Todays Set-up:
SECTOR 9 pintail 46"
RED STAR 180mm trucks
SECTOR 9 'Nineball' wheels 72mm 75A
MINI LOGO bearings
You know what they say about the weather here in the UK? If you don't like it...wait a minute! Well, the weather window that opened up to let me get out for Day 2 of my training has been firmly shut again since then. If it hasn't been raining, it's been high winds...or both. And if it hasn't been both of those it's been REALLY low temperatures, keeping the roads and pavements wet throughout the day. The wind even took some slates off my roof, narrowly missing the car. Haven't had my motorbike out since Boxing Day. Have barely had my mountain bike out, so not much chance with a longboard. And it's not over yet. Tonight (Mon 6th Feb) it's very icy and cold out there, and while we haven't got any snow here in Southport, some parts of the UK have had a pretty heavy dump of the stuff, if you'll pardon the expression? All very frustrating when all I want to do is get out there and get some miles under my belt. But hey, it's only the beginning of February. Early days yet and plenty of time before the ride in September, and I did manage a few miles on Friday morning.
Yes indeed, Day 3 of training consisted of an hours pushing around the seafront area here in Southport before going into work in the afternoon. The sea wall has a nice smooth surface and we have a man made lake, the 'Marine Lake' and 'Kings Gardens' that provide a good 8 mile figure 8 to train around when I don't have the time to keep training on the different sectors of The Long Push route plan. Friday morning was freezing again, naturally, but it had been dry for the previous few days, so for once, the planets all lined up to allow me to get out for an hour at least. Dry, not in work until the afternoon, nothing else pressing in life that I HAD to do. Cool! Beautiful blue sky too, as you can see on the photo from when I'd just finished.
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| "It's mine and you can't have it!" |
WARNING! GEEK ALERT! - OK people, I'm going to do a bit of techy type writing about equipment now, so I hope the non-skaters among you will stick with me, but if not, just tune out for now and I'll let you know when it's safe to come back, OK?
I tried the third different set-up so far today, the Sector 9 pintail in the pic above. Bought this deck on holiday in Cornwall a few years ago. Beautifully shaped deck, with a great camber and concave. It really is a beautiful piece of wood. Over the years it's had different trucks and wheels on including Randal 180's and 3dm Avalons, but currently it's as stated at the top.
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| Those Red Star 180mm trucks, plus soft angled risers |
I really don't know too much about the RED STAR trucks. I got these from Johnny Antrobus when he was (sadly) winding up Buffalo Longboards here in the UK. Johnny was selling off the stuff they had left in their garage and was selling these for just £10 a pair! At the time I wondered if I should have got two sets and now I wish I had! They have a standard skate truck geometry, unlike Randals or Holey's reverse kingpin, so they don't turn like those. In a way they are less responsive than the likes of Independents or Krux trucks too, but they have a beautifully smooth action, which makes them perfect for cruising, but still allows pumping on any half decent surface. This smooth action and lack of 'twitch' is pretty appealing for the full 100 mile ride actually. The ride height is lower than Randals too, making pushing on a top mounted deck less of an issue than some might suggest for any long distance skating. Certainly didn't trouble me at all today, but then I guess it was only over 8 miles or so.
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| 72mm, 75A, and look! You can see right thru 'em! |
The Sector 9 'Nineballs' are awesome wheels. The hollowed plastic core gives them a much 'harder' feel than their 75A durometer and yet they still feel really smooth and grippy. They'd have rolled even better today with a new set of bearings, but I was just using an old set of Mini Logos that are probably past their best, but still did the job well enough. Overall the whole set-up feels like a good contender for the full ride, with maybe a tweak here and there. I'm aiming to have the set-up decided by the time I get to up to Sector 9 ;o) (did you see what I did there huh?) or maybe Sector 10 of the full ride in training. Then I'll stick with it up to the full ride itself. Still, more testing to be done yet.
Watch this space...
OK, NON-SKATERS, you can come back now. Or hopefully you're still with me anyway, right?
So, the good news to end is that the Facebook 'likes' are now up to 144 at last viewing, sooooo...200 for end of February is a real possibility. Keep sharing folks, the more 'likes' the page gets the better we can raise autism awareness, and that's what the whole project is about.
Also, the donations are now up to £180! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED SO FAR. Such a great start to the donations. Again, please keep sharing links to this blog and the 'Just Giving' page here: http://www.justgiving.com/TheLongPush
And now it's possible to donate by text too. Vodaphone have linked up with just giving to allow FREE donations to THE LONG PUSH 2012/FAMILIES CONNECTED by text message! Donate any amount from £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. To donate £1 simply text this code LFAA50 £1 To: 70070.
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| Sunset along the sea wall from a year or so ago |
And finally, the keen eyed amongst you will have noticed that the "big announcement about the first two sponsors" hasn't been posted yet. Correct. No problems with that. Just waiting for approval of the blog post from one of the sponsors before I post it. The least I can do for a company showing me support is to make sure I'm showing the same support in return. Again, watch this space.
A long 6 day week in work now, so keep yer eyes on the Facebook page and Twitter for quick updates. Until the next time, keep sharing, keep donating (if you are able), keep your head when all around you are losing theirs, and keep on rollin'.
Chris
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