From 2004, Pavedwave.org has shared a passion for distance skateboarding and alternative transportation, with a twist. The endless groove of floating just inches above the ground on four wheels without ever putting a foot down screamed out to be better defined and shared with others. Accidentally, I got physically fit commuting by skateboard, then Gareth Roe and the Cascade slalom crew got me pumping a board through slalom courses, and Derek Munson helped catalyze the two, as we skated and talked the miles clicked away. Pavedwave.org became the home for “LDP”, or Long Distance Pumping. As the years rolled on, the LDP moniker was adopted to represent Long Distance Pushing as well.
As a small and occasionally organized group from the Pacific Northwest, we skateboarded to support local MS and cancer marathon fundraisers. Even though it seemed like a walk through the park for us, very few around the globe were skating marathon distances, and the spectacle drew interest. LDP quickly spread worldwide, with tribes from Germany, The Netherlands, and the U.K. building the international community.
During the earlier years of the site I designed and shaped a handful of LDP decks specific to this commuting obsession, collaborating with some of the best craftsmen from the Pacific Northwest: RoeRacing, Subsonic, and LBL. All the tinkering and design on the “Gear” page of my old site was the primary reason people visited, and later on the forum (~2007) started exchanging all kinds of technical information about their setups. Around that same time I also created board designs for Galac and Sk8kings, testing and refining their first prototypes, a bit more simple in construction and thus more affordable for entry level LDP.
The 24-hour “Ultraskate” was a concept I brought to the skateboarding vernacular around 2006, focusing on an approach to skateboarding that doesn’t have to mean compromising your body to achieve great distances. When it comes to events and competitions, finishing strong, healthy, and injury-free is what I hoped to communicate. In more recent years there has been a surge of marathon-length athletic events like Adrenalina that have drawn out the fastest distance talent around the world, where speed actually does matter, and sometimes the stakes for the podium are high. It’s encouraging to see a lot of smart skaters not abusing themselves, but still achieving amazing speeds and distances, alternating between pumping, pushing, paddling, and tucking to maximize their efficiency on the course.
Racing and competition were an afterthought, a tangent for this site. The Soul of Pavedwave.org is less about competition, and more about getting out for the long sunrise or sunset rides down the trails and boardwalks, across cities, counties, states, and continents, where the wind has died down and the asphalt waves are flat and endless. Pure bliss on four wheels lies just a few steps outside your door. You too might end up replacing your car!
Pumping and pushing a longboard for miles non-stop isn’t as bloody or death-defying as downhill speedboarding. It won’t launch you into the air like a sick pool ride. And it takes more endurance than slicing through a few downhill cone runs.
But try a few sessions, and you might just get hooked. If you surf the forum you’ll see it’s happened many times before!
Happy pumps,
James Peters
youtube – facebook – twitter – gmail
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Press / Media
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Seattle Times – Longboard Commuting with Purpose and Buzz 2008
Seattle Post Intelligencer – STP 2007
Northwest City Sports – STP 2006
SilverfishLongboarding – STP 2006
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Distance Skateboarding Links
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14degrees off the beaten track
Rob Thomson’s Epic bike and skate around the world
LongTreks – Paul Kent, Aaron Enevoldsen, and Adam Colton’s World Explorations
http://www.longtreksonskatedecks.com/
Skateboarding Across America for Lowe’s Syndrome
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=483
http://www.rollsrolls.com/service/saa/saa.html
Jack Smith’s site – the guy who started Skateboarding Across America
http://skateboardersjournal.ning.com
BeatsWalkin Europe with BoardFree
4000km longboarding journey over two and a half months – Planned July 2007
Push for the Cure – 4 guys and many others pushing across Canada
http://www.pushforthecure.com/finale/
Skate4Cancer – Rob Dyer – Los Angeles to Toronto
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Other Friendly Links
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NCDSA – Distance Skateboarding Forum
Hearts of Hills – Christine Maier’s Grrrrl skater site (English and German)
http://heartsofhills.blogspot.com/
A UK site focused on distance longboarding and boarding for charity
BoardFree in the UK – The Loch Lo Mission
Laura Hatwell rides 25 miles in the BoardFree mission!
http://www.boardfreelaura.co.uk
BoardFree – 3640 miles across Australia
http://www.boardfree.co.uk/home.htm
http://www.boardfree.co.uk/mediacentre.htm
Wizzy’s LDP forum in Netherlands
http://www.longboarden.nl/forum/viewforum.php?f=37
Rise Up Longboarders – Maryland LDP Crew’s Blog
http://riseuplongboarders.blogspot.com/2009/03/ultra-skate-vi-maryland-style.html
http://novel-a-month.com/?p=31
http://forums.oldmanarmy.com/viewtopic.php?t=7352
http://www.local124.com/portal/index.php?option=com_gmroute
http://galaclongboards.com/index.html
GALAC LANDSURFING
http://www.longboardz.de/cms/forum/index.php
http://ontskate.proboards38.com/index.cgi
http://munchhboards.tripod.com/id14.html
http://www.northwestskater.com
http://frogtaco.net/2006/08/31/i-couldnt-be-prouder/
Chris Stevens oldschoolskateboarding – history, culture and cool vibes from the NW
http://www.oldschoolskateboarding.com/
The Skateboarder’s Journal – all-around skateboarding culture
http://skateboardersjournal.ning.com
SlalomSkateboarderCom – Pacific NW Forum
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=115
Northwestlongboarding, a growing forum and gallery from Shane Donough
http://www.northwestlongboarding.com
Cheka-Looka Surf Shop, Fremont
http://www.cheka-looka.com/interactive/content.html
Gravity Sports, the oldest surf and skate shop in Washington
http://www.northwestskater.com/gravitysports.html
Purple Skunk Skateshop (it doesn’t get better than this!!)
http://www.skatersforpublicskateparks.org/forum/index.php
Skate Northwest, the inline community that invited us into their fray over the past few years, with events that drove and promoted distance longboarding– a very cool group!
http://www.skatenw.com/index.htm
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The Original Pavedwave.org Articles by Peters and Munson
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Morning Commute – “…this ride helped define my quest…”
Broken Kingpins – “…took its toll on my body while learning the limitations of the hardware…”
Long Distance no-touch ride – “…Wahooey! — Redmond to Woodinville without a touch in between. …”
Cure The Carve Addiction – “…there’s no longer a hill to climb on foot because you never have to leave the board….”
Maintaining momentum – “…efficiencies…appropriate motions for building and maintaining momentum…”
Something Profound – “…the universe is knotted up in a total paradox. It has to be that way – if it weren’t, there would actually be things called “answers….”
Vertical Gears – “…this moment changed my ideas on approaching hills…”
LDP 2 – “…a style developed by Tahitians in 900 A.D…“
LDP 1 – “…like trying to explain garlic to a guy without a tongue…”
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Cool Vibes
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Hello hello!
I wanted to thank you for posting a suggestion in my thread about buying a Sk8kings Maximus. I took it out for a longer ride today and suddenly pumping REALLY clicked. The ride back ended up being 5 miles, and I only pushed 5 times. It’s truly a great board, and I completely understand your passion for LDP.
Just wanted to give a genuine thank you for sharing the stoke,
-L
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Just wanted to say thank you so much for your work with Larry longboard’s walkabout. Just got my complete tonight and got back from a 9 mile excursion on the stock config with lime bigzigs. What a comfy, flex, snappy, and aesthetically attractive board. Really just an awesome experience. Felt really connected with that board.
Thank you also for putting together an awesome site/resource for LDP. I only just got into longboarding 2-3 months ago haven’t been on a skateboard since my teens 20 years ago. LDP and carving seem to be what my body wants to do. So nice to experience the ease and groove of such nice LDP setup (204 on a medium flex set to 28.5 wheelbase).
Inclines are now laughable and I’m quite shocked.to be accelerating to 15 mph or so with pumping. Thanks again and feeling the stoke!
-NE
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I am really stoked to this LDP thing. I am kicking myself for wasting so many years not longboarding. The LDP concept is a godsend for me, in terms of fitness and fun.
-Angelo
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…Thanks for the help. I love this sport you’ve created!
-AS
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I just wanted to say thanks to you and your site, it taught me to pump!
-PBM
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So, 31 lbs down since November started. LDP is awesome. Thanks for being a proponent, pioneer, and professor. If you ever need a product tester for your new line of LDP gear (hint,hint) let me know.
-CH
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BTW, your web site has been both a treasure trove of information as well as an inspiration to keep trying to improve my LDP. I’m not in your league, but I enjoy my rides here in terminally flat North East Florida. My quick run is an out and back 5.5 miler that is mostly on trails and wide sidewalks. I try to squeeze that one in at lunch during the week. On the weekends I’ll shoot for 12 to 15 mile runs where I explore whatever I can find. I don’t usually use my GPS or time the runs since that tends to make me a little crazy, but I have managed to average 13+ mph on the 5.5 miler, and I’m pretty pleased with that at my age.
Thanks again,
-RS
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I have been reading the Pavedwave site, very enthusiastically, for
the past couple of weeks. Like you, I have a Rolls Rolls that I
purchased from Mike Allen of recent Ebay fame. Pushing is fun but,
I live out here in flat flat Illinois just north of Chicago and I
would like to learn how to pump on a skateboard. If you have the time
to answer a couple questions it would be great. Otherwise I’ll just
say you have an awesome, possibly life transforming web site!
-DS
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… I’m from Lille, north of France a few kilometers from the belgian border. The land is as flat as in the song of Jacques Brel “le plat pays” with quite a lot of ways for bicycles, not as much as in Belgium or Holland, but it is not so bad.
I started longboarding at the end of last summer and I discovered LDP at the same time thanks to the pavedwave website. It immediately interested me, first as a natural way of commuting. Second I like endurance, I’m also a marathon runner. …
Happy new pumping year
E.
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> > you guys at pavedwave are such an inspiration. the articles are really
> > moving because i understand that stoked feeling, i experienced it with
> > skating for the first time when, during my first week of skating, i
> > spontaneously learnt to how to pump on a 3 mile ride at night. during
> > it and afterwards, i was filled with such a sense of well-being. that
> > was a little over a month ago on a luke nosewalker with tight trucks..
> > i didnt know it would be possible to pump endlessly. when i came
> > across your site a few weeks ago, it was really fascinating to read,
> > and as my pumping is getting more efficient, the idea of even going up
> > an incline is beginning to seem possible. i live in fort william on
> > the west coast of scotland where both the roads and pavement are
> > rather gritty so its hard on the wheels as well as requires more
> > momentum. i havent got the hang of long distance pumping yet, im still
> > figuring out how to not get tired too quickly but i think its just a
> > matter of time. i want to get to the point where i can comfortably
> > ride the 5 miles i have to travel to get to work. knowing that there
> > are people out there doing this, and having your writings and
> > expertise to refer to, is a huge inspiration. thank you.
> >
> > t.
Dear James,
I am new to the world of skateboarding. My good friend bought me a board for my
birthday last October, and I thought she was nuts for giving me such a gift
considering that I, for one, didn’t ride, and for two, always thought she was
crazy for taking so many risks on her skateboard. Now, I am crazy about riding,
and with some help I have learned the basics. I said recently that I wanted to
learn more and she told me that pavedwave was the site to look at if I wanted
to get into more complicated things. I am BLOWN AWAY! Are the people on the
site the only people in the world that do this? Is this new for you or have you
been doing this for a long time? Do you ever teach others? Amazing stuff!
KEEP IT UP!
sk
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Other supporters and online ‘buzz’ around the world
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RANDOM USA
http://www.airsoftforum.com/board/lofiversion/index.php/t178863.html
http://www.walkeast.com/archives/1068
http://forums.oldmanarmy.com/ldp-frustration-t20257.html
http://riseuplongboarders.blogspot.com/
http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2010/06/longboard-commute.html
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5304
http://www.x-boarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=449
http://x-boarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=2260
http://thisispushculture.com/?p=571
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101013160956AA4QOUs
http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=3583.0
http://riseuplongboarders.blogspot.com/2009/07/whos-down-with-ldp.html
http://barefootted.com/labels/skateboarding.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_%28skateboarding%29
http://www.gbomblongboards.com/the-journey/
http://www.silverfishlongboarding.com/Events/seattle-groove-longboarding-for-ms.html
NCDSA
http://www.ncdsa.com/viewtopic.php?f=1564&t=51&start=1425
FIXIES
http://www.fixed.org.au/forums/t14566/
WAKESURFERS
http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=779970
CANADA
http://coastlongboarding.com/Bboard/thread.cfm?threadid=24539&messages=11
http://wikiskate.com/olf2/index.php/topic,11204.15.html
http://ontskate.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=813&page=1
BRAZIL
http://skateldp.blogspot.com/
http://www.skaters.com.br/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11080&p=97892
GERMANY
http://relet.net/longboardwiki/index.php/De/Pumpen
http://forum.mods.de/bb/thread.php?TID=183070&page=2
FINLAND
http://www.nordicriders.com/foorumi/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=140&p=2521
FRANCE
http://familiagrenoble.forumactif.com/t43p510-presentation-des-membres
http://www.riderz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26304&start=0
http://www.riderz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26150&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
http://hereandla.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/the-paris-ldp-challenge/
http://longboardskate.blogspot.com/2010/11/bushings-choisir-ses-gommes.html
UK
http://forum.lushlongboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4180
HOLLAND
http://www.longboarden.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2359
ITALY
http://www.freestyler.it/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=12609
SPAIN
http://www.40sk8.com/foro/topic.php?id=7975
http://martirioskateboards.blogspot.com/2009_08_23_archive.html
http://longboardmediterranea.esforos.com/viewtopic.php?t=2165
AUSTRALIA
http://www.skateboardracing.org.au/video/longboard-pumping-setup
NEW ZEALAND
http://www.ultimateboards.co.nz/info/how-tos.aspx
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pavedwave.org 
Could you inform me on how you went about funding for your non profit? I’m in the process of creating a non profit for “longboard alaska” a Facebook group I started a couple years back. Any input would be greatly appreciated
To be honest Rafie there is very little organization around pavedwave.org. If you want to set up as non-profit, just contact the state of Alaska via website and ask them for paperwork to become non-profit business, usually you can do this quickly and easily online. For a couple years I registered pavedwave as a non-profit business, but always claimed “no” tax activity, even though I had personal expenses like travel, and making and giving away t-shirts. And also received some boards and wheels from guys like Seismic, Subsonic, RoeRacing, RipTide, etc., I did all my skate expenses like event costs (food, etc) out of pocket, and it seemed like more hassle to go through the tax paperwork to try to recoup, or do “write-offs.” And when I set up donations for skate events, I set it up through external sites so the money or donations would go directly to them (like Northwest harvest for the homeless, or LIVESTRONG) I would say the biggest effort over the years has been pounding some pavement and writing to a lot of folks explaining your purpose and event, when you’re trying to raise money for causes. Skating across a country is the easy stuff, doing the legwork of asking people to support a cause and returning to get their donations, that’s the hard work! All the Best! jp
Holy crap man, I haven’t been on here in years. Site looks awesome. I have a buddy looking to get into longboarding and I sent him your way for info online. I jumped on here first to make sure LDP was still like a thing. Um yeah holy shit man this is awesome. I might have to get back into it. I stopped when my old board got stolen a few years ago.
Hope all is well.
Thanks Blake! It sometimes takes me years to get on the site too 😀 LDP has exploded, especially with Europe and Asia picking up steam. The Dutch took Ultraskating to new levels. Hope to cross paths again some day. jp