Month: November 2016

There was this website I can’t find any more that recommended drinking accomplishments to fulfill before you die. One item on the list was to drink with your Dad. Another was to open and close a bar. They both stuck with me and I have since had drinks with Dad. I’ve been meaning to check the other one off my list as well. However, these days I really don’t need another excuse to drink so that’s been on the back burner. But friends’ recent Birthday Challenges, involving lots of different activities to fill entire days, has this day-long bar epic simmering in the forefront of my mind.

Something about the bar odyssey transcends even drinking. It has to be the all-day aspect. It occurred to me to replace the bar’s open and close events with Sunrise and Sunset, so that’s what I did yesterday: I open and closed the ocean.

It’s lame that the stupid bar metaphor led me to this concept but whatever. My thinking now is to save the hangboard workouts, the weightlifting, mobility work, everything that’s typically done inside, for dark hours. The climbing, paddling, biking, shredding, outside stuff should fill the daylight hours. I know this is a good idea because I’m pissed at me for not realizing it earlier.

Immediately there is an obvious division between outdoor and indoor activities. This also defines the often blurry line between things I train for versus things I do to train.

Here’s a photo of my Mom’s dogs. They get frustrated too. They didn’t vote.

I was pretty bummed to see Trump’s election to the the U.S. Presidency. But if almost half my voting countrymates want this, I respect that. There’s clearly a divide between me and my tree-hugging friends and the rest of red-blooded America. For that I blame our recent leaders. It is the fault of our political leadership that this many Americans are frustrated to the point they have chosen such a vitriolic representative. I’m sorry it took this event to make me appreciate the frustration. I want everyone to be brought into the fold, not to feel the negativity this election cycle has embodied. Sorry I forgot about y’all.

I am an Eagle Scout. It’s not the most diverse group of blokes one could join but it did introduce me to some good stuff. My passion for climbing, for one, was spawned during my Boy Scout days.

“Look wide, and even when you think you are looking wide – look wider still.”
— Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting

The motto of the Boy Scouts is “Be Prepared”. That’s really good advice for a climber, and not in an altogether obvious way. Obviously one needs to be at the peak of their fitness to climb their hardest. But is that really when a climber sends their project? It might not be. Envirionmental conditions also need to be right. The confluence of factors that could allow an ascent all need to line up relatively well for the opportunity to present itself. In practice this could mean I surprise myself with a redpoint on an uncharacteristically cold, dry day during a fitness lull. Conversely, an ascent could materialize when there is a little humidty or it is a little too hot but my fitness is just then peaking. Ideally I’m ready physically and psychologically when the universe tosses me a bone. I need to be prepared.

“A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances.”
— Robert Baden-Powell