words by: Keir Johnson

Jimmy Pelletier skated 45 miles non stop in heavy east coast humidity through 2 states and the nations capital. He put together the perfect cruiser set-up, trained for months, and organized a huge network of pledge givers to benefit the M.S. Society. He had special T-shirts made, planned the whole route down to the mile, prayed for cool weather and then before he knew it, it was time to do it... Through the brutal journey of the vast D.C. surrounding areas Jimmy skated through deep forrests, swamps, huge parking lots, airports, tunnels and more, never giving up. Even after taking a nasty spill and possibly breaking his wrist he continued on to the finish line. Watch the film to see a breakdown of what the journey was like out there, then read this interview with the man himself.

KJ_Jimmy, how did this whole thing start?

Jimmy P._ About 15 years ago, I had this vision to use my skating for something positive. Then six months or so ago, a friend at work told me she was a volunteer for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She told me about how they were going to do this "challenge walk", to raise donations. The first thing I thought of was, "I'd love to do that journey with my skateboard!". I would double or triple the distance they were going to walk to make it more of a challenge. I pitched my idea to her, she talked to the head coordinator at the M.S. society and I ended up having a conference call with them and we agreed for me to do it.

KJ_Once it was agreed to, how did you organize it all?

Jimmy P._I was do it as my own personal event - no sponsors, no funding, no promotion. Everything was up to me to do. Since I blew my knee out filming for a video in Sept. '06 I haven't been able to do much real skating. I had all of this energy built up so I had to get rid of it somehow, I'm still a wild child since the 70's, so I went for it.

KJ_Why would you skate such a long distance with your knee the way it is?

Jimmy P._Even though my knee is dislocated, I thought as long as I wore a knee brace, I could do it anyway.

KJ_So tell me about the route for the skate, how did you come up with it?

Jimmy P._I chose the route by just traveling around the D.C. area a lot on my board with friends. I found some sick bike path routes that were really scenic. My friends and I checked out parts of the route on bikes to see if they would connect properly, luckily they did, because if there was construction we'd of had to take detours or walk through the woods. The hardest parts of the route are definitely the up hills and the rough wooden boardwalks. One of the weirdest hills I've ever skated in my life was on this journey, you felt like you were gonna tip over if you leaned back, it's in the video...

KJ_So 45 miles, non stop, from Bethesda, Maryland, all way down into D.C. through Georgetown, all the way out to Old Town, Virginia, then going the distance to George Washington's old home, Mount Vernon, Virginia, finally all the way back to the finish line in Rosslyn, Virginia. What did you feel like the morning of the event?

Jimmy P._On the morning of, I was worried that my knee was going to be too swollen because, it kind of tweaked it a little a week earlier. It was black and blue and I could barely stand on it. I put muscle cream on it, a knee brace and played a Fugazi song called "Turnover" to get hyped. The way I see it, Danny Way jumped the great wall of China with a rolled ankle that he couldn't even step on, he 360 aired it, epic. Also 3 dudes from my area, skated across the United States in 3 months. They sometimes did 60 miles in a day, those are the real dudes.

KJ_ Yeah, so Chris Hall was your pacer bike, I was the filmer and everybody had on the official shirts you made, we're charging ahead, what would you say was the hardest part of the journey to you?

Jimmy P._Half way through it, when I hit a rock going 20mph down a hill and slid 20 feet on my back and wrist. I couldn't combat the jolt of the board from the rock because of my knee. So when I put it down to stop, it buckled and folded.


KJ_Yeah, the slide show has that photo of you laying on the ground, and you can tell in the footage at the end right after you took the slam, you're skating and holding it, how did you keep going?

Jimmy P._It took me 10 minutes just to get up, but when I did, I knew I had to keep going. People pledged a lot of money for this cause, so there was no backing out. Plus, when you give your word, you better stick to it.

KJ_How did it feel to finally finish after all those hours out there, did you want to collapse?

Jimmy P._The feeling of putting another goal met under my belt and the MS Society gave me a bronze medal, I was stoked! I've never gotten a trophy or medal before. When I crossed the finish line it seems like the whole journey flashes before my eyes in one moment.

KJ_What did you body feel like after being out there for over 8 hours in the hear?

Jimmy P_Your body gives in because it knows you'll be able to rest. You're just ready to drop and lay on the ground, which is what I did. You can't even talk and your body tightens up. I wanted to hear my moms voice.

KJ_It was definitely a real journey, how does it feel in retrospect now that you've done it?

Jimmy P._What's rad is I think doing this event has now opened a whole new door to me, as far as taking skating and using it to change peoples lives. I think I'm going to start a whole empire with this. This is only the beginning...

KJ_Can people still donate now?

Jimmy P._Yeah, people still have 2 weeks to donate before I'm done collecting and submit everything to the M.S. Society with all of the donations. Every cent counts, they can go to my site -WWW.SKATE-A-THON.BLOGSPOT.COM, all the info is on there, just e-mail me.

KJ_ Who would you like to thank?

Jimmy P._I'd like to thank my mom who used to buy me skate shoes when we didn't really have that much money for food, that's why Half-Cabs always stand out to me.. I'd like to thank Pep Martinez and Chris Hall for showing me what talent was when we were little. All my Pulaski crew, new and old, my Pitcrew team for support and keeping me rolling through the years. Thanks to you, KJ, for filming and editing the whole thing. The M.S. Society for giving me this opportunity. Amanda Tyrrell and Rory Sheridan for working so hard to keep my site going for this event. Finally Evel Knievel and Ian Mackaye for inspiration.

KJ_ Alright Jimmy, what's next?

Jimmy P._ I just scheduled a skate event for a burn camp. Some pros/ams and I are going to do a demo for kids who have been severely burned. Maybe we can make a connection with them where they'll want to pick up a board or just to enjoy watching us. As Evel Knievel says, "Wait til you see what I do tomorrow..."