Molly-Anne

 

Why would anyone want to try and skateboard 800+ miles during COVID, or for that matter any other time? Alone, just you and your longboard and a backpack on the road for days and days. Hoping to make it to the next designated stop you created for yourself so you can have a bed to sleep in and perhaps a shower before doing it all again the next day. It's grueling, and not for the faint of heart.  But after speaking with Molly-Anne off and on for the past couple of months, we could begin to understand why this was important to her and the time is NOW.

We're going to let her tell you in her own words WHY, and then we are going to be here to help follow her journey and share her thoughts, trials, and tribulations along the way.

I'm Molly-Anne and this is why I am taking on the challenge of skateboarding the Eastern Seaboard - alone.

I got sober not knowing that fear would still compel the person I thought could change fate all along. I wonder if life is exactly as it was. I identify with problems and answers because sober feels nothing more than learning to walk for two whole years.

I miss her some days. The untamed, unkempt one with a penchant for doing precisely the opposite of what was assumed. The funny one. The one who people loved and she never even knew it. Who ran to things because they were new and untouched and precious. That saw her power in the world and begged for more. Some days I want her back —  without the ashen face and sunken eyes. I want her bravery because I don’t feel brave anymore. I will stand up tall and ride the coast from Maine to New Jersey. Because skating will forever challenge the way in which we see the world.  Reclaiming an imagination that still lives in the woods and on roads with blackened sidewalk ledges. In snack shacks on the beach. In towns we escaped to when we had nothing.

I will skate to tell my story. Because changing the world is just about showing up. By refuting our folly with dignity. By refusing silence when the world tries to chain us to its false ideals. And if in defeat, we stay true to ourselves, maybe we’ll have been the change we’ve wanted all along. 

Molly-Anne has had some help getting this trip started from the good people at Riptide Sports. Tracey and Brad have sent her all the longboard bushings, pivot cups and misc gear she may wear out along the way. Pretty nice!

You can check out the route that Molly is committing to skate below, and for more details and to follow her on the ride check out this LINK as well. 

Also follow Molly-Anne on her new Instagram she set up, especially for this trip @concrete__junkie