Hey people, this is a topic that comes up a lot on free-running forums and I thought it might be relevant here too. You need a bag that's small and light enough to bock with, but big enough to carry the essentials. The essentials for me being water, a bit of food, deodorant, keys, mp3, phone ...and maybe as luxury items a spare t-shirt and camera. Usually you end up having a bag that's too large to bock with, and some poor stiltless soul has to carry them or you all pile them up in a corner... which is an easy target for chavs. You could just go with a £10 and buy your food/water as and when you get hungry/thirsty, but I prefer to take everything with me, and hate de-bocking just to go grab a water-bottle... which could be pretty far away from the training area in some places.
Anyway, I was just wondering what you would want in your 'Perfect Bocking Bag'. What you like to take to a jam. And if you've already found the perfect bag, what is it?
A lot of people I've spoken to like the Sports Holster:
http://www.mydogandbone.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON05F000088&Prod_name=UrbanI do like the idea of the sports holster... but it's not quite perfect for my needs, and personally I think it's too expensive. What do you guys think?
:WARNING: The rest of this post is me rambling on about MY perfect bag. It may be boring and you shouldn't feel the need to read it. ^_^
My perfect bag would probably be some sort of harness/holster or tactical/military vest type configuration with enough storage space in the straps for the essentials and a perfectly sized compartment located laterally across the chest to hold a 500ml water bottle. In that position you could still tuck jump, kick, and flip without it being in the way of your knees when you tucked ....aaaand, because it's not on your back like a hydration pack, you could fall over and even roll without damaging anything or having your water explode! This is assuming that when you fall over forwards you don't completely belly-flop and splat... in which case things would still be damaged. If you were learning something new then you should probably still take it off.
It could still have a slightly larger 'sports holster'-esque pouch on the back, but just to carry a spare t-shirt or face towel... or other soft, non-fragile 2D items you wouldn't mind falling/rolling on. The whole thing, especially frontal compartments should sit mainly on the upper torso (like the sports holster and smaller hydration packs) so as not to restrict movements involving bending and tucking.
And as the cherry on top, it would have speakers in the straps. Because I love to listen to music whilst training, but I don't like ear-phones because they block out the sounds of your surroundings such as your landing, or the spring warning you it's about to break, or the person screaming "LOOK OUT - BEHIND YOU - BUS!!!" as the evil driver speeds toward you in your happy sound-proofed bubble!
This bag would allow you to carry everything you (or at least I) like to take to a jam, without having to go to a shop half way through the day, and without worrying about rolling or having your bag stolen when you inevetably have to take it off to bounce. Like I said, some people are happy to just take a £10 note to a jam and have a lunch break half way through the day... but in some places (eg. London) you really have to go out of your way to get to shops and it kinda kills the jam for a while. And until you finish that food or drink you don't have the hands free freedom to vault stuff on your way to the next spot. I learnt vaults bocking with Nero last week! ^_^ Yay. lol.
Anyone want to make this for me? ^_^ ...an alternative to the frontal-fitted water bottle holder would be a form-fitting, flexible snowboard-bag-like hard shell that would protect the contents whilst rolling... a bit like a back protector with space for contents... but that would be harder to make.
:WARNING OVER:What are your thoughts?
