Cirque Eloize: "iD" Show

In a few days, the most unexpected coincidences followed one another so that in the end, I found myself in the VIP area at the Grand Rex theater watching the show "iD" of Cirque Eloize, with Seba team mate and superstar freestyle slalomer Korean Kim Sung Jin performing in it!

It all started with a forgotten SD card story.
Londonner Keanoush who was staying at my place for the Fashion Week had footages belonging to Sung Jin on his hard drive. We made the most of Sung Jin's touring in Paris to have dinner together at my place, which was the occasion to meet together ("long time no see...") eat home-made sushis and take-away pizzas, and transfer the crucial footages for an upcoming video, which Keanoush was holding hostage for months, into Sung Jin's SD card... Which he unfortunately forgot when he left... The African beers from the shop down the street must be to blame...

I sk8ed Frisco

In 2010, I had skated San Francisco with Inline Skates (and rockered wheels). In 2012, I did it with quad skates. I want to publicly thank Google for their new special SF application on GoogleMap, indicating the flattest streets for bikes.

That stuff did not exist back in 2010 and that first time was quite a discovery. I would had known in advance what I had been about to do, I would have cancelled my little solo tour. With hindsight I do not regret it, and I actually like to brag about it... but it was intense:

Chinatown, the Coit Tower, Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Warf, Marina Street down to the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Cruz Skateshop on the Mission, back to the Hostel, shower and shuttle to the airport where I slept on the carpet waiting for my morning plane.

As far as I remember.

Must have forgotten one or two stops and a couple of hills.

This time, rather than doing a 8-hour tour, I just went for a little skate from the Mission to Haight Street, following google map's advices -- which I knew could be trusted, as Karla and I had had a try the previous day to go to the MOMA (loved Cindy Sherman's exhibition, btw).

Flat, smooth and sunny on top of that.

[bootlicker mode on] I <3 Google. [/off]

I obviously got lost (it is some kind of ritual), and asked for my way in a dry-cleaning laudry... run by a Chinese... who did not speak English. Fail. Hopefully, the next person, an old lady taking her dog out, helped me a lot, mentioning a Frickin' Fried Chicken I had already spotted (classy).

And you know what? I skated into the Chinese guy on my way back and he said hello. How probable is that?

I am Legend... am I?

Lately, SebaSkates added me to the "Legend" skaters of the team!

Seba is my inline skating sponsor who, in 2007, offered me to enter the freestyle skating Dream Team, the Seba Team. Since then, I had the chance to travel around the world and take part in hundreds of freestyle competitions thanks to Seba. I'm still representing the brand each time I get the occasion, and I recently started to take part in SkateCross competitions under the Seba colors.

The "Legend" labelling is a great honor and I'm proud to achieve this position while I'm still alive (haha).

Have a look at my PROFILE on the SebaSkates Website.

...and if you want to know more about that addictive sport and the life I had before, check out my freestyle website: Close Yr E's -- It's all about rock'n rollerskating...

Bad Habit...

My good habit turned into bad habit.

When I feel myself falling, I anticipate before I touch the ground in positioning myself in a secure position. It's instinctive. I've acquired this habit along my dozen years of inline freestyling without pads. I'm thus used to land with optimal positions to preserve my knees, buttocks and wrists.

Good habit, right.

My Top-3 landing techniques:

• American Splits: (my fav. by far) it's the best one to disguise your fall into a super-stylish cartwheel at low height ending up with smooth American splits... and up!
• Push-ups: using my arms like springs to smoothly get lower as possible and get up.
• Save-Yr-Ass Technique: That's the very one about which this whole article is about...