Heaven & Hell – Dabbled A Little Bit In Both Today.

Today started off pretty good, with the typical 5x snooze button press; you know, i haven’t quite figured out why i do that to myself, but it seems logical first thing in the morning. I got up and had myself a little shave with cold water (cause that’s what was available)… not one of my better ideas, but if ripping the hair out of your face is what you’re going for, i totally suggest it. First things on the list today were some media interviews at the track, skating is realllly big here and apparently they wanted to know what i had to say… im not really sure why, but if thats what they want… who am i to keep that from them haha. After the interviews, i skated around with some kids that practice at the track here in medellin, took some pictures, signed a couple shirts, and then headed off to have some… you guessed it- sushi in colombia. Okay, you probably didn’t guess that, because i was shocked when they told me they had good sushi this far south of the border, but they were right, it was pretty enjoyable.

 
The sushi place sits right in this little part of town that houses a ton of good restaurants apparently; think of it like a mini down town i guess. Around this little area there were some interesting… ehh, things:

Im not really sure how to explain this exactly, but i’m going to give it my best shot. Man with weird shaped chest is gettin’ DOWN on his air flute whilst his lady friend, who has the biggest thighs on the planet, likes him enough to play along (he must have a good personality cause he’s definitely not well equipped)… or they’re both trippin on that colombian good good… either way, its different so i decided to give her leg a big hug, it was a good fit.

Moving on to street signs:

Ya. I don’t speak spanish, but my guess is this says, “calculators permitted, but only if they have the ability to print, oh, and they have to be about as big as your head.”

To me this one is pretty obvious, “people that walk like robots can cross here, but you have to be wearing a garter way high on your leg.”

“I used to be so tired all the time, but since i got this new back pack that conveniently allows me to carry 4 gallons of piping hot coffe on my back, im always alert and ready… thanks camelbak.”

I used to think all arepas were stupid, until i found this store. This is proof that all you need to be intelligent is a pair of glasses.

Ever get a tattoo when you were younger and regret it when you got older? Her neither.

And last but not least, you thought china was bad about making whatever they want… think again lol Colombia 1, China 0

Anyway, so you’re probably wondering about the title of this post… or maybe you were oblivious to the fact that it even had a title, either way, let me elaborate. Heaven: they found my bag, it was delivered, with all the contents, this made me happy. I got to eat sushi and mexican in the same day… 2 of my favorite foods… to you normal people that doesn’t mean much, but i love food. Hell: 1 lap on, 2 laps off, 3 laps on, 4 laps off, 5 laps on, 5 laps off, 4 laps on, 3 laps off, 2 laps on, 1 lap off, 1 lap on, 2 laps off, 3 laps on, 4 laps off, 5 laps on, 5 laps off, 4 laps on, 3 laps off, 2 laps on, 1 lap off, 1 lap off, 2 laps on, 3 laps off, 4 on, 5 laps off. Yea i typed that right. This is all on super soft wheels that made my legs not like me so so much. Probably the most miserable interval set i do… it never gets easier, it sucks just as bad each time.

After the workout, we started the clinic which was basically a 2 hour q&a followed by about an hour of me just talking about what will be covered in the camp and things like that. The original plan was to skate, but as you can see below, the weather didn’t like that idea so much.

Now the day is over and i want sleep. (abrupt ending i know)

VIVA COLOMBIA!

Alright guys, kind of an interesting trip so far. First off, I got stuck in Panama City last night because there was maintenance issue with my plane from Houston to Panama, causing an awesome delay, ultimately resulting in me missing my flight to Medellin, and of course, losing my luggage… which is still no where to be found. On the bright side of things, as soon as i arrived in Colombia, my ride was there and super hospitable. We took a trip up the mountain to a little city called Guarne, where the world championships are going to be hosted this year. Below are some photos of the track I took:

From what i can gather, and you might be able to see some of this in the pictures, is that the track is very similar to the infield of the geisingen track in germany. It’s by no means smooth and my prediction is that after only a few laps of grinding, you’re wheels will have noticeable cat tongue. As far as layout and dimensions, it looks pretty damn good… not as wide as some tracks we’ve seen at worlds before, but also not so skinny that you can’t comfortably pass if you want. As with all flat banked tracks, the racing will be a little boring, with only 1 true fast line…  I miss the parabolic style racing. One thing is for sure, if they choose not to resurface this track before worlds, you better bring a stock pile of wheels, because i think this guy is going to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner… oh, and don’t fall down, whatever you do.

The road course is yet to be built, but if you take a look at the first photo, the chick in the purple is standing probably about where the finish line is going to be (i think). Below is a little diagram i came up with from memory of the schematic that i saw, showing the shape of the road course, which should also be quite interesting with very minimal passing opportunities… this is a basic shape:

I didn’t get a chance to skate on the track yet, they asked if i wanted to, but seeing as my clothes are lost in limbo somewhere, i had nothing to skate in.

From the track, we got some food… and you know my inner fat kid suggested none other than the famous El Corral; for those of you that don’t know what that is, think of the best burger place you know of and its comparable to that. In the bathroom at el corral they had some interesting pieces of porcelain:

Yea, you pee into that little thing. I guess it’s logical, thinking about it, why are typical urinals so damn big?

Oh, and i cannot forget the toilet:

you know… in case you want to pee into a toilet, because obviously, they do not want you sitting down lol. But i mean they were courteous enough to put a little rail to hold onto while you’re doing your wall sits as you attempt to go to the bathroom… perhaps that’s why they’re so good at skating here in colombia- no toilet seats… they’ve been building a tolerance for that position all their lives lol.

Anyway, the host of the clinic is Jose Bustamante, he runs a skating company down here in Colombia; the guy is incredibly nice and selfless. He set up a room for me in his house that is furnished like i’m staying in a 5 star hotel, it’s comfortable to say the least. Seeing as i have no clothes, he hooked me up with a few items… one of which caught my attention of course:

Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, it says “a underwear” to which i quickly contested, “NO, THIS is a v-neck” haha. Now i get to walk around colombia looking like justin stelly, kinda, this one isn’t made by hurley and doesn’t come with a little useless pocket on the front. lol (jk stelly, but seriously, you love you some v-necks from hurley with pockets on them that you never put anything in) hahaha

Now, i’m chillin at jose’s house relaxing a little until about 5, then it’s time to workout. There’s about 43 tracks here in medellin, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one to skate on… but the weather might not be so lenient, could be an off skates day, we’ll see.

Hill Run

 

First hard workout since trials… felt good, i’ve missed the pain. Here is a clip from one of my 100’s- below was the workout:

5 walks
5 jogs
5 runs

4x100m   (2 standing, 2 rolling)
4x200m   (2 standing, 2 rolling)
2x300m   (1 standing, 1 rolling)
2x500m   (rolling)
1x1000m  (rolling)

The efforts were supposed to be at 85% focusing mostly on technique, but i think the 1’s and 2’s were no less than 95%.

And this video doesn’t do this hill much justice… its tough.

Bein Fat, Unflexible, But Comfortable

Road Trials, Making the Team, and Being Tired

Track Trials Recap

 

Going through each race at trials.

GOT A LOTTTT TO WORK ON.

wow. rolled the front foot. set the right foot down too vertical on acceleration and swung too wide out of first corner. chicken armed the 2nd corner, sloppy and no extension. 2nd straight too reserved, left arm barely swung full, got scared of the speed and stopped stepping before i even got to the corner. took a terrible line going into the last corner, should have stayed high. once i slowed to enter corner, lost the lock in my hips and lost traction, leaned forward and just had a miserable exit because of it. a lot of upper body movement in the final stretch and really didnt finish my strokes. some kind of awkward hawk at the line hahaha i’m a barney, but theres 8 weeks to go, so lets get 2 fixin’