Lucas Aaron Almeida-Barnett, aka Loui Aaron, of Bloomfield, is gearing up to break the the Guinness world record for the longest distance traveled by skateboard in 24 hours. Aaron is also running for Bloomfield City Council and wants to help promote his adopted hometown.
“I am doing this for so many reasons … I want to show people that nothing is impossible … that with enough dedication you truly can accomplish anything,” Almeida-Barnett said. “I want to bring life into my small town.”
Almeida-Barnett, who is seeking community support for the skateboarding record attempt and for his City Council campaign, said residents can call him Loui. “That lets me know we’re friendly.”
Almeida-Barnett plans to go for the Guinness record on Aug. 8 in New York City – hopefully, with Guinness World Records officials on site to monitor his effort.
He recently posted on his Facebook page that he requests everyone to look out for him as he trains locally and in the Durango area.
He said that it’s “hard enough with the dogs, weather and potholes” – so he asks that motorists “drive respectively. A wave or water bottle is always appreciated and, of course, encouraging, but please don't honk,” Almeida-Barnett said.
The Denver native, who moved to Southern California at 14, started skating at age 13.
He related in a phone interview the unique manner in which he first got into skateboarding.
“It's actually a little bit ironic … I was cleaning a friend's room, and his little sister had this little toy skateboard meant for your hands, really. And I was convinced that I could skate on it,” Almeida-Barnett recalled.
He took it to school one day and everyone made fun of him saying it was impossible for him to ride it. It was only about 12 inches long with plastic wheels and trucks. It wasn’t even meant to be skated on. “But I was desperate to learn to skate,” he said.
He proved everybody wrong by riding the mini-skateboard 2 miles to school – for about five weeks – and, even learned a couple of tricks. Then he got a real skateboard and went full-bore into the skateboarding world.
Almeida-Barnett traveled and played in “old school rock ’n’ roll” bands for about seven years, doing hits by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. “I play guitar, bass, piano, drums, anything that makes a toot.”
His band was called Bright Disease, juxtaposing the contrasting terms. “It was the idea that a disease is something that spreads and it’s something that's hard to stop … and bright is light and illuminating.
Almeida-Barnett has a local catering business called Bacon’s. “We specifically do deliveries – usually corporate companies. … I think one of our biggest accounts is Melloy Honda, and we do Discount Tire,” he said. He and Megan Underwood, his fiancée, operate their gourmet breakfast business from 6 to 10:30 a.m. Monday to Friday.
After being estranged from his family, he said that during a music tour 10 years ago he visited Bloomfield to reunite with his family. He kept coming back over the years and decided to “lay down roots.” He is still involved in a two-year-long custody battle for his son.
“You got to fight to get what you want,” he said.
Almeida-Barnett has pushed himself to the limits on a skateboard before. In 2015, he skated 2,051 miles from San Diego to Lebanon, Tennessee. He said it was completely unassisted and he skated the entire distance except for a 15-mile stretch in the Mojave Desert because his sponsors insisted, as they couldn’t get supplies to him because of the extreme heat.
The idea to try to break the skateboarding distance in 24 hours came to him after being really busy with his business and running for City Council, but always seeking a new challenge.
As a lover of skateboarding, he looked up how many have skateboarded across the continent. He found that no one has. The skateboarding distance record in 24 hours came up next in his search.
The International Distance and Supercross Association, the governing body for the sport of long distance skateboarding, lists the furthest distance traveled by skateboard as 313.9 miles, achieved by Joe Mazzone of Littletown, Colorado at Miami Ultraskate in 2021.
Andrew Andras is the current Guinness world record holder for the farthest distance traveled on a skateboard in 24 hours. Guinness records indicate that he achieved the record of 261.8 miles on Jan. 7 and 8, 2013, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida.
Andras used push sticks, ski poles with a knob or tennis ball on the bottom for traction, and hit speeds of about 7 or 8 mph.
Aaron said he’s achieved speeds of 12 mph during his training around Bloomfield, which he said is one of the toughest areas to skate because of road conditions.
During one of his long-distance skates in Southern California, Aaron met James Seamus, who supported his 24-hour distance quest, and agreed to help as his coach.
When Aaron applied with Guinness Book of Records, his first location choice was Fort Collins, Colorado, where there were smooth streets and long downhills. Seamus connected Aaron with Bustin’ Boards as a sponsor, and they decided that Seamus’s home in New York would be the site.
He plans to leave for New York in a couple of weeks to train on the actual route with Seamus. There will be more publicity and potential for sponsorship there, Aaron said.
Aaron is seeking local skateboarders to help him train here and serve as pacers. He’s also looking for photographers who skateboard and who might join him in New York.
His training routine lately has been “aggressive.” “I've been trying to find the most crappy paths and I’m skating in the worst weather, just so I can build up the muscles I need in any situation,” he said.
He’s skating a lot at night, on highways and even on gravel. “So I'm trying to figure out how to balance rough roads in the worst climate right now.”
Serious injuries are inherent in skateboarding.
“My worst falls have been going slow – not fast,” Aaron said. He said endurance and stamina are important because when you get tired you start making mistakes. He called them “dumpy falls.”
During his long distance rides he wore a 70-pound backpack, so if he fell – no matter how he rolled – he could really get hurt.
For the record attempt he plans to have pacers in front and behind to clear obstacles, photographers and a drone pilot and bicyclist who can maneuver and film.
Almeida-Barnett is driven to succeed in this effort and to accomplish the goals in his life.
“There is the personal goal to challenge myself … and the more we can just make our community better as a whole and to work with people who really want to make a difference,” he said.
His desire to serve on City Council is part of his effort to be of service to his community. He also wants to help Bloomfield by bringing national attention to his hometown.
“I definitely want to get as many local artists, skateboarders and supporters in on this thing as possible,” he said.
Almeida-Barnett believes that communities and individuals who work together will have a greater impact. “The bigger the team, the better,” he said.
Almeida-Barnett said Guinness will send an official to cover his efforts if there’s enough publicity. “But if I don't get adequate recognition and support, I will have to pay $14,000 for the official to come out,” Aaron said.
Aaron has a Go Fund Me page to help his efforts. “This is a truly world-changing event, as well as a real chance to show humanity what we are made of,” he said.
“I am supported by a great team both here in the Four Corners and in N.Y. Please, put some water on the seed and let me show you how beautiful it can be!” he said.
This story was republished with a correction to credit Joe Mazzone of Littletown, Colorado with the longest distance skateboarding in 24 hours record of 313.9 miles, which was provided by the International Distance and Supercross Association. Andrew Andras is the Guinness record holder in the same category.
