The Candle-light Session - Secret Spot

I've been meaning to get these up for a while now, got loads going on at the moment so it's only now that they make it onto the world wide web.

These shots were taken before the clocks went forward so we were arriving at te spotin the dark and having to get light any way we could. Head-torches, wind-up lamps, bicycle lights and candles were all being employed in a desperate attempt to light the place enough to skate it safely.  We failed.

It was lit, a bit, just not enough.  The bottom of the quarter-pipe had just been skimmed to meet the floor and the thin section at the floor started to crack up and finally big enough chunks were coming up to throw me into the face of the hip opposite.  There really isn't a lot of time to take evasive action.

Johners and James kept on shredding until we'd finished the beers and the candles were fading.

Since these pictures were taken there have been big steps forward and hopefully I can get down to help out again soon.  But for now you can all take a look at how things looked a week or so ago.

Go build something to skate.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 23 - Stockwell Skate By Street-Lamp Light.

I'm going to be quick again tonight.  I need to get to bed before midnight for once.  I was knackered anyway but after only 2 hours sleep last night, thanks to a sick and yet strangely mischievous baby, I'm on my knees.

Today was a nice change from the last couple of Mondays' lunch time skates.  This time I met up with Adam (Johners) at Sockwell for an hour. We were the only two skaters there.  Adam and I share a strange enjoyment of skating Stockwell in the dark in winter; The Park is lit much better than you would think and it's always quiet.  The cold is normally the big problem but I think we all understand that you are rarely cold while actually skating.

Adam: Red-Eye Reduction ON

I love this section of the park. Plenty of opportunities to come a cropper.

If you look closely you can see the memory of a Johners shaped carve in the super tight pocket.

You may have noticed that I'd left my digital compact camera at the office by accident so was reduced to my phone. What a pile of crap; oh well.  I got the photo's I needed.  Day 23 was a good laugh. Hacking it around the park with Johners, having a chat and generally having a nice relaxed skate.  Thanks Adam.

Tomorrow is Day 24. Tomorrow is a Tuesday...... so that means a Kingston Car Park Training session.  Hopefully see you tomorrow from 10:00pm.

Now, I sleep.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 22 - South London Street Skating Eutopia.

I don't see myself as a worrier.  I'm generally pretty good at figuring out the stuff that is out of my control and letting fate or the universe or whatever, sort things out.  Planning where to skate over the last three weeks has affected my sleep, being able to squeeze in the lunch-time skates has definitely affected my heart rate and blood pressure.  Now that I'm only 9 nine days away from the end of Skate Every Day in January I was starting to get a bit obsessive. As with many things in life, sometimes things just happen for a reason. Like today.

We had no real plan other than meet up at Elephant and Castle and go find some street spots. On my ride to E&C the sky looked a little dark and for a split second I thought rain was going to stop play but that feeling passed.  As soon as I hooked up with Adam, Ivan, Jamie, Alex and Martyn, any stress-head tendencies disappeared and all I had to worry about was staying on my board, shooting some crappy photos, missing Alex's make on his blunt-slide transfer to grind while on filming duty and laughing a lot.

Martyn going high at E&C wall.

Ivan got the grind, but preferred this shot.

This was the second time Alex made this bluntslide-transfer to 5-0 down the corner.

Refreshment break.

I don't really know what to say about this shot.

Johners' frontside bluntslide transfer close-up.

Alex Wallies over.

Work continues on Jamie's Planking Documentary.

Johners styling out his Front-Rock pop-out.

A blurry compact digital shot of Martyn's Front board.

You don't need a blow by blow account of what happened.  It's getting late, I'm completely done-in and writing this is sapping the very last remnants of energy from my brain.  Let's just say that Day 22 raised the bar.  Skating a real street spot that was so much more fun than it originally suggested and doing it with some of the best people out there.

Day 23 is going back to Stockwell.  It's an after work visit this time, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. If you are around I'll hopefully see you there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 15 - XC Park Hemel.

I've been meaning to get to this place for a while now.  And so it would seem have a few other people.  Johners, Martin and I set of in the car at around 9am and were at the park bang on 10 for the start of the 10.00-1.00pm session.  Justin was meeting us there a s he only live around the corner... lucky fucker.


We were were there for one reason.  The Pool.  And we were not disappointed.  The transitions are authentic without being completely unskatable, the surface is perfect and it's skateboards only, how sweet is that?

Not long after we'd started skating Matt and Reuben turned up and all of a sudden it was a bit of a Stockwell re-union as well as being a mini TVI reunion for Me, Justin and Martin. Skating a pool like this with people you've known and skated with for years was a bit special.  We only had to share the pool with two other guys and a couple of little rippers who must have only been 8.

The best thing about this pool is that it's not too easy to skate.  You still have to think about what your doing, maybe because we don't get to skate proper pools too often, and partly because it's got the ability to throw you off and give you a nasty surprise.  The last time I skated the pool at Saffron I was tipped off the front when I thought everything was fine, got thrown into the opposite wall and got a broken wrist for my trouble, so I was determined not to get carried away to quickly this time.

Reuben didn't seem to have any such reservations.  He was like a kid in a sweet shop, he didn't stop grinning the entire time and decided that smiths in the deep end were the way forward.  Apparently that's the only front-side grind he does, not a bad problem to have.

It will come as no surprise to you that the 3 hours of that session were 3 of the fastest hours I've ever experienced, but I was fine with it as my body was starting to send me a few messages via the universal language of pain signals. Because of how fast the time flew I didn't put a huge amount of effort into shooting photos but did remember to fire off a few before we got kicked out.

Day 15 was awesome. It's that simple. All the key ingredients for a great skate.  Thanks to everyone for coming along, I am aware the pool probably had more to do with it but, it was amazing skating that place with good mates.

Tomorrow is Day 16, the halfway point in this 31 day skate adventure. I need to mark it by going to another of my favorite spots, Meanwhile Gardens.  I'm going to aim to get there for 1.15pm, so if you want to come and help me make it over the half way mark, I'll see you there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 14 - Tolworth Return - The Local Gem.

After the fun we had at Tolworth last Saturday it was obvious where I was going to skate today.  The fact that Johners and Sam had never been to the bowl meant it was a done deal.  Having this place as one of my local skates is amazing. The fact that it's never really that busy, and even when it is the kids are all well behaved, means that you can skate it with impunity, the drain actually works meaning there are never any puddles, oh...and it's got pool coping.

 Adam had already ridden his tank of a mountain bike from Clapham to mine, about 10 miles, but was keen to see the bowl.  We picked Sam up on the way and arrived to a park with about seven or eight little scoot-kids and four or so BMXicans but we still got in all the skating we wanted, result. I even managed to talk Johners into skating the mini-full-pipe next to the park.

 

The rest of the time was spent having fun skating the capsule section and getting as many grinds on the pool coping as we could, there are few better feelings.   Once we'd run out of time I wanted to know what Adam made of the bowl... it was obvious from watching him skate it, he is now a fan.

That was Day 14 being chalked up as another success. A great spot with minimal travel and amazing weather.  Thanks to Adam "Johnners" Johns and Sam for coming along.

Tomorrow is an early start for S.E.D.J. Day 15. This time it's XC Park at Hemel to complete the double-header weekend of pool coping. We're going to the 10am to 1pm so I'd better get to bed.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 11 - More Playstation Fun Times

Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a cycling fanatic too. Last night I was talking to Jotham about some of his physical repercussions from Sunday's skate, and it got me thinking.

In cycling the ultimate endurance races are the Grand Tours, the biggest and longest of which is the three week long Tour de France, which this year will cover 2,161 miles.  In the world of professional cycle racing they say that your legs and general physicality change once you've completed your first tour de France.  It's like you can't train for it, you just have to do it and having done it once your body will kind of know what to expect and will be somehow battle hardened from having done it once before.

Could this S.E.D.J. thing be my Tour de France.  Now I'm not doing the skateboarding equivalent of cycling 130 miles a day, but I'm doing over four weeks and those guys get two days off.  What I was thinking about was how skating Every Day In January is going to have an effect on my body, my fitness and leave me changed at the end off it. Going on a trip and skating every day in a week will hopefully seem like a walk in the park.

Or will I be so wrecked that I can't skate in February?  I think I prefer the version where I'm this new kind of battle hardened skateboarder who now has the ability to take on anything.  Unfortunately the way things are going there's a danger that my skating on the 31st could resemble an avant garde modern dance performance based on the last days if the Siege of Leningrad.

Day 11 was as you probably know a London Winter staple, the Wednesday Night session at Playstation/Bay66.  When I first started going to these the sessions I would mainly be concentrated on the Midi and the Vert.  I'd be padded up and helmeted for at least half the session trying to learn airs on the vert, or trying to get involved with the sessions that used to be going off on the Midi.

Kev and Alan ready for battle.

Ivan and Johners refusing to be photographed.

Kev Firth, Matt, Jim, Alan, Neal K and Jotham were all also in attendance with most of them getting involved with the mini-ramp session and having a proper laugh for the whole time.  So that was Day 11, one of the most fun sessions so far, even though my legs were starting to show a little fatigue.

This is actually Ivan bashing his nose on thee way back down.

Kev Smithing.

Johners still being camera shy.

Ivan turning up the heat.

I knew I should have worn my white Tee.

A photo of Kev having just let go of a melon. #instamaticskatephotography

Ha! Got him.

Day 12 is a lunch-time session at Stockwell from 1:15pm. Same as usual, if you feel like a half hour skate at lunch, come down to the beach.

[LIALC]