Longboarding From LA To NY: Update 9

If you haven’t been reading about our journey so far, then check out previous updates here.

It was strange arriving in Omaha, it was the first place on the trip we would be staying for more than a couple of days. Matt – one of the guys from the support team – had a surprise for us on arrival, he had contacted a well known boutique hotel called ‘The Hotel Deco’, who had taken pity on us and offered us to stay with them for the entire duration of time in Omaha. It was amazing to unpack our bags and shower, although it was a little hard to enjoy with what we knew was ahead of us.

We spent the next few days preparing the logistics and our heads. We were going to be attempting to break this world record – the furthest distance travelled on a skateboard in 24 hours – at the Lewis and Clarke school on their 1/4 of a mile track. That means we would be spending 24 hours of our life, going round and round a small track, without stopping. Even to shit.

The day finally arrived, we woke up early and headed to the track. All the local sponsors had turned up: the skate shop, the pizza place, the heavy duty lighting guys, everyone. Attempting the record would be me, David, and Matt. At 11:30am we lined up, counted down, and that was it, we were off.

We started pushing, round and round, people at the sidelines cheering us on. The midday heat kicked in fast, pushing us back. It wasn’t long before I was trying to make myself throw up by the side of the track, a local photographer insuring he didn’t miss a moment of it. I was experiencing this weird feeling where my skin felt freezing so I was shivering but my insides boiling. Matt felt it too, slowing down immensely with an intense pain in his chest.

As things began to cool down we started to feel a bit better, and I managed to eat something. Matt recovered too with some food and music. I had a second coming and was pushing hard, timing each lap to try and stay on track for the record.

It was then I realised I had made a bit of an error. I won’t bore you with the skateboarding jargon, but basically with the leg I mainly push with I should have been going in the opposite direction to the others around the track. We still had over 18 hours left and I had pulled the muscles in my upper right leg, and it was way too painful to push. I tried various solutions, the best ending up being to wrap it up in duck tape and push with the other leg. Not ideal.

It started to get dark and more food arrived, as well as a few local (pretty hot) mums who had come to cheer us on with their kids. Matt started to encounter a problem that we had seriously underestimated too: Chaffing – right on the dick. It went on for hours, and I could really see his pain. He pushed on for a few hours but gave in around midnight leaving only me and David.

The early hours dragged on, we almost took it in turns to dip and try and bring the other one up, looking to Shia’s ‘Do it’ video for inspiration a number of times. It got to a point where I was subtly trying to make myself pass out just so I could stop. I could never describe in words the feeling you go through in that state at 3am.

The sun started to come up and we received a nice boost, along with a cup of fresh tea from Josh. As we got more emotional, fighting back tears, other irrational feelings, blisters, and the urge to shit, people came out to support us. A daycare class saw us on the news and all came out to cheer us on shouting ‘Goooo Rubbbeerrt and Davviddd’.

Finally 11:30 arrived, we were able to stop, collapsing into the grass next to the track. But we were nowhere near beating the record and we were destroyed in the process. Worst of all we were still behind and about 1000 miles from reaching New York.

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