Overload!

It's been another busy week of trips and comps as I gear up towards Magic Wood on Saturday.

Fri 10th June

Me and Laura went up to Thorn Crag for an evening session as the weather turned from sketchy to beautiful afternoon sun.

The walk in was a bit epic and easily took the 30 mins predicted in the topo but I did manage it in a oner without having to sit down, which was the first goal of the day achieved but not before a well camoflaged grouse had flewn out of a bush about half a metre from me and made me shit my pants!

We warmed up at the pathside boulders and despite being a bit sweaty we both managed to flash the aretes and the classic groove of Burnt Heather. Around on the side and I sketched my way up both and for my next trick and fix my sink on the flash. Both are undoubtedly a bit easier if your not a midget.

Laura got really close on 'and for my next trick' but was struggling to switch hands to launch for the top. She had a rest from it and we went over to look at Bad Moon Rising. It was a great looking line with a bit of a suspect flake to pull on with and plenty of potential blocks to land on!

After having a quick look at the 7a to the right and getting completely shut down I moved the pads leftwards to Bad Moon Rising and got the psyche on. First try and I got up to the high right hand sloper eyeing up the massive left hand pinch but couldn't quite figure how to connect it without an obvious left heel hook in sight. Before I could make a decision, the hand fired off and I was back on the mats but not down the hillside.

A bit more chalking and then back to the same spot, I just got a high right toe, swung the left foot back and then used the ninja leg flick to launch left and snatch the massive pinch and squeeze together with a bit of a grunt and legs flailing everywhere. The top out was a bit spicier than expected but no knees were brought into action.

Laura didn't quite fancy it, so we moved back down to the pathside boulders and she had another good go on 'for my next trick', hitting the lip of the top but not getting enough on it and the next go brought 2 split tips and no joy!

As we hadn't got there till about 6pm, we moved on rapidly to the Seaview area. I dispensed with a warmup and got straight on the Mothership Reconnection asking for a couple of photos as a spot wouldn't be necessary. Well this proved to be wrong as when I was reaching left hand to the top, the right hand fired off and I sailed past the only pad and landed on my right arse cheek on the edge of the block with all of my weight! Thankful not to break any bones, I had a minute to get my breath back and then got up it without any troubles after chalking it up a bit more. Such a good problem and worth the walk alone.

We finished off circuiting the easier problems around the block as Laura terrified me with some not so steady topping out skills and we watched the sun go down out in the direction of the sea.

Papa John's pizza and getting to sleep at 1.30 strangely proved to be ideal preparation for the next day.

Sat 11th June

After waking up feeling like a bit comatose... a shower, porridge and coffee woke me up a treat and I rushed over to the Hangar as she went off for family duties.

Me, psyche and Little Hoppo hit the road and rocked up at City Bloc in record time as the roads were quite clear.

We entered the Open comp which was 40 qualifiers to try and be one of 4 finalists for the evenings event.

After getting beaten by both of my team mates in the previous couple of comps after massive underachievement, I had a score to settle and started off well. I ticked through the first 32 problems not feeling the affects of the previous evenings climbing and a late night too much until disaster struck and I puntered off a yellow on a vertical wall featuring a really shit greasy volume. I managed to hold on to it 2nd go but knew it could be a costly mistake. I didn't expect to feature anywhere today and the lack of pressure probably helped as I flashed the first 3 greens I tried and then came to the last two. I almost stuck the double dyno one out to the lip but couldn't quite manage to hold the swing back in. I would have expected to get this within 3 tries so was a bit disappointed. I was too out of steam on the last green on the woody and powered out on the salmon in the roof after a good 2nd try. I was so spent, I didn't even try the last salmon on the sloping crimps and just handed in the card to go for a sleep upstairs.

When they announced the finalists, I missed out on being joint 4th by 3 points (the ones I dropped on that yellow) so came in 7th as 3 people shared 4th place. I didn't get beaten by any punters, so that was a relief but could have done better.

Mon 13th June

This day proved to be fantastic in terms of endurance.

Myself, the esteemed T Mills, Irish Pete, Mike psyche and Motormouth Sam all hit the Cave to make the most of the sunny weather.

I got reacquainted on the warmups and managed to repeat Beaver Cleaver Direct 2nd go after Sam started to have a play on it. I used his new hand beta which was cross handed and going off the good bit instead of the shit Pinch I had used previously. This felt way easier than a couple years ago, so I got on the sitter straight away with a new tick seemingly guaranteed.

About 45 mins of failure to hold the lip and I was getting a bit disheartened so decided to try something else.

Sam stuck with that, whilst Mills got involved with Rockatrocity and Psyche was on Broken Heart. Pete managed to drop the end of Parisella's original a few times including some spicy falls but no broken bones.

I decided to try Louis Armstrong as I hadn't been on it for a while and wanted to see if it felt any nearer to realistic than last time.

I had a couple of really good slaps to the lip, dragging my feet a bit on the mats but much closer to holding than previously, slowing the swing down a lot. I could still pull on at this point and finish the rock climb every go which was encouraging.

The start had proved to feel even harder than the crux slap on my previous tries but first go of the day: I went out to the shit crimp/drag, got a heel on the RA flake and clamped the right foot under and reached past my head to the shothole undercut totally static! I was shocked to find that I was still on the rock and managed to walk my feet up and get out to the big RH undercut before flicking into the left one to match. I caught this poorly and then fell off. Breakthrough!

After a short rest I then did the move again in even more control and it felt easy. I got out to the undercuts, this time getting the left one better and getting my right foot out to generate hip movement for the slap to the rail. I had a poor slap and was stood on the ground before getting close to holding it but it was a great progression. Chalking up, I could still climb it to the finish.

I was so psyched to get the first bit figured out as Danny/Nacho's crossover method was way too hard for me and now it's a matter or recruiting the crux slap and putting some time in on undercut burl.

To finish off I managed a lap of RA, Lou F and Cave Life short before we headed the Hangar.

Despite the long cave session, myself, Mike and Sam had a go at the new White circuit which is a much fiercer beast than the last, set by the king of crimp Nige Callendar.

It is a testament to training lots of circuits/pyramids of problems that I could still climb 8 of these and almost another 4-5 after 8 hours of climbing.

I finished off with Laura, Becki and Olivia with a 20 min core session whilst Farnell ran about doing hundreds of problems around the centre looking quite sprightly for a crippled vet! ;)

The morning after

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit by a bus with what feels like deep fatigue and bruising within my arms. Hopefully it will have subsided by tomorrow afternoon and I can get another productive session in at the cave or the Hangar with Mills.