TZ: Hey Rob, so you’re in Shanghai now after completing your journey. How do you like it here compared to the other areas of China?
RT: The great things about being in Shanghai right now are being able to indulge a little in familiar western food, speak a familiar language with other ex-pats, and skate around town without any luggage! I do feel a little claustrophobic however, being surrounded by towering skyscrapers and concrete. But then that can also be a good thing. Skating the streets of Shanghai late at night is an awesome experience; not much traffic, smooth roads, and lots of small side streets to get lost in.
Arriving at the Shanghai District Border, CHINA.
TZ: What part/area was your favorite here in China?
RT: I loved the remoteness of Qinghai Province. Qinghai seems to be a totally different place in terms of the attitude of the people, the scenery, and of course the altitude. I was invited in to stay at nomadic Tibetan farmers’ places, I skated across 3,500m high passes, and I was often the only person on the road. On one occasion I was invited in to stay at Tibetan family’s tent. They fed me fresh yak yoghurt, and sausages made from a freshly slaughtered sheep. The sausages, made from sheep blood and lungs, made my stomach churn a little, but I was so hungry from skating 6 hours that day that I didn’t care.
TZ: So for the people who don’t know what’s been going on, tell us what you just did?
RT: Basically, I just finished skateboarding 5,000km across China. No, this does not mean that I took a bus to a few cities around China and did some skating there. It means that a longboard was my sole and only means of transport from the Kazakhstan border in the northwest province of Xinjiang to here in Shanghai. No busses, no trains, no car hooking.
This was the third and final leg of a 12,000km journey by skateboard that saw me skate across Europe, the US, and now China. This skateboard journey in turn is part of a still bigger journey. I cycled half way around the world before switching to the skateboard.
I cycled half way around the world, and then skated the other half. 25,000km of human powered travel in total.
TZ: Can you tell us a little about the Guinness World Record you just broke? And how much/far did you travel in total?
RT: I broke the Guinness World Record for the Longest Journey by Skateboard. The current official Guinness World stands at a distance of 5,800km, set by British man Dave Cornthwaite, who skated across Australia with a support vehicle. I more than doubled this distance, skating a total of 12,150km. Guinness is now working on verifying my claim using the witness signatures, photos, and logbook that I supplied to them.
TZ: How long have you been here in China?
RT: Due to fairly tough visa restrictions during the time I was on the road here in China, the trip took much longer than I had anticipated. In total I was here for five and a half months. That whole time was dedicated to the mission of skating across China.
TZ: Where did you get the idea to do this trip?
RT: That was way back when I was still on my bicycle. I was in Tashkent, the capital of the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan. I was walking around the central city to different embassies to get visas for onward travel. Walking around town felt slow and inefficient, and I remember thinking to myself “Man, I wish I had a skateboard right now to speed things up a little.” From that day, I started to consider the possibility of actually being able to travel between towns by skateboard, just like a cycle tourist, except on a skateboard.
I did some research and saw that there were indeed other skaters doing long distance trips, but no one had yet attempted a really long journey totally on their own, carrying their own gear. They were all supported with a team of people with a vehicle.
I was almost broke at this stage, so the option of paying for a support car was not there. I also loved the freedom of traveling on my own. So once I got to Europe (smooth roads), I decided to take a leap of faith and give it a go. It ended up being a great success.
Sleep spot at Shiheizi City, Xinjiang Province, CHINA.
TZ: Where do you keep all your clothes and your tent/gear? Is there someone that follows you in a car?
RT: Originally I was carrying everything I needed to survive in a backpack on my back. I skated 7,000km like this across Europe and the US. Having a heavy 15kg backpack on your back for up to 7 hours a day is brutally hard work, so I started dreaming of being able to pull all my gear on a trailer instead. With the help of other longboarders in the US, we came up with an idea that allowed me to attach another longboard to my main longboard, using the longboard at the back as a trailer. It was the first time that anything like this had been attempted, and once again it was a great success.
TZ: How far do you usually travel on an average day?
RT: I travel anywhere between 60km to 120km a day. It all depends on the wind direction (headwinds are horrible), road surface (chipseal is evil), and how many hills there are. Hills are fun of course, because you always know that there will be a downhill at the end of the uphill! I skate for five to seven hours a day.
TZ: The weather in China can be very rough. It’s October and it’s still 80 degrees and humid out here. What’s the worst weather you skated through?
RT: The worst weather was actually not what you would call ‘bad weather’. It was the scorching heat of the Gobi desert in Xinjiang Province. During the day the temperatures would rise to over 45 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit). I had to carry all my own water; up to two days supply at a time due to long distances between services. This meant that skating during the heat of the midday sun was not an option. I would wake up before sunrise at around 5am and skate until 10am. I would then find a bridge or culvert to sleep in until things had cooled off; around 6pm. From then I would push on into the night as long as I could before setting up camp for the night. The only problem with skating at night was that many drivers in China either don’t use their lights, or their lights don’t work!
TZ: Did you get to eat any scorpions on this trip? A lot of foreigners picture kabobs of snakes, lizard tails, seahorses, what’s the wildest thing you ate?
RT: The weirdest thing I ate was some kind of larvae in Urumqi in Xinjiang Province. It was huge; about the size of my thumb. Crunchy on the outside, and gooey on the inside. It must be an acquired taste, because I was not a big fan. The blood and lung sausage in Qinghai Province was pretty weird too.
TZ: The best Chinese beer is _________ ?
RT: I hardly had any beer in China, or in any country for that matter. The reality is that traveling by longboard is an extremely physically demanding pastime. For all the awesome downhills and awesome scenery, you pay for that with long hard days of pushing. I found that if I drank beer, I would really feel it the next day in my legs, even if I only drank half a bottle. I don’t recommend drinking alcohol if you’re really keen to perform at your top potential.
TZ: What are you plans now when you return home? And where is “home” by the way?
RT: Home for me is New Zealand. I have plenty of options for me when I do get home. I would like to look at the possibility of writing a book and putting together a DVD about the journey. But first up on the radar is to find some work. This 2 year journey has cost me every cent I ever owned in the world, so it’s time to get some income coming in again!
TZ: What did you miss the most while on your journey?
RT: The funny thing is that I didn’t miss anything. For the most part, I was exactly where I wanted to be. Pushing across massive high passes, camping in the middle of deserts, even when I was spewing my guts out on the side of a deserted road due to food poisoning (that happened a couple of times). At the times when things were the toughest, I felt like that’s exactly where I wanted to be. Away from the cushy comforts of home, away from the advertisements that we get bombarded with all the time, away from the pressures of society to consume, consume, consume. In eastern China, where the population density is intense, I missed being out in the mountains and valleys and plains of Qinghai.
Pushing through endless desert near Turpan, Xinjiang Province, CHINA.
TZ: Having traveled this much and long, you can’t be planning on sitting still for too long. So what’s next?
RT: Well, as I said, I’m now very broke (laughs). But there are still huge stretches of smooth pavement around the world that are begging to be skated. South America has some amazing remote destinations such as Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina that have surprisingly smooth roads. The Middle East is also a haven for endless smooth slithers of blacktop. A first ever crossing of the Tibetan Plateau by skateboard is also extremely attractive.
TZ: Thanks/Shout outs?
RT: Of course Funboxx, a group of people that are passionate about adventure and extreme sports. It was awesome to know that I was not the only crazy person in China! A big thanks also to www.skatefurther.com, an online community of people stoked on the thrill of long distance skateboarding. There are more people out there traveling by skateboard than you might think!
For more on Rob Thomson, check out his blog at: www.14degrees.org
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