Friday 13 May 2011

BACK TO THE PROGRAM!

In these small videos, courtesy of Ru and John (thank you guys), some great moments on British rock. In the first one, Llanberis Pass. A nice arete on the roadside boulder, and my flash attempt on "Bus Stop". I am very proud of that last one. I was tired, and I chose it because it's shorter than "Jerry's Roof", for which I clearly felt I had no power endurance. It went fine, at first I didn't feel secure on the top out, and on one go I bailed on the move to reach the lip. Neither Ru nor Jim understood why, and to be honest I didn't as well. Ru, wisely, suggested me to climb the top on its own to get comfy on it, but suddenly, before even having a decent rest, I felt that urge growing up inside me, the urge to cut the crap and do the problem.
And so did I. I am very happy because the guys were happy that I had done it properly, and when in being happy you make someone else happy as well, it's just the best feeling in the world.
In the second one Burbage, and "The Terrace": what a nice little gem of a problem!!! It really climbs brilliantly. Another great day, so typical. We got to The Peak only to find mist and fog, but when we went back to check the rocks, the skies cleared up and we were given our chances!!! I really had to dig deep, the previous day I had had a monster session at The Hangar with Tom and Rich, and the final tests on the gym's Beastmaker left me super psyched but also a bit spent!!!
I can still recall the rollercoaster of emotions, after missing the good hold on my best go. Happy for icing the move, and devastated by my punter's mistake. Was I going to be given another chance?





On another note, after my crazy last weekend, I decided that I had to work more seriously for the project. Despite doing again the moves on last Sunday and climbing the problem in two halves, the first hard move of the original line is still very hard. OK, before I wasn't even close to doing it, and now I have done it three times, but I need to do it again to finally get to the top, so, breifly, I want to get there as strong as I can be. This means only one thing: training.
I went back to the Beastmaker, doing two very close sessions on Tuesday evening (two handed max dead hangs) and Wednesday morning before work (one hand max dead hangs, short session); then on Wednesday afternoon I went sport climbing (led a short juggy 7a+ four or five times). Today I still feel worked, but not as I was expecting; with two days off to fully recover, tomorrow morning I'll have a very early start and I'll go there and finish it off.
I dont' know if you've noticed it, but before I wrote I led a route. It's not a typo, I really led it, I mean putting the rope in the quickdraws and all that. It felt great. I was super relaxed, maybe because on a 10 meters route there are 100 bolts, but really, it was great. I know I am still a pussy if I have the bolt below my feet, but I don't care about it that much: sport climbing is just a fun way to stay fit for the moment, and on my project routes I know I'll do fine because they are super bolted.
I want to finish this entry with something important, the only important thing: my joy when I almost did the project. It's been incredible. No wonder it took my whole person, body and mind, and it deposited it in another dimension. I was screaming, jumping around arms in the air, and I was the greatest. So I want to keep the joy of the moment, above all the other important things that I have learnt from the following days.
It's all about the joy.

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