Woes and I Wonder

I have a sad story to tell. My scooter, Freya, is in the shop right now. Her headlight is busted and I need that to be fixed so she will pass the safety inspection. She's been gone for a few days now and I've had to find alternative methods of getting to school and work. My plan number two was to solicit the help of Lydia, my Sector Nine cruiser.

It takes me about 20 minutes to board the two miles to work. My biggest obstacle is this huge huge hill I have to push up. It gets a little tiresome. I would be able to handle it like more of a man except for a few reasons. This weekend I played a really long and exhausting game of soccer with my friends. I also had the chance to go wakeboarding all day Saturday with some very generous kind friends on Utah Lake. When the weekend was over, my legs were spent. To make it worse, I have no idea what I did but I pulled my left quadriceps which really puts a damper on my longboarding. I've had to ride mostly mongo all week, I am getting really good though. Now my right leg is starting to get overly sore. I'm hoping my left leg will heal but I get lazy and push regular and hurt it all over again.

Now I promise I am not using my blog to whine to you. That is not the purpose of this post. I've just been giving some background information so you will understand why I have been asking myself the questions that I  pose to you now. When I'm on my long trip this summer, what if both my legs get too tired to push? What if I get too sore? Are there other ways of making the board move forward? What if I got a rope and a car to pull me like a boat (I'm kidding. DO NOT try that. I did when I was younger and it had disastrous results)?  What if I got a huge sail? Or a stick to push with? That would be cool.

I will be looking into that.

Me on the lake. You just have to love board sports. Love them.

Team Member Two: THE Kenton Durfee

Last camp trip we built a shelter

I would like to familiarize all of you with the second member of the Longboard For Love team, Kenton Durfee. Kenton and I have been close as can be ever since we were little boys. We lived right next door to each other until the age of three when my family moved to Kansas. However we would see each other every summer when my family visited Arizona. A lot of my favorite childhood memories are with Kenton during those summers. Everything from camping, to swimming in the irrigation ditches, chasing chickens, scenic hikes, milking cows, running around barefoot, and all sorts of boyish tomfoolery. Kenton is one of my closest friends and I admire him very much.

Kenton and I with his family

Kenton introduced me to longboarding back when I was 14 years old. I had just gotten back from living in South America and we were visiting the extended family. Kenton and I were nigh inseparable that summer. His dad had just bought a Sector 9 board, which would actually be the same model of board I would later buy, and he let us take it for a ride. I was instantly hooked. Riding up and down the streets for hours in the blazing Arizona heat. I loved longboarding the moment I stepped on a board and I couldn't really explain why. This glorified plank of wood, which had been shaped and worked, attached to metal bars with urethane wheels was one of the most thrilling things I had ever experienced.

Kenton's last visit we
 explored this cave

Kenton was patient with me and let me ride probably more than I should have. We would play, swim, and work during the day. Then, late at night, after the construction workers had gone, we would go to a nearby road which was being re-paved and would longboard for hours. Rolling on the newly paved road was like skating across a smooth sheet of ice, no bumps, little rumbling of the wheels. It was wonderful. As soon as my family went back home I began my own life of boarding. I guess we could say that one reason I'm doing this trip is because Kenton introduced me to longboarding. Thanks Kenton, and thanks Uncle Dale for letting us ride your board.

I'm really excited to do this trip with Kenton. He is a great guy. He is determined and hard working so he won't give up on the hard days. He has a great outlook on life and a positive attitude, which will help on those draining days when we push uphill with a headwind pushing us back. Best of all Kenton is my friend.

I'm sure he'll have a lot to say when he starts posting on the blog.

And then there were two...

Kenton and I playing frisbee golf while camping.
Its a family tradition for the guys.

Well I am more than happy to announce that I will not be embarking on this trip by myself. My cousin Kenton Durfee has agreed to accompany me. I called him a few months ago when I first got this idea. It was just after I went to meet Ben Smith on his trip, that I went to grab a bite to eat with some friends. I was sitting there and I got an idea. I quickly scrawled "Longboard really far" on my receipt stub, so that I wouldn't forget what I was thinking.

I thought about all of my friends who would agree do something crazy with me and then actually follow through, and Kenton came to mind first. We talked on the phone for an hour or so that night. We were absolutely thrilled at the prospect of doing something like this. The biggest obstacle has been organizing both of our busy work and college schedules together. Kenton has committed now...and he's coming. All he needs to do is figure out if he is coming for the whole trip or just part of it.

I'm still looking for others to join, especially if Kenton can only come for a week or two and not the whole trip. Anyone interested? Let me know.

Making a Difference

I really love to read books. Over this summer I was able to just read and read and read. I'm the kind of person who reads with a pen in their hand and writes all over everything. I underline, make notes, insert thoughts, and circle page numbers of really good pages. I enjoy doing this because it helps me process my thoughts about the book and its a lot of fun to return to a book and remember everything I learned.

The other day I was sitting in front of my bookcase, looking at my books (which I do in an almost OCD kind of way) and selecting them at random, revisiting old thoughts. I picked up a book, 1491 by Charles C. Mann, and I flipped through it. It is a book about the Americas before Columbus came and I remember enjoying it very much. I turned to the cover page where I had summed up my thoughts into one sentence. When I was 17, I had written, "One man, can change the entire course of history." I had been impressed over and over how one man would change everything. Whether things changed for good or bad, it often rested on the decision of a single person, or one small group.

Wilberforce

Tyndale

There are good people who can change the world. Who knows if Columbus, Cortes, or Pizarro's impacts are ultimately for good or bad, but there are other heroes of mine. William Wilberforce is someone I truly admire and respect, he truly changed the world. His biography has a special place on my shelf, and I even have his portrait on my desk next to William Tyndale, Sir Thomas Moore (oh the irony), and a person from the Latter-Day Saint canon of scripture named Moroni. One person can make a difference.

This is something I think about in my own life. I'm 22 and planning the direction I wish to take. One thing that seems paramount to me is that my life have meaning, that I make a difference in some way. I don't want my career path to be all about making the most money I can make. That would feel like a pair of golden handcuffs to me. I just want to help, to change something.

Moore

Moroni

I get so happy when I hear about good people doing good things. Like the Lundberg's and the Bridge of Love foundation, humanitarian groups, my friend Jeff who just wants to save the world, Boy Scouts doing their Eagle Projects, different religions and organizations reaching out to people in need, and even individuals who find the fire to right a wrong.

One such individual is a new-found friend, Chris, who is doing something quite similar to my own longboarding endeavor. He is sacrificing a lot of time and energy to make a difference where he sees one must be made. Hearing about people like him makes me happy. To know that the world still has good people. Check out his website. Hopefully his and my blogs help to show that any normal person can make a difference. You can take anything from a career, or a life's work, or a quirky hobby of yours and make a difference.

                                  One man can change the entire course of history.

Chris at TheLongPush.blogspot.com

Draculas Dash for Hope

The Bridge of Love foundation that I am going to do my longboard trip for, is doing one of their yearly fundraisers for the children of Romania. Dracula's Dash for Hope (yeah, Dracula is Romanian!). It is a 5K race and half-mile kid's run. The date is Saturday, October 13th at Cottonwood Complex, 4400 S. 1300 E. in Salt Lake City. You can register for the race here.

Additional information from the website: Sign up early and save $10. The kids race will begin at 8:30 am. There will be refreshments, medals and prizes. Costumes are encouraged but not required. The 5k is $25 through Oct. 1st or $35 after. The kids race is $10.

The event is a lot of fun and a great family activity. Please sign up to run. Please, if I can longboard 650 miles, you can run three. Not only is it fun and healthy for you, but it also is a great cause to help the orphan children of Romania. Below is the video from last years race. Check it out.

Journey to Utah Lake with a Side Quest or Two

One of my goals in training is to become better at longboarding longer distances. The furthest I had gone before I got this idea was about eight miles. Two days ago I put in my headphones and got on my board headed down the Provo River Trail. There are few things that are more relaxing than cruising on your longboard listening to some tasty jams. The soothing and constant rhythm of kicking your feet and carving down the trails, a steady grumble of your wheels spinning on the pavement below your feet, the warm summer sun beaming down on you as you have this time alone to just move and think. I absolutely love it.

Before I knew it I had been going for about a half hour and needed to turn around, a friend was coming to visit. I turned around and rolled on for a few feet when I saw a sign. It was a map of the trail and on it I saw that I had gone about five miles from my home and I was a mere half mile from Utah Lake. I turned back around and went all the way to the lake. It actually felt really cool to go there, but sadly they wouldn't let me into the lake property because I didn't have two dollars to pay the entrance fee. I just got to see the sign and turn back.

Headed home I was cruising along again and I looked over the the river on my right, I saw some kids on a rope swing swimming in the river. I jumped off my board and ran over to join them. This rope swing...was awesome. The water was deep and slow making it perfect to swim in, although it did smell a little like fish and was completely opaque. It was a fun little adventure and I have since gone back again with my friends to swim there. You can't see these things when driving by in a car. That is what is great about traveling by longboard, you are inserted into the local environment, you experience everything as you pass through, instead of just passing through.

Another thing I saw was a movie being filmed along the river. There were camera crews and a bunch of people dressed up in clothes from the 1800's singing and two men dressed in white in the river re-enacting a baptism from early Mormon times. I hope I didn't bother them when I was crunching through leaves and sticks trying to take a picture of the event. I'm a little disappointed with how my picture turned out but I didn't want them to film and view the footage later only to find a guy with a longboard and bright blue skating helmet peeking out of the bushes across the river.

I got home after 10-11 miles of riding and hung out with my good friends. One thing I want to mention is that my back started killing me in the evening, something that hasn't happened yet on a longer ride. I wonder what wearing a hiking backpack will do on 30-50 mile days will do. Hmmmmm.........

Longboard Helps: Regular or Goofy

One of the things I have been doing to prepare for this trip is physical training. I'll post on most of this later, but what I want to talk about today is footedness.

Whenever someone rides on a board, be it surfboard, snowboard, wakeboard, skateboard, or longboard they are standing sideways. One foot goes in front of the other. Regular stance is where your left foot is in the front and the right foot is in the back, usually your right foot is what you will push with. Goofy is just the reverse of that. Just like 90% of the world is right handed, most people ride regular stance.

Boarding stances. Courtesy of silverfishlongboarding.com

It is a little tricky to find out what "footedness" you are. One test you could do is to get a soccer ball, set it on the ground, step back a few paces, and then kick it like you're scoring the winning goal of the World Cup! Whichever foot you kick with is probably your pushing foot when you longboard.

If you still can't tell which foot should go forward, stop reading this now and go get a friend to read this paragraph, I will wait.....Hello new friend. What I need you to do is to walk behind your confused compadre and push them hard enough to make them stumble but not hurt them. Whichever foot they put forward to catch themselves is the one that they push with when they ride. Congratulate them on being regular or goofy stance and apologize for shoving them, tell them I apologize too for asking you to shove them. Tell them they can keep reading if they so desire.

Regular pushing

Myself, I ride regular. Ever since I was introduced to longboarding eight years ago and snowboarding seven years ago regular has just been what works best for me. Whenever I try to ride goofy stance I get somewhat nervous of falling down. I can do it, but it feels really awkward. On a long distance trip this poses somewhat of a problem for me. I don't want to push with only one foot. If I do the quadriceps on my left leg and the hamstrings on my right will be out of proportion with the opposite leg. Also, if I can't find a way to push with both feet I probably have only half the endurance that is possible to me.

Riding Mongo

I could just stand regular stance and alternate pushing with my front foot (known as riding mongo), then pushing with my back,. I've been practicing this and like this solution a lot more than trying to ride goofy. I have found, however, that this poses the problem of steering while standing on one foot. My left foot is usually directly over or directly behind the front trucks making it easy to just lean a bit and steer the board. When I push with my front foot, my back foot stays on the board a couple inches in front of the back trucks, right on the bouncy flex of my Sector 9 board. I don't feel as stable. To be shamefully honest I have not practiced this much in my life and I wasn't too good to start of with. After a few embarrassing mishaps and crashes I have gotten pretty good at it.


If one can increase their boarding endurance 100% by learning how to push with both feet, there has to be more solutions to help us skate further. I will be looking into that...