Originally from Munich and now based in Barcelona, Joscha Aicher is a professional skateboarder supported by Vans–renowned for his powerful and technical style in street skateboarding. However, his athletic identity isn't confined to the skatepark. Joscha is also an avid cyclist, finding that these two pursuits aren’t opposing forces but complementary rhythms. Embracing both meant navigating the occasional cultural friction, but the reward is a renewed sense of space. The bike provides escape and mental clarity in nature, which in turn renews his focus and passion for skating, proving that embracing a second sport can deepen your love for the first.

That’s a tough one. Maybe it could be: sensitive, thoughtful, and dedicated. But it’s always hard to describe your own personality, I feel. It can be different every day for each person.

My first contact with bikes was with my dad. He has cycled for as long as I can remember, and always did it at a pretty high amateur level. He has been in cycling teams all the time and also raced with them. I remember I even had a road bike when I was a kid because I think he tried to convince me to start cycling. But of course, you never do what your dad wants you to do, so I didn’t really keep riding. Now, one of the nicest things about cycling for me is doing it with my dad and spending some real quality time with him. I bet he wishes it would have happened earlier that I started cycling, haha. Anyways, I pretty much learned everything about cycling from him and did my first real rides with him.

But what also made me start cycling was that my friend Dani got into it and my teammate Axel did as well. I thought it might be worth trying and could be good for skating, too.

To be honest, not directly. I definitely feel stronger in my legs, but it’s totally different muscle groups I am using. I have more of the feeling that the lifelong squatting on the skateboard makes me stronger on the bike than the other way around. But of course, mentally it makes me better on the board because I don’t put all my pressure on the skateboard, and I also get time outside of the city. Skateboarding is so ultra-urban, and you actually never go outside of the city to skate. So being in nature and on mountains just gives you a good mindset. Also, my knowledge about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle developed a lot because of cycling, which has a big impact on my whole life.

I really think that depends on the person. For me, it is definitely style. Having a good clothing style on the skateboard is so important. We skaters live for how we look. So of course, I am very aware of how I want to look on the bike as well. But also, the way you spend your day with your bike friends is pretty similar to how you spend your day with your skate friends. You just go out, do some sports together, and have some lunch or dinner or some beers after. It’s very free.

I, of course, get some random messages and hate. Some people make fun of me being in tight-ass clothes with shaved legs, haha, but I get it. Myself from five years ago would also think it’s weird. I would never randomly slide into someone’s DMs to diss them, but I guess some people just need attention.

But on the other hand, I have to say I got so much positive feedback from friends and teammates. Two of my Vans teammates just got bikes and asked me about it and told me how sick they think cycling is. And that is worth to me 100 times more than every weird DMs I got in the past.

What I have to say about the cycling culture in that way is that they are so open to me. Everyone is super interested in what I do and skateboarding in general. They really make me feel proud to be a skater because it is something special and a sport so hard to learn. So I am also very grateful for the cycling community to be so open-minded about that.

I think there is nothing crazy special about it. Every sports community is amazing in its own ways. What I kinda like is the competition side of cycling. We don’t really have that in skating. In skating, you are cheering for everyone no matter what trick they do, and everyone is so individual. In cycling, it is very much about stats and who is first. That sounds weird that I like that, but I love to finally see the output in a sport I do, haha. I’ve been skating without knowing how “good” it is forever, so now I just like to see how my progress goes and if I am able to attack a Strava segment or not.

I think so, yes. Skaters are also getting over 30. At one point, when you only skate, you have to start doing something else to keep your body a bit in shape. Only skating wears down your whole body, and it gets harder and harder to recover and stand up in the morning every day. So doing something that makes you strong and fit to keep on skating is a smart move, and I can recommend it to everyone who wants to stay on the board for longer than 35.

I think the thing I am most proud of is my latest Freeskatemag part. It had 150,000 views, and that is quite a lot nowadays. I was working my ass off for that one, and it turned out so amazing. Shoutout to everyone involved.

100% the style of the shoes and the brand itself. It’s quite minimalistic and really, really cool. And when I got to ride the shoes, I was so hyped about the performance aspect as well. I was always in love with the laced ones, but now I am riding the M3 Pro. I think for the next pair, I will get the laced ones.