Skating in Circles

Join distance skaters Miles Kipper, Rick Stubblefield, Paul Kent, and Andy Andras as they recount their exhilarating journey across America in the 2023 Push Relay. Miles shares insights on skatepacking challenges, while Rick reflects on team dynamics and logistics. Paul, the downhill specialist, reveals the thrill of navigating steep descents, and Andy dives into pacing strategies and nutrition essentials. Discover their captivating tales, from grueling climbs in the Appalachians to a triumphant beach finish, celebrating camaraderie and personal growth along the way.

Landy Cook, a distance skateboarder skilled in pumping, shares his thrilling recap of the 2025 Miami Ultraskate. He reflects on his impressive feat of skating over 200 miles in a paddle-only category, revealing the challenges of endurance skating over 24 hours. Landy discusses the tight-knit community that fosters camaraderie among skaters and the fascinating techniques he developed while transitioning to pushing. His insights on nutrition, mental resilience, and the emotional journey of ultra skating offer a glimpse into the unique spirit of such extraordinary events.

In this conversation with Jeremiah Pascua, a dedicated ultra skater and member of the 250-mile club, listeners dive deep into effective training strategies for distance skating. He shares insights on avoiding cramps during long sessions and emphasizes the significance of core strength for endurance. Jeremiah also discusses balancing personal commitments, like parenthood, with his passion for skating. Plus, his role as a sponsor contributes to capturing memories for Miami Ultraskate attendees. Get ready for a dose of inspiration and practical tips!

Lena Meringdal, the current world record holder in distance skateboarding and owner of Melonenkacke Longboards, shares her innovative approach to both board building and nutrition. She reveals her secret weapon for endurance—potatoes! Lena dives into the intricacies of longboard setups and her recent development of a new LDP-specific truck. The conversation also explores the blend of creativity and engineering in her designs, and practical tips for fueling during ultra skating events, emphasizing the importance of customization and support in the skating journey.

This episode’s guest is none other than Andy Andras, well-known and respected distance skateboarder from Miami, Florida. Most listeners will know of Andy’s many accomplishments, but not everyone may know the story behind those accomplishments. I definitely got more than I bargained for when speaking with him. Andy tells great stories and does so with tremendous humility. We got into some distance skate history, including how Andy got his start and leading up to breaking the 300 mile barrier, as well as where he’s at now with the sport. He also shared his latest idea which is something he’s named “Chasing Sunsets”.

Paul McMahon is a distance skateboarder from Dublin, Ireland who has been dominating a lot of the European distance skate events. He was also the winner of the 2023 Le Tour de Longboard IDSA challenge. In 2024, the European Race series consists of 6 races and we got to talk about each one of them. Paul has already locked in 1st place for the series. We also discussed what his entry into the sport was like and what it means to be competitive in something like distance skateboarding. Paul told some stories about training as well as his experience during UK Ultra skate where he got to ride with Lena Meringdal as she broke the 24 hour women’s world record.Instagram:@the_hobby_ist@skating.in.circles.podcast

This episode's guest is Travis Upshur, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Travis has what I would call an infectious energy. He’s relatively new to distance skateboarding and has a very strong passion for it. The second he heard about Miami Ultraskate, he was cooking up plans to go. And with his first go at the 24 hour challenge, he managed an impressive 150 miles. Philly has an amazing community for distance skateboarding and Travis is a great ambassador for this community. I think you’ll all enjoy getting to know him.Instagram:@ttrap_400@socialpush.philly@philly.longboard.crew@skating.in.circles.podcast

Moondog Roop and Justin Bright are two distance skateboarders who managed to ride the entirety of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is a 400+ mile road in the south eastern United States. Moondog and Justin don’t limit themselves to just adventures on a skateboard, they have done some pretty gnarly things on foot, too! I tried to extract as much as I could from them but, truth be told, I don’t think one episode is enough to cover it all. It was a real treat to get to listen to these two chat with each other. As always, thanks for listening and I’m Max Frank.Instagram:@moondogroop@just1nbr1ght@skating.in.circles.podcast

Randy McClelland has been skateboarding for a very long time. In that time, he has seen and done a lot of cool things. When he was growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, Randy was a sponsored skateboarder in Japan; and he’s got the pictures to prove it! He talks about how back then skateboarding was much different than it is today – without big name brands, olympic level athletics and social media. Also, unrelated to skateboarding, we go in depth on a project that Randy is working on through the hospital he works at. Part of the goal emphasizes curating the “healing environment” for patients. The healing environment is a really cool concept I hadn’t heard of before. It emphasizes curating an environment around patients to be more welcoming and pleasant. Things like making sure the walls have art on them and windows with nice views are just a couple examples. We did our best to circle back to skateboarding but even with the slight departure, I think you all are going to really enjoy this one.Instagram@hafupotter@skating.in.circles.podcast

We’re back on Skating in Circles where we are talking about… skating in circles! This episode will be a bit of a Miami Ultra skate recap as we get to hear Cori Wolff talk about her experience during this year’s 24 hour challenge. Cori was able to hammer out a grand total of 246.74 miles this year. We got to talk about how the event went from our perspectives, and shared insight into what went well as well as the things we plan to do differently for next year. Cori also runs the Social Push Cincinnati group where she heads up weekly rides and meet ups for skaters in the area. I’ve always thought that the Social Push concept was an excellent method for generating a community around skateboarding so it was great to get to hear more about how these groups are curated and maintained.Instagram:@wandercrust@socialpush.cincy@socialpush.nyc@socialpush.dc@socialpush.moco@socialpushcentralnj@skating.in.circles.podcast