Back at it!!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for keeping up with my progression with this trick. Now that we have more light during the week it will get abundantly easier to make more post. After I get my bike operational again...this week. I will show you were I am at with this trick. Its not going to go as fast as I was hoping but I am still making progression. I have had a few good rolls and gaining more control. I am hoping this Friday my bike will be back and I will make the long awaited update.

Thanks for everything!

Keep on Riding!

Journey into the Crack Week 12

Wow its been another week already. Yeah the weeks are coming around quickly and its almost Christmas. It would be nice if Santa brought a nice new Crackpacker out of his bag. Anyhow its week number 12 and the progression is starting to happen again. I learned from last weeks not to lean fwd at all. I have been working hard at not leaning fwd and it has been helping a lot. Yesterday at the O.G. I was able to coast the longest Crackpacker I have ever preformed. I knew right then I was ready to film again.

With the weather being colder and getting darker much faster its been a challenge finding time to go outside and ride. This past week I was able to ride 2 times for about 1 hour each time. I really want to take the time to study my riding in film and see what I am doing right and wrong and make corrections where they are needed. Please feel free to make comments here. One of the reasons I started a blog was so everything during this learning process will be documented in one location. It also gives me the motivation to keep the Blog Updated and keep my progression going. I bet you if I make a new post and had 10 new replies I would try even HARDER next time. I feed off your energy.

Keep on Riding!!!

Back in the Crack Week number 11

Hey everyone its been awhile since I have been able to make a post. Ever since the Atlanta Jam I have been on the road and not much riding time between all the travels of Jams and premiers. I am trying to get back on track. It seems I am at the same place that I left off with back in the first part of November. My son has noticed that even though I am in the same spot I am riding much smoother than I have in the previous weeks. My new slogan for the next year is in 2009 the Crackpacker will be mine! It was pretty cool at the end of this week when I bailed off the bike my bike was still standing. I also noticed when I fell off that I was leaned far over the bike. The next time I go out I will try my best to stand straight up and use my knees even more so. I really only got back on the bike consistently this week. I am hoping this can be a trend that I can keep going in the up and coming months ahead. Possible for Crackpackers at Voodoo? I will have to go into overdrive to reach that goal but anything is possible. Thanks for keeping up with my journey. Keep on Riding!!

Mark

Journey into the Crack Week 6

Sorry for the long delay. There have been many things happening that has prevent me in making a timely update. Be warned I have been trying to make updates on either Friday or Saturday. But I will be at the ATL Jam this weekend so it will take a bit to get the newest update up. This past week has been filled with many more activities other than riding. It shows in my progression because I am just about the same as I was last week. That is not such a bad thing because it means I am becoming more consistent with my riding and that is always a good thing.

Enjoy!! See yall next week!!

Journey into the Crack Week 5

Last week I told everyone that the next step was to learn how to ride into the Crackpacker and that's exactly what I am doing now. I am learning how to step in from a steamroller. Special thanks to Eric for allowing me to use his video segment that I turned into a How TO. It really helped me out in this learning process. I have been told over and over again its the hardest way to learn how to get into but right now I can't do a Steamboat and I don't have a ride in for the Wheel chair. I started this process on September 30' and here we are on the 31 of October and I have made some progression. Each week I gain more control than the last week and I keep pushing my self harder. When I am stepping from a non rolling steam. That gave me the confidence to try it while rolling. I still don't have great control but I keep working on it. As I get my body in the correct position it gets easier each time. I will start making updated videos on Fridays because of work I have not been home sometimes during the week. This day is pretty much a good day for me. With it getting darker faster it may get much harder So it may be a Saturday day Update! Thanks for taking this journey with me. Next Step learn to ride in from a rolling steamroller.

Keep on Riding!!

Learning the Ride in with Eric

I have started the process of learning how to ride into a Crackpacker I have the rolling part coming along pretty good right now. I had a great opportunity to go hang out with some of the Dallas Crew. Clint Majors funded the entire trip and I was there taking pictures and filming. Today I was composing a video from our trip when I ran across this segment. I thought it was perfect because its how I want to learn my ride in. I took the video apart Ground Rules Style.(Thanks Matt) I have had many tips about doing this trick. I got one last night from Jim McKay about holding the steam closer to your leg. I was able to highlight that part in this video segment. It really doesn't look that hard to do. But I have never gotten even close. Now that I have this video to study and a few more ride in tips I have everything I need to learn this ride in now.

Keep on Riding!!

Journey into the Crack Week 4

This is week number 4 of my Journey into learning a crackpacker. My Son Caleb has been able to record me each week. I was out of town on Tuesday and that has been when the week has started. Its now Wednesday and a day late. I hope to be back on track next week. As you can see I am finding more control each and every week. Next step is to find a way into this trick. I think I can comfortably coast it for a good distance now that says..YES you can coast this trick. Next step will be the ride in. I think this will be my biggest chanllenge because but I know I can do it. I have gotten this far and I know I can take it all the way. It will be getting dark much faster soon. As you can see last week I was riding in the dark and the rain. I will not let the weather get in the way of my progression. Hopefully in the next 4 weeks I can learn how to ride into the crackpacker. That will be my next line of videos and then the RIDE OUT!! I have always had issues with riding out of tricks. I am going to go all the way with this one. I have made the mental comittment to learning this trick and thats the hardest part of doing something. Thanks for taking the time to keep up with my progression and Keep on the look out for next weeks progression video. Anyone else out there learning it too? Let me know and i will post your video in my blog...

Keep on Riding!!!