Norwich City Race

This is the coolest orienteering race I have taken part in. Ever.

When I first competed, two years ago, I loved the idea of urban orienteering so much that I started competing in the national league, travelling over the country to compete in urban races. But nothing has bested the Norwich City Race.

For those unfamiliar with urban orienteering (aka sprint orienteering), it is similar to normal orienteering but over a shorter distance with far more controls, meaning the legs are typically very short. But don’t let that fool you; the urban environment the courses are planned in makes the whole run extremely technical. Ultimately, urban orienteering is snappy but technical, leading to an incredibly fast paced run with split second decisions. I love it.

But the Norwich city race is always so dynamic; so many different levels, alleys, paths through the shopping centre, and more. Today I had several underground controls, ran through several buildings, had to navigate through various levels of buildings and jumped up walls.

Starting off in a park, I dibbed the start control and dashed off across the park to Control 1, swinging around a corner and along a path to control 2. 3 took me through an underpass and cutting through same alleys, through a doorway and dashing across a courtyard. To get to 4, I sprinted out of the courtyard, along a pavement and around a corner. 5 and 6 were just a walk (or a run!) in the park, whereas 7 took me nipping through thin alleys, then swinging round a corner to 8. Sprinting across a patch of open land, leaping down a stair set and round the corner of a building took me to 9. To 10, I ran up a quite lane and then navigated through some more to a roundabout, where no.11 should’ve been. But the roundabout, surrounded by an Out Of Bounds busy road. And there was nothing there…

Flicking out of my moment of confusion, I realized it was underneath the roundabout! I dived down another stair set and through a series of underpasses to the control. I then sprinted up, back to the surface of the earth, and along another road to 12. 13, 14 and 15 were fun, cutting through heavily pedestrianized zones – then there was 16. 16 took me through an inside shopping area, out back to the roads, up some stairs and across a drawbridge – I was by the castle! Running round the edge, I punched my control, dashed back across the drawbridge and entered the busiest area I have ever seen on a map. I don’t mean people busy (it was fairly quiet) but the map was covered with impassable walls, hedges, steps, tiny paths, trees, statues and loads of different levels. After some difficulty, I stuck to my compass (which turned out to be completely wrong). I eventually found 17 and charged quickly onto 18. Bouncing around steps and walls, I brought myself to 19 and dashed over to 20.

21 went fairly smoothly – more fun in the shopping area – and the same with 22. I ran into the courtyard where I thought 23 would be, but it wasn’t there. After consulting the map in more detail, I found there was a wall halfway though the courtyard – wow. I punched 23 and paced down to 24, my final control. The final sprint and BOOM!

Finished.

It was a great run, honestly one of my favourite orienteering races ever. Try it next year!

JK Middle 2018

Still feeling the adrenaline from yesterday, I was about to start for the second day of the JK. The map was in my hand, I was ready to run. Beep! I sprint off along the path, studying the contours too my left for the signal to pull off the path. I suddenly see the spur through the trees, dash down along it, swipe my control. With smooth control-flow, I crash through the undergrowth, skirting along contour lines to a main path. I almost fly down the bank to the path, leap across it, and bash my way up the next hill, swiping the control on the path. I carried along the path, pounding up the hill until it was sensible to pull off, crash through the undergrowth onto another main path and pace along that. I swung round one corner and reached the next, pulling me off the path and onto the embankment, where I found my control no. 3.

I continued to smash along the embankment, then I scrambled down onto the main path and pulled off for no. 4. I still can’t exactly match my map to what happened, but I slightly lost connection and spent a minute or so running around the area it should be, before finally finding it. 5 was done just by taking a bearing, fairly simple but I definitely felt I could improve my running speed while having to destroy snagging brambles. Actually, my navigation for 5 was perfect (which, considering bearings are not my strong point – I always come off them, was pretty good. 6 was simply along a path and on a vegetation (veg) boundary. There was then a short, nippy leg to no. 7. 8  was a bit more technical and physical…

Counting spurs and re-entrants carefully, I managed to miscount one, getting slightly muddled with all the bumpiness of the contours and loosing half of the hill underneath purple cross-hatched Out of Bounds and not being able to see the control at the foot of the spur. After correcting myself, I powered back up the hill, heading towards no. 9. This control wasn’t really technical but the hills provided a physical challenge. 10 was incredibly simple, after reaching a path, the re-entrant just led me into it, which was easy, though 11 was more difficult, requiring a mix of putting tiny, indistinct paths together with contours. 12 was fairly easy, with another bearing and then swinging off a path bend. Stuff began to fall to bits at 13, starting off slowly after missing a path turn but I continued to go at a decent pace, making a new route. I also struggled to find the control, being a few meters north of the mess of thickets it was in, then going through the thickets at a different direction, repositioning my attack point. After finding the control, I build up a good pace to 14, dashed up to 15 and sprinted to the finish.

JK Sprints 2018

Yesterday. Was. Great. – the first day of the JK, the sprints. Here’s why it was great:

1. It was a sprint – my favourite event!
2. I got a championship time!
3. I got the awesome new JK t-shirts, and they are the coolest design of o-top I’ve ever had.

It was a pretty cool area in theory, a military base, but I have to say it kind of lacked the awesome element of multi-levelled areas that a lot of urbans and sprints give, which is one of the coolest part of sprits. Furthermore, the course didn’t offer that much technical difficulty, since the area was quite open and repetitive, which means the whole fast-paced decision making, which makes sprints what they are, wasn’t completely there. That didn’t stop me from having a great run!

Picking up my map with 10 seconds to go, I quickly studied the area, picking out my first two legs. Honestly, one of the things I struggle with the most at the start of the run is seeing where the start is on the map, for some reason my brain doesn’t pick out the little purple triangle as quickly as other people’s. The starting beep went…

I dashed off round the building’s corner, easily pacing to my first control, and quickly swinging round the corner to my second. I lost precious seconds punching the wrong control and slightly confusing myself but quickly sorted my problem and punched the correct control. To control no. 3, I hadn’t managed to fully plan my route, so my control flow slightly suffered, me dashing through a car park but stopping to jog halfway through, loosing more precious time. I quickly figured my route out, making plans for controls 4 and 5 as well. I dashed round the corner, through a doorway, and across a courtyard, clearly finding no. 3. Swiping my SIAC over the control, I turned round on myself, completely changing my route to no. 4 at the last second from a quick glance at the map. The route was better. Not really having that much effect on flow but probably being quicker. I punched the control, scrambled over a huge embankment (which I almost definitely should of run around, only going a meter further) and dashed round another building to my fifth control.  6 was smooth and led me straight to the ‘other half’ of the course (me mentally cutting it in halves because of where I folded the map).

Other than a short confusion with my map folding, 7, 8, 9, 10,  all went bang, bang ,bang! All short nippy legs around sets of oddly shaped buildings, the soldier’s accommodation, they were the kind of legs I like in sprints, quick decision-making, deciding which way round the building was quicker. But there was a lot of grass. A lot of grass.

11 was a slightly longer leg, taking me over to another set of buildings; 12 taking me around to the edge of the base, near a marshy patch. 13 took me back into the area where the legs 7-10 were. 14 was a killer. In theory, it was simple, in practise, it was simple: I run along a road, counting the blocks of housing until I reached the fifth block, then run up into the gap. The thing was: I. Counted. One. More. Block. Silly, tiny mistake but it took me up into the wrong gap, my confusion and extra running probably wasted a minute, something that could of made up 5 places or so. I sorted it out but – that was a big mistake.

15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, all cool, little nippy legs with small amount of route choice, heading me towards the finish. 21 took me with more complicate route choice, something that I only really considered after my run but could of made up another 10 seconds, give or take. It was whether to run around a fenced compound to the north or south (like a really small fenced off area) I ran towards the north but it probably would of been quicker to run to the south. What also made me loose time was the crazy amount of impassable fence that was all sticking out at weird angles to make an odd shaped enclosure. This meant I took it slower, careful not to get trapped in there. 22, 23, 24, awesome and fairly smooth. No big decisions but there was a collection of killer hedges I mindlessly ran through, maybe cutting my time down a bit. 25, the penultimate control – the sprint in – smooth, quick and… Bang! the finish.

It was a slightly boring area, compared to other sprints I’ve done. And there was Way. Too. Much. Grass for my liking. But I was pleased with my results, it was a cool day.

Freeboarding – Snowboarding but cooler

So the last few days have been blissfully snow-packed and I’ve had a couple of mad days off school. This normally leads to my mates and I hitting some steep hills on sledges but this year we decided to switch it around a bit. As we’re all keen skaters, we have plenty of old decks (the actual board, without any wheels or trucks (the metal bits)) lying around. We decided to try snowboarding on them. As snowboarding is already thing, we thought it wouldn’t be fair to call it snowboarding and after calling it ‘fakeboarding’ for a while, we decided to roll with freeboarding.

Walking to my friends house, I gave it a shot on this killer hill we normally use for sledging (normally destroying our sledges in the process). I hopped on, shuffled a bit and started to wiz down the slope. The wind battering my face and attacking me with blasts of icy snow, I couldn’t see the small drop formed by roots that we normally do huge airs over. The ground suddenly disappeared from beneath me and I completely lost balance, my vision going black as the world span around me. Wriggling around, I pulled myself out of a meter deep drift, which obscured a deadly bramble patch. Spotting my board a few meters away, I decided if I couldn’t deal with the easy start, there was no way I’d make it through the tree-dense, really technical area, the 120 degrees corner, which was along the steepest section of the hill, or the steep home run. I walked down the slope.

Gathering with my friends on the town’s most popular sledging area, a long meadow with a 20 degrees slope and steeper parts, we began to practice. Many wipe-outs, crashes and icy slips (if you’re trying this, put some de-icer on your griptape, it will save you endless struggles)  later, we were ready for a huge race down. There were five of us, hearts pounding, ready for the race. A warzone-like course, littered with young children. A meter vertical drop onto concrete at the bottom. We were ready.

We took a run up and jumped onto our boards (you need an amount of momentum to begin), sliding down the hill. I was in second place, catching up with the leader – until I hit an icy patch and span off into fifth. But fortunately, I was led straight into a series of half-meter rolling drops, really pumping my speed up, occasionally giving me a second or two of air time. I’d caught up into third, with the rest of my friends, the other two having  had a huge crash and were miles behind. I pumped my board, nipping at second place’s tail, and knocked into him slightly too hard, sending both of us spinning into drifts of powder. Having picked our way out, we pushed ourselves to the limit, trying to catch the other two, who had over taken us. We regrouped as a four, all in a pack, pushing each other onwards, slowly gaining on the leader (while hurtling downhill at lightspeed). Half a minute of hard racing later, we’d caught him, now back as a five strong pack. He suddenly hit a branch and went flying off forwards, while his board hit my shin, wiping me out into the legs of the other three, who cam crashing down on top of me in a huge pile of pain.

Many bruises later, we were gathered at the top of the original hill at dusk – ready for the all-new Friktion Freeboarding Fantasique. Our crazy downhill course was insane: a huge number of routes, crisscrossing down the hill; a wide variety of jumps, one up to a metre tall; a really technical section, littered with trees and turning a degrees off or hitting a berm slightly too fast or slow would result in smacking into a menacing tree; a huge, 120 degrees corner, which was at the steepest section of the hill – if you didn’t want that corner, there were many paths bashed through waist-deep brambles; a 70 degrees steep homerun, which ended in a massive jump; and just to be on the safe side, it was all lined with skin shredding brambles…

Chilled bones in the biting snow, I volunteered to take the first run. We timed them and gave each other a score out of ten based on stunts, which was subtracted from the total time in seconds. The start was so steep, you didn’t need any momentum to get going. It began with a few rolling sections of half-meter steep slopes, then slightly levelling out, before plunging into the techy section, beginning with the root jump I tried earlier. I landed the jump and swung straight into a homemade berm, which slid me between a pair of trees with a miniscule gap. I slid round a 180 corner  on a flat section and began to slalom between pairs of trees, with no room for error, while negotiating vicious roots jutting out over the track. The last pair of trees had the smallest gap between them and were after a 90 degree turn, which was only aided by a really shallow berm. I was going to fast! I’d shoot straight over the berm and crash into the brambles! I pulled a 90 degrees turn, which stopped me in a puff of powder, then rapidly pushed me into one of the perilous, cross-country bramble tracks. I slid a small grind over a particularly large root, then span into the murderous 120 degrees corner. By a cruel twist of fate, this part was particularly icy, and I span off, crashing into a huge drift of powder halfway through the turn. Miraculously, I emerged from the drift crouched on my board, without fully wiping out. I was greeted with a huge cheer and another problem. I was now on a side track, running parallel to the homerun. I skidded backwards and forwards but a huge log and a bramble patch was preventing me from crossing over. As I just went for it, bombing down the hill, I spotted a molehill, which effectively sloped me into a jump formed by the log. By the way, this log was MASSIVE! I mean like over a meter drop. I went for it anyway, airing up the molehill, which led me onto the frosty log. I slid along it, still afraid of the drop. As I picked up speed, travelling along this huge, snow-coated log, I hit a small stick, obscured by the snow. This sent me up into the air and I lost my board in my second of flight, plunging headfirst into a mercifully deep drift of snow. I was welcomed back into the world with clapping and cheering – a forty second run, with bonus points deducted (8s,9s and 10s)!

I ended up in second place overall, being bested in speed by three of the others but only losing to an incredibly fast, trickless run of 48 seconds and some bonus points deducted for the sheer speed. Unfortunately, I’m back at school tomorrow but I hope all you guys enjoyed the snow as well!

Tunstall Forest

As beams of sunlight drifted through the trees, I tied up the laces of my battered old inov8s, a great shoe choice. I wear the oroc 200, a comfortable, well-wearing, snazzy-looking beast of a shoe with ultimate metal stud grips. Definitely an awesome choice if your running mostly off-trail but be sure to check out their new X-Talon 230, an incredibly high-performance and versatile shoe. Despite being another typical Suffolk block-woodland forest, it was a sunny day and the trees seemed to glow, encouraging me to go orienteer.

My run was good fun and fairly smooth. The majority of it was running through fairly thick forest, where I make an interesting balance of the speed of running  I could tell I needed to work on my speed but crucially, the skill of map reading while tearing at breakneck pace through undergrowth. As upper year M14, I decided to run a Green course to smooth out my transition from Light Green to Blue but the course wasn’t incredibly technical. It was a fun area and keeping close attention to counting rootstock banks, I could play around with my route choice a fun amount. The area had some quite cool places as well, giving it an interesting quirk. Recently felled areas with large amount of brashings (small branches cut from trees and piled up) made for tricky but fun running, forcing me to break into a loping, leaping stride. Another outstanding feature I remember was a seven meter deep hole in the middle of an ordinary patch of forest, just sort of being there.

Finishing in first place, I stretched off (as one should ALWAYS) and chatted a bit. The event was great and really kicked of the 2018 half of the ESSOL league, with well-planned courses in an area that wasn’t too viscous but still had the undergrowth and terrain, which gives the sport its twist, in enough moderation to make the run fast and pacey. All in all, a great way to spend my morning.

Woodbridge 10k (1.5 for me)

This morning, I experienced one of the most fast paced road runs ever. A local town (Woodbridge) hosts a 10k event every year, with a 1.5k course for juniors. Although road running isn’t really an ‘adventure’ sport, this fast paced race really got adrenaline racing through my body.

The start block was cramped, lots of people packed together, all struggling for a good spot. My friend and I had agreed to try to help pace each other but I had no idea how successful it was going to be. Suddenly the volume dropped and I heard a voice: “Five, Four, Three, Two, One” Then the blast of an air horn. We were off, push and shove, everyone trying to get to the front. I got a decent place towards the front but not in the lead pack. I felt rather relaxed while running this part, knowing I should be trying harder while at the same time my lungs were screaming for air. I kept going, if anything upping my pace. I spotted my friend in front of me and tried to chase him but  couldn’t catch him up. I remained a meter or so behind him, pushing my legs to their limit. All around me, people were rushing, surging forwards and I was running too, heart racing, blood pumping. I never knew you could get so much excitement from road races, this was pretty cool. But at the time I was wishing the sun would go away and I had drunk a little more water. So far we had been running downhill nut the road suddenly dropped, the hill becoming steeper. My feet flew, momentum pushing me as much as my legs were and I was overtaking everyone. I passed so many people, just focussing on my legs and running. Suddenly the course flattened out and we rounded a corner, heading into a gradual hill leading up Woodbridge’s thoroughfare. I pushed up this hill, having caught up with my friend. For every step I took, my heart beat twice. In my mind, a massive drum beat out the pattern: 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3. This helped my mind slip away, loosing myself in the running and the drumming. Finally, we reached a corner at the end of the thoroughfare. The hill just got steeper. Running up the hill, my hair blew backwards and sweat ran down my face. I powered up the hill, maybe being overtaken once or twice but making that back up. Finally, I saw the finish. I was almost there! Energy exploded from deep inside me, a hidden reserve for the final sprint. My legs dynamited (I think that’s a word) and I became a peregrine falcon, the fastest animal in the world, flying at 200mph then I crossed the finish line and became exhausted.

Thanks for reading guys! I’ll try to get the post about the BOCs up ASAP, I’m sorry I didn’t manage it for last week. Today was exhilarating, fast and fun. I hope you enjoyed!

Hill Training

Welcome back people! I haven’t actually been doing that much recently – but have got a place on a kayaking course – so I decided to write about some of my training. Hope you enjoy!

I close the front door and slowly jog down to a nearby road with a gradual hill. My warm-up jog takes me through some beautiful woodland, following a small trial between trees. The path heads down a small slope and up onto the road. I start at a drive way at the bottom of the road and start my training. I run up to the 2nd lamppost then back down, then I run up to the 4th lamppost and run back down then finally I run all the way up the road to the 6th lamppost and then back down. From the bottom of the road to the top, its about 500 meters. I repeat this for 15 minutes and try to run faster than last time, so I can see I’m improving. Once 15 minutes is up, I run at a good pace through the woods until I reach a set of steps zig-zagging up a steep hill. Each zig-zag is about 10 meters and has 5 steps on it. I start running up, and when I reach the first corner, I run back down to the foot of the steps. next, I run up to the 2nd corner and back down. I keep going 1 corner further until I reach the top (20th corner) and then I run all the way back down. I start all over again and keep going until I reach 10 minutes. At 10 minutes, I run all the way to the bottom and head another 30 meters along the path until I find a small trail leading all the way up a steeper part of the hill. I run up this then down then up again, so I can work on running on my toes. When I’m at the top of the hill, I follow a path back to my house and stretch thoroughly.

Well that’s it! A great hill training session in 30 minutes. I do this once a week with a 5k and running sessions with my school and local clubs. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

Ambersham Common – JK 2017

I was in the start box, -1 minute, fully warmed up and rearing to go. I had high hopes because this terrain felt like home, runnable woodland and small open patches. Map in hand, I dashed off at the beep quickly noting my position and control 1. After pre-checking my loose control descriptions, I knew control 1 was at a tower. Running straight along the path, I spotted the tower in a field. I didn’t cut diagonally through the field since it was rough with waist high grass – not great for running! So when I was in line with it, I cut through the field, darting straight towards the tower like a missile. I had quickly noted the direction of my next control, ran past my 1st and dibbed it, then ran straight on through the field, crossing a path and ducking under a branch into some woodland. I used a clearing as my attack point and spotted the control like an eagle surveying its prey. I dibbed the control, glanced at my map and rushed straight through the light green forest. It was a bit of a fight, ducking under branched and dodging trunks all the time but I got through in reasonable time. I spotted an earth bank I had noted earlier when checking the map, then the control. Dashing past the control and dibbing it, I continued along a path. Hesitating for a second, I checked and double checked my map, making sense of the muddling paths then took a right turn, charged off the path and rushed downhill into undergrowth. The leg  was a mad rush through open ground, marsh and undergrowth but I quickly made it to the control. I then headed SE, hit a path, saw a pillbox (the concrete WWII  things), saw it on my map then continued south. 5 came quickly and easily and so did 6. I was picking up speed on 7 after a couple of short, straight legs and dibbed it quickly, making a split-second decision on route choice (not that it was much of a decision anyway) and dashed across a path, through a patch of woodland, along a stream and too my control. I probably could of cut a bit off the distance there but my navigation was quick and sufficient.

9 was a fair distance, not a long leg but longer than the short bunch I had just finished. Fortunately, I could cling onto a path for half of it and then obvious contours for the rest. I was slightly too high up the hill so took 10 seconds or so to actually spot the control, but when I found it, I pounced like a cheetah. 10 was a short leg but was probably my worst leg. I headed into the wrong patch of forest, slightly too far north. Once I had realised my mistake, I quickly recovered the leg and found the control. The next leg was probably my favourite. Starting with a brutal uphill, tough but fun, I raced along the hilltop, surrounded by amazing views of the forest, then quickly found my control. 12 was alright as well, along a path, then dashing into a ditch. 13 was a hard leg, with a big uphill. I powered up there, pushing myself harder than I had gone today, dashed along a path, off it and into a pit, dibbed the control then zipped along a slightly downhill path, dibbed 14, 15 then onto my final control. I had a great downhill, legs flying high, momentum pulling me as much as my legs were pushing me. I almost ran over the final control, dibbing it in the process and the got onto the sprint in. I pushed as hard as I could with my legs, still at a great speed from my downhill momentum, overtaking a bunch of people, turning round the corner and done, finished. Ambersham Common, the great second day of the JK.

Brunel University Sprints – JK 2017

*Big grin*! The JK is here guys! I’m so sorry I couldn’t post yesterday, my laptop kept dying and I couldn’t use wordpress but hey ho, I’m here now. The sprints were great! I’m  pleased with my time and positioning, not brilliant but decent.  I loved the course and area, speed and technicality. So lets get on with it.

I was in the start box, fully warmed up, at -1 minute, map in hand, ready to go. I was alert, heart pounding, blood pumping, waiting for the beep. Beep! Looked at my map for a split second, registered my leg and sprinted off. Dashing through a parking lot, dodging people and bollards, I dashed off the concrete, cutting along grass to my first control. After dibbing it, I looked at my map. I saw the next control but wasted precious seconds being indecisive on route choice. Eventually, I dashed back the way I came, then headed north. Leaping onto meter high slabs of concrete, I ran along them, dibbed the control then dashed towards no. 3. Sprinting east along the edge of the building then heading out into an open area criss-crossed with paths. I ran across the paths NE, cut round the top of a building then across a bridge. I then headed south between two long buildings then through a small gap, dibbed the control then back out of the gap. I continued round these buildings, sprinted up a set of steps then ran back north, dibbed the next control and continued running north. I leaped down a set of steps, ran back west but headed north again when I reached the original bridge but headed north along the river then hit the next bridge. Shocked at how short the distance was, I checked my map again, making sure I hadn’t misread it, then continued along. After crossing the bridge, I accidently went to number 9, rather than 7. Before fully completing the leg, I realised my mistake and quickly corrected my course. After dibbing 7, I slithered through a narrow gap between two buildings, came out in a ditch then sprinted out of the ditch and through another car park  to my control. I then went back a similar way to the way I had come, headed through a stepped courtyard, then up another set of steps to 9. I then turned round, leaped down the steps, sailing through the air and landing gracefully at the bottom of the steps. The safe, bent knees landing may have lost seconds but the leap would’ve saved tens of seconds. I ran across the stepped courtyard and headed too 10. Now this was the new bit for me, a double sided map…

I flipped the map over and saw number 10, same control, same place, same map but different controls. The transfer was relatively smooth, I was prepared after finding out what double-sided maps were like from an older junior. After another brief check of the map, I knew where 11 was and remembered passing the building on my first leg. I sprinted towards number 11, given a new spurt of energy after completing half of the course (it wasn’t very far to start with) and reached it quickly. Dibbing it, I glanced at my map and planned half of my next leg – head south and cross the southern bridge. Doing this, I planned the second half of the leg, the more technical part. After crossing the bridge, I quickly headed north, dashing between buildings and along paths, leaped up some steps, swung under a bar and dibbed the control. I knew where the next control was after passing it on a previous leg, so it was a fairly quick run to there with little map reading. 14 was also fairly simple, there was another spilt-second decision on route choice and I hoped I took the fastest route but its best not to waste too much time on route choice when at a sprint event, just choose the shortest looking route. So running along a path, I dibbed 14 and ran on, headed round the north end of the block, across an open area, round the south of a block and then north. Dibbed the control and sprinted across grass to a main path. My next control was on the north bridge I had ran across earlier, so it was a fairly simple leg again. 17 wasn’t too hard. A long leg but little route choice, so I ran what seemed most obvious in the fastest time possible. Checking the map, I saw where I was and sprinted as hard as I could to my final control, just by the statue of Brunel (in the picture above). Then it was the sprint into the finish! I felt sick, my head pounding, everywhere sweating and everything aching. Despite this, I ran as hard as I could, then even  harder, right to the finish! Beep and it was all over. Until tomorrow….

Learning to skate – The road to JK 2017

I’ve been busy today so I only have time to write a short post but here it is.

The sky was grey as I skated downhill towards the skatepark. I rode my board confidently but not amazingly. I started skating a month ago or so but haven’t really had much time to do anything. So here I was, 10:00 on one grey morning, 2 days before the JK. At the end of the road, I turned right then left, heading past the swimming pool. It was a fairly quiet day but I could here the noises of the skatepark from a mile away (metaphorically, not literally). I skated up to it, a bit wobbly on the rough concrete, went through the gate and dumped my bag. I skated over to the flatbank, walked up it and stood at the top. Looking around the park, I could see there were about 15 other people, not busy but not quiet. I rode down the flatbank, bending my knees and feeling the rush of air on the side of my head.

I headed across the park, moving purely from momentum, and headed up another flatbank, 180 kick-turned, over the fun box and headed back rouund to the original flatbank. I repeated this several times. Worked on my ollie then practised riding manual.

I skated across the path, applied pressure on my back foot, so the front of the board came up into the air. This is riding manual. Just riding on my back two wheels makes the board go a whole lot faster but is hard. As I whizzed across the park, I felt the board slipping, so I dropped back onto all fours again.

Thanks for reading, sorry it was a bit short (301 words) but I was really busy. 2 DAYS TO THE JK! REMEMBER TO CHECK DAILY!