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.

Testing gear – Update 1

During the last days there was quite some rain and even a little snow. That‘s why I wasn‘t able to skate longer sessions. But I had a few short rides on my rain board. And a was able to do some gear testing too.

I changed a few things on the Vandal and did some 5-laps-tests on the nearby parking-lot. First I put RipTide pivot cups in the Bennett (front truck). And I changed the lime BigZigs (80a) for lemon BigZigs (83a) in the front. With the almost new and harder wheels, I improved to 3 min 44. 10 seconds faster than the previous test.

A few days later I changed the wheels again. This time I mounted mango Seismic Blast Waves. I only did one timed run. It was 3 minutes 43 on a windy day. Feel was much faster.

Friday I mounted another Seismic G2 110mm (NOS) as a rear truck. I rode the old one for about a year and it started to click in a way that annoyed me. I tightend the springs of the new truck to max. And I changed the bubblegum Avilas to bubblegum Hot Spots (76mm). I did two timed runs yesterday. They where pretty fast: 3 min 34 and 3 min 31 although there was some wind. I don‘t think I can go much faster on the Vandal. It felt like I want to shift up.

So next step will be tweaking the longer board.

A Minipumper for rainy days

During the last months there has been a lot of rain in Germany. That’s bad for pumping. I didn’t pump on wet pavement since I slammed the first time I ever tried. That day I didn’t had the patience waiting for the streets to dry. When I just started my ride and gained momentum carefully, I suddenly lost grip in the front and hit the ground. This happened because I reached a different sort of pavement that turned out to be incredibly slippery in wet condition.

All that rain during the last months and the fact that I don’t have a skateable garage in the neighborhood, led to an unbearable situation – not being able to do some pumping for weeks. To change this unpleasant situation I purchased a set of rain wheels. It’s a set of pink ABEC11 BigZigs modified by longbordshop.eu to reduce hydroplaning.

I tested them and they are working. But on my home spot, a parking lot with tight turns on each side, they still tend to slide out in the rear - especially in one of the turns. I have to ride carefully and can’t avoid losing some speed in the turns. So I have to give some extra effort to accelerate every 30 seconds. That can be frustrating, especially with a longer wheelbase and wind. That’s why I wasn’t completely happy when I tested the wheels on my Rayne Vandal. So I set up an old Rayne Brightside, I had lying around, as a minipumper for rainy days.

Deck: Rayne Brightside, 34" x 9.25", WB 22,5"

Trucks
- Front: Randal RII-125 50° (+12°) with Riptide APS Barrel 75a (BS), Reflex Cone 74a (RS) and Riptide Pivot Cup.
- Rear: Randal RII-125 42° (-12) with Riptide APS Chubby 80a (BS) and Riptide APS Barrel 80a (RS) and Riptide Pivot Cup.

Wheels: ABEC11 BigZigs 77a mod. by longboardshop.eu.

With a shorter board like this accelerating is much easier. In this aspect the relatively lively rear truck helps as well. This board feels like I have more control and less sliding in the rear. I’m glad I can pump on wet pavement now. It’s fun, although it’s a little slower and more exhausting. Parking-lot pumping on wet pavement is all about accelerating from slow speed. That’s why I’ll try softer bushings and maybe a different front truck someday. A Bennett might bring some more drive. But a Carver CX.4 is something, I’d love to try out too. (If only they where sold separately.)

Practising pumping "ice skating style"

A couple of month ago I developed a pumping style I call "ice skating style". It's a modification of slalom style pumping. I'm leaning forward a little bit, hold both arms behind the back in straights and let one arm swing in turns. My original idea on this style was aerodynamics. But I found out that it's main advantage is a better balance between the feet. It shifts some weight on the rear foot witch makes it easier to get some more power from the rear leg. It also helps to reduce arm swinging and therefore saves energy. It took a while for my back to adjust. Now I'm able to pump like this non stop for at least half an hour and I think I will be able to double this soon.

Thinking about rules for a LDP Hour Record Attempt

Even a simple race format like a long distance pumping Hour Record attempt needs some rules. Here some material that may help defining a set of rules:

Update: I recived great feedback at the Distance Skateboarding Worldwide Group over at facebook. This leads to some changes.

1.) Track or Loop of any length. max. 400m length. Length of the lap shall be measured at inner side.

If there is a s-curve on the loop, the course must be defined, marked and measured properly in this curve.

2.) Skateboard shall be like in slalom skateboarding (ISSA Rules 2.1 – 2.3).

“2.1 Required Equipment
Skateboard Deck: The deck must be structurally sound and not pose a safety hazard. It may be any shape, size, or construction.
Wheels: Exactly four (4) wheels. No other restrictions.
Trucks: Must be lean-steer activated. Competitors are required to ride in a standing (upright) position.
Protective Equipment
Helmet
Shoes
Optional protective equipment: Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, etc.

2.2 Allowed Equipment (including, but not limited to)
Grip tape, foot stops or other devices to limit the lateral movement of the feet on the deck. They must not wrap over, trap or affix the rider’s foot to the deck in any way.
Concave, kicktail, camber, and other shape modifications to the flat deck.

2.3 Prohibited Equipment
Propulsion devices or mechanisms.
Brakes, clutches or other devices providing torque to the wheels.
Bindings, toe straps or other devices that attach the shoes to the deck.
Aerodynamic fairings, parachutes, sails or other such devices. Handles, seats, supports or other equipment that provides an interface from the racer to the board other than the sole of the shoe. Equipment that is consumed, discarded or jettisoned during the race.
Steering mechanisms activated by means other than lean-to-steer.”

3. Only one rider on the track.

4. Pump only. (Expect at the start) No contact to the ground allowed during the ride neither with the body nor with any object (i.e. landpaddle).

5. One push start from a standstill.

Start from a standstill. Like in NDSA.COM Cyberslalom rules. But where shall the timing start?

“5.1. 25-CONE COURSE (ENGLISH UNITS […]
• 3-foot square starter box (Racer’s pushing foot must be in this box)
• Start line at front of start box
• 15ft from start box to 1st cone”

6. The attempt shall terminate when the rider crosses the start/finish line after the first complete lap past 60 minutes. The timekeeper shall measure the actual riding time (stop at tenths of a second). The distance covered in the hour shall be calculated as the average speed of the covered distance (numbers of laps x length of lap) during the actual riding time. The distance covered shall be rounded down to the nearest metre. The Hour Record may not be beaten by less than one metre.

Covered distance shall be measured like in the UCI Track Cycling Regulations (without the pistol shots):

“3.5.029
The timekeeper shall, by ringing a bell, indicate the last lap (or the lap during which the hour expires) when the time remaining to ride is less than the average time realised over one lap of the track.
3.5.030 The attempt shall terminate when the rider crosses the pursuit line from which he started. The end shall be indicated by a double pistol shot.

3.5.031 The distance covered in the hour shall be calculated as follows:

D = (L Pi x TC) + Di C Di
C = L Pi x TRC / TTC

Where: D = distance covered in the hour
L Pi = length of track
TC = number of complete laps before the last lap
Di C = additional distance
TTC = time of the last complete lap
TRC = time remaining to ride at the beginning of the last lap

3.5.032 The distance covered shall be rounded down to the nearest metre. The Hour Record may not be beaten by less than one metre.

3.5.033 If, between the expiry of the hour and the end of the last lap, an incident occurs to prevent completion of the lap, the additional distance shall be calculated on the basis of the time of the lap before last.”

7. The skater shall ensure there is enough beer, ale or cider for everyone at the after race party. BBQ is recommended but not mandatory.

Testing gear – Starting point

Experimenting with Gear is almost as much fun as actually riding the boards. Pumping is much about gear. Dialing in the right set up is all important. A pumping board needs a turny front truck, an almost dead rear truck and fast, grippy wheels. For my purpose, pumping max. speed on a short track for an hour, I prefer topmount decks. And I don’t use a deck specially designed for LDP. Those are usually flexy. But I don’t want flex in the deck. I’m convinced that flex makes me slow.

I chose a Rayne Vandal V2 as my “parking-lot pumping”-deck, as it’s stiff has lots of concave and no rocker nor drop. It’s 37x10’’ with 24,5-27’’ wheelbase. Recently I changed to the longest wheelbase. The board is assembled with a Bennett 5.0 (+11°) in front and a narrow Seismic G2 with yellow springs in the rear. The Seismic is 45°, not one of the 30° that are designed as rear trucks. Therefore it needs lots of dewedging (-20°). That makes my Vandal a very high ride. I did some improvements to the Bennett: installed a selfmade plug in the hanger, put some love in polishing the pivot and put I one of the expensive Riptide pivot cups. I ride them with blue Sunrise bushings (75a).

Recently I got hold of a Fullbag Fȏboo for cheap. It’s 38 x 9,75’’ with 31’’ wheelbase. The Fȏboo is setup with a Surf Rodz TKP 139mm (+11°) in front and a modified Randal 35° (-8,5) in rear. I bought the Surf Rodz at Bolle & Scheese as LDP optimized. It’s got a Surf Key, RipTide APS bushings (85a) and a RipTide pivot-cup installed. The Randal was modified by myself. I narrowed the Hanger, which was 125mm originally, widened the hangerhole and put a selfmade plug in it. At the moment bushings are a RipTide APS Chubby 80a (boardside) and a Sunrise Gummies Barrel 80a (roadside). It’s got a RipTide Pivot cup installed as well. Set up like this, the Fȏboo is pretty low for a topmount pumping board. Because of its shape wheelbites aren’t much of a problem. That’s good because I want to use it for longer rides in the surroundings of Cologne where I need to push sometimes. With it’s mellow concave it’s more comfortable than the Vandal as well. But I don’t think the Fȏboo is the right deck for fast pumping. Still I want to test out, whether the longer wheelbase does make a significant difference.

In performance there isn’t much of a difference between the two boards. The Vandal has been slightly faster in my first little test (five laps on the nearby parking-lot). But the 2 seconds difference isn’t really significant as the riding time has been a little less than 4 minutes.

At the moment both boards are equipped with bubblegum Seismic Avilas in the rear and lime ABEC11 BigZigs in the front. But I’ve got yellow BigZigs, bubblegum Seismic HotSpots and mango Seismic Blast Waves as well. So wheels will be tested soon.

What is LDP?

Pumping is a riding style were momentum is generated by a combination of weighting/unweighting and turning the board. In recent years lot of kids were pumping waveboards on or streets. The technique has its roots in surfing.

As it mimics surfing, pumping has been adopted to skateboarding decades ago. It is essential for skateboard slalom. But pumping is also used, to skate for distance. With the longboard revival a couple of years ago pumping became popular again. The technique has been perfected. So were the decks, trucks and wheels, that are used now. Now it is possible to go for very long distances by pumping a longboard. Long distance pumping (LDP) was established as an expression for this way of transportation. Nowadays LDP is also used as an acronym for long distance pushing. The construction of longboards built of platforms and brackets allows both pumping and pushing. This is one of the reasons, why distance skateboarding flourishes in a nice. Common formats of competition are 24 h ultra skates, 6 h races and marathons. During the long races, the riders alternate between pushing and pumping to avoid unbalanced stress to certain muscles.

It's difficult to explain how pumping works, is difficult to explain. It's better to take a look at it, i.e. in this video by Vlad Popov:

www.vladpopov.com from Longboy on Vimeo.

 If you still want to read about it, you should check the article “How to … Pump? Propelling yourself with turns” by Dan Gesmer. On pavedwave.org you find much info on pumping and distance skateboarding, especially in the forum (sadly there is not much goinig on anymore). Another website on all aspects of distance skateboarding is “Skate further”. On Facebook you can find several groups on the issue, i.e. “Distance Skateboarding Worldwide” and Long Distance Pumping (Skateboarding) LDP.

LDP Hour Attempt

To ride a longboard in circles for an hour doesn’t seem to make much sense. And it seems hard to avoid pushing during that time and generate drive only by pumping. Very hard! But that exactly what I want to achieve during this year: a LDP hour attempt.

You might have heard about the hour record in cycling. It's a “record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present”. (Wikipedia) It is considered one of the toughest tests in endurance sport. Since I was a kid I’m fascinated by the achievements of cyclists in that event and by its great tradition. But I’ m Skateboarder with very limited talent in cycling. Therefore I was thinking about a way to transfer the hour record to skateboarding. In this case, just to push around for an hour in my opinion isn’t difficult enough. That’s why a want to do a pump only attempt.

This is a pretty challenging project for it. I don’t have much time to practice and 30 minutes is the longest time I’ve been pumping non-stop jet. I need to find a smooth, dry track and a day without too much wind. Plus some help with timing and counting laps. And Fans that support me. My record shouldn’t be pathetic. That’s why I have to experiment with gear to find a suitable set up for this purpose.

 I will update my progress and hope to give a report on my first hour attempt before the end of summer. If you like you can follow me on Instagram.