Rafe

http://www.kuow.org/DefaultProgram.asp?ID=9707 Interveiw taken from out last parkour jam at Gasworks.

Thanks Alpinfox, I saw the thing about the size and ordered a half size large. As for the shock absorbtion well for 40 dollars I think its worth giving them a try, I might stuff some gel insoles in there if its an issue but not a huge one. Thats a good find, not one of the more easily found videos. Very true to parkour actual aims and shoes some of the best practioners in the world, the orginal Yamakasi, including David Belle, Stephane vigroux and Sebastian foucan. David belle in the sleeveless red shirt is founder of the sport, Sebastian is one of the most famous practioners he is the black man. Haven't figured out which one is stephane. This also the shoot from were the famous nike presto comericial were flimed If you guys want to see parkour videos I have downloaded hundreds. I wouldn't mine sharing the better ones at all. And if you are interested in trying parkour come out and jam with us some times it doesn't require anything except a decent pair of training shoes and some comfortable clothes. Blake I am in bellingham and allways looking to help introduce people to the sport. And Yeah parkour is defineatly an extension of that type of activity, I used to do that stuff out in the woods with my brother and freinds as chalenges, and most of the best traceurs I know are former climbers who have allways been doing similar stuff.

Thanks everybody its good see that people are aware of an interested in parkour. We do have fairly fast growing parkour community with regular jams now. You can find us at our forum. http://washingtonparkour.com/forums/index.php Theres a jam every weekend at UW. Joseph as far as organization, theres probably three people you would want to talk to, me, chris pascual and Tyson Cecka. You can easily find them at our forum under the names Theonlymegumegu and Undaunted. Drop any of us a PM on our forum or here(for me) and well happily give you our contact info. If you want to go out for the local jam, drop message on undaunted. There is homesite in the works too, with media, articles, and tutorials. There also www.velosophy.us for those of you in the portland vancouver area, the have a smaller community but a nice home site. Thanks again for the advice. I ordered a pair of salomon dreamer shoes http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7156417.html and La Spotiva Superfly shoes http://www.expo.planetmountain.com/Pages/company_p.lasso?nav=n2&l=2&id_comp=6&keyID=59 Both are described as exactly what I am looking for and I was able to find both on sale so we will see how the work. Wish I could have tried them on. The montrail CTC looks to much like light hiker. As far as tread I am not worried about them getting mucked up as this more for my urban parkour shoe. Less agressive lugging is better. For rural parkour I think any good trail runner would probably do the job. I have a pair of prana stretch zion pants, but I had to take back one pair due to a problem with the fabric and had to resew the belt on my current pair before I even put them on. So my confidence in the brand is shaken. I like the look of the beyond fleece steel schoeler pant. Might ask for that as christmass gift.

Hello I am not really a climber but I think climbers might have some important knowledge for the sport I do. Its called parkour or sometimes free running. Its basically obstacle course running, except the obstacles are just what you can find in your enviorment. So we run, we jump, we vault, and we climb. Sometimes through the city sometimes through the country. I happen to be pretty hard on pants and shoes and that has inspired me too look for apparel made for people with similar demands to traceurs(people who do parkour). Climbers have some pretty similar demands. So I thought I would ask for your advice. Basically I need a shoe that runns like trail runner and sticks like a climbing shoe, so I have found theres a bunch of approach shoes that fit the description, but no one carries them so I can't try them out. Since we do a lot of jumps and drops decent forefoot shock absorption is important the heel is less important. I want to be fairly close to the ground and able to respond to what I am hitting(like a rail or tree branch). Durability would obviosly be nice. As far as pants, its all about two things mobility and abrasion resistance. I need to be able to easily go into full splits in my pants, and to run without any resistance. I need a pant that can survice occasional high speed encounters with concrete and rock and tree limbs as well. Sweet wicking, water and wind restistance would be nice but their not super important, since the car or house and a change of clothes are rarely that far away. I would like a pant that would be comfortable for summer too.