Ryan's Footblog: JOULUKALENTERI 2018!

[Ryan_Morris]

Thanks, Erik and Asmus!

So, I set a goal in early December to hit all the intermediate LOTD combos both sides, not knowing what the links would be. Turns out they were really hard this year and I wasn't able to complete most of the last half. I scored a 33 out of 48, which, if this were an exam, would be a D. Here's to not failing! In all seriousness though, this LOTD would be a good list to return to throughout the year. Let's see how many I can hit by 2019.

I was especially happy with stepping legover > dimwalk both sides and pdx illusion > eggbeater (just one side). Those challenges really pushed my limit.



Also, I am writing to you from Sault Ste Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where my employer has sent me to test cars on ice and snow. GM has a facility up here specifically for that purpose with huge ice pads, snow fields, and other winter-themed test tracks. Being five hours from home, I will be staying in a hotel during the work weeks of January and February, returning home on the weekends. Luckily, the hotel has a conference room just the right size for footbagging (see the last link in the video above) Hopefully they don't mind.

Top post! Picking up Johnny and Brandy at the Detroit airport:

[Muffinman]

Props on the links! Sounds like a great challenge to get them all BS! I look forward to hearing about your progress!
The test driving sounds fun! But, also, you're in Canada? Or there's a Sault St. Marie in Michigan also? A quick Google search says they're right across a border river from each other... Never knew! One of my colleagues' husband is from the Canadian Sault so they're often up there too. https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Sault+St ... 952996!3e3

[boyle]

Is that fun to do the testing? Sounds a bit dangerous, but kind of awesome. Also nice the company will put you up in a hotel as well. And great they have a place you can kick in the winter time.

[Tjuggles]

Nothing like fish-tailing in MI!

[krustykrakk]

Testing cars during wintry conditions in a safe, controlled environment sounds like a ton of fun.

[Ryan_Morris]

Erik, to clarify, I was in the USA Sault. I've never been to the Canadian version, but I hear it's much nicer.

The testing is quite a lot of fun, though we spend at least half of our 12 hour work days in a dinky office, more if the weather gets too warm and the test site shuts down. Dan, it's not terribly dangerous if you're sensible about it because, like Ben said, the test site is a more-or-less controlled environment. But yeah, still awesome! Not too many fish-tails happening while I drive, TJ, but even straight-line braking on the ice pad can get a little squirrely when ABS doesn't work right.

Also, if we don't get enough done this winter, there's a very slim chance some of us will get sent over to our alternate site...in New Zealand!

I'm back in southeast Michigan for the next two weeks, and I'm glad for the break. The long days wear me down a bit and I feel more comfortable practicing footbag at home. On top of that, pretty much all my coworkers and I caught each other's colds. I drove home Friday a snotty mess, but after a good Nyquil-induced sleep in my own bed I felt great.



Had a lovely session earlier! Took a break from BOPs and worked on pixies, which paid off. I started out drilling pixie ss mirage > mirage repeat and worked my way up from there.
Pixie ss mirage back to back (first time ever!)
Smear > PLO repeat (5 contacts, Skyler Lon Smith approved, personal best)
Toe ducking butterfly > ducking pdx mirage > smear
26 contact guiltless string with a few pixie tricks mixed in

Here's the proof: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeMuVwyH2db/

Derek Littlefield recently challenged me to hit magellan > PLO rpt and magellan > ss DLO rpt. I haven't quite got those drills yet, but I'm close! If flip pixie keeps improving, they will soon be mine!

[krustykrakk]

Damn, Ryan. Lookin f-l-y.
B)

[Tjuggles]

MI footbag for life!

[Ryan_Morris]

Thanks, Ben!

Long live Michigan Footbag!

Lame session today because everything hurts. I didn't realize it at the time, but my previous practice was the longest pixie-themed drill session I've ever done. Not surprisingly, I feel soreness in muscles I didn't know I had! (Kinda feels like footbaggin' for the first time again )

However, despite my aching legs, I somehow managed to hit a total dream sick 3!
Toe ducking butter > ducking osis > ducking pdx mirage (ducking BOP, I guess? )

Proof: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeRa7mKHMy5/

Can't believe I could barely string 6 normal bops together but still got a tripless combo. No complains here!

[Muffinman]

Cool!
Props on the combo. Now... flipside!
Actually I'm gonna steal alpine BOP! Never tried it before.

[Ryan_Morris]

Haha, show me how it's done! Seriously, that combo is sloppy on strong side and non-existent on flip side and I would love to see an example of it done properly.

I worked on stepping sets today. They felt sorta gimpy, but still good enough to throw them mid-string. Kinda weird, kinda good. I felt more confident using stepping in longer guiltless strings–––relative to my typically low confidence and string length, of course.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeWtx6XHrLt/

One other highlight from today:
24 contact guiltless string with 17 unique

I'm getting longer strings more frequently now. A 20x20 like Erik is still out of reach, but I'm pretty sure I could do a 10x10. Also, I don't want to jinx this, but... I think I'm really close to finally reaching the 30 guiltless milestone.
Soon...

...just not tomorrow. Stepping stresses my back somewhat. I'm going to take it easy the next couple sessions, focus on good form, do some yoga, all that good stuff. My back should slowly get stronger and stepping will feel comfortable in due time. I hope.

[Tjuggles]

You are doing great with posting vids. I hope I am not lagging behind! I have some footage to cut, will do it in the morning.

Also, great strings. I can see you are trying things both sides. Keep that shit up.

[Muffinman]

Haha, show me how it's done! Seriously, that combo is sloppy on strong side and non-existent on flip side and I would love to see an example of it done properly.

Hmm, I think it'll have to wait until it's warm out.
TJ could probably film that for you. Probably with better form than I could do.

[Tjuggles]

Haha, show me how it's done! Seriously, that combo is sloppy on strong side and non-existent on flip side and I would love to see an example of it done properly.

Hmm, I think it'll have to wait until it's warm out.
TJ could probably film that for you. Probably with better form than I could do.

I can try it, no sweat.

[boyle]

Also, if we don't get enough done this winter, there's a very slim chance some of us will get sent over to our alternate site...in New Zealand!

Keep it slow but not slow enough to get fired! Would be nice of them to send you on a holiday! Those pixie combos will be really helpful for you.

[Tjuggles]

Haha, show me how it's done! Seriously, that combo is sloppy on strong side and non-existent on flip side and I would love to see an example of it done properly.

Hmm, I think it'll have to wait until it's warm out.
TJ could probably film that for you. Probably with better form than I could do.

I can try it, no sweat.

Here we are. I hit it once with a non-muted ducking p mirage so did it again, meaning we could also mess around with muting/not muting the tricks too.

[Ryan_Morris]

Damn, TJ, you make that look easy. And since you brought up muted, I realized that I always do my ducking pdx mirages muted. The pressure is on for me to hit it back to back; I'm racing Steve Lanza!

Footbag is going well! At least one thing has improved every session since I posted the 18 BOPs video. For example, I've now hit 24 BOPs. (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bed3_YEnz-6/)
Also featured in that video:
Toe ducking butterfly > ducking pdx mirage > smear (same highlight as Jan. 24, but flipside this time)
Smear > toe ducking butter > diving clipper > pdx mirage, repeat (8 contacts)
Smear > PLO repeat (6 contacts)

Moral of the story is "learning pixies helps." I also stole an idea from Sean Nyman and Nikki Spicer. They both hit pixie clipper > pdx illusion on the same day, so I decided to be that guy and 1-up them
(https://www.instagram.com/p/BebvQCNHxIt/)
Pixie clipper > pdx illusion repeat (also did it starting with pdx illusion)
Dimwalk > pdx illusion repeat (4 contacts)

I work on pixies every session now because it really seems to pay off. Here's some more strings with some pixies. I'm most proud of the drill from the middle clip.
(https://www.instagram.com/p/BejtF2VHFtR/)
Ducking mirage > PLO repeat (8 contacts)

I also had sessions with the other Michiganders, but I haven't sifted through that footage. As you might expect, my legs were quite sore after pushing hard for the past few weeks, so I took a few days off. Also, my Dad came to visit from Philly! I took him to the GM Heritage Center, which is the company's private collection of old and rare cars. We also went to see the Post and tried an Escape the Room challenge for the first time!

But it's back to business today. Anton and Zach gave me a bunch of new challenges and I'm just starting to try them.
(https://www.instagram.com/p/BewOHHnHtgV/)
Butterfly > merkon repeat (Zach really wanted me to do pixie clipper > merkon, but I'll have to work up to that)
Ducking pdx mirage > smudge BSOS (the second smudge is cut off a bit, but you can sort of see it )

[boyle]

Pixies gives you a really good base. How are your other toe tricks? Stuff like dlo or DATW?

[Tjuggles]

Damn, TJ, you make that look easy.

Thanks! It took me a few more tries than I though it would take. I think that was largely because of cognition; trying to remember which trick was next, and/or which way to duck.

Great vids! One thing I noticed in that first one with your osii compared with mine is that you turn fast and earlier than I do for the delay. I feel like I pretty much watch the bag fall to inches above my delay foot before I start turning. You, on the other hand, seem to almost be doing a down-time gyro clipper, if that makes sense. Not saying one is better than the other, just noting what I saw.

[Muffinman]

Oh, weird, I was thinking of doing it diving butt > diving osis > ducking pdx mirage, since that's the way I do the BOP drill.

Ryan, your form is looking great!
Also great to see so much footage.