Trans USA record attempt by Dan Dannels

[Birgit]

I just saw this on inlineplanet.com

He is going to speed skate from San Diego to Jacksonville, starting in 2 weeks or so, 100 miles a day or so!

Wauww that is endurance if anything is!!

He also has a blog here

I do not know the guy, but I wanted to share with skateloggers, his name is Dan Dannels and is from Texas.

[More Cowbell]

Wow... I am looking forward to reading about his experiences. I'm contemplating a trans-Colorado skate, but I'm not sure how to meet the challenges of (a) traffic (especially at night), and (b) rough pavement.

[Bill in Houston]

Should be a grand adventure. I hope that they write a lot about it.

The stretch from the west coast over the mountains could be pretty hard work.

MC, I hear ya on the rough roads... My feet go numb pretty quick on rough stuff.

[j_nolesfan]

Awesome! I'm surprised he could find a suitable route with good pavement. That in itself will be an interesting story.
Jeff

[eighteen_psi]

And on Black Vaypors even

That's incredible, I'll be following this!

[Birgit]

taken from inlineplanet.com posted by Dan Dannels

Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:43 am Post subject: draft lines

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Guinness has decided that I am allowed to pace with people. I will try to keep as current an update as possible of my route and location. I would be honored to share the road with other skaters. If you care to, call your local media and see if they are interested in carrying the story, even if you don't live near the route. We can use this to raise awareness for our sport and teams. I could honestly use the help in getting the word out. Maybe we could get some face time for the local teams on the news. It's current events, health, and sports.

I will have to require that the skaters that come be able to skate comfortably at 15 mph continuously. I would prefer advanced level skaters minimal. I would also only want to have one person at a time in front of me to minimize crash dangers.

I would also want you to sign my logbook and give a written statement for Guinness. And I'd want a picture of for posterity.

I cant accept any responsibility for any injuries or debt incursions. If come to skate, you skate at your own risk. Just like me.

Also, I have received quite a few emails and suggestions from friends to post my paypal.com email address for donations for my expenses. That email address is d_dannels@hotmail.com. Thank you. I am humbled.

[Dan Dannels]

Thank you all for taking interest in my dreams. It should be some intersting skating. Guaranteed, I'm going to have a great time!

P.S. My birthname is Danny. That is what I sign all of my legal documents. My mom and my friends call me Dan.

Dan

[Kathie Fry]

Welcome to the SkateLog Forum Dan! Have you started on your trek yet? I hope you will be able to post updates here from time to time. Good luck to you!

- Kathie

[ncsk8rgirl]

Welcome & Good Luck!

Give em' hell!!!! Don't mess with TX

[CrazyGambit]

Good luck Dan. I am interested in your journey.

[dcuper1]

yeah, good luck, we are all cheering for you. Will be following your trek closely. Oh, by the way, how many sets of wheels, bearings, boots, do you think you will go through?

Daniel

[Birgit]

The most recent snip from Dan's Blog

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

In San Diego
Current mood: overstimulated
Category: Blogging


We have made it to San Diego. For the last few months, I have been looking ahead to try and see what it would be like to get to this point. I don't think I still have a firm grip on what is happening. I have been a ball of emotions just getting to this point. I told my friends Glenn and Kari that my body has entered fight or flight mode, with my stomach leaning more toward flight.

Our car looks like a billboard now. Random people have been coming up to me right and left to ask questions. Some just point and stare. I am learning how to answer questions.

Looks like Jake Sawyer of Team Bont will be joining me for the first skate. I will be leaving Solana Beach around 8:00 am on the 1st. If anyone else wants to join me on a run, email me. I will send you my phone number.

I have planned as much as I can. I have trained as much as I can. I have prayed as much as I can. I hope it was enough.

Dan

[Birgit]

The most recent snip from Dan Dannels blogs

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See all of Dan Dannels blogs here


Friday, January 04, 2008

Finally, a long run...
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Sports


I skated 71 miles today. I thought that 2500 ft was the sh**. I climbed to 4200 before 2:00. People that I have never met before stopped me, waved, honked, cheered and shook my hand all day. It was overwhelming to say the least. California Highway Patrol stopped me just because, "we don't get a lot of bladers up here." That was on the way down the mountain. That was also just one of the times. Sherrifs also stopped me to say, "that's cheating." I was walking down the edge of a particularly steep run. Kudos to the police here in So Cal for being the nicest that I have ever met.

I met Jacklyn today. She stopped on the way up, and after we descended back to 1500. It is amazing to me how this journey can make an impact on the people that I meet. I can only hope to share the wonder that I am having.

The descent off of Granite mountain was a treacherous as Jacklyn warned. We had to stop halfway down to recover. I reduced two brakes to nubs and finished off a set of wheels that served as drag brakes. My left hamstring argued with me for the rest of the day. I followed a bicyclist down the last mile as the road began to lessen the precipitous incline. I think he was truly surprised to find me as he passed. We exchaged "heys" as he pulled past me dragging my left foot. Then he passed Hillary in the support car. I'm not sure what he was yelling at me with my ear phones in, but there was a thumbs up involved and a wide grin. It's great to have other athlete's respect.

The Carrizo Badlands was the most taxing part of that run, rough road, climbs, and wind sheer or otherwise.. I stopped there to pick up another rock to label for this trip. I skated over to the car to give it to Hillary to label and said, "I own these badlands now!" I turned back around and resumed my ducked postition. I was over the hump within the next 30 minutes. My legs throbbed, my feet were numb, my back ached, and my spirits soared.

I coasted up to I-8 as I recieved yelling and clapping from a lady in a minivan. I'm not sure who she was. Maybe she passed me earlier, but, the ovation was in perfect unison with the one that Hillary was giving me. I made it out of San Diego County. I counquered the mountains. I left my mark on the desert. I have what can only be called open wounds on my achilles. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Here's my run:

[eighteen_psi]

Dan > All.

[Dan Dannels]

Thank you, Birgit, for your continuous updates on our journey. You are an absolute blessing to us.

Eighteen psi, thank you for your comment. I am still smiling.

We have made it out of California, so far. We are currently in Yuma, AZ, slowly but surely tracking across the US. We have contacted a few different news networks, hopefully someone will want to make a story out of this

We appreciate all the support and well wishes everyone has sent us.

We do need to start raising some more money, as funds are running low. We would appreciate any donations, but if you cannot, we could also use media coverage. Please feel free to contact your local news networks with our story. My myspace is http://www.myspace.com/13742576. Feel free to contact us through the myspace page, or here. We check the myspace more often though.

Thanks again everyone!! Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers!

Skate happy!

[tdellaringa]

Keep it up Dan, we're all pushing for you. We've posted a story about you on our team web site:

http://www.teamrainbo.com/trans-usa-...y-dan-dannels/

How's the feet and legs holding up? I'm very interested to see how your body handles the stresses as you go on.

[Dan Dannels]

I am actually going to have to take today off to let my body recover from the stresses of the road conditions and mountains in California. I am looking forward for the much improved road conditions here in Arizona. Tomorrow morning, I get to attempt my first truly long run of this journey.

My ankles and knees are still swollen. My back and hips are feeling much better, but my muscles are having trouble firing today. I am currently gorging on electrolytes and carbohydrates in preperation for tomorrow's run.

[Birgit]

Originally Posted by Dan Dannels

Thank you, Birgit, for your continuous updates on our journey. You are an absolute blessing to us.

Skate happy!

Anytime Dan!

I'm so amazed of your quest, that I have to share it. Keep skating and having fun doing it! And please keep posting, you are an inspiration!

[Birgit]

Originally Posted by More Cowbell

Wow... I am looking forward to reading about his experiences. I'm contemplating a trans-Colorado skate, but I'm not sure how to meet the challenges of (a) traffic (especially at night), and (b) rough pavement.

More Cowbell, read this and then you know what can happen re. rough roads!

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Dan Dannels blog can be found here

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Ownership
Current mood: indescribable


I am blogging today about yesterday's run. I did two runs, the first is Old Highway 80. The second was a 28 mile sprint up I-8 in the dark. I will leave to go make my run to Casa Grande in just a bit.

I do want to talk about the ownership theory. It's a theory that says you take responsibility for everything around you. You are the only one that can make things right in your world. If it needs to be done, own it. Do it. Make it happen. Take ownership of a situation and run it through to fruition.

I began my run today on Wednesday on Old Highway 80 just where I left off Tuesday. I decided that I wanted to complete my run there. It was a sense of ownership that I couldn't let go of. There can't be many, if any people in the whole world that can say that they have made the run there from end to end. I can. I own another road. I could have taken several different exits and jumped on I-8, but why? This road was as much a challenge with it's pea gravel asphalt, as any road that I have come across. It begged for me to run it to completion. It stared at me, mocked me with it's challenge, and laughed at the pain that I felt.

This entire skate is about mastery of my fears. If I take the easy road, even once, where does that leave me. So, I skated that gravel strewn stretch of desert road to it's completion. It was harder. It fought with me. It also provided me with a Yuma County road crew to meet and have sign my logbook. Those guys were in complete disbelief that I came up that road. "Am I skating slow enough for you?" I said that to the guy hold the sign in his hand. He said, "Yeah, I think so! What are you doing out here????" We stopped and exchanged handshakes and stories. One guy said in his Canadian accent, "You never know who you're gonna meet out here, eh?" Yeah, I know. You met me today.

Then I met Texas hill. It looks like a mountain. At first, I thought that I was hallucinating. Texas? Arizona? Where am I? I took my steady pace and climbed. Not bad. We took pictures on the top. I smiled for the video camera and took off on my well deserved downhill. I made an exhilarating dash and took the curve. Before I knew what was going on, I was about ten feet from the drainage grates that you find all through this area. If you haven't looked at my pictures yet, go look. I hit this thing doing about 20mph. Hillary said she saw me brace for impact long before she realized what was happening. I leaned out with my ankles in brief attempt to slow-plow. I immediately realized that I had no time to ditch or run off the side of the road. All I could do was scissor foot, pick my toes up, lean back on my heels, and prepare my right shoulder to do a dolphin roll over the hazard.

I hit every steel bar with my heels and felt every reverberation send shockwaves up my body. I felt like I had been hammered in my ankles by a bat. There's a video of me hitting the hazard, but I didn't go down. I can put my foot between the metal bars, but I rolled off to the other side like a champion. It took a couple of minutes to regain my composure enough to go back and photograph that area of the road. I think that you can tell from my expressions that I was very unhappy about that experience.

Old highway 80 ended about 100 feet later. It subsided it's gravelish nature to smooth black asphalt at the on-ramp. It was yet another challenge that I have found here. It threw everything it had at me, but I'm still here. I'm still skating. I own another road.


We took about 3 hours to recover after I skated the mile to the rest stop. My ankles throbbed, and Hillary needed a nap. Tuna fish and crackers were also calling for consumption.

See, I'm not just doing this on my own. Wy wife, my support crew, is also faced with her own challenges. She is driving cross country at tearfully monotonous speeds. She is following me in a motor vehicle. If I ever go down, and she misses it, it's all over, and I mean permanently. She has had so much stress on her shoulders. All I have to do is skate and worry about that. She has to record me, take pictures, charge batteries, watch the traffic, stay cooped up in a car, and not run me over. She holds my life in her hands. There is no other that I would entrust my life to. Later on that night, when she told me that she was having trouble seeing me, I knew it was time to stop. I don't break the record today, tomorrow, or this week. I have another month of skating ahead. Then I have my entire life to spend with my wife.

We skated up I-8 to the next rest stop on the smoothest shoulder I have found to date. It was like black glass. I felt like I had earned some gift from God for putting myself through the challenges of the day. Trains blew their horn at me in continuous support, as they had all day. I think that they must have been communicating to each other about the madman skating through the deset, because every engineer could be seen waving and pumping their arms up and down at me. I returned the gestures with gusto. I want everyone to know how much even the smallest bit of support means. From the RV drivers giving sharp salutes, to the kids excitedly jumping around in the car waving, to the semi drivers honking their horns, you have all made this worth while. It was more than I could have ever asked for. It is more than I ever felt that I could deserve. Thank you all.

Here's my run:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...UTF8&z=11&om=1

[tdellaringa]

Holy cow, completely inspiring.