Carlton Suburbs.

 

It seemed like no one was out this weekend, at least from the regulars I trained with. Jallen was at the cinema, watching Dr Strange this weekend. No one else had confirmed they were out, even as maybes. It’s usually the way it goes when the core regulars aren’t out, no one else bothers to train, which is odd. Perhaps James is the influence of the community sessions now and that is why no one was out, because he wasn’t?! I had to laugh as closer to the time Kezza was the only one set to be going out (yeah, right. That will be the day!), though it would be about right if he did, typical even. Adam was a maybe now, I was tempted to go instead to the JUMP session happening in Derby Sunday instead. Though, I didn’t have a lift there and back and the weather was set to be bad, and Saturday good oddly enough.

I decided to go out training in the end with David, agreeing to meet at the Parkour Park for eleven then we would meet Ben at half past in town, before venturing over to Carlton as that was our plan for the day. Anyone else that wanted to join us could, not that I was expecting anyone else though. An adventure day seeing as it was set to be a sunny day. It seemed once a plan was motion it seemed to draw more interest for the event. Adam who was a maybe, was now game for joining us as it would be a new area. Femi wanted in on the fun, god knows when he would be arrive though… Chris was even a maybe for the day too. When the day arrived, I was up at eight, dropped a message to remind people and see if all was good, without any replies (obviously) for that time in the morning.

 

Zade – Stride.

 

Adam was up late, then wanted to meet at the park for half past eleven, getting annoyed when I said no as the plan was to meet Ben at half past in town. Trying to say I had said half past before now as a meet up time (which I hadn’t) so he was asking why I had changed it earlier now?! I said I wouldn’t be waiting, for him, even though it would have meant we would have had a lift. David and myself got the bus and met with Ben, who in the end was very late due to roadworks. Femi said he would be out later, around one or maybe two, what a lazy feck! When Ben did arrive, we made our way to Carlton via bus and over to our first spot which was Brickyard. It was cold today, so cold and there was no sign of Sonny either, who said he would pop out seeing as we would be in his neck of the woods. I hadn’t seen him out for years and so it would be great to see him out again. I dropped him a text to let him know we had arrived. I didn’t hold much hope on him being out though…

At times the area felt somewhat dodgy, with the local ‘badmans’ roaming around. It was a rather cold day, even though the sun was out! It was hard to keep warm, even after many jumps and it was a slow process to remain warm. There were some railings which looked perfect for a dash vault precision, which I can be seen doing in my RAW video [1] and I was rather proud of that movement, even if it was hard to then do a same level kong out of it afterwards. The next step was doing a kong precision on those walls which eluded me last time around [2] which David and myself had tried doing endless times. Thankfully David and myself nailed them this time around and maybe that was down to being warmer, even fresher than last time we tried. I guess with it being the start of the jam, it wasn’t as hard to think about or do either. Ben was doing some big running precisions, which looked horrible to try, props to springy Ben!

 

David – Portrait.

 

David’s kong precisions using the railing were looking nice, even though he said he found that one harder to do than the wall one! I quite liked the lower rail to wall kong precision, finally I had progression with them. Excuse the lack of images in this entry, I spent most of my time jumping around. It always makes me chuckle when we visit suburbs and places we rarely visit, as you will always find some locals who watch what you are doing. Fascinated by it all, as obviously it’s less seen than if we were in town jumping around. It’s nice to see the interest and at times get questions from people too. The raised, wooden flower beds were cool for doing precisions between, adding different levels of difficulty and distances. Adam seemed to find the area a bit ‘meh‘ or maybe he just wasn’t in the zone like last time.

Carlton Revamp.

 

The weekend was set to be bad weather. Once again, defeating our weekly community training session. It was typical for a Bank Holiday, afterwards it was set to be a heatwave! So the only chance of a summer day was the Good Friday, a good Friday I was hoping for it to be. I initially was going out training with just Adam and David. I had asked around to see who else was interested, not expecting many if anyone else. James was still down about the video [1] I had made in my previous blog, with him failing the running rock precision. Little did I know that at the time he had gone back out a day or two later to try and claim the jump and get it filmed too for a response video. Instead he spent many a hour doing the same thing as the video. Unable to do it due to his mental block, even though he could do the distance when not there and in his head it seemed an easy task to achieve. Unable to get it done brought him down even more. It would have been great to see him get it and post a response video. He was reluctant to come out due to back and ankle pain and no doubt expecting to have more blocks if he came to brand new area.

I did wind James up, stating that since Saturday was predicted to be terrible weather that he should enjoy training Crown Plaza, all day. I mean what difference would waiting twenty four hours do for his healing process!? While Friday was the better, sunnier day where he could experience a new area, break barriers and feel good about being out training with like minded people. He might as well get out, if he could and it wasn’t like it was too far from his place either. Plus, if his pains with his back and ankle kicked in, he could simply go back home. The biggest bonus of the day was it was going to be a small focused group of people out, minus all the weekend cretins, side babes and non practitioners who came out cluttering the places we trained at.  I also had managed to convince Sonny to perhaps come out too, seeing as we were going to be in his  local area. It was going to be great to see him out again as I know he wanted to start training again, though that was if he showed up to the session…

 

Sonny – Diving Kong.

 

I hadn’t slept that well Thursday evening, even though I had gone to bed early. It was all due to the kitten (Comet) [2] having been to the vets to be castrated and so he was wearing one of those plastic cones around his head. This made a lot of noise as he moved around the house, scrapping it on everything. He was restless due to not being used to wearing one, finding it difficult to move and do the things he usually does. I woke up at five, the sun was rising and I felt fresh as a daisy, ready to get up for the day. Complete madness, I did drift back off to sleep and then woke up at a more reasonable time of nine. Adam had been up since six, yet he was running late as he was waiting for his new trainers to arrive before coming out. What if they didn’t arrive today or were delivered in the late afternoon?

Carlton Training.

Sonny – Precision.

 

I woke up late, not feeling my best, no doubt some cold or illness coming on and so decided I should stay at home today. I also had a few injuries playing up too and so my body would be glad of the rest. I really didn’t want to tempt fate and go out as I would only end up training making things worse, because that is the sort of person I am and it’s addictive not to train when out with the community. Nearer the time of the jam people were asking why I wasn’t out and I should still come and train, trying to convince me to come out, which I managed to decline against my better judgement.

I had some breakfast, sitting inside bored while it was dry and looked nice out. My 10 day Trent Barton bus ticket was staring me in the face. I felt tempted, perhaps I should go to town as I wouldn’t have to pay for the bus… I could take a walk around, do some photography and still have a few hours with the community. I decided on going and got dressed and bandaged up, walking down to the bus stop one of my shins were really hurting me and making me limp due to it being pulled. I jogged slowly and that seemed to warm it up and stop it from hurting as much, until I got to the bus stop and waited for the bus.

 

Zain – Same Level Kong

 

I arrived in town just before 2pm and then called a few of the guys to find out where they were. To my horror and surprise, they were training in Carlton! I then had to jog from Vic centre all the way down to the Ice Stadium to meet Abdur so I could be guided to where they currently were. After we had both jogged back to the group I was rather tired, sore and sweating. I came out to take photography and say hello, I didn’t expect to be trekking around Nottingham! Seeing the new spots made me want to jump and train! I took some photos and did some very light movements and enjoyed being in the new rocky area.There were small kong precisions and general precision jumps

We walked up a hill, with Sonny guiding us, stopping off at a small area with a railing which was good for underbars, through Denis wanted to do it, even if it scared him at first and so we stayed at this area all trying to do it. Next we moved up to an abandoned college where it looked rather dodgy but Sonny assured us it was fine to be there. We quickly looked at the rails and walls surrounding the areas, doing different movements, diving kongs, precisions and climbing up the walls.