having recently made my departure from that home base that is lexington, ky to the dark-energied city of louisville, i find myself climbing at a gym that is not my own– in that i didn’t design it, sweat over it, fret over the facets and pour my soul into it. and it kind of sucks.
never in my life have i thought i was so freakin weak. in fact, i thought i was kind of strong. i just dropped like 15 pounds since my tenure as a student and am back to the ideal weight i had trouble even maintaining in high school. now granted, some of that is the stout climbing muscle that i use to burl my way over problems like a tank over a half dilapidated building, but still- i should, theoretically, be climbing pretty damn strong. so why is everyone at the gym stronger than me? and not just stronger than me, obviously better than me; as in better form. i have never met so many damn people who can hand-foot match up by their chest and somehow float from hold to hold like dave graham! where are all my sharma-esque peeps popping and catching like real men?
i suppose i should be happy. better climbers help motivate me, and in the southeast finding a large population in one place that can warm up on V7 can be difficult. but i never thought i would climb with so many damn people who can do V8/9 moves so freakin easily.
and i can’t even use the ‘but i’m short’ excuse! which is to say many, many of the problems have obviously been set by people with fairly substantial wingspans- considerably larger than mine. but the one person who is quite a bit shorter than me also happens to crush said problems. i digress. Read the rest of this entry »
It Came from the Garage 