My friend Ben and I biked from my parents' place in Steamboat, Colorado, to my brother‘s house in Longmont, Colorado. It was about 200 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation gain. We did it in two days, and about 22 hours of bike riding. The trip was split up into six acts or sections that helped us break it into sections. While this trip was grueling at times, it was a bike trip of a lifetime that really had it all, from beautiful, stunning mountain views, unending, empty highways, bumpy gravel roads, camping under the stars, rain, snow, and a bear eating all of our food.
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Yesterday on 3/1/2026 I completed a complete circumnavigation of the island of O'ahu. It took me 15 hours 9 minutes and 5 seconds, and I had more than a fair share of incidents that tried to hinder the completion of this route. This post will recount my experience of the route, as well as a how to / what I would have done differently. This was a super difficult experience, but that made it so much more rewarding.
For my Bachelor Party, I wanted to do something different, something none of us had ever done before, and something we could all look back on and be proud of. Last year, while brainstorming random ideas for my bachelor party, I came up with biking across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It was a bold idea; none of us had ever biked more than 10 miles, and none of us had been to the Baltics. As soon as I thought of the idea, I wanted to find a way to make it possible. We ended up biking from Tallinn, Estonia, to Riga, Latvia, and taking a bus from Riga to Vilnius, Lithuania. We biked over 250 miles, creating everlasting memories along the way.
In 2019 I was a second semester freshman studying at Colorado State University. I decided to take a geology class, and little did I know at the time, but that decision would change my life forever. I sat next to Adaline in geology every day and on February 28th, 2019, we had our first kiss. It was probably the most awkward kiss one could imagine. We were watching Netflix in her dorm, and I closed the laptop. She opened it and I closed it again. She opened it and said something like “what are you doing,” and I responded, “I am not very good at this.”
You are thinking about moving to Hawaii, but you want to ship your car; how do you do that? I just recently shipped a car, and the process was a bit confusing and a little bit more difficult than I expected. My car is built out which also made it a bit more difficult as when you’re shipping your car to Hawaii, you’re not allowed to have any personal items in the vehicle.
Barcelona is the skateboarding capital of the world. It is a Mecca that skaters from all over the world recognize and dream of being able to skate. While many other places around the world are very recognizable for skaters, like: Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Berlin, San Francisco, and New York, nothing compares to Barcelona. This makes one think, what drives skaters to continue to come to Barcelona? If one were to ask any skateboarder this question, their answer would be obvious. It's the spots! All over the city, Barcelona contains some of the most infamous spots in skateboarding history. This is an undeniable fact of what brings skateboarders to Barcelona, but what is it that drives us to come back? This is the more crucial opaque question. Most skaters would probably not know how to respond because they haven't thought much about it. Spanish culture is much more accepting, inclusive, laid back, and not time-oriented compared to the culture of the United States, where skateboarding began. The incongruent culture causes many Americans to have negative stereotypes and outlooks on skaters. Unlike the United States, Spain has almost identical characteristics to skateboard culture, bringing skaters back to Spain. Skateboarding has immensely integrated into Spanish society not just because the places to skate in Spain are extraordinary but also because of their analogous cultures.
You can and should pursue personal passions alongside your professional career. Don't lose sight of who you are or who you want to be. You have one life; don't forget to live it.
Vale is a street skateboarding video filmed all over Europe. In the fall of 2021, I spent four months with my cousin Dylan Beattie living in Barcelona, taking classes, traveling, and, most importantly, skating. We went to 15 different countries and documented all of our experiences. Living in Europe has been a life-changing experience for both of us. It has taught us so many things, allowing us to learn more about ourselves and the world around us. Every country we traveled to had a different culture, and they all spoke different languages. Even though every country is so different, skateboarding is the same everywhere. Interacting with the locals in each country was such a fun experience. Regardless of where a skater is from or what language they speak, we instantly have a connection with them. We were able to form bonds with people from all over the world just through a piece of wood with four wheels. Two of our closest friends we met while abroad are from the U.K., with who we still keep in touch. We also met some skaters from Germany who didn’t speak much English, but skateboarding brought us together, allowing us to communicate. We shared spots, tricks, and laughs with each other.
Skateboarding is not just a sport, activity or a hobby; it is a lifestyle, a way of living, and a subculture that helps brings people and communities from all over the world together in beautiful ways. I have personally seen people transform from years of drug addiction and drug use to sobriety just because of skateboarding. It is truly amazing the power of skateboarding and its effects on surrounding communities. Skateboarding is nothing like its stereotype, it is a way for people to find and learn more about themselves.
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