At 8am on Saturday the 10th of October 2008 (New Zealand time), longboarders in the UK and the US will begin pushing (or pumping) aiming to skate as far as they can within 24 hours. More info at http://ultraskatev.moonfruit.com/.
This event is called Ultraskate, and began with James Peters from the US (www.pavedwave.org) with the first ever 24 hour skateboarding distance record. The world record is now at over 240 miles (390km!!!!). Those fellas in the US are pushing the limits big time.
I'm really keen to have a go at skating 24 hours (obviously not shooting for the record!), and I was thinking of synching up with the UK people and skating in Auckland somewhere. I'm arriving in Auckland from China on the 8th, and I'll be in Auckland till the 15th.
If anyone else is crazy enough to also have a shot, then let me know!
Even if there is no one else keen, I would still like to do this (on my own if need be), and I'll be looking for a suitable spot to do it in Auckland.
The location:
Basically, a fairly quiet (not too much foot/cycle traffic) loop cycle path of excellent surface quality would be ideal. It must be well lit and in a safe location (skating 24 hours means that at least 8 hours of that will be in the dark). A loop of anything larger than 3km would be ideal.
Anyone from Auckland know of such a spot in or near Auckland?
Just throwing this out there, so let me know if you have any info on locations and/or are keen to join.
There is heaps more info and discussions on the event (planning, preparation etc) at SkateFurther.com and Pavedwave.
Cheers,
Rob Thomson
Wrong date!!!
Sorry, that date should be Saturday the 11th of October (NZ time).
Cheers,
Rob
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14degrees Off The Beaten Track - Around the world by bicycle and skateboard. 20,000km, 2 years // URL: http://www.14degrees.org // Email: rob.thomson@14degrees.org
24 hours
Yeah Rob. Three Countries and counting!
I've been racking my brain about a venue in Auckland. Still thinking about it. I'll do a bit of research tonight.
We are so fortunate here to have dorney and we are fully expecting to top out last effort in term of distance and time spent skating.
Get on it Kiwis! Bring on the 24!
tamaki drive
tamaki drive on the waterfront might be alright. Its flat the whole way except a little bridge, pavement is tops apart from maybe 100meters, lots of lights, its about 8km from mechanics bay to st heliers bay and you can turn around in the car parks at either end.
downside will be if the wind is up would make it uncomfortable.
i might join you dont know if I will last 24 hours pushing on the flat though.
I'm keen, but will have to
I'm keen, but will have to do it from wellington, don't think I can afford two trips up to auckland.
24 hours!! what!!!
how about 24 minuets for us lazy buggers?
Western Springs Park (Lakeside)
What about Western Springs Park? Is there a paved track/road that would make an interesting route? Or does it close at dark?
Tamaki Drive sounds OK, but skating back and forth sounds less appealing than skating around and around, for some reason.
Rob
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14degrees Off The Beaten Track - Around the world by bicycle and skateboard. 20,000km, 2 years // URL: http://www.14degrees.org // Email: rob.thomson@14degrees.org
there is a paved track its a
there is a paved track its a bit on the small side for distance and not to sure about if there is lights, ill check it out when im out that way next week.
that has got me thinking maybe somewhere like cornwall park. its bigger than western springs but have never skated there so not too sure what is is like.
http://www.cornwallpark.co.nz/
I checked out their website,
I checked out their website, and it looks like a possibility. It says that it closes at 7pm though. It might be worth just hiding till things go quiet and then start skating. If I/we get booted out, then so be it. I'll look into it.
Cheers,
Rob
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14degrees Off The Beaten Track - Around the world by bicycle and skateboard. 20,000km, 2 years // URL: http://www.14degrees.org // Email: rob.thomson@14degrees.org
closing time should be abit
closing time should be abit later by october with daylight savings starting soon. They had a world record attemp at the longest cricket game there from friday till sunday a little while ago so I cant see why a few skater skating around after closing time would be any problem
dunno if id do the full 24
dunno if id do the full 24 hours but id be keen to go for a while.
unfortunatly im already doin
unfortunatly im already doin peak to powderkeg up ruapehu on the 11th...
but my 2 cents.... round lake pupuke in takapuna is bout 6kms.... all flat, round course. use to skate on a reg basis when i lived there.
nice views.. specifically some of the runners.....
I skate this all the time,
I skate this all the time, it is a pretty nice skate, could be a good idea.
flying up
Hey guys,
If you are definitely keen to give this a go then I'd love to join you and am seriously considering flying up - Can you confirm ASAP so I can organize buying plane tickets?
check with rob. From his
check with rob. From his messages it looks like he is going to do it and Ill jump in and see how long Ill last but if Rob decides to not do it I wont do it.
If you do decide to come up and need a couch to crash on or a lift from the airport let me know.
I'm doin' it
I am still on for doing this. I emailed Cornwall Park, and got this reply:
Dear Rob,
Thank you for your email regarding your request to utilise Cornwall Park for
your event.
Cornwall Park is not open 24 hrs but currently from 7am-7pm. The Park is
not open to the public outside these hours.
The next door neighbour Park is One Tree Hill Domain and that is currently
open 24 hrs, that Park is administrated by the Auckland City Council, on Ph
379 2020.
I will forward your information and request to the Cornwall Park Director
for any feedback regarding your request, and we will get back to you with a
response.
Kind regards
Philippa Price & Nadia Vanderplancke
Cornwall Park Information Centre
PO Box 26 072
Epsom
Auckland
Phone: (09) 630 8485
Fax: (09) 623 0869
www.cornwallpark.co.nz
But the Lake Pupuke in Takapuna sounds like a goer. Could be better...is the track around the lake smooth as butter all the way?
Rob
Is this the course?
This came up on a web search...
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/new-zealand/0622+takapuna/309777895
Does this look right? Or is there another water-front path closer to the water just for cyclists/pedestrians?
That’s it. From the end of
That’s it. From the end of Killarney heading to Milford and round to Northcote road the footpath is mostly that black hot mix stuff- smooth as. From Northcote Road back to the end of Killarney it is this block stuff (can’t think how to describe it) still very nice to skate on. This whole footpath is wide parts of it have a cycle lane and a pedestrian lane. Killarney street is the worst part (still skate able just not as smooth) but can be avoided if you continue that red line till Hurstmere road we would just have to jump on the road for a little bit at night as there is a couple of bars there.
I’ll try get some pictures or video as my explanation isn’t that good but it’s a real good course.
I checked out Western Springs Park last night it has lights but they don’t light up the whole pathway. The pathway is also abit small on distance and if there is a few people around during the day could get crowed.
Definitely think this is the
Definitely think this is the best option so far, hopefully we can get a decent turn out.
Woohoo
Sounds good fellas. My aim is to skate for at least 12 hours of the 24. If I can achieve that, I'll be a happy chap. Since the last half of the 24 hours will be in darkness more or less, it's going to be a challenge!
Yay
My aim is to match your time and skate at least half your distance.
I've done a 24hour event before on foot and took about 3hours rest but by skateboard will be a bit different...
Flight booked
Well I've booked my flight now - can I still hit you up for that couch and ride, dan?
Now to start training eh.
training
yeah i better start doing some of that haha. Im looking forward to it though.
I'm in.
As long as none of my ncea exams are on id be keen as, im pretty sure itl be fine, looking foward to it =]
www.bombardierlongboards.co.nz
If you need accomadation let
If you need accomadation let me know. Richard has the fold-out couch but got heaps of couches at my place.
accomodation
I've got a pullout bed and a couch if anyone needs a place to crash. just let me know.
oh no!
now we have the NZ 10km champ to compete against!
Haha, look forward to skating with you again.
Uh oh...
Man, I never knew there were so many seirous athletes here...
One more thing to think about, is a 'rest station'. Somewhere where a car can be parked, where we can keep all our gear (water, snacks/gels, food, changes of clothing, jackets etc etc etc). If someone not keen to skate the full 24 hours wants to come along and camp out in the car overnight, then that would really help.
Richard, do you have any advice on keeping the body and mind going for 24 hours? I figure you're probably the most experienced one here since you've actually done a 24 hour event before...
The furthest I've ever skated in one day is 121km, over about 8 hours. Personally, I have no idea what to expect on this one...it's gonna be good times.
VASELINE & BANDAGES!
There will be chafing and blisters :-)
Rob you should be immune to those by now I would expect.
Other ideas:
- no caffeine (honest)
- warm clothes as your body will run out of energy to keep its self warm
- 4-5 litres of water/powerade
- boiled kumara (really low GI)
- take it slow
- trick your mind into thinking the pain actually feels good
Oh and if you can't already, make sure you can push with both feet!
At the same time?
I am still working on training myself to push with both feet at the same time...now that'd be rad.
Great advice though Richard. Boiled kumara aye? Sounds like a winner.
Here is a link with some more fantabulous advice from James Peters, the founder of the Ultraskates in the US. Great stuff here:
http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/about61.html
As for blisters and chafing, I have been fortunate to remain free of both. Although when I do get a bit of chafage, talcum powder is my saviour!
At the same time?
I am still working on training myself to push with both feet at the same time...now that'd be rad.
Great advice though Richard. Boiled kumara aye? Sounds like a winner.
Here is a link with some more fantabulous advice from James Peters, the founder of the Ultraskates in the US. Great stuff here:
http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/about61.html
As for blisters and chafing, I have been fortunate to remain free of both. Although when I do get a bit of chafage, talcum powder is my saviour!
Rest Station
Theres plenty of places to park a car up. We can use mine for this i'll organise a chilly bin to put things in. I'll try get some support people to maybe pop down at certain times and bring things like food etc down.
Rob if your still doing the AUT there is a really good sports nutritionist in there Sport and Rec department Caryn Zinn that might you might be able to get some free advice while your there.
AUT
Yeah, I've already hooked a session up with a guy called Mark Jones at AUT. I emailed them to see if they wanted to 'test' me just to get some physical performance info on an endurance skateboarder. It should be interesting to see what if any conclusions they can make.
It looks like I will be speaking at AUT on the 14th of October in the morning some time. I will check out and see if anyone can come, in case any of you fellas are keen to come along.
As for the support car, that sounds sweet. If it's nice weather, then it would be a cool chilled out day for whoever ends up coming to hang out.
Guys you have no idea how stoked I am and looking forward to meeting you all back there in the motherland. I keep getting images of skating around that lake...clear skies, cool weather, a quick jump in every now and then to freshen up (can you swim in Pupuke Lake?), a feed of fish and chips perhaps...well, let's hope for good weather, aye. I'm keen to do it rain or shine anyway, but blue skies are always a plus.
Track distance
How long is the loop round the track?
And how will we keep track of distances?
I could perhaps borrow a GPS but not sure it will last the whole trip!
Perhaps we need to bully someone in to counting our loops for us.
you can swim in the lake,
you can swim in the lake, heaps of weed though, and you cant really see the lake from the road. Im kinda bummed cause i have a mates bday party the night before so im either gonna be really tired or leave the party early.
theres some sweet jumps at
theres some sweet jumps at the lake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrII3CoKBGw
or you can just swim off the jettys that are at the parks
Registration
http://www.ncdsa.com/contest_registration.asp?ContestID=398
Distance Recording
Yeah, good point Richard, one that I have been mulling over while I push the pavement...
Ideally anyone really interested in getting an exact distance that they personally skated, they will need their own GPS. I have my own, and I have enough spare batteries to last the full 24 hours (two sets of AAA baterries - a total of four spare batteries).
For others not so anal about exact distances down to the last meter, I would say keeping count of how many laps they do will suffice. The route as outlined here (http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/new-zealand/0622+takapuna/309777895) is 5.8km, so just keeping tally with a pen and paper would be fine.
One other thing I have thought about...just throwing this out there...how far is it from Lake Pupuke to Tamaki Drive or Cornwall Park? What about skating Cornwall Park for say 12 hours, and then skating to Lake Pupuke for the final 12?
I really have no idea about the geography of Auckland (born and raised in Invercargill), so this may be a bit too far out of our way, but something like this might be a welcome diversion mid-way through the mish perhaps?
Tamaki Drive is the closest
Tamaki Drive is the closest but the Auckland Harbour is in the way. There is a way you could do it but would involve some uphill pushing and a little downhill.
If thats fine we could do Tamaki Drive grab a ferry to Devonport. Head round past Narrowneck Beach through Takapuna Grammer to Lake Road push up that hill (about 500 meters) then its back on the flat all the way to Takapuna. There is a couple of other smaller uphill pushes between the Ferry and Takapuna Grammer to but not as bad as Lake Road.
Rob if this tickles your fancy I could drive you round this course when you get into Auckland.
Hmmm...yeah, sounds a little
Hmmm...yeah, sounds a little confounded and convoluted with a little discombobulation thrown in. I think it might be an idea to scrap that idea for now. The UK and US people are skating the same loop over and over, so I guess we should be able to do the same without going too insane(er). Good point about keeping together too...only I'm not so sure that you'd be the one left behind, Richard. I have to teach myself how to skate again more or less - I'm used to pushing a board the essentially weighs more than 20kg (pulling the trailer). Switching back to no trailer will take some getting used to!
My fancy has been tickled however, and it would be good to meet up some time before the event to take a look at the route around Pupuke. But then it's all weekdays inbetween when I arrive in Aotearoa and when this happening. DG would you be free one evening to go for a drive/skate? I don't know when I'll be free, but we can play it by ear. I'll be getting myself a cell phone soon after arrival in NZ so that we can coordinate things.
Yip bit of a pick and mix to
Yip bit of a pick and mix to get from Tamaki Drive to Takapuna. Doable but maybe to much for the first Ultra skate. If we do get bored going around the Lake Loop we can always skate down past the beach for some variety then jump back on the loop.
Rob I’m at Uni so have lots of breaks during the day and also free most evenings that week to show you round the Lake. We will just have to find a time we are both free.
Sweet bro. I'll let you know
Sweet bro. I'll let you know when I get a fone and let you know the number.
i like the idea!
Just makes it a bit harder to keep together for the whole thing - I know that I won't be able to keep up with you for long, but perhaps we could coordinate the trip between the two spots.
GPS
By the way, if anyone is feeling crazy and wants to make this an opportunity to splash out on a GPS, I have been using the Garmin Geko 201 for my whole journey and it is still going strong (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=220).
GPS Units are pricey, and there are many out there with all sorts of features. Features that I look for are PC downloadability, long battery life, small and compact and light, replaceable batteries.
The only thing that I don't like about the Geko 201 is the memory size. It only holds about 400km worth of track log, so you have to download it every few weeks if you're on the road...not a concern to most people, I understand...
Also I'm not sure if the 201 records an altitude profile, which would be a handy thing on a trip - see how much you slogged uphill, and how far you dropped on that massive downhill run!
Good or Bad News?
Just drove past the lake today and a section of pavement had been ripped up and replaced. This could be really good news if its finished by the 11th or bad if it isnt. Il keep you updated on the work its only a small section 500 meters or so and you can skate on the road or the other side to skip it if its not finished in time.
yeah i noticed that the
yeah i noticed that the other day, the other side isnt quite as smooth but it's fine.
Thanks for the update! It
Thanks for the update! It sounds as though we might have to go onto the road for a bit here and there especially at night with outside cafe seating getting in the way (am I right?) so an extra wee bit on the road shouldn't be a problem I guess.
Seating and Drunk People
Yip have to jump on the road for a little bit because of seating and drunk people but the road is butter smooth. Hopefully were lucky and we get brand new pavement for a section.
Injury strikes!
Oh no! I have have pulled a muscle in my foot and am having trouble walking... let alone skating. Hopefully will come right in time for the skate!.
PS Rob - is your chinese leg over yet?
Yeah im pretty sure hes made
Yeah im pretty sure hes made it now. I only skim read the last blog update.
That sucks about the injury. Ive skated the track a couple times recently and im realizing how much fitness i lost over winter, very annoying.
NZ
Guys, just been reading up on what's happening over there; Stoked is the word.
It's going to be bloody amazing skating here knowing that so many of the people I met in NZ will be doing the same half way round the world.
The road down to Devonport is soo smooth and super fast! the lake looks amazing.
This is going to be sweet as!
pm me you mobile numbers and i'll send you a text or two throughout the night/day
nat