First hour record attempt: 17,214 km/h

As planned, I did my first pump-only hour record attempt on friday. I‘m glad, I finished the hour. Other than I remembered the spot wasn‘t any good. The schoolyard is quiet a bit smaller than I expected and the pavement isn‘t as smooth as it used to be several years ago. There is only room for an almost square loop of about 100 meter. I did a few laps before the start and felt uncomfortable immediately. The straights were too short to get in a flow. And the bad surface didn‘t help with this.

Anyway I started the attempt as it was the only chance to do so during the weekend. The one push start was good. But I was struggling to gain momentum and wasn't able to find a good rhythm. After a few laps I had thoughts about stopping and throwing the board away. But surrender is not an option, if a good old friend is willing to spend some hours to support. So I kept going and going. I changed my stance several times. When Andreas shouted „10 minutes“ I was like: „Man, you can‘t be serious!“ I kept going and couldn't keep up the pace. Still it felt like hours were passing and Andreas didn‘t shout „20“. Actually he didn‘t mentioned 20 minutes at all. Or maybe I didn‘t realize. But when he shouted „Halftime!“, I knew I could make it. My feet were starting to hurt a bit, but not as bad as expected. I even started to feel better after about 45 minutes and was able to speed up a little bit during the last few laps. After 170 laps (17,255m) I reached the line almost exactly after 60 minutes (60 minutes and 8,5 seconds to be precise).

Lessons learned

I think 18 km or more are doable: If:

• you don‘t do an attempt on a spot you haven‘t skated for years.
• there is smooth pavement!!!
• the loop is at least of 200 m lenght with two straights and two turns.

I might try again. But not within the next weeks.

Facts

Date: 15.06.2018
Place: Pestalozzischule Kaiserslautern (GER)
Length of Lap: 101,5 m
Riding time: 60:00:08
Laps: 170
Distance: 17,225 km
Average Speed: 17,214 km/h
Deck: Fullbag Foobô
Front: SurfRodz TKP +11°w/ mint Seismic Blast Waves
Rear: Seismic Stable Spring Truck -5° w/ mango Seismic Blast Waves

Update: Five days to go

Only a few days left till my hour record attempt. Five to be precise. What have I done during the last week? Skateboarding of course. I did several sessions on the parking-lot - three times 5 x 5 laps and one longer non-stop ride. My five laps intervalls got faster and faster. I did personal bests each session: 3:18,75 on Monday and 3:18,15 on Wendsday. On Wendsday I rode the Fullbag TM-39 (Front: Bennett 6.0 (+15°)/purpel BlastWaves, Rear: Randal 125 35° (-9°)/BigZigs HD 74a) – finally managed to go fast on that board. Still I prefer the Fullbag Fôboo that I‘ve tested with mint BlastWaves in front and mango BlastWaves in rear for the first time tonight. And I'm happy that I reached a 3:17,34 with this set up.

I‘m planning to do one more longer session on Tuesday or Wendsday. Thursday I‘m going to travel to Kaiserslautern. And friday night shall be the hour of truth. (Keep your fingers crossed for dry wheater.)

Two weeks to go

Time is flying these days. It‘s only two weeks to go until my planed hour record attempt. The last weeks I did some longer bike rides and longer pump-only longboard rides on the parking-lot. I did 60 minutes once that felt easyier than expected. But I wasn‘t riding fast. Still I had some pain in my feet and my calf. Therefore I swapped the green springs for lighter red ones in the seismic rear truck. I also changed my preparation program. Endurance isn‘t the main challenge for me, even after years of practice it‘s still pumping specific muscular strength. So no more cycling and more pumping with higher intensity instead. During the last week, I did two different rides with intervalls of higher intensity.

One was in Stadtwald, a park here in Cologne. There is a loop with mostly good pavement and no cars that includes a little hill. Occasionally we skate slalom down that hill. I was riding the other way - pumping uphills. I did five laps, each about 9 minutes long with 1 minute riding uphill.

The other ride was on the parking-lot. Here I did five intervalls of five laps each, that I rode pretty fast, in the range of 3:30 to 3:40 min. In between I did a few one push starts and a couple of laps with easy pace.

During the next 10 days I‘m hoping do some more rides alike. And I‘m hoping this will help me holding a respectable pace for an hour during my attempt.

One push start

I've decided to begin my hour record attempt with a one push start. I'm planning a pump only attempt, so it should be as much pumping as possible. In cyber slalom starting with three pushes is common. So only one push and the longer board demands timing and effort. Need some more practice for a fast and fluent start.

Preparation continues

It‘s less than six weeks until I want to do my first pump only hour record attempt. That‘s no time in endurance sports. Still I what to do a little bit of preparation, that makes sense. Therefore I stopped experimenting with gear. It takes to much time. Time I need to ride. I will ride the Fullbag Fôboo with Surfrodz TKP front and Seismic G5 rear at the hour attempt. For the next weeks the plan is to do pumping sessions about twice a week. Last week I did a 30 minutes ride on a windy day and a 40 minutes one on a evening with hardly any wind. This week I want to proceed to 50 minutes. And after this I what to go for the hour.

Besides this I‘ve been cycling a few times and will try to do so at least once a week. You might asked, why cycling when you what to skate long distances? I choose cycling, as for me it is the best way of endurance training. I hate running and skating really long sessions stresses me feet and legs pretty much. On the other hand skating doesn‘t get the cardiovascular system going like cycling. So I ride my bike for this purpose. I did some 2 hour coffee rides and I really like spinning my legs at an easy pace. So the next weeks I will continue to ride my bike with low intensity. In the last three weeks before my hour record attempt I might shift to higher intensity intervals, both on bike and board.

Date is set – First attempt planned for the 15th of June

Friday, 15.06.18 is the date I set myself for my first hour record attempt. I‘m planning to do it on the schoolyard of my old primary school in Kaiserslautern. There is enough room and excellent pavement. Till then I need to do serious preparation. Otherwise it‘s going to be hard or even horrible.

I‘m still not finished with testing gear. I got another deck (Fullbag TM-39) and I‘m tweaking it‘s setup since almost two weeks. I‘m not entirely happy with it yet. Trying to find out whether a longer wheelbase and wider trucks lets one pump faster. Until now I couldn‘t prove it and want to do two more tests.

But the focus in the coming weeks should be longer rides - whether board or bike. I will try to do cycling at least once a week. And do some longer non-stop pumping sessions whenever possible.

Testing gear -Update 2

The recent weeks we had mostly windy days, rain and even some snow. That’s why I wasn’t able do longer rides yet. Last Sunday, it would have been possible weather wise. But that day we had the season opening in slalom. That was fun!

Some more gear testing has been done since my last posting. This time with the larger deck, the Fullbag Fôboo. First I mounted a PSD convex footstop and changed the wheels to bubblegum Hot Spots (rear) and mango Blast Waves (front). With this set up I did my first five laps test under 3:30 - a 3:25.

And I got a new Seismic G5 (30°). For a quick first test, I mixed the new baseplate with the old narrow hanger and soft yellow springs. Mounted this 5° dewedged. On a pretty windy day I did a 3:28. Then I narrowed the G5 hanger to 138 mm and assembled it with green springs. Yesterday there was almost no wind in the evening and I did a 3:21 on this board. It felt like I could have gone faster if my legs weren’t so tired from slalom the day before. Set up like this, I really like the board. I’m getting along great with the mellow concave and the shape of the Fôboo. And the wheels are lightning fast. So not much reason for further testing - beside my curiosity.