General Board Info

Let me tell you straight up, it's a PRETTY STUPID IDEA. Skating is not as fast as a biking, not as energy efficient, road pavement effects you more, can't cover as much variety of terrain and cars absolutely hate you. I guess it is faster than walking, probably easier than rollerblading and uni-cycling would be a nightmare. Now what about pogo sticking, hahah.

Anyways, why long distance skate? Because it turns out it is an extremely enjoyable way of self-torture, I am not sure why.

Below are TIPS TO HELP YOU FIGURE OUT A DISTANCE SKATING TRIP OF YOUR OWN. I do not have all the answers, I am still learning myself. These are my opinions and advice that I have formed from the trips I have done. You could disagree. EACH TRIP IS ITS OWN BEAST.

NOT

SOLE REASONS TO GO ON A DISTANCE TRIP:

-to prove something to someone (going to need more motivation than that to make it through the tough days)

-want to escape problems at home (problems at home may get better but they are still going to be there or worse)

-you want to brag about it when you get home (hmmm being humble is better)

-want to get better at longboarding (you will get better at pushing, but it is KEY you have good boarding skills before you go becaues it is very easy to die, if you want to get better skate around your neighborhood)

-you want to figure out your life and come back with an answer (you can do some life thinking but take it from me out of all the 4 trips I have done no one, including myself has figured out their answer to life)

-you want to come back a changed person (you will change but don't have high expectatioins, take the trip as is)

SELF SUPPORTED (you carry all your own gear) or SUPPORTED (you have a car to carry you gear), which one:

ADVANTAGES to a SELF SUPPORTED Trip compared to a SUPPORTED TRIP

- more connected to the environment (embrace the bad weather)

- do not have to depend on a vehicle ( hurray !!! )

- not having to clean a messy vehicle ( believe me they get messy )

- costs less ( love saving money )

- do not use gas

-don't have to worry about a support vehicle driver going crazy (and yes they do go crazy)

DISADVANTAGES to a SELF SUPPORTED trip compared to a SUPPORTED TRIP

- You are skating with a backpack (hahah it can be hard)

- can't cover as much distance (though who is in a rush)

- going down raging mountains is scarier (ever tried speedchecking with a backpack)

- can't carry as many crucial supplies ( no extra wheels, trucks, I mean you could but they weigh too much, if one of your items breaks you could be walking or hello mail)

- you eat crappier ( cars can carry lots of good food )

- less fear of running out of water and food ( that's nice )

- if someone gets hurt you got a car ( cars are fast )

- skating uphill is harder ( you bet it is )

Doing a self support trip compared to a supported trip all depends on the person. A self supported trip requires you having knowledge about backpacking, camping, basic survival, and being able to pack smart and light. Having key gear that is lightweight is crucial to you having a good time or not.

Personally my next trip will be a SELF SUPPORTED TRIP. I find them more rewarding. It combines my 2 biggests passions backpacking/camping and skating.

THINGS TO KNOW:

- distance trips are NOT FUN, it is a combination of hardship, pain, mental fatigue, lack of sleep, smiles, repetition that make it a CHALLENGE and an EXPERIENCE.

-SACRIFICES, YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE SACRIFICES on team trips. REPEAT you will have to make sacrifices on team trips. Know this.

- SPONSORS, don't expect to get sponsors to throw you cash. Tis hard. Pretty much expect that this trip will be coming out of your pocket. Though this does not mean you can't try.

- WHEELS, out of all my trips 1 set of wheels has lasted the whole time. If you do a SUPPORTED trip it might not be a bad idea to carry just ONE extra set of wheels to be safe. Good wheels, 75 - 85mm in my opinion any bigger is just too big and does not have good pushing acceleration speed and are too heavy. A durometer between 78a-83a shall be good.

- SHOES, depends on how confident you are down hills. The less you footbrake the longer your shoe will last. From my experience if you are pretty confident and don't footbrake too much 1 pair of shoes should last you 1,500 miles or more until you can see a small hole developing. NOTE: I used 1 pair of shoes for 3,000 miles across the US. The answer was a lot of ducktape.

- BEARINGS, Paul and Aaron did 1,500 miles on 1 set of bearings. The secret, waterproof grease. For every 1,500 - 2,000 miles bring 3 sets of bearings to be safe.

-BOARD, a low, lightweight, stable board is key. Your distance board should also be a downhill board. Long distance skating incorporates a lot of downhill and your board should be stable. Boards to consider, LBL pusher, Rayne DemonSeed, Subsonic Swift.

-GRIPTAPE, to make your shoes last longer sand down the griptape in the middle of your board where you will be pivoting your front foot back and forth to push. Make sure you have very grippy grip tape on the edge of your board for the downhill.

-DON'T STRESS ABOUT THE ROUTE. Have a route in mind, get general info about the road conditions, but do not worry about having every details of the route planned out. A good map is key.

-DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MILES. Take each day as is. Do not rush through the terrain, enjoy it. Do not set outrageous distance goals.

-YOUR BODY WILL CRAVE SWEETS, every trip I have been on and everyone that has gone on the trips craves candy, chocolate, sugar. At home I don't eat sweets but on the road my body wants sweets. Listen to your body but don't go overboard.

-FOOD, having a good meal is a HUGE moral buster.

-SUPPORT VEHICLE DRIVERS, they will go crazy. They say they won't but they will. DO NOT HAVE a designated support vehicle driver, that person should also skate. Alternate and take turns driving.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON A DISTANCE TRIP:

MONEY

Before you consider a trip you need

start SAVING!!!!

- COOKING, if you cook you will save money (personally I have never cooked on a trip, it is one of the last things I want to do at the end of a long day skating)

-CAMPING, the more you camp the more you save. HOTELS cost money. You can pay for camping but FREE Camping is cheapier. Most of the time it will be camping on the side of the road, it is best to camp between towns, camping in cities can be risky. Use good judgement and walk off the road a football fields length or until you are pretty much out of sight and set up camp. If you are in FARM country you may want to ask the farmer if it is alright to camp, if that is not possible use good judgement, a no Trespassing sign may not be a good idea to cross.

-BUY SNACKS for breakfast and lunch and then eat out for dinner if you can. This strategy will SAVE YOU TONS of money. Occasioinaly it is nice to have a sit down warm breakfast but during your skate day snacking on chips, bananas, apples, granola bars, cookies, nuts, cereal and bread will be all that you need to keep going.

-DON'T OVER PREPARE, don't freak out any buy billions of supplies. Follow the advice I outlined in "THINGS TO KNOW"

-DON'T HAVE A SUPPORT VEHICLE, gas costs money.

TEAM ISSUES:

-My personal opioin. Don't have too big of a team. Don't get all excited about the trip and invite everyone. Really think about it and make a good decision. The MORE people you have the MORE problems you will have. For a SELF SUPPORTED trip, I think 2 people is perfect, 3 works, but no more. For a SUPPORTED trip, 3-4 people would be good. AGAIN JUST MY OPINION.

-Before the trip, be very clear what you want out of the trip and what you want to do. Talk about the issues I have listed below.

-PACE ISSUES, everyone wants to go different speeds what to do? The team should stick together, 1) for safety and 2) because you are a team and it feels good to stay together. If there is a pace issue, let the person know in front if he or she is going to fast. The Fleet is only as fast as the slowest ship. Downhills, it is a good idea to let the fastest people go in front and have everyone go their OWN pace. The people in front should occassionaly stop and let the people in the back catch up.

-MONEY, members of the team each have different budgets. A big issue can be food and people wanting to eat at different restaurants and spend different amounts. It is OKAY to eat separate and then have a meeting point afterwards. This may give you a chance also to have some alone time every now and then. Getting the food you want and need is crucial, FOOD makes people happy on these trips.

-BREAKS, when you arrive at a cool town the team may want to take a break. Make a plan or a rough plan on how many days you want to be in town so everyone is on the same page.

-CAMPING vs HOSTAL, depending on a person's mood, health or weather they may be up for staying in a hostal rather than camping. Make a vote on the situation and if you loose suck it up and deal with it. If someone's health is at risk put HEALTH 1st. Example: Person is sick and it is cold and rainy outside and you are in a town with a hostal. The hostal seems like the better solution.

HOW TO GET STARTED ON A DISTANCE TRIP:

STEP 1: SELF SUPPORTED or SUPPORTED

STEP 2: WHERE?

Figure out what kind of trip you want to do. Assemble your team or go solo. Remember really thinkg about your team.

Figure out where you want to skate, it is as simple as just picking a place you have always wanted to see. Figure out what the weather is going to be like. Get conditions on the roads. All this research can be done over the interent. For weather just search in google "Climate in ________". For road conditions type in, "Bike across _______." Usually someone has biked across the place you want to go, then try to find their contact info and email them about road conditions and your possible route.

STEP 3: MAP

Get a good map. Checkout omnimaps.com they have great maps. Getting a map can easily help plan a route since a lot of the maps have marked paved and unpaved roads. But your best bet is still talking to someone that has seen some of the road.

STEP 4: GEAR & SUPPLIES

Start researching and buying the appropriate gear. (see my gearlist for the S. America trip to help) SUPPORT TRIP skaters start figuring out a vehicle situation, SELF SUPPORT skaters don't have to worry about that, tis nice.

STEP 5: WEBSITE

You don't have to build a website. If you do checkout moonfruit.com I pay $9.17 a month and I used moonfruit to build this site. Very easy to use and update on the road.

STEP 6: GO

Don't just be all talk, make the trip happen and see it through.

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