’t get speed wobbles going down hills. I like big wheels too. I use these ones for training because they’re super heavy.

What are your roads of choice in the Bronx?

I take University Ave. when I feel like bombing that hill to Manhattan. When I want to go fast through the Bronx I take Jerome. When I want to take the scenic route, I take the Concourse.

Do you have any upcoming races?

I’m heading to Miami in December for the South Beach Bomb down there. I’m going to try to win that one — [win] number nine — to close off the year. It’s been a good year.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.