Awww the mental and physical world of long distance skating. If you are considering a trip of your own you might find this interesting. If you like bananas and hot showers you might find this interesting as well.

After skating across the USA in 2005, France and a bit of Spain with the Beats Walkin Europe team in 2007, and now New Zealand in 2007/2008, I have come to learn and observe a few things.

For 2 months I was away in NZ with a team of 5 total strangers: I’d only met Nat and Sheldon prior to the trip for a couple of hours. Well, we all made it the length of New Zealand together and raised $3,500 for Lowe Syndrome and Canteen, our 2 charities. This is not a lot of $ if you take a look at our skate effort, but going into this trip we had the mindset that skating across NZ was our main focus and raising money for charity would be something we could do on the side--every bit counts. Thanks to all of you that donated to our efforts.

DISTANCE SKATING

The very thought of distance skating brings lots of fun ideas to your head. Yet if you have never done distance skating before, I don’t think you can imagine what it’s really like until you’ve actually been on the road for 2 weeks and find yourself saying: “I hate my life.” Sheldon experienced this but over came.

On the road we met a guy from Canada that has been biking around the world for 4 years, that’s right, 4 years and his goal is 8. One couple he met on the road was inspired and bought all the gear for distance biking and set out on a trip of their own and lasted 1 week and stopped. This biker from Canada sums it up beautifully when saying, “There are fun moments and there are really really low moments, I would not classify this as fun, I consider this a challenge.”

The biggest challenge that the Skate New Zealand team faced was not the 1,500 miles of road (over half of it so rough that you should not even consider it skating), but the 5 people with different personalities, budgets, food taste and particular ways of doing things. And yet we all manage to stay together with very little drama. Keeping the team together was the greatest accomplishment. Skating was pretty darn hard at times but for me personally I like physical and mental challenges and that is why these distance trips feel natural to me.

Distance skating my friends is not a vacation and it is funny how looking at the Skate NZ photos makes it look like one. Capturing the overall strain of the trip and especially the mental strain is very hard. Capturing beautiful scenery and moments of skating is very easy.

Here are a few things to consider before doing some distance skating….

-Realize that if you enjoy skating, you might not enjoy distance skating. Distance skating is a constant battle of the mind; it is nothing like your everyday care-free cruise around the block with your friends. Before you plan a big trip make sure you have done a small distance trip to get a glimpse of what it is like. Skating 50 miles in a day will not get you a good feel. What is difficult about these trips in the constant repetition, day after day after day skating that wears on your mind and body. I would say start small, skate across your state or some 300 miles to get a feel for it.




- You must commit yourself fully to staying healthy and in top shape for the days ahead.  Do not expect to have a lot of spare time to do other physically demanding hobbies.  Your spare time most likely shall be spent resting, reading, stretching, eats loads and talking to cute girls/boys.  Of course it is hard to resist the occasional skate park or hill but be smart about it.




-Simplify your board load.  I would recommend only bringing your pushing board and maybe 1 fun board for the whole team.  There is no need for each of you to bring 2 boards or 3.  At the end of the day the last thing you are going to feel like doing is going for a joy ride.  Limiting the boards also provides more space in your support vehicle if you have one.




-You are there to skate, remember that.




-Know that you will not always get what you wish.  Do not think of yourself but think what is best for the team.  Know that you will have to sacrifice at times.




-There will be nights where you will get crap sleep.  You will naturally become cranky and grouchy.  Let your team know that you might be a bit cranky today.




-Your vehicle is going to get messy and trashed, expect this and expect to have to reorganize it everyday or so.




-One of the biggest problems that a team will face is their support driver going crazy.  Even if your friend says that he/she will drive the car no problem and they will not go crazy, they are lying, don’t listen to them, he or she will go crazy.  Do not have a designated support driver, alternate drivers and you will all be sane.




-Baby powder is amazing.  Use it each morning before you skate to keep your feet dry, and put it in your shoes to make them smell better.




-Mole skin… definitely bring this, you most likely will get blisters.  Also, wear fancy thick sport socks; they are designed to handle sweat, etc.




-Your first day skating, take it easy.  I would recommend only doing 20 miles or so total.  The next day increase the mileage slightly and so on.




-Bring sandals, after a day of skating your feet want to escape the wet darkness of your shoes and breathe.




-Expect to eat lots of food and to have your body crave foods you normally do not eat or even hate.  Chocolate is good, hahaha.




-If you have a girlfriend, make 100% sure that you can handle the fact that you will be away from her.  That means you have to except the fact that you will not be able to talk to her when you want.  No groping, moaning, crying, complaining.  If you mess up the trip because you miss your girlfriend, that is low my friend.  Also, make sure your girlfriend supports you and is not going to cause drama while your gone and get you all upset and bummed out.  Get this all taken care of before you leave.




HOW TO DEFEAT A ROUGH ROAD








A rough road can kill your very soul.  I am talking about a road made up of actual chunks of rocks stuck to tar.  The kind of road where your feet go numb and get so hot from the vibration that it can actually form a blister.  Pushing 5 miles on rough road feels like 20.  It is mentally draining and the thought that “crap I have 20 more miles to push after this” does not sit happily on your mind.




The mind set for battling rough roads:  Accept it, embrace it, love it.  Whatever you do, do not hate it.  If you hate the road it will make your life miserable and you will never reach your all important “Zone Out” state, which is how you conquer the roads.  Do not try to push harder to make up speed--you will tire out quickly.  Accept that you are going slower and zone out.  Try not to stop, keep pushing and get into your zone.  Stopping takes you out of your zone and you got to go through the whole process again.  I believe if you embrace and accept the road you are rewarded with good pavement, and when it comes it is so amazing.




THE ZONE OUT








The “Zone Out” is very important and a key part to distance skating.  It is a mental state of daydream, numbness and awareness, I think of it as a type of mediation.  The Zone Out comes from the constant exertion on your body and it develops in stages.  First: you start pushing and you are a bit tired, your legs are a bit sore or stiff and you got to work out the kinks.  Second, you start to develop a rhythm with your pushing and your breathing, and your body becomes more comfortable.  Third:  you become a bit tired, be it from a hill or a long straight stretch.  You must battle through this tiredness because reaching the Zone Out phase is beyond this.  Fourth: You become a machine, everything goes by like a blur and miles get done.  You are numb to your pain; your tiredness melts into a beautiful mindset.




HAVING A GOOD SKATE BUDDY








When distance skating the person you are skating with is important--more important than you know.  If they are not carrying a “good vibe” it affects you and it affects the skating.  When Sheldon started to develop a negative attitude towards skating I would dread skating with him.  I could tell he did not want to be on the road and it showed in his skating.  His rhythm was all weird and sloppy, he would give up and walk frequently and we could not get in a zone at all.  A leg with Sheldon felt like forever and when it was finally over I was so tired and exhausted.  When I skated with Nat who was stoked and had a good rhythm, and pushed himself, we both zoned out and bam the miles were easy and skating was enjoyable.




When Sheldon changed his attitude in the South Island the transformation was amazing.  I went from dreading skating with him, to loving it.  All it took was his change in attitude.  I am not sure what totally went on in his head but I believe he came to accept the challenge and the fact that he came out here to skate across NZ and crap balls of fire he was going to do that.




Some of the best moments you can have with a skate bud is pushing up long hills.  Each hill is a challenge and it must be conquered.  Just the fact that you and your partner are pushing your brains out, feeling the burn but you just continue on because the other one is doing it, is a great example of team work.  You finally get to a point of exhaustion but you keep on pushing, you finally zone out, you become one in rhythm and sooner than you know it you are at the top with a pounding heart and a calm breath.  You might look at each other and say, “Yep, that was hard” and you keep going.




DO NOT PUSH FOR THE END RESULT




The greatest joy in distance skating are:
1. The people and relationships you form along the way.
2. The physical and mental day to day challenges that you have to conquer and
3. The simple life you enjoy and
4. The meditative state you reach each day connecting mind and body.
Enjoy these things because getting to the actual end is only a small part of it.  And quite frankly it is not the best part.




END NOTE




Look forward to the full report of the Skate NZ trip, in the June issue of Concrete Wave, Napthe and Line-up mag.




Thanks for reading, check out the skatenewzealand.com site if you have not.




Hugs and kisses




Adam