When Jared Drake is not ripping it in the music scene, with his endless music projects. He really rips it on the race course. With his stamina and his natural ability for downhill skating. He is a fierce competitor. Thank you for your dedication and support through the years. Your great efforts do not go unnoticed.
What has racing done for me?
Racing has taught me many lessons. Through these lessons i've learned the values of brotherhood, sportsmanship, confidence, courage, awareness, intuition, etc. It's funny because each time you race you learn these lessons again and again. There always seems to be something you forgot or something new that you weren't aware of before. To be a consistent racer you really need to learn about the parts of yourself that are your greatest virtues and the parts of yourself that could use a little fine tuning, or a whole lot of work for that matter.
What has longboarding done for me?
Longboarding has done so much for me I don't even know where to start. I pretty much used longboarding as an escape from the social politics and bullshit of other sports and cultures from the time I quit playing soccer at age 11. Though I soon found the same stupid hierarchy and social rules applied to pretty much every subculture in the world, including longboarding, it served as a physical activity that I could rule and direct. No coaches, no rules, no schedules, just me and the board and the pavement. Longboarding is an expression of bodily freedom, which is an expression of life in motion, moment to moment. I believe this to be true of all sports and physical disciplines, longboarding just happens to be the one that found me. Longboarding shows me where my limits lay and tempts me to expand them every time I ride. But I've learned to push them gently, and not to cross that boundry all at once with so much naivity and eagerness to become great, lest I should be humbled once more.
What does skating for Godspeed mean to you?
Skating for Godspeed means complete and utter awesomeness to me. Mark is one of the top 10 most amazing people i've ever met in my life. He's a huge inspiration and role model for me and I feel honored to represent his company. Godspeed is like a big family and we help each other out. Its a mutually beneficial relationship and I couldn't be happier with my sponsor. I mean, I'd be riding Godspeeds no matter what, regardless of being on the team. They are hands down the most incredible boards i've ever seen or ridden. Every time Mark comes out with a new board it blows my mind. So.. yeah.. skating for Godspeed is awesome and I'm so happy that I met Mark-John, Bobbie-Jo and their beautiful children.