Works comp and team training

Friday night saw th 2nd works comp and it was a roll over on the bonus problem meaning there was £150 to be won. I arrived at 7 having driven from France to find hardly anyone there in the mix for the prize, all i had to do was figure out Percy's deviance and send to glory. the problem turned out to be more of a route, with footless moves on jams! thankfully i like jamming and so after figuring out a few of the moves sent it on my second attempt :)

And so to Newcastle for the second team training of the year at the newly opened climb Newcastle, always good to climb at a new wall. Saturday saw us tackling 15 problems from 7a to 8a, before a fingerboard session with the Earl (well take the piss session!). Sunday saw another 8 problems in the morning, followed by another visit to yesterdays problems plus some others that looked good along the way (the perils of climbing in group of 4 competitive people!)

I felt fit, my main problem being the pain in my finger tips having just spent three weeks on granite! but the body was still willing at the end, and the whole weekend was really positive with everyone climbing well. And would well recomend climb Newcastle as a top venue, nice one Andy and Chris (and Darren)

Cresciano and Chironico and snow

Just returned from three weeks in Switzerland, had two days of perfect weather, with barely reaching zero degrees! flashed power ranger - 7b+, just a couple of minging crimps and did Komilator in less than an hour, a really cool tenuous heel hook. Then it snowed and rained for four days, with a day of waiting for things to dry before t was back to sending!
I very nearly flashed the mega classic La Boule at Cresciano, dropping the move to the final good crimp! if only i'd been warmer, and then frustration as i lost how to do the press across.

Stew and Sabby came out to meet us at Chironico, i did No Mysteries 8a+, unfortunately couldn't reach the move of the heel-toe so just had to jump and basically one arm the crimp! definitely worth the plus in my book! The same day i flashed Dr Crimp - 7c not just pulling on minging little crimps as i thought it would be, a really nice problem.



The next day at cresc for a bit of warmth, saw round two of the la boule battle! i new i only had one good try on it due to failing skin, the pressure was on! thankfully i did it on my second attempt of the day, and decided i would spend the rest of the day trying to grow skin!


Back to Chironico, saw a flashes of les doigts vert - 7c+ and Virtruvian man - 7c, before declaring it too cold and going in search of hot chocolate and a weather forecast.
The forecast showed only one more day of good weather and a promising forecast for font, so a long morning was had at cresc, making good progress on La Prou getting my hand over the hold with my foot popping or coming up just short with it sticking! definitely psyched to go back.

European championships

Heading off to the European champs in Paris starting on Wednesday followed by a few days in font after, should be a good trip especially with stew finally breaking his font cherry!
Feeling vaguely strong after a weeks worth of hard pulling, but feeling a bit held back by a slight bit of man flu hampering my recovery. Just have to go and see what happens i guess.

Kalymnos

Just returned from two weeks of mind blowing tufa pulling in kalymnos. Good to touch some real dry rock after the horrible summer we've had. Onsighted a couple of 8a's and a shed load of really good 7b+ to 7c+'s. was good to stilll feel fairly fit.
Now i'm back to a week of hard training and reminding myself how to pull hard for the European championships in Paris starting on the 15th of October.

BBC's

Having had three weeks to train i was feeling in better shape than at any time this year(thank god!) having been struggling with a bit of golfer's elbow. The qualifiers went well, landing up in joint 4th and still feeling fresh for the final.
After watching the women's final, nice one Audrey (go team evolv!) it was into isolation and time to get focused. I was out 4th feeling focused and psyched and flashed the first three problems, but i had a feeling that Stu and Gaz would do the same. I knew that i would need one of the last two problems to stand a chance of winning. I touched the finishing hold on both problems but didn't quite latch them, the last problem because i didn't spot a crucial foot lock! to my surprise Stu didn,t do the last two problems either, but he had qualified better than me. Gaz had had an absolute mare on the first problem and was out of it, and so Ned sneaked in, topping out the last problem to win with four tops in 11 attempts, leaving me in third, awesome effort Ned.

Need to do some training!

After the disapointment of traveling half way round the world to get one bonus hold in Vail (although the problems were hard) it was back to Fiera for the third world cup in as many weeks. I was a bit more positive for this one the chief route setter being our own Jamie Cassidy.

Well i thought wrong! For the second comp ever i didn't top a single probem! although i did drop the top of three problems! Time for some power endurance training i think.





Here's me about to drop the top of the third and probably the hardest problem!









Following a string of disapointing results i have decided not to do the next round in Montauban to concentrate on the BBC in three weeks. On with the training!

Vail dude!!

Had a chilled few days in vail acclimatising, getting over jet lag and being sarcastic to over friendly Americans, they really don't get it!.
Gaz had to get some oxygen.............. yes it is actually real , air in a can!

Finally get to climb tommorrow, hopefully the wall and mats will dry out after a day of rain and drizzle.