Jesse La Flair goes on tour around the US with a whole bunch of athletes. We look at some of the stuff that's already gone down, and what his plans for the next few months are.

Arguably the biggest name in American parkour, Jesse La Flair has never been shy to set big goals and embark on ambitious projects. In the name of his vision of where parkour and freerunning should be heading, he plows forward often at personal expense to make his impact on the culture. His methods have gained him both a sizeable following, and quite a few haters to boot. Now he’s off on a two month tour around the USA to promote his new shoe - the La Flair Pro Model LF-1.

The concept of this tour is straightforward; bring together a bunch of sick athletes, throw them in a big tour bus together and drive around the country hosting jams at gyms. Hopefully making enough money back to cover the expenses. With a 35ft personalised RV to run and several athletes to feed those expenses certainly do add up!

Through sponsorship with brands such as Yokohama (they make tyres) and the autonomous drone company Skydio. Jesse managed to make the Lace Up Tour financially feasible. One of the key promotion elements is that if you preorder Jesse’s new shoes you get free entry to all 16 events of the tour.

Of course it’s also an amazing opportunity to produce heaps of social media content. But as much as it’s about all that… it’s also about the good times and experiences. The tour allows Jesse and crew to give exposure to some of the more obscure communities in the country. There may even be a feature film at the end of it all.

The Lace Up Tour does a huge loop around the USA, starting and finishing in Los Angeles on the 5th of August. This is where it's expected that the largest event will be held at the Tempest’s Southbay location. In addition to the events the tour passes through every Camp Woodward location in the US at some point - an action sports summer camp where kids come to get coaching and train with special guests. Each Woodward location has its own full outdoor parkour setup now… a sure sign of the sports growth in the US.

At the time of writing it’s day 10 of the tour, Erik Mukhametshin has just arrived and joined the team - which now consists of him, Sydney Olson, Jeff Garrido, Marcus Gustafsson, and of course Jesse La Flair. The tour has passed through Woodward West, Jeff’s gym near Sacramento called The Haven, and is now in Woodward Tahoe.

Both Jesse and Sydney are doing daily vlogs of the whole tour. You can catch them here and here. Check out this video from the day of the event in The Haven. 

Throughout the summer different athletes will be cycling on and off… the tour is going to Portland Oregon next, where Nate Weston will be joining for several weeks! The combination of Him, and the rest of the athletes will surely be fireworks. Some other athletes who are expected to join the tour are Bart Van Der Linden, Corbin Reinhardt and Mich Todorovic.

So all in all, the Lace Up Tour is probably something worth being aware of - with all those athletes together touring like that. Who knows what will happen, and how many savage odds will be lost. It’s kinda cool that some of the lifestyle elements that once only really applied to musicians is starting to become an aspect of parkour too. If you’re in the US be sure to check if the tour is coming to a gym near you.

You can pre-order the LF-1’s here.

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Note from the author:

I’m joining the Lace Up Tour for its full duration as the merch guy, so for the next couple of months I’ll probably be trying to focus on more US themed blog content. It just makes sense, as I’ll be traveling around the country and meeting lots of interesting people, and exploring some pretty gnarly spots and gyms. Leave US-based content suggestions down below!

Photo Credits: George Shunia, Jesse La Flair