Training in the Sun

I've just got back from the morning's training near the royal palace in Madrid. Had a brilliant session with a few new things and also surprised myself generally with capability. It's nice to finally start feeling some reward for all the recent hard work.

New Things:
Front sumi on grass. This one's been bothering me for a while now but I've finally got it down on the un-sprung flat.

Improvement:
Precisions felt really nice today. Did some larger ones from a big block to a thin rail in particular. Also did a few standing jumps, clearing a bush onto a rail at right angles. This sort of thing would normally freak me out but today it just worked. I think it's simply down to the huge amount of balance work I've been doing since arriving here.

Old Things:
Back Tucks. They needed work, so I practiced them. Felt that they got a bit better but the whole tech needs breaking down really. Basically i'm not tucking tight enough but they still work.

So far a very good day for training. Still thinking about how I can film some of my recent activity. Weather is beautiful today, like summer in England, which always puts me in the mood for parkour and gymnastics. Something about the air today reminded me of when Matt and I used to go to the Quadrant all the time to train in the summer weekends.

Parkour Filming

I'm trying to think of a way that I can film some of the parkour here in Madrid and get a video up online...

There will be a gathering of Traceurs here on Saturday that I intend to attend. Hope to do some filming there too, but as before I have no way of getting the footage on here at the moment. I'll keep thinking.

Really have to start getting up earlier, we're all still on Ecuador-time really (about 5 or 6 hours behind) so it's time for some early nights. I tried to sleep early last night but couldn't get to sleep for laughter - some very funny conversations going on in our room last night and every time I thought I had drifted off I started laughing again. Will try again tonight.

Friends and Home

Had a long conversation with a close friend yesterday about everything over the past two years and in particular how friends seem to have drifted apart and the love feels like it's gone. Since I've been away it's become so obvious to me how much these friends matter and how much I was upset when that part of my life disappeared. In a way I just got used to feeling this way, and accepted that this was the way it would be.

This summer will be different. I intend to bring our group back together to include absolutely everybody; friends, friends of friends, without discrimination. The park should be the center of this. I'm not sure how yet but I want all of us to love each other like we used to. It's very important.

In other news I'm trying to write a lot more of my script at the moment but I keep hitting a block. It feels like I'm stuck on the details. There are certain things I'm sure about but it's as if I need a point to start from.

By the way if you get the chance to see Valkyrie then it wouldn't be time wasted. Fantastic but a bit sombre as you'd expect. Cruise did good.

Photos

I would like to apologise for the complete lack of photos or graphics on this blog! We are not allowed cameras on this trip, which is strange for me, and means that it will probably remain quite bare until I am home.

Cereal

I have learnt two more things since I have been in Madrid.

• Cereal should be, and is, consumed whenever possible and in as big a quantity as money allows
• I can spend as much time by myself as I need to

I have spent all my time in Madrid so far training. Yesterday evening I bumped into a resident traceur - I was beginning to think it would never happen - and we spent an hour or so training together. It was quite a relief to have someone to train with, even though I have found over the last few days that if left to myself I can get on ok, just thinking about things.

Anyway today I am taking a day out from training to settle a bit and do some writing - all my thoughts have been slowly piling up while training.

The guys I met also showed me a supermarket so now I have cereal and milk, which I am madly happy about.

So more thoughts soon but hopefully I will bump into them again before we move on.

My Website and 'Sound of the Outside'

Thought I had better post up my website portfolio for my films and music. www.benroperfilms.com

There are a selection of recently made films on there and also three tracks from the album I am writing. New Magic - A house style track with a lot of epic synth, The Plod - Hip hop style, and Rising Lanterns - which is sort of ethnic. None of my tracks use pre-sampled drums, all the drum sounds you here were created by recording the sound of hitting various things in my garden. The album's working title is 'Sound of the Outside' - a reference to the garden!

I have been making music for a while but have only just got to the point at which I am happy for people to hear it. More tracks to follow when I return home at the end of May, then eventually the full album will appear. Please let me know what you think.

Madrid Parkour

I feel like I should explain my current situation. Madrid is my current location. I'm here because I'm taking part in a series for BBC Three, which we are filming for over the next four months. The idea is that we (the group of five guys of which I am one) travel to eight locations around the world and complete some form of training in a specific discipline. Our previous location, location one, was Ecuador. Madrid is location 1.5, due to a change in schedule, so we stop here for a while before going on to Russia, which was location three. We will fit in location two some time soon.

So I've just got back from a long recce around Madrid looking for some good spots for training. Parkour is one of my main interests and I have been training for around 5 years. I come from Hertfordshire in the UK where we have an online forum for anybody who would like to come and train with us (www.hertsparkour.co.uk). Anyway, I have discovered that Madrid holds a lot of promise for Parkour and I am actually surprised that I did not see anyone training.

I feel good about my level of ability today. For a long time I have been feeling down that my progression is not as I would like and I feel like I have been limiting myself. However, as is my usual way having not been able to do much Parkour for a couple of weeks now, I return to it and find that everything feels more refined. Also it is fantastic to be given new training locations every week or so.

Also on my travels I have discovered an amazing vegetarian sandwich bar called 'Maoz', that I now hope to visit for breakfast and lunch every day. As if I needed any more encouragement to find food it is opposite a Pizzeria that smells amazing but that I have not yet had a chance to try. I am glad that I have found this road as it has so far been extremely difficult to find vegitarian food in Spanish speaking countries.

This evening I think we are going to go out for a bit of a rave with some others from our hostel. Firstly I think I will have to try out this pizza place.

First Post

Welcome to the blog! Here I hope to put notes on travel, film making and parkour training.