Skate Cape May 2011: 2011

Thank You!

Posted by Edwin Wednesday, August 17, 2011 0 comments

There was just so much that went into planning, organizing, and executing this event that I thought it proper to thank everyone in its own, separate post!

First of all, I'd like to thank all of our family members for being there for us the entire trip! Not physically, of course, but through support. Whether it be by being on call, driving lemonade stand materials, making sure we hadn't accidentally killed ourselves, and working out places to stay for each night! Thank you so much for all of the support the entire way down!

I'd like to also thank our sponsors for making our trip easier and much, much more manageable! To Aina Clothing, (specifically Colin!) for helping us get other sponsors and media responses! Thanks to Kracked Skulls for getting us boards to ride on such short notice, to Paris Trucks and Divine Wheels for the trucks and wheels of the trip that lasted fantastically, and DaddiesBoardshop for fantastic bearings and lube that made it through a tough three days of rain! Also to Vox Footwear for the shoes that inevitably became absolutely thrashed by the end of the trip! Thank you for providing the equipment that made Skate Cape May possible!

I'd like to thank Original Skateboards, which donated their time and effort in making our Newton lemonade stand a success with employees coming out and publicizing and assisting our efforts!

I'd like to thank Alex's Lemonade Stand and their social media representatives, and all of the Rita's contacts and store owners/managers/employess that made our lemonade stands so possible and enjoyable! So thank you to ALSF and Rita's for your fantastic cooperation!

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone following us on our blog, facebook, twitter, and etc., and all of the people we've met along the way! Thank you for all of your contributions, interest, and support for our cause and our event!

It's been another fantastic year, here's a Thank You to everyone for making this year such a pleasure!

- Edwin

Day 7: Northfield to Cape May!

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Sorry for the late post, but I got back from Cape May quite late last night!

Needless to say, we're both quite tired but quite satisfied with what we've done!

As our longest skate the entire trip (about 48 miles!) we left earlier in the morning from Northfield and made our way down into Cape May, passing quite a few coast towns. Danny was on a longboard today, even though his bike was fixed while we were in Northfield. He's quite a trooper considering his broken foot and all.

The weather seemed fantastic at first, and it seemed like the weather would finally agree with us, a change from the last two days of rain, rain, and rain. We passed through Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, and Wildwood as we followed roads down the coast. Of course, it seemed like the storm followed us to every town we passed.

First it'd be sunny and nice, and in less than a minute it'd just magically turn into a torrential downpour! Awesome! Rain isn't so bad when you know it'll be a wet day, but the clouds just didn't seem to want to make up their mind, so it'd just go back and forth. It seemed like we brought the storm to each town, as we entered it'd be sunny and then a short while later, rain!

Danny was more bothered by the rain. Not that it was wet, but because it wouldn't stay wet. Personally I kind of wanted some sun. I'd always come so close to drying off and then I'd get wet again...

Of course the rain did make things a bit slippery and we had our fair share of falls -- I fell upon my butt once or twice, but Danny sustained heavier casualties. He scraped up his right knee and rolled his ankle, which just added to the pains he already had from his hip and broken foot.

Many bridges and 48 miles later, we arrived in Cape May to a bunch of purple Skate Cape May shirted family members all eager to take our pictures! Weird seeing so many of the same shirt in one place but that's beside the point.

We kind of collapsed into chairs at our stand, changed out of our wet gear, and proceeded with some major lemonade standing, telling beachgoers of our efforts. A reporter from the Cape May Star and Wave also came out to interview us, great to get some more media coverage! After about two hours of selling lemonade/wristbands/tshirts we decided to part ways and head home. And now we are more or less settled at home now!

Thanks to all for making this year's Skate Cape May successful!

- Edwin

Day 6: Little Egg Harbor to Northfield!

Posted by Edwin Monday, August 15, 2011 0 comments

Just one day left!

We started off today in pretty low spirits since it really did look like another day of rain. I mean well, it's fun and all once but putting on soaking wet shoes in the morning and getting wet after a night of being nice, dry and cozy is just not something everyone wants to do.

Well, it wasn't too great for the first while. We did have to walk half a mile in sand because that's just the road out of the campground, and rode for a while in the wet. Not too bad.

Eventually it cleared up and got a little sunny, not to mind the still many puddles all over the road, but it was nice to see some sun and feel a little bit drier than say, yesterday.

The skate actually passed by very quickly, since in the first two hours we were already more than halfway there!

I had my first spill today! It was on a mile long stretch of road (Lower Branch Road I think?) when Danny slingshotted me one his bike. Combined with being a bit tired, being slingshotted at an awkward angle, and the roads being wet, my board slipped out from under me and I kind of just slid on my buttocks for a little. Aside from a small scratch on my hand, no injuries were sustained. A lot of laughter did ensue.

Later as we passed through Little Egg Harbor City, Danny's spokes on his bike decided hey, I don't feel like working anymore. So his bike's back wheel (which had already been deformed for the past 45 miles and wobbled back and forth hitting the frame of the bike) kind of just... stopped working. And that's the story!

He was forced to skate the last 10 miles into Northfield, which he claims to have enjoyed despite the pain and anguish from his very painful and anguish-inducing foot fracture. But, he claims, he's "used to it." Sure, Danny.

We arrived in Northfield and immediately saw a huge, dark, and ominous cloud coming towards us (i.e. a storm's abrewin'!) so we didn't set up our lemonade stand. We still stood around and did solicit donations while we waited for the rain to pass by. While it really kind of didn't, our pseudo-stand seemed moderately successful!

After a quick skate to the hotel, we're kind of just here, waiting for tomorrow to take us, I guess. This year's Skate Cape May really is ending in less than 24 hours now. Thanks to everyone following us this far, and for all of the support! Wish us luck on our longest skate this week to Cape May for tomorrow!

See you tomorrow!

- Edwin

Day 5: Toms River to Little Egg Harbor Township!

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This post is a day late, sorry to those following us! We stayed in Little Egg Harbor Township last night at a campground nearby and there wasn't any wi-fi to do any fancy schmancy laptop blog posting. But right now we're in Northfield so I'll just recall yesterday's events!

We started off in the morning and as luck would have it, it started raining the very minute we were about to leave. Of course. I grabbed a quick breakfast of chips and soda and we left for the day, taking Route 9 for 30 miles all the way down to our next stop in Little Egg Harbor Township!

I guess other than the torrential downpour and flooding in the streets and shoulders, there really wasn't much to say. Honestly, it really was just following one road for 30 miles. It reminded me of last year's Sea Isle City to Cape May, since once again we'd be riding our boards through huge..."puddles" if you could call them that. Actually that'd be a lie, since Danny didn't actually get to enjoy the experience. I was skating while Danny had to ride his bike for the 30 miles because of well, his fractured foot and all.

Just to give you an idea of how deep the water is, the picture above should tell the tale pretty well. It was pretty awesome. After being soaked for hours the water really stops being a nuisance, 'twas kind of surreal in that kind of way.

We arrived at our stand location and frankly, the place was pretty much deserted. We met a couple people and asked for donations and such but it was nothing to get way too excited about. Apparently the location wasn't too popular, and since it was raining business really wasn't expected to pick up. Eventually we decided to call it quits and just skate to the campground since the rain had died down a little, and we wanted to get back before it got all intense again.

We made about $105 at the stand today. Many thanks to the owner who was not there but still donated very generously!

And so we slept in the cabin, which was very.. intimate. It was small and kind of neat to stay in. We pretty much arrived and went to bed very early (9pm, shocking!) to do another skate tomorrow!

Don't forget, you can always check out constant updates and our photos from the days on Facebook, through the link on the side or by going to http://facebook.com/SkateCapeMay!

- Edwin

Day 4: Hightstown to Toms River!

Posted by Edwin Saturday, August 13, 2011 0 comments

Hello all, as a refreshing change of pace I, Danny, will be writing the post.

Today was really.. chill. We accidentally woke up a tad late, enjoyed a nice breakfast and went off. Unfortunately I had to be on a bike because of a potentially broken foot, but that's besides the point.

- Danny

Well I've come to reclaim my position here, Danny decided to make the post but decided against it after a few sentences. Since it's kind of short and didn't really explain much I'll finish it up, no problem!

As Danny said, today was really.. chill, and we did wake up a bit late. Wasn't sure exactly how to break the news to you guys, but last night Danny thought that he re-fractured his sesamoid (which is some kind of fancy toe thing that isn't absolutely necessary but apparently causes a lot of pain). One hospital visit later, suspicions were confirmed. Even though the first doctor who looked at the x-rays thought that Danny had just sprained bone (despite the very obvious and visible fracture).

So, Danny had to take his bike down while I skated the 27 miles today. I'd say he definitely lucked out in this case, since the 27 miles today was much tougher than the 44 yesterday. While yesterday was maybe about 8 hours of skating with stops, it was a mix of pushing on flat, skating down hills, and walking up steep, congested hills. Except today's skate was kind of obnoxious since it was a solid 5 hours of constant pushing. There's something about central jersey where it seems like the roads are always kind of flat but always slightly uphill enough that its always a struggle. Kind of like those dreams where you'd be walking down a corridor but everything keeps getting farther away. Yeah.

We stopped a lot just to avoid the whole heat stroke thing and feelings of throwing up. Which worked out for us.

Our arrival was a little late considering all of our stops, and Danny's bike actually got a flat while we were refueling ourselves at a QuickChek and so, he was forced to skate the last 5 miles, which he describes as, and I quote, "the worst five miles of my life."

The lemonade stand was a bit less than ideal. The place was pretty desolate considering we didn't arrive at peak customer hours and we left too early to start. A lot of the people who were there unfortunately really didn't..interact very much with us, and I'm not too surprised. We were both very tired and not exactly extremely enthusiastic at our stand..

Our total for today's stand was about $60.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit more successful! We'll be in the Rita's of Little Egg Harbor Township at 695 Route 9 S, Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

Maybe you'll see us skate as we go down Route 9 the entire way!

Until tomorrow!

- Edwin

Day 3: Chester to Hightstown!

Posted by Edwin Friday, August 12, 2011 0 comments

First off, sorry Hillsborough! We've skipped you this year! Perhaps we'll be able to make it up to you, maybe. We did pass through at least!

As part of the whole making the trip shorter bit we did have to cut out some towns to make the event a little more vigorous and challenging this year. It did also mean a little less planning considering we wouldn't have to organize even more routes between towns.

Our skate was from Chester to Hightstown today! After sleeping on hard wood floors with makeshift piles of clothes as pillows and waking up at 5:30am to my very, very annoying alarm (let's just say we hit snooze every 10 minutes continuously for about two hours), we were a bit sore. And a bit grumpy, even. But all was well as soon as we started skating as it seemed like once we got going our soreness magically melted away.

It was pretty nice!

This was one of the longest skates we've done so far, totaling about 44 miles (after we came to the hotel), and since we knew it'd be long, we left early. Rush hour traffic early. Skating town 206 South was a bit interesting, considering we were mostly walking on the side to avoid getting hit by a car and well, getting killed. Along the way we had a man working at a gas station recognize us and make a donation, as well as another make a donation at a different gas station just a little bit further down. Great to see people who know what we've been doing and help out!

I think the best part of today's skate was the simple fact we didn't have to skate on any dirt roads. No more frustration! Despite being a skate over 40 miles, it generally went without a hitch!

We eventually arrived at the Rita's of Hightstown, had a very pleasant chat with the people working there, and we were visited by a friend we met last year in Cape May and a reporter doing a story for nj.com and a local newspaper! He took some photos and video of us before we returned to the stand to sell our many magnificent products..

From today's stand, we've raised $245!

Since we held our stand up later than we normally do, until about 8, we ended up having to skate in the dark to our hotel. Unfortunately enough for us we ended up having to work our way up Route 33 through the traffic. I wouldn't call the traffic dense but I would definitely say it was fast. Being dark didn't help either. Some jumping of jersey barriers and sprinting was involved, say, across maybe six lanes of traffic (which is a lot longer of a distance than I had imagined!).

Fortunately we made it out alive (mostly) and safe and sound in a hotel room, we're ready to take on tomorrows skate!

We'll be skating to the Rita's in Tom's River tomorrow, at 1687 Route 9, Toms River, NJ. Expect us there at maybe 3 or 4, while we'll probably be staying there until about 7!

Until tomorrow!

- Edwin

Day 2: Newton to Chester!

Posted by Edwin Thursday, August 11, 2011 0 comments

The picture above, in case you were wondering, is Daniel Brookes partaking in a phenomenon known only as "planking." We decided upon some quick shenanigans as we waited for traffic to clear up from rush hour.

The skate today was a bit...distracting from what we normally do. Passing through Hackettstown, Danny over here (well, you can't see him right now because I'm writing this on a computer) decided to take it upon himself to have some of his hairs cut, since he didn't get to prior to the trip itself. Since we were passing through our own town, we pretty much knew where to go, what with being local and whatnot. We ate using some Wendy's gift cards we received as a donation yesterday in Newton (which reminds me, a very nice lady came out to see us and donated gift cards for Wendy's and McDonalds as well as money to keep us fed/hydrated along the way!)

Walking back through our neighborhood, Danny met up with one of his friends and I met up with one of my friends (just kidding, I don't have any) and instead met up with some boards we just received from Kracked Skulls! We sat down and set them up and we'll be riding them for our trip!

Skating down Naughright Road was a bit of a challenge considering its kind of steep and all, and there are quite a few cars kind of coming up and down the mountain, like, really fast. It doesn't help that it being a mountain, we were going like, really fast.

Some of our school friends actually saw us and stopped to say hi, and since we passed our own school Danny visited his teacher (Hey Obes, this is a shout out to you, enjoy your brief moment of fame), and he filled his Camelbak up with some good ol' school water fountain water.

We finally got to Chester Shoprite and we met up with our parents who had set up the lemonade stand before we got there! The Observer Tribune came down to interview us again, and we got to meet up with Colin and he hooked us up with some great Aina clothing and Frends headphones for our trip.

After a couple hours of lemonade standing, we were able to raise upwards of $700! Very much better than last year!

And so, we're sitting here in a Starbucks nearby finishing off this blog post before we head out to eat and return to our very sketchy but awesome vacant store where we'll be staying!

Until the future,

- Edwin (and Danny)

Be sure to check up on the Skate Cape May facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/SkateCapeMay) as we'll be updating with many photos from each day!

Day 1: High Point State Park to Newton!

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Hello all! Sorry I hadn't been able to make a post last night, I didn't have access to wi-fi at the place we stayed in Newton.

We started off our day bright and early with a radio interview with WRNJ, and we left for High Point State Park right after. The drive was a little confusing and we did get a bit lost, but we eventually found our way to the monument! While we were there we did a little preliminary skating and met up with a group of other people who happened to also want to skate the length of NJ, except for fun and on their own terms. We stuck around met up with them a couple times along our own path. Best of luck to them!

Our skate started off easily as the beginning was mostly downhill coming down from High Point State Park, but was a bit sketchy considering the traffic and the need to control speed. Everything was well though, despite some ominous looking clouds that seemed to head our way. Highlights would definitely include me losing one of my slide gloves, and us being yelled at by cars. Some very vulgar language was used.

At about 2pm, we arrived at the Newton Square, and set up shop in the gazebo there. The first hour or so was a bit slow considering the very little amount of activity there, but things began to get kicked into gear when Original Skateboards had some of their employees come out and help promote our cause with the traffic there.

Day 1's Stand total was about $250!

That's about as much as I can think of right now, keep checking back for more updates!

- Edwin

Less than 12 Hours...

Posted by Edwin Tuesday, August 9, 2011 0 comments

...until Skate Cape May begins!

At this point we've organized mostly everything and hopefully everything goes as smoothly as possible!

For now though, I'd like to update you on a few things:

We will be at the Newton Square tomorrow to set up our lemonade stand, so definitely check us out! We will be selling wristbands, t-shirts, and of course, lemonade! As it turns out we will also be raffling/selling the Skate Cape May board from last year with fresh trucks, wheels, and bearings to also help benefit the cause! (This board is actually pretty much new, as it wasn't used on the actual skate last year).

I'd also like to point out the neat little facebook box I added on the right side of the website! I don't know why I didn't think to make one until now but if you "like" us, you can follow everything we do and we'll be sure to post more continuous updates, pictures, and video to our facebook page for you to check out!

That's about as much as I have to say right now, I should probably go finish up packing and get some rest. Big day tomorrow!

- Edwin

94.3FM The Point, WRNJ, Shirts!

Posted by Edwin Monday, August 8, 2011 0 comments

Shirts are in! Or they have been for a little while, I just haven't had the time to put them up yet. The logo on front has been adjusted for better contrast with the purple and has a different font than last year. The back now has a collection of the pledged sponsors when the shirt order had been put in.

Many thanks to the what is temporarily an unknown business that donated them to us - as soon as we find out the name we'd love to list them as a sponsor for their generous contribution.

But shirts are not the bulk of this post, no!

Earlier this morning we took a very exciting early morning drive down to Toms River for a radio interview with 94.3 FM (The Point) on their morning segment with Lou and Liz. No problem with waking up at five in the morning - we were up doing a little warm-up skate in front of the studio before it was open! It was a quick interview but we're glad to have the word out - when we stop in Toms River at the Ocean County Mall on August 13th, The Point also said they'd send out a van to do live radio and music and whatnot. Definitely check us out then!

We are also going to be doing more live check-ins with WRNJ: one at 7:15 at the studio on August 10th and almost daily at around 8 or 9am on the actual trip. Tune in and maybe hear about our progress on 92.7FM or 104.7FM if you're in the Hackettstown area!

Otherwise, keep checking back on the blog for continuous updates, especially with Skate Cape May starting in just two days!

I'll be keeping you posted as always!

- Edwin

Unfortunate News...

Posted by Edwin Sunday, August 7, 2011 0 comments

Although we've been pushing towards active participation for Skate Cape May this year, after a meeting of our families and quite some discussion, it has been deemed something we simply won't be able to do this year.

The issue here stems from liability as Skate Cape May is indeed a potentially dangerous event with very real risk of injury and even death while skating on the road with cars all around. Without any form of real insurance our families can't be held responsible in the off chance something were to happen and someone decided to sue. We all agree that safety, being our main priority, greatly reduces the risk of anything like this happening but nevertheless we can't take that risk should there be any extreme circumstances.

So, as sad as I am to say, we will not be allowing people to officially join us while skating. Sorry to those who have been asking.

We will still be tweeting regularly our location for those following us, and we would love it if people would come visit us at our lemonade stand locations!

- Edwin

New Participation Information!

Posted by Edwin Friday, August 5, 2011 0 comments

Apologies once again for the sparse blog postings especially considering Skate Cape May is coming up in just a couple of days now.

This post is mostly just to tell you guys that I've updated the Participation information on the "Participate" page so it's a lot more comprehensive and finally set up a rudimentary sign-up "form" for those interested in participating. Definitely check it out for more information!

Until there is more to say,
- Edwin

Updates! Function, Frends, Kracked Skulls, Mile High Skates, DaddiesBoardShop, Wristbands, R&J!

Posted by Edwin Sunday, July 24, 2011 0 comments

Sorry it's been so long without a new blog post! I've been away for quite some time and just haven't found the time to update the website as much as I want to.

Over the past two weeks, we've picked up Function Drinks, Frends Headphones, Kracked Skulls Skateboards, Mile High Skates, and DaddiesBoardShop as sponsors for Skate Cape May!

And, we just recently received a shipment of (you guessed it!) wristbands. The picture above was enough of a giveaway -- sorry to take away the surprise of it! The wristbands this year are much nicer, with a yellow/purple segmentation, Skate Cape May on one side, Alex's Lemonade Stand on the other, and a white paint fill. Look out for our new wristbands at each lemonade stand location!

We also picked up the R&J Publicity firm thanks to one of Danny's "connections," (heh) who will be helping us out by getting us publicity throughout NJ and elsewhere. Many thanks to them!

As for T-Shirts, we are at a bit of a standstill as we haven't been able to find anyone to help us make the shirts this year so far -- if anyone is interested in being a shirt sponsor or knows if anyone would be able to offer us a discount or something, it would be greatly appreciated!

That would generally sum up what we have so far-

Until the future!

- Edwin

Sponsor Updates + Raffles!

Posted by Edwin Thursday, July 7, 2011 0 comments

Its been a bit of a busy week! Recently Paris Trucks, Divine Wheel Co. and Vox Footwear have come out to assist us on our journey by providing Trucks, Wheels, and Shoes for the journey! Much thanks to these companies for helping us out with the equipment.

Along with equipment to use, some of the gear will be raffled off for donations at each lemonade stand. Stuff being raffled will include sets of wheels, trucks, a pair of shoes, and shirts!

As of now we're still working on getting shirts and wristbands for the journey which has presented issues mostly with finding money to purchase them. Until they're available, we're looking for anyone interested in helping us out in terms of tshirts and wristbands!

I'll be keeping you guys posted with any updates!

- Edwin

7 Days, 7 Towns.. Route Finalizations!

Posted by Edwin Wednesday, June 29, 2011 0 comments

Hey guys!

As the first order of business, I added a social media/share bar at the top of the site, please "Like" us on Facebook or share on twitter to spread awareness of our event and our cause!

As for the meat of this post, I spent a couple hours today and yesterday looking over and finalizing towns and routes for Skate Cape May 2011, and so our schedule has been updated as follows!

8/10/11 : Beginning in High Point State Park, Stopping in Newton, NJ
8/11/11 : Skating to Chester, NJ
8/12/11 : Hightstown, NJ
8/13/11 : Toms River, NJ
8/14/11 : Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ
8/15/11 : Northfield, NJ
8/16/11 : Cape May, NJ

As of yet I have to finalize places to stay in each of these towns and lemonade stand locations, but these towns are pretty much set. Also because the shortened time period to skate (9 to 7 days), the mileage between the towns will be slightly variable, ranging from lower 20 to upper 40 miles per day. Our last day (our victory run, perhaps) will be nearly 50 miles from Northfield to Cape May!

Anyone interested in participating in a day or two of Skate Cape May should feel free to contact us at contact@skatecapemay.com!

Adios for now,

- Edwin

Aina, Skate Cape May Revisions!

Posted by Edwin Saturday, June 25, 2011 0 comments

We received our first sponsor "care package" if you will from Aina clothing, owned by none other than Colin Taylor, who has been with us helping finding sponsors since last year's Skate Cape May. His shirts are 100% organic cotton and as a lifestyle brand is working at an eco-friendly approach to clothing. Many thanks to Colin again, be sure to check out his website at http://www.ainaclothing.com! (and see more information on our sponsors page!

We're still looking for sponsors mainly just to provide maybe a set of wheels or bearings for the trip, and anything else could really only help (places to stay, advice for popular locations, and generally spreading the word about our event!)

As a new introduction to our event this year, we're hoping to include people in on our journey, though only from one town to the next. As of now we're hoping to charge maybe 25-30$ per participant to come skate with us and also get a Skate Cape May shirt for doing so. (the money of course, will be donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand). As we work out the route for this year in further detail, we'll provide more information, so keep posted!

So, if anyone wishes to come along and lives nearby one of the towns we start or finish at, feel free to register a spot by emailing me at contact@skatecapemay.com!

Right now, our schedule is as follows:

8/10 - High Point State Park to Newton, NJ

8/11 - Newton to Chester

8/12 - 8/15 - ?

8/16 - ? to Cape May, NJ

Not much there, I know, but be sure to keep posted!

Website Redesign... here comes Skate Cape May 2011!

Posted by Edwin Monday, June 20, 2011 0 comments

For those who are still following our blog from last year, we're back! Its been quite some time since I last posted, mostly due to school and other non-Skate Cape May related affairs, but with school over planning for Skate Cape May 2011 in under way!

I started with what I thought to be a much needed website redesign, with better readability and less clutter, felt like this is a lot cleaner than the first design.

There's also going to be a few changes to the the actual event itself. We're planning on having it start the same date as last year, August 10th, but cutting out maybe two towns to increase our daily mileage and thus make the journey a little more challenging. Even though this means that we'll be visiting less towns, we're hoping that the turnout at each town will be a little bit greater this time around.

We'll also need to make some route adjustments to account for the less towns and less dirt roads (*shudder*)

I'll have a 2011 Skate Cape May logo redesign to hopefully go on some new shirts for this year, and I'm also hoping to find some sponsors to help us again this year. You can find last year's sponsors here or by clicking the "Sponsors" button in the navigation bar above.

If anyone is able to help us out with news coverage, route advice, sponsors, or any other relevant information, we'd love to hear it! You can contact us at: contact@skatecapemay.com

Signing off for now,

Edwin