Bails, fails & Injuries.

 

Today was an early training session again, seeing as it was to be another adventure. What with the dark nights drawing in earlier each passing day, along with the icy coldness, it seemed worth the effort to be out early and make the most of the daylight hours. People needed to be out at the earlier time of half past eleven and everyone seemed okay with that oddly. Time will tell if it happens as planned though… There were a fair few out, judging from the event. Adam was a no for today due to being ‘busy’ and that was a shame. I will admit, I wasn’t expecting people to be out early and so I was amazed when I got to Crowne Plaza to find David, Steff and Tom already there, shortly followed by James, Geo and even Zain! We were all waiting on Ben (again) who seemed to be late for the last few sessions. It got closer to twelve and then finally, everyone was out. Kezza was a no show (as always) despite saying he would definitely be out weekend… The other maybes on the event weren’t out either.

James felt tired, as did a few people. It hurt to do movements, maybe due to the cold? People warmed up using the arch in the area, doing running precisions through it. While others later were doing diving kong precisions through it. It wasn’t long until we got the adventure day under way and moved over to the Adam’s Building (Lace Market) while on the way to Sneinton. It felt nice to have the low kong precision again this weekend, after it was so hard the last time I was there. It seems to be a cycle with it, what with the run up and curb too. It seems I’m not the only one having the same problems either, as David was finding it difficult too. Once I pointed out how I did it, to avoid the curb during the run for the kong, I think that helped him. Until he realized he was opposite footed to myself and changing his run up he found it easier to do. I also realised later while filming that where a hand rail had previous been, that I still held my hand up in the air to avoid hitting it, even though it is long gone.

 

David – 180 Precision.

 

The others were busy doing strides along the same walls, as well as box jumping them too. I started to film a few movements, collecting for a possible day video. Some of the B-Roll I collected was at points, quite worrying in regards to love affair of Gio and Ben! James broke an upwards precision, I would put it down to the pressure of me filming and trolling him. Perhaps he was worrying about how I might use the footage if he didn’t make it. Whatever the reasons behind the break, it was good to see him get it and led to a funny part within the video. Gio did an awesome kong precision to a railing (also seen in the video) which not only moved, but had a small landing area as well. David and myself looked at a 180 precision from a lamp post to a wall (seen in the above image) it was slightly diagonal as well. The angle looked great, even if the movement felt horrible. David was the closest to landing it, I kept putting one foot down and couldn’t commit to the wall. David was craning it at times and I got some nice photos to show for it. Maybe next time we can try and get it, when we haven’t thought so much about doing it.

Some local chavs were walking through the area and as they walked past they shouted the classic ‘do a backflip!’ line which we and anyone that trains has encountered a thousand times over… The plan was to go to the furthest point of Sneinton and then make our way back from there, rather than starting from the closest part which we seemed to spend hours at and then making our way further out. As you only have to come back afterwards, which was always tiring. I also wanted to check out this new location I had come across on Google Maps, a slight detour, but it looked like it had potential. I may have regretted that decision, with how long of a walk it was to get there seeing as we weren’t training at any locations before hand. The place was different to what was shown on Google Maps, all the railings and wheelchair access were no longer there. Annoying, but there were still things to use.

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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.

The Leicester Parkour Park.

 

So, for the people that didn’t already know, there was to be a big unveiling to mark the opening of new Parkour Park in Leicester, Bede Park. Ever since the Loughborough Park at Southfields Park had been built (2014) there were talks of one to be built in Leicester in the near future by the same company (Natural Sports) respectively. The main concern was Leicester already had a rather terrible park built many years ago (2010) in Eyres Monsell, so the council might see that the city already has one built, so why another?! I’m not sure if that same park is even widely used or even know about through the community. I remember being surprised when it was first built as I hadn’t heard anything about it and then it had magically appeared.

There was much anticipation for the new park and with Dan Timms and the general Leicester community being behind the design, I’m sure it would turn out great! Over the past weeks and months we were teased with hearsay and then images of the park coming together as it was being built appeared. I’ll be the first to admit, it looked fantastic! More so due to the different levels it had and how everything was close enough to link together movement. Loads better than our own (small) low level, spaced out and linear one in Nottingham. I liked the bright flooring as well, I wanted to visit it now I had seen what it is like. I wasn’t overly bothered in the beginning, but as the event drew closer the hype for a jump was real.

 

Leicester Parkour Park.

Leicester Parkour Park.

Leicester Parkour Park.

Leicester Parkour Park.

Leicester Parkour Park.

Leicester Parkour Park.

 

I asked around to see who else was game for going, James wasn’t out for the event as it was the same day as his anniversary, unluckily. A few of the others said they were going to go via train, car or hitching a ride there. I was lucky enough to have Eddie interested about going down, which surprised me. He wanted to go early, leaving early to get back home before peak time as he had to go out himself later. That and David had work as well to be back for later. All in all, it fit perfectly with all our routines, providing we didn’t get stuck in endless traffic on the way back that is. Daniel had asked me if I was going along to the event, as he was and it may be the one chance I get to see him in person again. Seeing as he lived down south and isn’t often if at all up this way, so he would be there not to train as such but for support of the scene and to see some old faces and mingle.

I can’t remember the last time I had seen his vagabond, small, homeless looking self! The last time must have been while he was at Nottingham University, which was many aeons ago, it had to be nearing a decade by now. He used to train semi regular back then [1] as that retro video shows at a time when we made a video together. I would then see him fleetingly at gymnastics, than the outdoor training due to uni. This was all before life had caught up with him and stole him away from training completely, like it does with so many practitioners. I still speak to him regularly online, I just don’t see him in person, what with him being the hermit kind. By the looks of the event, it seems that there were loads of people attending to the opening.

Scout Around.

After yesterday’s training [1] my ankle wasn’t feeling all that bad after the rock tumble I took. I decided to go out training with David, mainly as I wanted to check out these fenced off spots which Adam and the others had come across yesterday. As we walked through the housing estates on the way to that spot, we came across  an interesting area, with lots of bollards dotted around the area. They could be used as take off for a running precision to a nearby wall and railings in front of them, each bollard increasing the distance for the jump. They looked scary and were worth coming back to sometime to try. Thinking about it, I should have checked out the nearby schools as they are always good for training and usually have walls and rails.

We passed what looked like an old church and possibly good to train on, only on closer inspection after climbing over the walls and gate, there to be nothing there to use. The entrance walls would have been good, had they not been so close together and cluttered with another wall in the way. The area was overgrown with brambles as well. The place Adam and co had stumbled upon was next to it and all fenced off and inaccessible, unless the locks were broken and it didn’t look like the building was ever used either. Otherwise we could have visited during a weekday to sample it perhaps. I’m surprised the area hadn’t be demolished or had something else built there.

 

David – Precision.

 

While looking for a possible way in, bars bent, lose panels etc we came across a small children’s nursery which had a few jumps on it. Nothing of great potential, only some tall wooden poles to precision between. They had enough room for both feet to be stood on one, just about. Then you could precision diagonally to the another one, which was scary due to the height and limiting foot placement. With those jumps done and no access to the blocked off area we went looking for other places to jump. We ventured to behind the back of the shops to see what was there. I think the biggest misconception with all the areas today is they look good, but in reality they really weren’t. There were again, some small jumps. It looked like it had more potential than it had to offer. We did some diagonal precision jumps, which are the ones in the photos of this entry. Apart them and doing the jump the other way as a running precision, there really wasn’t anything else to do.

There was a small kong precision further down, which wasn’t far but you had to vault a rail off a rather gravelly road and the landing was just as sketchy with the loose gravel, even after we cleared it. I couldn’t force doing the move, due to knowing it was so slippery. David did it and slipped during take off and the landing, which made me write it off completely! There was a pretty big drop after the landing too, if you were unlucky enough to fail or overshoot it. I bet the people across the way, who were watching we wondering what we were doing.