church of skatin - fridays ablutions on masonite.

http://www.skatezoo.com/

using esoteric knowledge of the adolescent mind the Kalamazoo Church of Skatin  payed a reasonable entry fee  and had full reign of the temple pictured above. Due to the absolutely excellent weather...there was not a single person under 30 skating - and there was only two of us to pay homage to this institution of skate boarding. There was not a ramp, not a line, that was not in full control of  older adepts.  Lots of pumping...as your writer still has doubts when it comes to dropping in.   This dude though was dropping in.  Go back and watch that link.  watch what he will drop into...look at all those trees.

hay look at that...frontside...woot.

Thankfully i wore my rector portable prayer rug. Also happy that i wore a helmet.

The poor quality of these pics are the result of a camera on a phone.

one of many attempts at getting a backside grind.

no

This picture was taken on a different day. Today we had the place to our selves.

30 foot balance beam in my neighborhoood.

urban decay unveils minor fun opportunity

  I walk by this all the time taking my daughter to the bus stop. I often jump up and walk across it- just as often i hold some one else's hand to walk across it. If walking every potential balance beam is not Fun til Death....I am unsure of what is.

Not long ago i got txted the photo below.  A little window from another person having fun at that moment.

nice looking bicycle some where in portland, or.

-april 18th in west michigan

wtf?

Sneaking in some fun.

The last few weeks have been busy enough with work and family that there has been little time for any extended opportunities for fun.

Did get down to the Skatepark at Upjohn park here in Kalamazoo. During this session i got to watch some rugby matches and some pretty nice skating from this other fella. This session was notable only because i finally pulled off some frontside carves.  This opened up a number of lines that were unavailable.

Also practiced popping out on a hip....speed seems to be my biggest hold back right now.

 But since this session a week ago...I have had to sneak it in and find it in odd places.  The first odd space was the compost heap.  I have been an avid composter for a long time, and the heap i have going here has been very productive I harvest quite a bit of soil from it every year. The picture above is a nice example of the material that i get to add to the garden every year.

I have started to do regular pull ups on the outdoor bar i stuck up behind my garden gate.  The other gate has chains and concrete that I use as a slack line anchor.  If i expect to be able to lead the upper diagonal...i will need to do a lot more pull ups.

I stepped out to pick up a pizza and some food from Rasa Ria ( excellent Malaysian food) and quickly stopped being a pedestrian and jumped on the Loaded.  After getting the pizza, i misjudged a speed bump and totally went heels over head. I misread the bump..but i landed the fall- rolled with it, and came out relatively unscathed.  Some bloody knuckles...pizza cheeze shifted- a small price for radness i figure.

Goal: Lead upper diagonal

May need to do some more pull ups.
I have top roped this climb...and when i got to the top i was completely spent. Rated when 5.9 was fucking hard. I  think that i might stick it out there as a goal just to keep it alive.  
A description from the mountain project

" Upper D is probably one of the safer leads in the Park. A few years ago, I took my first real whipper on it, a 25 footer (although the distance seems to grow with each passing year), and escaped unscathed. The first crux right off the ledge protects well with a #3 Camalot, and you have sufficient air under your feet and numerous chances to place gear at the second crux. Plus you can take advantage of a no-hands rest halfway up....there is no excuse not to get on it."

geeze really...no excuse?

Perhaps a lot of left handed pull ups.
I think that i had to hang a few times on this. Perhaps a lead is not the best idea.

Training for it though would be a good one. Summer in the zoo offers a number of opportunities to take advantage of architecture for climbing.  The building below has a number of routes- the most obvious high ball is the water streaked 40 foot campus board..small two digit deep holds at regular intervals.... as this modified square of concrete ages the aesthetics of this area only improves.

And a fun spot to skate or bike too ta-boot.
 
 

Training ground