S.E.D.J. Day 4 - Playbox-Baystation66 - Old Faithful

Can someone please explain what the hell I was thinking when I decided to cycle to work today? I can still hear that bloody wind out there.  To be honest the ride to work wasn't so bad.  The ride from the office to Playstation/Xbox/Bay66 was as bad as it gets.  I was completely soaked by the time I arrived.  My shoes were the worst, you know when you can actually judge the water level inside with your toes, no?, just me then.

The ride home was even worse. 10 wet miles into a bloody headwind after a bit of a battering at the hands of the new slidy version of the mini and a "no-pads" mini-session on the vert, was not what I needed.

What I had been in need of was people to skate with.  And wouldn't you know it the Stockwell contingent of Matt Gold, Jim Thompson and Dave Reading turned up. Love it. As did Marcus and Kev McKeon, but he was working in his shop which is in the skatepark so basically he took a tea break to come and skate with us. I still appreciate it.

Most of the night was spent skating the mini which is always fun, unfortunately tonight the ramp's surface was so slidy it taking people out left, right and centre, with no warning what so ever.  People were sliding out of stuff so much that new tricks were get done completely by accident.  I blame the bladers and their wax covered wheels.

Mat and Jim, Jim had the essentials covered then.

After a while everyone got acclimatised and we ended up having a good session with a few more of the Kingston crew, Jeremy Jones and a lad who's name I always forget (sorry dude), total rippers!

My thing tonight was just to skate everything on offer so it was a case of mini for a bit, a few runs on the vert, off to the midi-ramp, cruise round the street course and repeat.

All in all it was a good night.  I didn't go to the pub afterward as I wanted to get home a get warm again, so there was no point in being on the bicycle anyway... you live and learn.

Dave giving it a bit of the old 5-O.

Jim with some text-book front rocking.

Matt busting out the one footed ollie.

Marcus was riding his new DEATH wood.

That he'd bought from this bloke at Stand-Up Skateshop.

For Day 5 tomorrow it's a lunch-time quicky at White Grounds SE1 from about 1.15PM for about half an hour.  I haven't been there in a long time and almost forgot it existed to be honest. I'm also back on the motorbike tomorrow.

Thanks to the lads for their support tonight.  Who can tell who I'll be skating with tomorrow?

See you out there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. DAY 3 - Kingston Car-Park Curb Session

Today was the first day of this whole Skate Every Day in January that I've managed to keep my board from getting a soaking. Not that it matters, as the last two days have taken their toll. Puddles are shit.

Marcus was first on the scene.

It's strange that on a day that the weather was so extreme that it killed two people, had wheelie bins , discarded Christmas trees and fully grown trees flying around everywhere in freakish storms; that I manage to have my first dry skate.  It was also the first skate that wasn't at a purpose build park.

And the nose wheelies did come.

Tonight was the first of the smash'n'grab sessions, as I'm going to call them.  I didn't leave the house until 9.45PM.  Most nights it wouln't cross my mind to go at skate at that time of night but that's partly why I'm doing this.  It got me out on my board.  It got me skating a curb with two mates, and that is what it's all about.

As did the manual variations.

Marcus tipped me off to the spot in the first place so I was pleased he was up for a skate tonight.  Sam missed out at Sunbury and is coming back after a bit of a hiatus and curbs are a great rehabilitation tool as I came to discover myself; that is if you ignore the double hand-slap after zooming a backside-tailside.

Front-shuv-manuals even made an appearance.

It's getting late so I'm not going to on for too long.  It was fun skating with Marcus and Sam. It was also a good feeling to be ticking off Day 3, having someone to skate with is definitely helping so if you are up for a skate at the Playstation/Bay-66 Wednesday night session, you know where to find me tomorrow.

Thanks lads.

Where the magic happened.

Right, I need to stretch and get to bed. Hopefully see you tomorrow!

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J. Day 2 - Sunbury Skatepark... well, a bit of it.

So today I skated alone... I skated Sunbury...alone.  This will not be the last time this month I skate alone, I'm sure of that.  Rach and Harper were there for moral support and Sam arrived toward the end of my skate, none of them felt the urge to shred, probably due to the dangerous amount of standing water in the park.

I don't care what you say, the wet-look is so NOT hot right now.

I had my broom with me but it was 9.30 in the morning, with a low winter sun not even able to see the bottom of the bowl sections, so I had to make do with the flat bank facing the quarter of the table top. After  a good clean up even here I had to be super careful to hit the flat going nice and straight, any amount of turn and I was sliding out. But what was I going to do.. give up?

This is the bit I was left to skate.

Not likely.  It's only day 2 for Christ's sake! Anyway, I rarely skate banks so figured this was the perfect opportunity to get acquainted again.  This maybe one of the great advantages of doing this whole thing.  If this park had been dry there's no way I would have skated that bank, so already it's changing how and what I skate.

The long view from the bowl

Had the park been dry I would have had a fucking ball.  I had the whole place to myself and two other kids and the layout of the park really lends itself to cruising about and hitting the hips into the bowl, back out and head up to the quarter at the back, down past the fun looking low rail an hubbas that lead you back to the entrance to the bowl again.  I can't wait to get a dry morning down here to take advantage.  One thing to note is that scootergits are early risers and they had started to arrive in groups of three by 10.30am.

This section looked really fun.

It's far too early in this endeavor to start getting upset with the British weather, there'll be plenty of time for that.  As frustrating as it is to have this park at my mercy, covered in water on what was actually a dry bright morning I can't help feeling positive.  I snatched skate of over an hour, I didn't get rained on and I now know where to park to get to this little gem.

From the far end looking back at the bowl.

Tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow it's going to be curb skating special.  Being back at work means time is tight and being married with a little girl means the only time available to be is to grab an hour of skating about 10:30PM.  The Kingston curb is going to get it like it's 1991. If you know it then you'll know where I'll be.

Hopefully see you down there.

[LIALC]

S.E.D.J Day 1 - Off and Running.

Day 1 of Skate Every Day in January and it's probably a taste of things to come but getting a session under my belt was a great way to start the year.

If you want Stockwell to yourself, you when to go; January 1st, 12 noon.

I made it to Stockwell for touch after mid-day to find Johners already there.  Considering we had both been out celebrating the New Year , me pulling a 4.00am and Johners about 5.00am, I think we did pretty well to get out in time. It was good thing too. The park was still damp with the usual puddles but enough dry park to have a good roll, but that wouldn't last.

The gregarious, camera loving, socialite known as Johners

Johners even bought lunch. If he hadn't turned up, it would have sucked.

I know better to trust the weather-reports but when your planning on skating every day you have to get a bit of guidance. Today's weather was for rain in the after noon, at 1 it tried, and at about 2 it finished the job off good and proper. Maybe I should keep reading the weather forecasts.

Not the first time and it sure as hell won't be the last.

I'm going put today down as a success. I skated outdoors at my favorite park with a really good friend, skated my hangover away and made it home, if a little damp, just in time for a Sunday roast that Rach had cooked. Stoked!

Let's see how it goes tomorrow at Sunbury Skatepark, this one's going to be a flying visit at 9:30am for an hour. If you're in the area... you know what to do.

Hope to see you out there.

[LIALC]

NYE and the start of S.E.D.J.

Tonight it is New Years Eve and I'd like to wish you all the best for whatever you're doing tonight and for the whole of 2012.

2011 has been a great year for [LILAC] and 2012 is hopefuly going to start well with Skate Every Day in January getting things moving.

If you feel like helping me kick of S.E.D.J. 2012 then get down to Stockwell for about mid-day tomorrow.
Whatever happens have a great NYE and see you out there in 2012.

[LILAC]

Lunch-time Spot Check - S.E.D.J.

On the ride into the office this morning I wanted to check out a potential spot for some lunch-time S.E.D.J. sessions.

I'd ridden past it a couple of times and it's just as good as I thought and only a 5 minute skate from the office.  With time being my most precious resource it's nice to have options. I guess we'll soon see what the "bust" factor is soon enough.
[LILAC]

Getting Ready for S.E.D.J.

Starting to stock up on all the essentials. Curbs don't wax themselves y'know?