So today I've made a lot of my friends incredibly jealous because I went to The Crystal Maze. Originally a television game show from the 90's that pretty much the whole UK nation was hooked on. In a nutshell contestants enrolled individually into a games room. Their teammates scream assistance from outside. If you're successful you'll gain a crystal. Each crystal entitles you to 5 seconds in the last challenge, the Crystal Dome where you have to collect as many foil credits as possible. This new maze was crowd funded on IndieGoGo. I still remember watching the energetic video pitch (see video below) for the first time and that it sounded far too good to be true, especially as there is always an element of risk with crowd funding. Therefore I decided to not purchase the final ticket but instead I bought a pair of 'tester tickets,' for half the final price. We were one of the first groups to try out the maze before official opening. As a tester we understood that we may not be getting the complete experience. Having said that I tried not to let my excitement get the better of me, as the organisers have a lot to live up to! The location of The Crystal Maze was under tight wraps and for a long while we were only told it was in a secret location in Kings Cross. It's actually very convenient to Angel station. There are plenty of free lockers for you to store your belongings whilst you partake. We were required to put away our phones and cameras so no sneaky pics from within the maze here. (Pics from the lobby). There are a few variants on the show that make the experience more practical and enjoyable. For starters you are assigned to one of four teams, each with no more than eight participants. My friend Andy and I were on a team with six others. They got us to don the distinctive television show jackets; these uniforms made us strangers feel part of a team. We were then ushered into a room where clips of the show were played to us reminding us of why we were here. After the video finished our maze master appeared. We all know that no one could ever beat the original presenter Richard O'Brien, but our new host was brilliant. His own charisma and energy was a real part of the experience. Quick fire questions were shot at us before being asked to introduce ourselves. His witty and hilarious interaction broke the ice. We were given a group salute to shout that was was ridiculous but fun, revving us all up for what was ahead. As the Crystal Maze theme tune began the maze master beckoned us to follow his lead through a narrow door. The sets for the four themed areas, Medieval, Aztec, Industrial and Future zones were well constructed. You can see a lot of attention went into the details. As you look around you're instantly taken back to fond memories of the show. In addition some areas had smells emitted to help immerse you in their different worlds. To get around it involved a mix of running, climbing and crawling, with an optional slide to enter the Aztec zone. Someone on another team twisted their ankle on the slide but it was no more hazardous than being in a kids' outdoor park. I was elected as team captain so whenever it was time for a new game our maze master would turn to me with beaming eyes as to who I'd want to partake in a skill, physical, mental or mystery challenge. Once I'd made my decision he'd set us running through the maze. I'm sure we were running back and forth through the same rooms but I did feel like we were the only ones running through this labyrinth. Maybe once I saw a staff member but otherwise they did a good job behind the scenes of keeping up this illusion. The Games. On our first game, our player just entered the room and the rest of us popped our heads through several windows to see a peculiarly shaped tree that sat in the middle of this medieval room. We could see our teammates peeping through another set of windows, leaning in with their green Crystal Maze jackets. Immediately we started shouting advice and the maze master announced the clock had begun and we were determined to win our prize. That was a magic moment. Wow, they've nailed it. I am in the Crystal Maze. I don't want to go into too much detail with the games as I feel the fun is actually working out what on earth you are suppose to do! All games were 2 minute long. Some of the games were identical to the show, or at least the ones I remember. The scenic artists and games designers did a superb job in getting everything looking right. We periodically kept looking at one another and saying "this is amazing." A few of the games were easier than others. For example when you had to navigate your way through a room without touching the lasers, our guy just crawled all the way along the floor with ease. The tile-shifting puzzle on the other hand seemed impossible to do in the given time. However as testers our feedback will allow the organisers to tweak the rules for individual games to make them more fulfilling. Those who watched the show would remember Mumsie. People have asked and unfortunately she was not there today, however this will be a feature of some sort... Traditionally if you didn’t escape the room within the time limit or made too many game faults you would get an automatic lock-in. One of our members faulted and was instead escorted to some chains where he was ‘tied up.’ He remained there until the next game, during that time he had to work out an answer to a question to win back his freedom. Lucky for him he got it right but I’m not sure what would have happened beyond multiple fails… (Would be a pretty rubbish experience to be left there for the rest of the time). On their site they mention a special jailbreak challenge... As my blog stems from obstacle running I naturally choose to do the physical tasks. These challenges did seem easier than the other tasks as it was generally straightforward in what you were required to do, that's not to say they weren't fun. It was great constructing my stairs to climb my way up to grab my first crystal! Although each team member only played two games each I can say I could feel my heart pounding after every round. It was very exciting shouting advice and rooting for your teammates. This is a brilliant team experience. The Crystal Dome. Before we entered each team announced the number of crystals they had won. We got eight, which on the show was quite a lot. Other teams scored higher with eleven! The first group stepped into the dome, with it’s door modified from the one on the show to cater for the chunkier contestants that may participate. "Can you start the fans please?!!" bellowed out each maze master before his team's grand moment. I nearly cried when I looked at the dome with the theme tune once again blasting out. A childhood dream of many comes true. Previously the closest I got to this experience was throwing Monopoly money in front of a fan. The one difference with the game rules was that there were no silver credits to deduct from your total. Just grab everything! They measured the credit by roughly assessing how much of your box you've filled up. I guess it's just more practical than manually counting each credit. To be honest I think everyone was just happy to play and not actually bothered by the results. Only thing that was a little weird was that our maze master got us to boo the opposing teams when they came out of the dome. We knew it's only silly banter but I can't say it added to the experience in a positive way. We had forty seconds in the Crystal Dome. It was pretty tricky grabbing the credits just flying up in the air. Harvesting the foil that clung with static on each other’s jackets was much easier. The outing ended with the scores announced. Joint second place for us. Summary.
The Crystal Maze was fantastic and is one of the best events I've been to which left me on a 90’s nostalgic high. I love how they got us to wear the classic jackets to run, crawl and slide from Medieval, to Aztec, to Industrial and Future zones before finally entering the legendary Crystal Dome. While the full asking price of £60 for a 90 minute experience will definitely put people off, a lot of people would happy to do this as a one off. At the time of writing it's fully booked till November and that's without people knowing how good it actually is. So although it's only scheduled to run till March 2017 I think it's got a lot longer shelf life and I would love to see this as a permanent London attraction.
0 Comments
Fast work outs has it's benefits but so do super slow ones. By reducing your speed it almost becomes a meditative session as you count the time in your head. You also don't have negative impact of repetitive motion, especially if your technique is imperfect. Also at this speed you can have a better chance of noticing something you are not doing correctly. By doing slow workouts you can really feel the different muscles engaging as you move into each stage of the overall motion.
The video above shows me starting with a 10 second dead hang, before a 60 second chin up. I definitely noticed I rushed the last bit as I was feeling the burn! I Attempted a second rep, but will have to leave that till another day.
Without doubt the Berlin Double Marathon weekend was the pinnacle of the year. I finally achieved a sub 1:30 skate marathon time as well as accomplishing my first ever run marathon. The training was tough both physically and mentally. Along the way I also completed a bunch of other new races, including a number of other double event weekends and even had time to design a medal for one of the events. I lost a GoPro but got this massive medal holder. (I still would have preferred my camera). This has been an action packed year that has ended with me enrolling in yoga. Whilst I've dabbled with yoga with friends before, I'm now enjoying actual classes and the contrast it gives to my usual sporting activies. I've already signed up for a few obstacle events next year. For me it was disappointing to see that some events, namely Nuclear and Nuts Challenge have increased their "early bird," prices by £30 on top of what it was this time last year! (I'll be skipping them this year). There are quite a few other events to keep me busy besides anyway. Overall 2016 will be a little low key than this year, but the absence of marathon training should mean I can focus my energy on other things! 2015 events that gave finishing mementos: The Nuts Challenge (2 laps) ; Dirty Dozen (London South); Electric Run (London); Urban Ninja (Tooting Bec); Tower of London Run (10k); Spartan Race (Allianz Park); Nuclear Rush (6k); Tough Mudder (Midlands); London River Rat Race; Dublin Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon; London Inline (half) Marathon; Run to the Beat (Wembley); Berlin Inline Marathon; Berlin Run Marathon. We're in a strange era of time where our computing devices, applications and commercial companies are actively encouraging us to take 'selfies.' I can see a spectrum of people ranging from the narcissist to the people who loath social media.
Today however I'm in the pro camera camp. I think it's such a useful tool to be able to capture what you're doing and go back and review your progress. Earlier this year I took part in Urban Ninja where one of the obstacles was the Salmon Ladder. A chin up bar which required you shift the pole up the ridges. I failed. However upon editing the video I discovered I was a lot closer to achieving the task than I initially thought. In the above picture I got the height, but was lacking the correct trajectory. This gives me a little self confidence, a motivational boost as well as some feedback as to how I can improve for next time. This is the first video of me doing this but I executed it first back in April when we were just messing around on some monkey bars. We were at first trying to do a clap, but found reversing the grip a more achievable alternative.
In the video I've edited the last two switches with slow motion. I've always had a big appetite so am somewhat concerned about how much I will need to consume when I'm in the full marathon training swing, so I started to look into whey protein. The suspicious big tubs of powder with it's testosterone inspired designs have never looked appealing but after some research they do seem to make sense. Your body can only absorb so much protein at a time. (Apparently just 30g an hour). Therefore you should space out your consumption throughout the day into smaller intakes as oppose to one mega feast. So making a quick milkshake during the day is much easier than creating a full on meal, especially if you're training outside and you need to get some nutrition in you as soon as possible. (Lots of sources say within ten minutes of exercising is the prime time to do so). Whey contains all the essential amino acids required to support muscle maintenance,' as Holland and Barrett's own brand Precision states on the packaging. The whey powder is traditionally mixed in a shaker with milk but to be honest it looks disgusting which is another reason why I've avoided this in past. Whey is derived from milk so as a self diagnosed lactose intolerant person I decided to try the smaller size sachets first. I mixed mine with hot water in the hope it dissolves easier. No such luck. It looks like poop in a mug. Smells like e numbers. Taste isn't actually that bad, but the lumpiness made it harder to down. (It does say to use a blend but who has one at work?). I'm already thinking maybe some kind of protein oat nutty bar may a better option. Anyway, I got another sachet tomorrow in this experiment so lets see how my lactose intolerant stomach handles it... <Follow Up. 20.01.15>
So it seems that my stomach can handle the whey protein powder, no queezy stomach feelings. This is good however I think I'll try and find a brand which doesn't add extra sugar or flavourings...
Having heard about the Redbridge Cycle Centre I have been eager to test out the track as they invite skaters to use their facilities too. This place is also much more convenient for myself to travel to than the regular training grounds my fellow skaters go to. It cost me £4.10 for 2 hours use of the full road track. They also have a mountain bike track and bikes for hire. For latest costs click here. It seems like this location is very popular with clubs as so many evenings and weekends are fully booked for private session. So if you’re planning a visit it’s best to check here or even give them a quick call to make sure it’s free for public use! Location. The nearest tube station is Fairlop on the Central Line with a 27 minute walk, or Hainault where you can catch the 247 bus for a bit of a detour but gets you a bit closer to the location. I opted for Fairlop station as I am never one for waiting for busses. Next time however I’ll probably skate the route instead of walking as the pavement is fairly flat. There’s lots of parking space if need as well. Facilities. In the main building there are plenty of changing rooms which are clean and well kept. A few showers were accessable too. There were lots of lockers, even the small ones had plenty of space inside. A drinking fountain was handy but vending machines offered more if you wanted. Conference rooms were available for the more organised folk as well. The Track. Usually you ride in a clockwise direction but this can change depending on the day. The track starts with a steep left decline which was a little hairy the first time down, which you can’t appreciate from their Youtube video. It was really fun though and you get used to it after a few laps. The track has a few junctions so you can opt for a more casual loop at the bottom which I found nice for practicing technique. I chose to do the full 2km loop to start with as it gave me a chance to do some hill training on the way back up the circuit. The hill seemed to have a comparable incline to the hill at Le Mans, (I hadn’t fully recovered from my Le Mans weekend event when I went so my judgement may be incorrect !) but of a shorter in distance. It took me just over an hour to complete 11 laps of the full circuit to complete a half marathon. My trip was midweek from 11am, so I thought I may be the only one there as I had a day off work. However there were also a retirement cycle club, a small school group as well as a few solo cyclists. It was nice that they didn’t seem to mind a skater using the track either and some gave me the friendly nod. Summary. Redbridge Cycle Centre is a really nice place to skate and I will no doubt be attempting to use this facility in the future, especially in the lead up to any events incorporating hills. My only gripe is one I mentioned earlier about clubs pretty much hogging all the key accessible hours of the week. I can understand why bookings are done which means there is a demand for locations like these. Hopefully more cycle track centres like this may be constructed in the near future. My friend Simon has been encouraging our Tough Mudder team to join him in climbing and bouldering in preparation of the Mudder event in April. Our team are mostly skaters so we tend to neglect our arm muscles. Having found excuses every week I decided to just get involved today.
Previous Climbing Experience. I've done the odd climb on school outings. My last climb was at Thorpe Park, the wall cost £4 to climb and was over in 30 seconds. The Westway Sports Centre. Located in West London, it is just a short walk from Latimer Road station. As you walk towards the entrance you could see numerous football and basketball pitches making use of the shelter under the Westway flyover. Simon took me in as a guest but I was still required to become a member which involved filling a form plus a £5 fee for the year. I also needed to hire some climbing shoes and a harness which came to another £5. Lockers were available, you need a £1 coin but you get it back. Climbing. Simon showed me the ‘ropes.’ It took me a while to remember the exact knots to perform but I seemed to have got it by the end. On my first climb I had one of those heart-in-your-mouth moments when I fell off. (Yes the knots worked). Nice to feel alive. Westway has a lot of climbing walls with a mixture of wall structures, some flat, some more rugged, some with overhangs and one massive concrete structure outside. All walls have different routes to take which were marked by the different coloured climbing holds. They change the holds on the walls every month so it keeps your brain engaged if you come regularly. I took the easier routes but still had to ‘cheat,’ a few times and use whatever was available when there seemed to be physically no other way to go! Bouldering. This is a form of climbing which you do without ropes or harnesses. Again different coloured routes offered multiple challenges on the same wall. I found myself in some strange Twister like pose when I got stuck. We stood back and watched the more experience climbers do the same route and it was amazing to see the grace they perform through their movements. You could almost imagine they were flowing along the wall to a tranquil music beat. Simon and I found an angled wall which the holds were organised in a circular fashion. Apparently we were supposed to do circuit loops of this. We struggled to get even half way around. It was still fun giving it a go. The correct technique is to let your legs do most of the work and hang from your arms stretched out, as relying on arms muscles alone will tire you out a lot quicker. A few times I had to just pull up with the arms as there seemed again to be no other way to progress and yes it wasn’t something I could do too frequently! Summary. Simon was brilliant with his patience passing on his knowledge. The facilities at Westway were really good and there are a lot more on offer besides climbing. We were there for two hours and my last climb had truly exhausted me. The next morning I had slight pins and needles feelings in hands but it was less achy on the arms than I thought I'd be. I’ll be back again soon but with all the other interests it’s going to be hard to find time to do everything… |
Categories
All
"Any tips, reviews and advice are my own opinions and are not to be taken as professional view points. The information on this site is what has worked for me and is here for guidance only, but I hope you gain insight into the various activities I partake in." Jonathan Chen Archives
December 2019
|