North Carolina Day 3

This morning I felt so absolutely nasty - two days of climbing and a late drive to drop Webster off at the Georgia state line, and sleeping in my truck after it had housed not only a wet dog but a large water spill, via a 2.5 gal container that had a hole in it (the entire platform in the back of my truck was damp, ech). Wandered around the Lake Hartwell campground and found a SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hot water, too, SCORE!!! (i know, i'm getting soft in my old age). That and a good cup of coffee and I would have felt like a spring chicken, but alas, no good coffee in West Buttfudge. So i felt like a lightly droopy summer chicken. Not so bad really :)

My friend Ryan had loaned me a few books on biking in NC, so I decided that when in rome, check out both the aquaduct and the coliseum. I did an 8 mi trail in Dupont State Forest called Waterfalls. Mostly doubletrack, and about 1000' of climbing (much of it loose) = um, good workout. Yeah, I know, I'm a spoiled rotten singletrack freak. Deal with it. Seriously the trail was fun, and there was a river by the parking lot so Miss Moose got to go swimmin' too. I swear she drinks water from streams and ponds like a whale eats - just filter thru the baleen. It's hilarous to watch.

Home now, with a crashed-out dog, a smelly truck, and gear scattered thru my foyer. Life is good. Plus, I still have 5 days of break, and Giulia and Andy on the way!

North Carolina Day 2

THE NOSE IS OURS!!!!

Charley, I thought of you all day. You'd love this place.

Because i'm a sucker, i agreed to lead P1 of this one, too. Also bc i had a little something to overcome. I did get stuck for a while, but doublechecked my pro, had a little talk with myself, and just made it happen (while Webster was at the bottom ready to sprint backwards). He led the rest of the climb, which was lovely - esp this Quartz Band on P2, where you're going up a thin ramp with your feet while you have lefty handholds way up, left side, and righty underclings low on your left. Giggly fun.


Two lovely days of climbing. Webster, you rock :)

North Carolina Day 1

Looking Glass, just outside Brevard, far western North Carolina. It's been on my hit list since I moved here. 500 foot granite dome, with funky features called "eyebrows" (see pic). I was hoping to climb here or up in West Virginia with Michelle this week, but she's been yucky ill. So i rang my friend John Webster, who happened to be free, yay! Let's go play!

We hit two multipitch routes, called Sundial and The Nose. Sundial we did the first two pitches, The Nose we took to the top.

Sundial: my intro to North Carolina climbing, and the need for a "running belay." Can we say, no pro and groundfall from 30 feet? I was dumb enough to volunteer to take the first pitch. Got two pieces in, fine, then a manky-ass 0.5 cam that would have done nothing but leave a mark on my face on its way out. With my feet a few feet above that, I looked up for my next placement - uh, oh. Hm. It's 10' up, I have manky pro, and I don't remember how to climb slab / friction with no holds. And on slab, downclimbing is.... not fun. Bad combo!! Fortunately for me there was a free solo-er in the neighborhood (peals of laughter from Michelle) who came up to visit. He confirmed that my 0.5 was useless, the tricam below that was bomber but still would have meant groundfall, and proceeded to *SOLO UP* and place a piece for me up 10 ahead of me. Rock on. I like charity, I got no pride. With that piece, I cruised the rest of the pitch. Happy.

P2 was lovely, bc Webster led it :) Kudos to him for a great lead. At the top of P2, we looked at P3 - an absolutely scrumptious 5.8 crack that I have now written on my "to do" list. However, we were tired, and daylight was waning, so we called it a day.

a quote to ponder

"The ability to treat someone's heart with care comes only with age and experience."

A lesson I keep encountering, and have not yet taken to heart. At some point i hope to be able to see this in foresight rather than hindsight. It's just that those younger men are so fun and spunky, dangit...

How to celebrate the first day of spring

... a lot like I like to celebrate the first day of summer: Go outside and play!

I'm such a slacker sometimes. Wed the weather was so
beautiful, and i got out of my Embryology exam a little after noon. Really I should have disciplined myself to study for the two exams I had the next day, Endocrinology and Neurological Diagnosis, but....... nah. I figured I was doing well in both classes, I'd just pull it out of my arse the morning before the exams. (Right, good student, eh?) So Rusty and I went to Blanket's Creek to ride for the afternoon. We did about 12 miles, and each of us had multiple accidents. It was that kinda day. Fun nonetheless!!!

The above picture is Rusty right before his first crash. He landed off-kilter and bit it, good. Technically he should'a got a few stitches, but the day was far too nice to waste in an ER. Nothing a little butterfly bandage can't fix.

I hugged a tree (way to celebrate Spring!) and had a little fall due to an unsuccessful uncleating. I got a new pair of shoes and hadn't set the tension right. I fell over sideways and currently have a hematoma the size of my palm on my left butt cheek. Just call me Spot.

It was the best ride I'd had in a long time, despite my uncoordination that day! My lungs are feeling good, and my heart isn't holding 180 for the entire ride any more, which is good.

Then I took my exams on Thursday, pretty much winged 'em, and........ cough, cough...... ended up with A's on both. Which makes for a 4.0 this quarter. In other words, I'm so done being a stressbunny and spending all my time studying - I seem to do *just fine* working in some playtime! Again with my life goal: have as much fun as possible without consequence :)

Why life in the south is nice

March 2007, temps sneaking into the 70s. Clear skies. No bugs, yet! Time to go play on my bike. Studying is overrated anyways. Finals? Bah.

Background: I used to love biking. As much as I now love climbing. I had to all but stop biking, because it hurt my back badly - i'd be able to go for a short ride, then be in pain, then be in recovery for a few days. (or, in the case of the Trek Across Maine, a bit longer) I've been under the care of a chiropractor for 2.5 years now, and recovery has been slow - but i thought it might be time to "push the envelope" and see whether my body could take abuse again.

So i've been out with my school's new cycling club. The first ride I was nervous - I had tried these trails a few times in the past year or so, with the same result - pain. So I took it cautiously. To my ABSOLUTE JOY!!!!!!, i did ok. The same on the next ride. And the next. I went out three times this past week and remembered, oooooooh, wow how I missed this. Thursday I decided to push a little harder, do some more rocky technical stuff - chasing two boys on full-suspension bikes (my cannondale has a head shock but no rear boing). I did mostly OK for the first few laps. Then a long lap. Then we got back to the car and I felt my back go, "warning! stop or I will hurt you." So i stopped - prepared to hurt for the weekend. Oh well, worth it. Medicated a bit with an ice pack and a few martinis, so much for studying, went to see the chiropractor on Friday morning. And............. no pain. WOO HOO!!!!!

Have I taken a sip from the fountain of youth? Whatever it is, i'm happy to ride the wave :)

Funny note about the first ride of the season (second picture): I was so excited to get out, I forgot my shoes. See the picture above. I was riding, shoes or not. Unfortunately I didn't even have sneakers, I was wearing my Merrell clogs!!! So my friend Ryan tossed me a roll of tape and, well, it worked.... mostly. No yard sale, anyways :)