Bikes! Bouncing!

[morsla]

Eight people, twenty four wheels, one sunny day and an enormous pile of fish and chips later...



hespa and mstakenidentity decided to go riding on Saturday, and asked for company... it's been months since I last rode anywhere, so I tought it was a good chance to get out of the house. The weather was great, company was better, and I'll make sure I have the whole afternoon free next time... I rode to Carlton, joined the others, and we took off up Canning Street before heading out east on Park Street. I had to turn back just after reaching the creek, as I had to get back to North Melbourne by 4pm - I got to explore more of Royal Park on the way home, however. Having a dedicated bike trail is great; having a set of stairs with a dedicated bicycle ramp is even better :-)

In other news... randomly spotted on izzylobo's journal is a Le Parkour video and more information at http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/

I've never learned how to tumble, especially to the extent these guys do it. However, I have good balance, sure footing, and I can leap an awfully long way. I feel like building my strength and reflexes to try this out somewhere... I've always considered the world to be an obstacle course waiting for a starter's pistol :-) I'm starting twenty years late, but all I'll achieve by stalling is holding myself back further...

fetnas - as the most acrobatic person reading this, any pointers for getting into shape for tumbling? I'm quite serious about getting back into shape, and I'm using random acts of ridiculousness like this to keep myself motivated.

Comments

[futurelegend.livejournal.com]

so you see why i rave on a little too much about Royal Park? :)

I think you should ride around Melbourne more - so I can do it vicariously!

*misses melbourne*

..And yeah, that freestyle tumbling looks awesome. Go. Learn. Amaze me :)

[morsla.livejournal.com]

*salutes* Yessir!

I'm more of a sprinter/jumper than a tumbler, but I'll try to get that fluidity happening. There's a whole city full of obstacles to play with...

I want to ride around Royal Park more often, so I can find out where I should have turned off to reach Abbotsford street. I ended up going much farther to the west, and came home via vorex's house.

Getting fit for tumbling he says!

[fetnas.livejournal.com]

Getting fit for tumbiling. Hmm, not really sure of any specific activities. It's not really aerobic type stuff unless you plan on doing it for over 5 minutes solid. You do need explosive strength to launch youself across that chasm, so strength with light weight are good, you're on a winner there already.

A lot of acrobatic stuff is mental. You have to have the focus and courage to just throw the salt the first time, and if you crash, get up and try again. I can do standing front and back salts but I have this annoying mental block with back flips that I just can't kick. I can back flip but they're never quite right because of a doubt in my head. I've crashed (read landed on my head) quite a few times, but always on a sprung floor, so no harm done.

You'll want to have strong wrists for when you have to catch your self when the timing doesn't quite work. A good sense of spatial awareness is essential so you can keep track of the position of you body relative to the ground, shouldn't be a problem for you.

There were some guys at Gym that were getting into Parkour but they weren't very good. One of them had that clumsy look about him.

Let me know if you find a group who do this stuff. I'd like to have a go, I haven't been physical for a lengthy time, but the building work keeps me fit.

Re: Getting fit for tumbling he says!

[morsla.livejournal.com]

The UF website has a forum, with an Oz/NZ area - most of the organised meetups seem to happen in other states, though. They've also had a hacker attack (it's an EZboard forum, which are horrifically vulnerable to them...) and most of the Australian topics are missing all but the initial post.

There are some Melbournites active on the forum, but you possibly already know them - they mention a gymnasium in Donvale, on thursday nights :)

I'm trying to get my leg strength back, as I've lost a lot in the last year.
It's definitely a mental trick, though - if you don't know you'll make a jump, you can't make it. If I can jump properly again, I'll be more confident, and vastly more likely to make it ;)

Strangely enough, more than half of the "fundamental" techniques on that site are things that I've been consciously trying to drill since late primary school. Balance drills, momentum-based climbing, side vaults etc are things that I do already, and leaping onto small target areas is second nature from climbing on rocks at the beach every year.

When the weather dries out a bit, we need an Inappropriate Use Of Play Equipment outing. Playgrounds, multistorey car parks, scaffolding... it's all fair game :)

Re: Getting fit for tumbling he says!

[fetnas.livejournal.com]

I think we need to scope out a new playground that hasn't been used by us in an inappropriate way yet! I gues I should do a bit more research into this kind of stuff.
The BTYC gym in Donvale is definatly the place to hone ones skills. The coach out there is great at working out the best way to achieve what your after, and the crash mats are a good safety factor! THe adult class is on Monday and Thursday. Some of the stunt guys that trained out there are probably into this kind of stuff!

[deathbyshinies.livejournal.com]

Yay! That is indeed a lovely picture; thanks for posting it!

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Thanks for showing me how to get to that trail :) I'll be going back there when the riding bruises heal... it's been many years since I sat on a bike for more than a couple of hours...

[designadrug.livejournal.com]

For some reason I could really see you as a FreeRunner. Especially around the CBD.