Well, things have really been moving (some literaly, some figuratively) sinc e the last time I wrote something here. I started my new job teaching in Victorville and moved into the house in Apple Valley that I spent a large part of the summer working on with my dad. It was hectic, and it’s certainly not finished, but the biggest hurdles have been jumped. My fitness is crap, since I only rode a handful of times all summer and did nothing else for exercise apart from construction related things.
I turned 43 a few weeks ago and tried a Birthday Challenge. My plan was to do 43 things on the house during the week, ride my mountain bike 43 miles on Saturday and climb 43 boulder problems on Sunday. Here’s a brief report I sent to a couple of friends:
I failed misably on all fronts. Well, I almost got the 43 things done on the house and I will definitely finish that one.
While tuning up the Full Squish bike on Friday night I broke a bolt that’s part of the suspension, so I had no choice but to ride the single speed. It was probably better for some of the stuff planned, but for the whole 43 miles it was going to be a bit rough.
I started the mountain biking at Sycamore Rocks, which has lots of technical trails with some hike-a-bike as well. It’s really good riding, but it’s the kind of place where you can ride for 2 hours and have only gone 8 miles. We were there for 3 hours and did 13 miles. By the end of the time there I was at a point where I couldn’t ride up easy inclines and had little energy. I had brought an ice chest and sat down to have aTecate with Chad. At that point my energy ebbed even lower. I didn’t figure I could do the challenge without really killing myself, and maybe not even then without just riding dirt roads or something boring like that. So, I packed it in, went home and did stuff for the house.
Sunday I planned on trying to do 43 boulder problems. I completely overestimated my climbing fitness, thinking that I would be able to do some stuff relatively easy, even though I haven’t climbed in a year or two and haven’t climbed with any regularity for years. I started with an easy problem and couldn’t really start it. Doh! I tried it several times, quickly losing some skin and never completing the problem. I tried to do a different variation of it and failed on that too, losing more skin in the process. I then tried a different problem on the same boulder and got a little stymied by it too. As I walked back to the car I had completed zero problems and already had lost some skin. Bad sign.
I drove to the next area, where there are some easy problems that Josh did back when he lived here. I was able to do 3 problems there, but for 1of them I had to cut a traverse short. Still i did 7 moves on the traverse, so I figured it counted as a boulder problem.
I then drove to Horseman’s Center which is where the Napkin is. I have climbed on this boulder for over 20 years and established many of the problems on it. I did the 7 easiest problems on the boulder and got spit off another one that I always thought was easy. By this time my toes were starting to scream and my skin was sore and my muscles were tired. I called it good and went home to do more house stuff. But, first I drove by Kate’s Boulder, the big boulder there with The Next Big Thing on it. Bob did the FA on this I think and I think Todd Daniels has also done it. Surprisingly there was chalk on it, but it looked pretty old.
My forearms were tight and sore for the rest of the day and they are still tight now. I am going to try to go bouldering at least once a week and hopefully find some of the strength I used to have. I think that Ben Banks might be right about bouldering being good when you have kids. You can get a pretty good workout in a short period which is key when the wife is at home and wants you to get back so you can go do more stuff with her.
Steve suggested that with 43 days of training I could complete the challenge, so that’s the new plan.
In other news, Levi is doing great and seems to like the High Desert. He enjoys being outside and likes the evening breezes. He even got to enjoy a fireworks display and loved that too.
Levi and Papa listening to some music and waiting for night fall and the fireworks show.
~R