On June 20, four skateboarders gathered together to ride from Virginia to Oregon. They began the journey in Williamsburg, and on Friday, the group arrived in Newport and dipped their boards into the Pacific Ocean. The team set out to break the record for the fastest skateboarding relay across the U.S. The trip clocked in at 17 days and six hours. Andrew Andras, Rick Stubblefield and Paul Kent were part of the relay. They join us with details of the trek.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Geoff Norcross: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Geoff Norcross. Last Friday, four skateboarders rode their boards in the Pacific Ocean in Newport after riding across the country.
Skateboarders [recording]: “Yeah. Oh, Aaahh! We’re here: the Pacific Ocean!”
Norcross: They put the video on Instagram. They did a relay all the way from Williamsburg, Virginia to here. That’s like 3,000 miles. It took them 17 days and six hours. Now, they’ve had a few days to rest. We’re going to talk to three of the participants, Andrew Andras, Paul Kent, Rick Stubblefield. Welcome to Think Out Loud, it’s good to have you.
All [overlapping]: Thank you. Thank you for asking us.
Norcross: Andrew, I’m gonna start with you. I understand you were trying to break a record here. Did you do it?
Andrew Andras: We did, the prior set record was 21 days.
Norcross: Oh, you nailed
Andras: We blew it away, we blew it away. And it was a pretty amazing experience and the feat side of it, of just setting what is known as an FKT, a “fastest known time.” So, these happen often in [endurance] sports, like people trying to do the [Apalachian Trail] or whatever they do the fastest. So, yeah, this was a route established by Jack Smith. 47 years ago, he did this crossing, and every decade or so, there would be a new group of skaters.
This group we had here, compiled by the four of us, really wanted to kind of lay down like a tougher FKT, known time for the crossing. So that was kind of what our mission was on top of just the whole experience of everything, of the all encompassing of what this thing is, of skateboarding across your country.
Norcross: And congratulations, first of all, for blowing out the record. You said this route was well established and it has been for decades, now – what is it about this route that makes it “the way” to get across the country on a skateboard?
Andras: It started with Jack Smith, who was our support crew for this crossing. And it was something that him and his friends in 1976, they’re out of California and I suppose from the way Jack tells a story, they figured there’d be less traffic, it’d be cooler in the summer kind of doing a northerly route of Oregon to Virginia. And so that’s kind of how it was picked really more than anything, just purely on traffic I think, and weather.
Norcross: Paul, was one of you rolling the whole time during that 17 days? I mean, constant. Was there somebody on the road at all times?
Paul Kent: So, no, we weren’t on the go 24 hours a day. That might have been the best way to get it done fast. However, we were using the established method as well. On top of it being the established route, we also used Jack Smith’s formula. We had Jack Smith, himself actually like in the driver’s seat saying, “Ok, you’re out of the van, you go…” sort of thing. So that worked well.
You know, maybe one day someone will go ahead and do the 24 hour sort of attempt, which would be tough. But, we decided that we would stick to Jack’s route. Jack wanted to see…he always wondered how fast it would happen if he had people who actually did this, trained for this, how fast it would be if they used his method. So we still were only riding, I think maybe like 12 to 13 hours a day.
As for how many people were on the road, I would say roughly one and a half because it was a leapfrog style relay. So one person would go, the vehicle would drive up ahead to pick up that rider. And while waiting for that first rider, they would let the next one go ahead and then pick up rider one, drive to ahead to pick up rider two, and then let the third one go so on and so forth, basically for the entire duration of our ride for the day.
Norcross: How did you decide when one was done and the other was going to pick it up?
Kent: A lot of factors went into those decisions. So the original was five miles. We kind of roughly stick to that, but it depended on the rider, it depended on the course. We would kind of nudge the distance based on rider strengths and potentially like weaknesses, maybe a temporary thing, right? Like maybe somebody was injured, maybe give them a little bit less of a flat section. I was the designated downhiller. So when the downhills got dangerous, I just had more experience with those sorts of situations. So for that reason, they would sometimes place me on the top of the hill. So that way, I would end on the top of the hill so that way I could do it and that, of course, would typically be longer than five miles if it was a big scary hill.
Often we would send Andy out because he’s like an endurance monster, so he can go all day, like, no problem. So if we needed to send someone out early in the day while everyone else was still setting up the van, Andy was usually the first choice.
Norcross: Well, Andy, how does longboarding over distances like this impact your body, compared to other indoor sports like running or cycling or swimming or whatever?
Andras: Distance skateboarding is very low impact, believe it or not, pushing, and the boards we have for our specific sport, the competitive side of this, are nice big Urethane wheels. The boards are very efficient. They’re lower to the ground. So the step down isn’t as drastic. So, truthfully, it’s very low impact compared to running.
I’m an ultramarathon runner as well. And when I run trails and hills and mountains, I feel way more beat up than I do when…for instance, one of the big races that we have in our sport is a 24 hour race. And, although that one, you’ll be very tired, I just don’t feel like it beats me up as bad as running 100 miles. So very low impact and it kind of shows in the demographics of our sports - we have a lot of 40 and 50 year olds that do this sport because they used to do a lot of running or this or that and they end up finding long distance skateboarding is much, much easier on the joints and the body.
Norcross: Rick Stubblefield, could you take me through a typical day out there over the last 17 days? What was a typical day, if there was such a thing?
Rick Stubblefield: Well, we get a fairly early rise, we’d be up, we usually wait until the sun popped up, just for safety reasons. But yeah, we get some nourishment and get out there on the road and then get into that van, all of us, and then get going and take our turns. A full day was really interesting because emotionally and physically you just go through so many things in one day, it was amazing. You’d have some of the worst hill climbs, some of the worst headwinds, things like that in the morning, and by the mid-afternoon you’re somewhere in the Midwest just on this dreamy asphalt surface as smooth as ever and beautiful surroundings and just having a glorious day. Then by the evening time you’re on the brutal hill climbs and that kind of thing again.
But, yeah, it just really varies. In one day though, you can just have so, so many things thrown at you. It’s just quite the experience.
Norcross: Yeah, so many things. What were some of the dangers?
Stubblefield: Of course, some of the dangers would be surfaces and it’s usually things like entering and exiting cities, you would have the shoulder would be a little rougher. You’d have more rocks and pea gravel and that kind of a thing. You’d have some areas you would have shoulders that were so narrow, you would just constantly be having to watch your back for traffic. So the rubberneck factor was always a thing, just looking back and forth just to make sure you were clear of traffic. And sometimes you just have to pick up your board and stand and wait until it was clear and get back and go again. So yeah, just a real variety of things. Mainly watching out for traffic, was probably the most important.
Norcross: Paul, is there a moment from the 17 days that sticks out in your mind?
Kent: Oh, well, I mean, it all kind of blurs together with the amount of experience that you gain in such a short period of time. But I’d say, one thing that sticks out to me fairly regularly would be maybe the Shenandoah Pass. We were climbing. Maybe we didn’t survey the route super well at this point. There was a last minute redirection based on traffic. And so we were climbing in the Shenandoah Park and we got to the summit and we all sort of realized that we were looking down one of the most intense downhill runs in the Eastern United States. It has been affectionately named Mordor by the downhill skaters. And it was like an 11 mile downhill with a very, very, very, very steep grade. Through the corners, I swear, the grade was much steeper than posted. It felt like I was dropping down like 35 degree slopes when I was going in the corners and the bank was just ludicrous as well. I was able to take the corners very, very fast, but it’s really weird because we weren’t expecting it to be there at that moment and then it was like, all of a sudden well, I better put on some extra safety gear. And there was construction and we didn’t know how it looked because we didn’t know when the road would stop, if pavement would end.
But, I mean, Andy might be better at remembering, but I think I was above 40 miles an hour, going around some of these corners and the pavement was good, fresh. They had just repaved it like that in the days before, so I got to experience it on easy mode and luckily I had to stop for the construction crew, but there was plenty of space. So it was very easy for me to slide to a stop and work my way down the rest of the hill, sort of casually.
It was wonderful.
Norcross: Yeah, it sounds like it. It was great to talk to all three of you about this. Thank you so much for talking with us and congratulations.
All [overlapping]: Thank you. Thanks for having us on. Yeah, really cool!
Norcross: Paul Kent, Andy Andras and Rick Stubblefield are long distance skateboarders and they just completed a cross-country relay that ended on the Oregon coast.
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