Crank'O'Ween 3

Just spreading the word about a bouldering comp being held at my gym next Tuesday, October 23rd in Columbus, Ohio.  More info can be found at Kinetic's website or Facebook page.  There should be tons of good problems, a bunch of new holds, lots of prizes, and a good group of people.  So if you are in the area and are in the mood to crush or if you just want to hang out, stop on by!  If you have not yet been to the gym and have always wanted to check it out, next Tuesday is a pretty good time to do it.  So mark your calendars, put it in your planners, set reminders on your phone, whatever.  Do it!  Do it now!

As for me, I will be there at some point in the evening, but it would depend on what time I get home from work.  I have not yet decided if I will climb.  I have never really enjoyed climbing in competitions since the large crowds, abundance of noise, and craziness of it all is just way too hectic for me.  But we shall see.  Maybe I will enter and use it as a high volume training day...

Must. Climb. Stronger.

The problem with climbing (well, at least for me) is that I always want to climb stronger.  I can remember thinking to myself several years ago when I first started climbing that I would be perfectly content being a solid 5.12 climber.  After a couple of years I climbed my first 5.12 and then I began knocking out more 12's and harder 12's.  Awesome.  I achieved my goal.  However, I wasn't perfectly content like I thought I would be.  I wanted more.  I wanted to be a solid 5.13a/b climber.  That should be pretty reasonable.  If I could climb hard 5.12, easy 5.13 should be attainable with proper training, right?  Then the 13a's started rolling in, and then the 13b's, and then my first 13c.  Awww snap.  Now 13d and maybe even 5.14 seem attainable somewhere in the future.  When does it end?  Does it?  I am already extremely happy with my level of climbing, but there is a part of me that wants to keep going and wants to see how far I can push my abilities.  I have only climbed one two 5.13c's (just added Kaleidoscope to the list this past Friday, yay!), but that doesn't mean anything.  So I would definitely love to add a few more 13c's under my belt and maybe take it to the next level with a 13d and I have a few in mind that I would love to try this fall at the Red.  The season has only just begun so I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.  Will I send one?  None?  Hopefully the training pays off.

My basement training center: homemade adjustable edge and Metolius Simulator

Training.  Most of my progress is a product of training.  I am not a professional climber nor am I a climbing bum.  I work for a living and having a 9 to 5 job only allows me to climb outside on the weekends (well, it is actually more like 7 to 7 because of my looong commute).  Plus, I live 4 hours away from climbing, making any sort of after work trip impossible.  So the only way for me to improve and climb stronger is by training in the gym or at home.  The first few years that I climbed I didn't train much.  I just went to my university's gym a few times a week.  Then a bouldering co-op called Kinetic opened up in Columbus and I started going there.  The awesome crew and the great facility was very motiviating and after a while I could tell that I was getting stronger, slowly, but still getting stronger.  However, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized that I would need to actually train and not just boulder around in the gym in order for me to improve faster.  Yes, bouldering a ton would eventually make me stronger, but it was definitely an inconsistent way of training, and inconsistent training methods lead to inconsistent results.  So, I decided to do some research into training for climbing, which led me to articles by Mike Doyle, Mike Anderson, and Kris Hampton on periodization training.

I won't go into too much detail, but periodization basically breaks down training into several phases: first a strength training phase, followed by a power phase, and then an endurance phase.  At first I wasn't really strict with my training as I tagged on exercises after my bouldering sessions, but I did see some improvement as it did help me to climb my first 5.13 and a buunch of others.  I probably continued with this half-assed approach to training for about a year or so and found a good bit of success.  But the cycle continued and I wanted to climb even harder.  So things got a little more serious last winter.  I was a little more strict with my training and began keeping a logbook of my exercises as my approach to training became a little more scientific.  As a result, this past spring and summer I was able to climb more hard routes at my level and redpointed my first 5.13c. 

Then, this past summer I stumbled upon Eva Lopez and her methodology for training.  Being an engineer and biomechanist I loved her scientific approach to training.  Her methods were easy, short in duration, and scientifically/physiologically made sense to me.  So I thought I would give it a shot and made some tweaks to my periodizatoin cycle to incorporate some of her exercises and her ideas (not sure if it can be considered a periodization cycle anymore...). 


Bring it on!


So our training was cut short (I guess we will have to start earlier next time) due to good weather at the Red and we had to skip over a few exercises that were in our schedule.  However, we did manage to get in a couple weeks of power endurance training.  I would like to think that this new training method is working for us.  I just sent my second 5.13c this past Friday, Nadya made 5.12 look easy, and our season has only just begun.  Hopefully it wasn't a fluke.  Only time will tell.


Run Woodstock

Run Woodstock Start/Finish Line



We were in Pinckney, MI this past weekend to celebrate peace, love, and running at the annual Run Woodstock, which is an all weekend affair filled with trail runs ranging from 5k to 100 miles!  There are distances for everyone and runners can take part in as many events as they want.  Nadya, Jerry, and I decided to do the half marathon distance and Nadya's mom went with the 5 miler.  We arrived Friday evening and went to the registration area to pick up our packets and were surprised to receive nice technical long sleeve shirts.  I was expecting a tie-dye cotton t-shirt since I think that's what was given out in past races, but not this year :).  Afterwards we pitched up our tents over at the walk-in camping area as it started to drizzle.  The rain stopped as we cooked some dinner and started back up again as we walked around the event area.  As soon as we retired for the night the rain picked up even more and it ended up pouring all night long.  A muddy trail run would greet us in the morning.  Lucky for us, the rain stopped around 5:30 am, just in time for me to cook some breakfast and make some coffee.  Cooking was actually a pain in the ass in the walk-in campsites as there were no picnic tables.  I had to sit on the cooler and cook on a basketball court, but it worked.

The morning was pretty chilly and the skies were clearing up as we went through our pre-race preparations.  It was going to be an excellent day for running.  As it got closer to the 7:30 am start time, someone who shall not be named, was still stuck in the bathroom line.  We barely made it to the starting line on time and realized upon arrival that they were sending runners off in waves.  That was kind of nice although we got stuck in the back with a bunch of the marathoners.  Oh well.  The run started off through the campground before immediately entering into singletrack where we had to weave past other runners.  After a couple of miles we entered into a wide gravel road where we passed the first aid station at mile 3, continued for another 1.5 miles and doubled back to the same aid station at mile 6 before taking a sharp turn back into singletrack goodness.  This 3 mile section of gravel/loose-dirt road was probably the biggest energy suck for me due to poor traction, uneven terrain, and horse poop dodging.  Things started to flow again back on the singletrack and we fell into a groove for the next couple of miles.  However, out of nowhere, traffic!  And at what seemed like the tightest part of the course.  I was able to make my way through, but Nadya got stuck.  More traffic appeared as runners tip-toed around muddy sections of the trail.  At this point I said screw it and just ran straight through the mud and the runners who were afraid of getting their shoes dirty.  This was a trail run, right?  Aren't we supposed to get dirty?

Soon the 10 mile aid station appeared and I looked down at my watch to check my pace and I was well below the 9 minute pace that I was aiming for (or so I thought...).  Just 3 miles left on a pretty section of pine forest.  After what seemed like the longest 3 miles ever, I began to hear the music at the finish line.  All of a sudden the trail ended and I was back in the campground with the finish just around the corner.

Post race with our finishers' medals

After looking at my finishing time, I calculated that I ran the last 3 miles in over 30 minutes.  What!?  No way!  I definitely felt like I was pushing the pace at the end, which has led me to believe that either the 10 mile aid station is under 10 miles or the last 3.1 miles was a tad longer.  Hmmmm...  If only I had a GPS....  But that's okay.  It doesn't really matter.  It's a trail race and distances are never exact.  We at least have something to aim for next year!

 

What shoes are supposed to look like after a muddy trail race

Nadya ended up 4th in her age group and Jerry was first in his age group.  Good job you guys!  I actually ended up 9th in my age group, which I am very pleased with.  I know it will be tough to be at the top of my age group since I have only been running and training the past few years, and especially since most of my time is dedicated to climbing (sorry running, but climbing is way more important).  But I shall keep running and maybe one day I will be fast enough.  If not, that's alright.  I still enjoy pushing myself.
We definitely plan to be back next year!

One more race this summer (and probably the last one of the year).  Next up...Hocking Hills Indian Run.

Nadya with her top 5 age group award :)

Monkey Poop

A friend of mine, a hardcore cyclist and fellow nutrition nut, introduced me to his homemade granola/energy bars a couple of years ago that he would make to fuel himself for long bike rides.  He passed along his recipe to me a while back, but I never tried making them myself due to laziness and the abundance of readily available energy bars at the grocery.  Nadya and I planned a 26ish mile mountain bike ride at Mohican State Park the other weekend, and since we are now trying to eliminate processed foods, most grains, and other "bad" stuff from our diets, I decided to try making these energy bars to replace the sugary crap that we would usually take along with us for fuel.

First let's talk about this new diet that we are now trying to follow.  When we were in Rifle this past summer, Nadya and I met a very cool couple that climbed ridiculously strong and were on a diet that consisted of a ton of protein and vegetables, some fruit, and no grains or processed junk.  They were on the Paleo diet.  I've heard about the diet before and looked into it a little bit back when I did some research into Crossfit, but never really got into it.  I always thought that the amount of climbing, running, and exercise that we do requires more carbs than going Paleo would allow for.  After talking to our new friends about this diet, I came to realize that maybe Paleo and climbing do work as they have reported that it has helped them to climb stronger and with fewer injuries.  And of course Nadya wants to do whatever she can to climb better, but she also wants to improve in running too, which requires a little more carbs.  So, Nadya and I are now both on a pseudo-paleo diet.  It's hard for only one person in a relationship to follow a certain diet so I guess I'm doing it too.  And, if it forces me to eat cleaner and healthier and helps me to climb stronger and run faster, then why not give it a shot?

So like I said earlier, we aren't going to be hardcore Paleo.  We are just trying to eliminate processed foods, most grains, lower our sugar intake, eat more healthy fats, eat more veggies, and eat more meat (mmmmmm meat).  I guess we are just trying to eat cleaner more than anything else.  We still eat oatmeal before our races, long training runs, and hard mountain bike rides and I still eat it most mornings for breakfast.  We still drink our yummy chocolate milk for post-workout recovery or treat ourselves to a donut from nearby DK Diner (because they are oh so good) and we still love our dark chocolate.  So yeah.  We like our occassional cheats.  My mom grew up on a sugar plantation, so I guess it's in my blood.  Oh well.  But as long as it is in moderation, right?  Maybe?

So far we haven't found the transition into this new diet to be that difficult although maybe that's because we aren't in it 100%.  Limiting grains was a little tough at first, but we never ate that much to begin with, especially in comparison to the amount that many other athletes eat.  We try to keep our carb intake below 150 grams (I almost always go above that.  Oops.) and we try to eat most of our carbs before or after workouts for fuel or for recovery.  There are still some tweaks that we need to make.  Nadya needs more protein.  We both need to eat less sugar.  Etc.  Etc.  We're trying.

I guess we will see how this diet affects our performance.  Will we climb stronger?  Run faster?  We'll find out soon.  Will this diet even work if we aren't in it 100%?  Or do we need to completely eliminate all sugars and grains in order for this to be effective?  Arghhh.  Too many questions.  We've tried many things in the past.  I hope this is the one.

So the energy bars I made are packed with almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanut butter, oats, grape nuts, dark chocolate chips, dried dates, honey, and molasses.  They are definitely not Paleo, but great for energy with the same amount of calories as a ClifBar and half the size.  They are dense.  Not for snacking, that's for sure.  But they are goooood.  Money Poop.  I think that's a good name for them.  Maybe I'll try to make some granola too without the oats and grape nuts and chocolate and try to keep the sugars to a minimum.  Just a bunch of nuts.  I can call those Monkey Nuts.  I actually saw someone selling granola at the farmer's market the other weekend.  Five bucks for 3-4 oz of granola.  Are you serious!?  I just ate the samples.  Maybe I can sell my own...



Packed full of calories!  Definitely not for snacking!



Stoking the Psyche - Rifle, CO

You can climb on either side of the road.

After about a month off from climbing Nadya and I found ourselves on the road to Rifle, CO.  We wanted to try something different this summer and knew that Rifle would be a great place for that.  We have heard from many friends that Rifle was the anti- Red River Gorge.  The routes there are very cryptic and super beta-intensive as opposed to the mainly straight forward climbing at the Red.  And KNEE BARS!  Lots and lots of knee bars at Rifle.  For those non-climbers reading this, a knee bar is when you cam your knee into the rock in order to take weight off of your arms or so that you can position your body to do certain moves.  I am terrible at using knee bars (I can think of two routes at the Red where I've used a knee bar).  In addition, we have never climbed on limestone before, always sandstone.  In contrast to sandstone, limestone seems to have less friction than sandstone and it also has a tendency to become glassy and polished.  This was going to be a new adventure for us and we were hoping that this trip to Rifle would be a great learning experience and help us improve in our climbing.

After about 20 hours on the road we started to approach Denver.  Then we headed north to Boulder. We have heard that people either hate it or love it there and we wanted to check it out for ourselves.  We arrived just before lunch and headed to the Pearl Street Mall.  After walking around for a bit we decided to have brunch at a place called Snooze, an A.M. Eatery.  The place was hoppin' and we had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table, but it was definitely worth it.  Everything sounded good on their menu, but I settled for the Pancake Flight (a trio of different pancakes) and Nadya went with the Early Harvest Benny.  The menu items were reasonably priced (similar to what you would find in Columbus) and it was delicious!  Wish we had one here!



Pancake Flight: blueberry, red-eye velvet, and sweet potato pancakes

Early Harvest Benny

 After brunch we walked around a little bit more, checked out all the outdoor retail stores in the mall, searched for some knee bar pads with no success, then headed out for a little 1.5-2 hour hike to the Royal Arch.  I guess a lot of the smoke from the Fort Collins wild fires headed south to Boulder and Denver, which is why we couldn't see the mountains during our drive in.  Apparently it was so bad in the morning that it smelled like campfire everywhere and some people couldn't even see their neghbors' houses.  Crazy!  Fortunately for us, by the time we arrived, a lot of the smoke had cleared.

View of Boulder from the Royal Arch

After the hike we went back to Pearl Street to grab some dinner.  This time we went to Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace.  We ordered some guacamole with roasted chillis and goat cheese for appetizer.  I can't remember exactly what we ordered for our main courses, but Nadya ordered the salad special for the evening and I ordered something with fish.  Another great place for delicious grub!

Some salad special from Centro

Something tasty with fish from Centro

During dinner we decided that we wanted to drive that evening to Rifle.  We didn't really know what else to do in town since our friends in the area were either already at Rifle or out of town.  We also kind of wanted to have a relaxing first full day in the canyon.  So we drove through the night, arriving around 1am.  We set up our camp and went to bed, excited to finally be here.

We woke up the next morning to the delight of seeing our friends Chris and Heather, the sweetest people on Earth.  They gave us some pretty good tips, showed us some pretty sweet climbs, Chris lent me his knee pads (thank you so much!), and they let us spoil Grammie Dog.  They were a blast to hang out with and we were both glad that we were able to hang out with them for a week before they headed back to Boulder.

You guys are awesome!  Glad we got to hang out for a little bit!

Before going to Rifle we were informed that we would want to pick a morning project and an evening project since climbing in the summer sun is a bad idea.  The canyon runs north-south, so the western facing walls have morning shade, while the eastern facing walls have evening shade.  We were advised to not get on any of the easier stuff since they see way too much traffic and will actually feel harder, especially to us Rifle newbies.  Lastly, we were also told that it is hard to climb two days in a row because the climbing is so different than the Red and our bodies will take a beating.

Rifle Mountain National Park, CO

We were hoping to use our first several days of climbing as our adjustment period.  The last time we sport climbed was a little over a month ago so we needed to get back into climbing shape.  We also needed to figure out how to climb in this new place since everything was so different.  We quickly realized how cryptic Rifle is.  Climbing here is HARD!  We definitely struggled during our first few days.  We stuggled so much that we lowered our expectations.  I originally wanted to come out of the trip with a 13b/c and Nadya with a 12b/c.  We started thinking that maybe a hard 12 and hard 11 seemed more reasonable.  Climbing here was definitely a humbling experience.

After our first few days we started to realized how much harder the easier stuff seemed because of the abundance of chalk, glassy feet, and lack of beta.  We were both frustrated with our poor climbing and what we thought was an inability to adapt.  With some convincing from our friends, we decided to just get on the harder stuff.  Although still glassy, the harder climbs definitely seemed more straightforward.  We should have listened earlier.

Evenings in the canyon

Campfires were banned throughout Colorado during our trip.  What do you do when you can't have a campfire?  You play with flashlights!

Things clicked a little faster for me as I was able to do In Your Face (12d) on my third day.  I followed that up with Le Specimen (12d) on our fifth day while Nadya finally did her first Rifle 5.12, Cardinal Sin (12a).  It was a pretty impressive send as she struggled to figure out the beta at first, but once she did, hung three times on her first redpoint burn, then sent it on her next.  Later that evening I did Pump-O-Rama (13a).  What a relief!  I guess maybe we should try something harder!

Nadya's next project that she picked out was Ruckus (12b) - very short, but very bouldery at the bottom, especially for shorter ones.  The crux of the route was a pretty big move that was just barely within Nadya's reach.  After a few tries Nadya was able to nail the move down and soon figured out the rest of the route.  However, during one of her redpoint attempts, she ripped a huge flapper off her left hand middle finger.  She was bummed.  After taping the finger, she tried the move again, but couldn't hold it.  She just couldn't get enough friction with the tape on to stick the move.  So she decided to give it a break, let her skin heal, and try another day.  A couple days later she got back on it and ripped the flapper open again.  So she came down a little bit frustrated and we had a talk.  If she really wanted to do this route, she would just have to do it with tape around her finger.  So she did the move over and over until she could finally hold it.  The next morning she did it.

Meanwhile, with fantastic beta from our friend Neely, I was able to do Vision Thing (13b) after a few tries.  Thanks for the beta Neely!

Nadya on the bouldery start of Ruckus, 12b

We pretty much spent most of our rest days getting rid of our filth, getting fat, and exploring the nearby towns.  We mostly stayed in Glenwood Springs (maybe 30 minutes away), but checked out a few other towns as well.  In Glenwood, there is a really nice rec center for taking showers that cost us $4 + $1 for a towel per person.  Plus they have free wi-fi, which was nice.  For really good coffee (way better than Starbucks) we went over to Bluebird Cafe, which is adjacent to the gear shop in town.  For smoothies we went to Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse and Deli , although a bit pricey.  Nadya and I had some really juicy and delicious bison and lamb burgers over at the Grind (Half a pound of meat in each!  YES!).  You have to check that place out if you are in the mood for burgers!  Soooo good!  (My mouth is watering as I type this.)  Russo's Pizza definitely satisfied our pizza cravings when we were there and is reasonably priced too!  Across from Russo's is the Roaring Fork Bakery, which I highly recommend.  Her croissants are the perfect combination of doughy and flaky and are to die for!  Maybe the best croissants that we have ever eaten!  We had them plain, with spinach/feta/tomatoes, and with ham/cheese.  They were all so tasty.  She had so many other baked goods but we didn't have the chance to taste them all.  Maybe next time.  Carbondale is another cool little town 10-15 miles south of Glenwood.  I will have to recommend another burger joint called Fatbelly Burgers.  Also juicy and delicious and at a pretty reasonable price! Their burgers are good, their chicken sandwiches are good, and their milkshakes are yummy.  Then there is a Thai restaurant called Phat Thai that was also really delicious and not too heavy and provided some good energy for next day sending.  We also went to Aspen and the Maroon Bells (pictured below).  We didn't care much for Aspen because of all the ridiculously rich people parading around.  However, the Maroon Bells were amazing and so pretty!  Definitely a sight worth checking out.

In front of the Maroon Bells on a cloudy and chilly day

Us being goofy with the Bells in the background

I think this is Maroon Lake

Some pretty aspen trees

I ended my trip by doing The Beast With Two Backs (13a) and onsighting my first Rifle 5.12 with Pretty Hate Machine (12c).  Nadya wanted to do one more and decided to give Defenseless Betty (12a) a try.  With Seth's beta, Nadya was able to make it to the top no problem with enough time in the day to give it a few redpoint burns.  She soon discovered that she would have to do one section a little bit differently, but it would have to wait until the morning.

So the morning that we were leaving, we got up early so that Nadya could get on the route one more time.  After warming up she gave the route one redpoint burn, but fell at the sequence that was proving difficult for her.  After looking at it for a few minutes she figured out another way to do it.  That was it!  Next attempt and she sent!  She later told me that she almost fell at the top, but wasn't going to let go.  Good work!

The Beast With Two Backs, 13a

We ended up loving Rifle.  We thought that we wouldn't like it as much because the climbing is so different than the Red, but our early frustrations turned into delight and Rifle is now one of our favorite places to climb.  I'd say it is on the top of the list with the Red.  My only regret is that I didn't get on anything that was super challenging for me.  Next time!  But not only was the climbing awesome, the people were awesome as well.  Our experience would not have been the same without all the friends that we met there.

Nadya's Ticklist:
Cardinal Sin, 12a
Defenseless Betty, 12a
Ruckus, 12b

Brian's Ticklist:
Cardinal Sin, 12a
Pinch Fest, 12b
Ruckus, 12b
Pretty Hate Machine, 12c (Onsight)
In Your Face, 12d
Le Specimen, 12d
Pump-O-Rama, 13a (3 tries - 2 RP)
Vision Thing, 13b (4 tries - 3 RP)
The Beast With Two Backs, 13a (3 tries - 2 RP)

Not too shabby for 9 days of climbing ;)  Now time to get on the harder stuff!  Looking forward to this Fall season at the Red!  Time to train!

Sunset on the drive to Rifle

Neely on Vision Thing, 13b

Seth on Slacker Direct, 13c

Our new Chicago friends Andy and Jess on Ruckus, 12b

Our campfire

A storm in Kansas on our drive home.  I don't think mother nature wanted us to leave.

Red River Wrap Up, Spring 2012

After a couple weeks off and a vacation to Hawaii we returned to some pretty nasty climbing conditions as the early arrival of summer brought some hot temps and high humidity.  Before our break I started working out the extension of Flour Power called Pushing Up Daisies.  It seemed the most logical route for me to get on after doing both The Madness and 40 Ounces of Justice.  However, after we returned, my motivation for the route dropped.  I didn't really want to climb Flour Power again just to get into Pushing Daisies and I felt that my endurance was on a decline anyway after taking a couple weeks off.  So with some persuasion from Nadya, I got on Cutthroat instead.  I'm glad I did as I sent it fairly quick.  On my first attempt I worked out the moves and then the next weekend I sent it second go in nasty conditions.  Awesome climb and super fun!   Kind of bittersweet though that it went so quickly.

Memorial Day Weekend was our last weekend at the Red for the season.  We didn't do much climbing that weekend as Nadya's mom and our friend Jerry rented a cabin at Lago Linda's.  We were able to take them out to do some easier routes at Muir and both of them climbed, which was really exciting.  Jerry got on a few routes and Nadya's mom got up some slab route that wasn't easy.  It was pretty awesome to see them both try it out, especially Nadya's mom.  There's also a pretty funny video.  Should I post it?  Hmmmm.  Nadya's mom might not like it...  I think that was about all the climbing we did that weekend.  I think we watched more TV (River Monsters is pretty addicting) in the air conditioned cabin than we climbed. 

So this Spring season at the Red was probably one of our best one's so far.  Nadya sent three of her projects and I sent several, including my first 13 onsight.  I was pretty psyched with my season as the 13's I did, with the exception of The Madness, only took a few tries at the most.  Progress!

Nadya's Spring 2012 Ticklist:
Tissue Tiger, 12b
Ale-8-One, 12b
Rocket Dog, 12b

Brian's Spring 2012 Ticklist:
The Legend, 13b
The Madness, 13c
Forty Ounces of Justice, 13a (Onsight)
Calm Like a Bomb, 13a
Cutthroat, 13b

Next up...Rifle, CO!!!

A Final Push Before Some Time Off

So this was our last weekend at the Red before we took two weekends off to go on a family vacation.  We were both finally beginning to build up our power endurance but we were kind of sad that we would have to take some time off during what would probably have been the period of our peak performance.  But that's okay.  Family time is always the best and I can never complain about going to Hawaii.  We will just have to make this weekend a good one.

On Saturday we found ourselves at the Motherlode again.  Nadya started working on Rocket Dog after her ascent of Ale-8-One and I decided that I should hop on 40 Ounces of Justice while I still had fitness for the cave.  The conditions were not as ideal, but it still turned out to be a good day.  Nadya managed to burl her way through the manky slopers of Rocket Dog and sent the rig by the end of the day.  It was a cool sight watching the send as she almost peeled off at the top of the route but stayed focused and dug deep to finish it.  I had a good day as well as I onsighted my first 13 with 40 Ounces of Justice.

More success on Sunday as Jeremiah (I mean Tony Horton) and I both made quick work of Calm Like a Bomb at The Gallery.

We ended the day at The Chocolate Factory hoping to get on Malice, but it was baking in the sun.  Instead I got a taste of Cat's Demise and both Nadya and I finally got on one of Bentley's routes (the one that starts in the crack).  Both of which were awesome.  I think we will have to revisit this crag during the nice fall conditions.


Jeremiah making it look easy



The Madness

First, Goldenboy.  I love it, but I hate it.  It might be one of my favorite routes at the Red, but I still have yet to conquer it.  I started it last spring, figured out the beta pretty quickly and one-hung it after a couple of tries.  I worked on it for a couple of weekends in the spring, a few weekends in the fall, and a couple of weekends during the beginning of this spring and I have fallen at the sloper almost every time.  On my first weekend back on it this spring I actually highpointed going to the horn, but every attempt afterwards had me falling at the sloper again.  Nadya insisted that I give the route a break and that my inability to do the route is probably all in my head.  I hate to admit it, but she's probably right.  I guess it will have to wait til the fall.

So while Nadya was working on Tissue Tiger, I decided to get back on The Legend.  I tried it a couple times last fall so I knew the beta and lucky for me, I had the assistance of my long lost Caucasian twin, Josh Trick, to refine my beta.  And what do you know, I sent it on my first weekend on it.  Sweet.  So I guess Nadya was right about my mental block on Goldenboy.  In the time I have worked on that route, I did both Dirty Smelly Hippie and Elephant Man in the fall and now The Legend early this spring.

The Madness was another route that I tried a few times early last fall until the permadraw drama took place.  After that incident Nadya and I decided to stay away for a bit, but this spring we decided to go back.  Nadya really wanted to do Ale-8-One and I really wanted to finish up The Madness.

We drove in late Friday night and decided to sleep at the Military parking lot.  We figured we could wake up and cook breakfast at the parking lot, head to the wall before the major crowds arrive, then move on to the Motherlode.  We did just that as Nadya quickly threw down Tissue Tiger (see previous posts).

We arrived at the Motherlode to much better conditions than the previous weekend.  The weekend before was pretty humid and I couldn't get anything back at the either of the two rests on the route.  I was losing more than I was gaining back.  Hopefully the nicer conditions would lead to better results.  I figured the routes at Military served as a decent warmup and decided to hop on The Madness right away. 

I clip the first, tie in, throw my shoes on, chalk up, take a few deep breaths, and begin climbing.  The bottom moves did not feel manky so that was a good start and I soon find myself at the sit down ledge before the wall begins to cut back.  I'm feeling great.  After a few minutes of rest I begin climbing again.  I make it to the first little crux section, get a high right foot, cross my right to the small crescent shaped crimp, lock it off, and grab the left.  Alright.  Now I just have to keep moving.  I know the beta and effortlessly make my way up to the first semi-slopey rest.  I'm still feeling great.  I get some energy back and charge up to the next rest before the redpoint crux.  This is awesome.  I've never felt this good at this point on the route and positive vibes start flowing.  After several minutes I think I'm ready.  I move left.  I hit the left hand edge, throw a left heel, crimp with my right, and huck with my left.  Now I'm working over the bulge and start paddling up the crimps, which surprisingly felt like jugs.  Should I clip the last two bolts or should I skip them?  I don't want to blow things now.  Screw it.  I'll skip them!  And before I know it, I find myself clipping the anchors.  What an awesome ride.  

Nadya sent Ale-8-One right after (see previous post).

So what's next?  I guess I could do 40 Ounces of Justice.  Maybe next weekend.  I think I'll relax for now.

       

The Madness Cave at the Motherlode

I like pans, I like cake, I like Gnutella...

My family had our annual Easter Brunch in Cincinnati this past Sunday.  As always, it was delicious and fun times were had at the kids' side of the table.  Yes, us 20 something year old cousins are still kids at heart.  Actually, I think we all agreed during brunch that we all peaked around the 4th grade and our intelligence has slowly declined since then.

Anyway, for whatever reason (I think my cousin Mark asked me how Columbus has been since he left..) Katalina's Cafe Corner and their Gnutella filled Swedish pancake balls were brought up and the following conversation actually took place:

Mark:  I like pans, I like cakes, I like Gnutella.  Perfect.  (Pause as we all take a bite from our plates)

Me:  Ummm...Do...You...Like...Balls?

Mwahahahahah.  I think we all blew up in laughter.  You're probably thinking, "Really?  What's so funny about that?"  It probably sounds pretty dumb as you are only reading this, but it was really hilarious.  Us cousins have this unique connection when it comes to humor and every time we are together we have some hysterical moment.

Well, the talk of pancake balls reminded me of a recent trip Nadya and I took to Katalina's Cafe Corner for breakfast.  So far everything we have had from this small cafe has been excellent.  It's one of our favorite cafes in Columbus.  Feast your eyes below.  Balls included.

Swedish pancake balls filled with Gnutella

Breakfast burrito

The Crushin' Russian - Part 2

Last weekend we made our first trip back to the Motherlode after staying away for the majority of the Fall due to the permadraw drama.  I wanted to get back on The Madness (more on this later) and Nadya wanted to get back on Ale-8-One to figure out the moves again.

After Nadya sent Tissue Tiger we drove over to the 'Lode so that I could get on my project (more on that later).  After I got down, I hung the draws on Ale-8-One so that Nadya could work on it again.  Our friend Stacy got on it first, who, by the way, went from standing in her apartment in Columbus to standing at the 'Lode in four hours flat.  You're either crazy or I drive like an old fart or both!  Nah, you're crazy!

After learning a few things from Stacy, Nadya got on the route.  No expectations.  She totally screwed up a few moves here and there but held on to get to the next resting jug.  Before we knew it she was at the last jug before the anchors.  Stacy and I looked at each other and smiled.  She isn't going to fall.  It's in the bag. 

She sent two rigs in one day.  First go on both of them.  Nice work.

The Crushin' Russian - Part 1

At the end of the 2011 Fall climbing season, Nadya sent her first 12b, Gung-Ho and was very excited.  This motivated her to train with me over the winter with hopes to send a few more 12b's and maybe even a 12c this spring.  So the training happened.  Our training schedule was not as strict as it could have been, but it was definitely way more training than we have done in the past.  We did the standard periodization style training starting with strength, moving on to power, then finishing up with power endurance.  The power endurance portion of our training was cut short and almost cut out completely due to the unusually warm winter and early arrival of spring.  So, beginning with the second weekend of March, we started climbing outside again.

Watching Nadya climb I could tell that she definitely had more strength and power than before.  On our first weekend back we went to Military so that she could get on Tissue Tiger.  After sending Gung-Ho, Nadya decided that this would be her next 12b.  She worked the moves and found herself pumped after the first half of the climb.  I was kind of expecting that since we barely got into the power endurance block of our training.  The crux of the route also turned out to be a little tough for her.  However, on her second go, she was able to figure out the crux and make it to the chains with no problem.  Unfortunately, her next couple of attempts left her stuck at the crux once again.  Why?  What is going on?  This disappointed her since she thought she would be stronger from all the training this past winter.

I kept telling her that the training was working and that maybe she wasn't doing something right at the crux.  She made it to the anchors already so I know she had the strength.  She probably just forgot how she did it.  It turned out I was right.  Of course ;).  I guess Nadya was pinching some left-hand crimp at the start of the crux instead of crimping it, which was preventing her from locking off deep enough to reach up to a right-hand pocket.  After discovering this, the move became easy.  She also found herself stuck on the left-hand crimp right below the India hold.  I soon discovered that she was hitting it at the worst spot possible.  Upon this knowledge and the discovery of a key foot, this move also became piece of cake.  So the next three weekends ended up becoming a power endurance training block for Nadya.  Contrary to what she thought, the strength and power training did pay off.  She didn't fail on the crux moves of Tissue Tiger because she was weak, but because she was making it much more difficult for herself.

This past Friday, Nadya sent the rig on her first go, making it look easy.  Piece of cake.  It's nice to see the little Russian smile :).

But wait, there's more...  Stay tuned for the Crushin' Russian Part 2.