Is my name Earl?

Since Nat had worked late last week doing a massive favour for her boss she was entitled to leave circa 3.00pm on fri, I caught a train up to Wakefield where we set off to visit my family, glad of the extra time that would make the weekend less rushed and all together more pleasant.
About 5mins from where I live, we left the 30's in Aycliffe village on the A167 back up to 60 and the lorry in front finally turned into the industrial estate as we approached the dual carriageway. Nat moved out to overtake a slow moving vehicle as we passed the traffic lighted junction it was at this point at which we were hit from the right at high speed. It sent the car into a massive spin which was stopped short by a concrete bollard.

(Green us, Red Him, Arrow head at collision, the rest of the line shows where we ended up)

All the airbags went off, front, side curtain, the lot. When the smoke cleared from the bags it was evident that the crash had been a bad one, the car was majorly wrecked, Nat was very distressed and it took me a good few minutes to be able to see. I promptly got out of the car, forcing the door open with my feet and went round to the drivers side to check she was ok getting my phone out on the way. Obviously at this point the adrenalin wore off, my back started hurting a lot as did my chest, i managed to limp back round to my seat narrowly avoiding passing out on the way. Nat managed to jam something behind my lower back to offer support and at this point i caught sight og my right hand, it loojed very wrong, large and broken.
My folks turned up on the scene not long after the police and the first set of ambulances. The other car was dealt with first as two young ish kids had some bad injuries, one child was taken into icu over at newcastle, the other had a bad head injury (= no seatbelt).
After lots of prodding, x-rays etc I was told I'd broken my sternum and the 4th and 5th metacarpel in my right hand, they were worried (because of the speeds involved) that this could of potentially hit my heart or lungs and placed me on monitored telematry for 48 hours.Nat was fine, she just looks like she starred in Million Dollar Baby.
Not long after this we were informed the Alfa driver blew over the limit, however it took a further 3 hours for the police surgeon to be allowed to draw blood.
I've now been released but i'm back tomorrow as they may still want to operate on my hand.
Everytime i mention climbing to the people i've seen they just laugh. Virgin Active still want to charge me for this months membership. Tw@ts.

Recently we've been told that it was believed that the other vehicle wasn't even in the correct lane, this explains why he thought he was on green when in fact he wasn't!

Some pics taken off the cars at the garage Punto did damn well:

The Demons of Bosch!

SAT: 10AM HORSESHOE QUARRY:
Jon reminded me about a week ago about this event, basically the BMC are trying to come up with a best practice guide for bolting and they wanted to test a load of different types to see which met the UIAA standard (European 15KN direct pull out, British 20KN direct pull out).
There were a lot of old people stood around looking at the floor when I got there and I couldn't really understand why until it dawned on me that they'd bolted the bed of rock rather than a section of the crag. Jon gave me a quick visual tour of horseshoe and I was surprised that the main face resembled quality, it was then explained why this place gets a bad rep (albeit a little quietly as Gary Gibson wasn't far off, being loud), all of the choss to the left etc. was bolted, mainly by Gary.
Various bolts were tested including:
Fixe Glue-ins (>20Kn)
Capsule Glue-ins (Kristian didn't like these for some pretty obvious reasons)
Screwfix 17p through bolts (20KN and they didn't budge)
Gary's homemade staples (13KN failure load (on average) )
the most interesting bolts were a new design touted to be sustainable as when they're ruined you can supposedly stick a bar through them and twist them out and then drill out the glue and reuse the hole, simple. They're made out of 6mm stainless steel that forms a normal P-shaped head and then twists around the other leg (like a liquorice stick) to create a heavily key'd pattern, at about 12mm, diameter.

This means the head of the bolt is fairly thin and looks pretty insufficient in my opinion, Jon raised a good point: these would be absolutely useless to lower off midway up a route, something some of the old boys didn't seem to see the point of. These were pull tested and although the head deformed (A LOT), they didn't totally fail, it was a different matter when we came to take them out, the bar deformed the head of the bolt even more, it then wrapped around the bar before quickly shearing off, and thats before they're even at all worn/degraded. Useless, which is a real shame.
The BMC then kindly offered all volunteers chip buttees and a brew which was welcomed as it was freezing, Bonjoy declined and quested out into the wind (a braver man than I)...


Later on: my finger well and truly gave up on me, (pulling out a chair for breakfast hurt like hell) and when it came to training up the board (I had one last ditch effort to convince myself it was ok...). I could feel my injury holding me back . Oh well, going to look at gyms tomorrow, I need to get well and truly psyched for something else or what, with the lack of work I'll have absolutely nothing to keep me entertained!

I found this the other day and thought it was a good read. Lee will probably enjoy it but I doubt a lot of other people will.

The title of this post is the name of a Jon (John?) Redhead route that I overheard a story about this morning:
Supposedly JR's Hilti failed on him whilst placing THE bolt for this route so instead he borrowed someone else's Bosch. After clipping the bolt and climbing a long way past it he noticed his draw had unclipped itself leaving him in a bit of a sticky situation (I hate trad, scary stuff), and hence the name. A (semi) interesting snippet for anyone who has bothered to read this far.

Wasted Session?

I've had a fairly unproductive week, my current simulations take around 4 days to run, I set it away last Friday at 5pm and someone did a system update about 10 hours later. Great! So, instead of having results midway through this week I had to wait until tonight, tomorrow realistically before I can do any analysis, research using fluent is painfully slow.

I had another board session tonight, the plan was to concentrate on powerful moves as my arms, lock etc. feel pretty weak. My fingers feel freakishly strong but also very unhealthy. As usual though I got distracted and got involved with some fingery problems, the usual suspects where on the list with a crack at Stuey and snot, both of which I had a surprisingly good go on. I pulled on to the white problem on the 30' board for the first time ever and surprised myself by getting to 4a (or is it 4?), I held it for a brief moment before coming off, the only move remaining is hard and the small crimp you use to rock over midway through the problem left my skin screaming. I ended it at one go. Nige was up(nursing an injury), we both ended up trying the same things. At the end my skin tore away from my nail, I hate it when it does that as crimping is uncomfortable for ages until it heals properly.
I noted that Keith had put one of my problems down to 7c+ therefore I resorted to childish name calling. Maybe it is 7c+, but I seriously doubt it, Turd Reich etc are paths in comparison (Not to mention Total Recoil Bradbury Finish ;) )

It turns out that the comment re: My Protein weren't from Dylan (was it YOU?), I can't for the life of me think who has that kind of knowledge about supplements, slightly freaky, anyway Joe and Vicky seem psyched and I can't wait to get something other than this Chocolate Cyclone that I've just (re)started using. I've also tried to increase the amount of calories I take in daily as I don't think I'm getting enough to aid recovery, I'm also upping the amount of protein. Changing your diet is pretty tricky, its just far too easy to reach for the usual sandwich etc. at lunch time (not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper). I think diet is probably something that gets neglected by a lot of people. On that note; I'm always amazed by the people who I see (well when I was in frame) flogging themselves on a treadmill (daily) that are still really fat, what do these people put in their mouth to maintain that bodyweight?

Testing 1, 2, 3

I viewed last nights session as a test, if my fingers prohibited me from pulling or I felt any pain whatsoever whilst bearing down I'd pretty much settled on taking a break from climbing. Not just for my injuries but for a few other reasons as well. It's hard to approach a session like that positively and I must of sounded like a right miserable sod to Jon and Joe who were up there (training to Bob Dylan!).
Warming up the finger didn't feel good so I took a long time over it. I didn't do much more than chalk and blow for a good half an hour. After that I progressed through my normal warm up until I was faced with Basic Jez, the first problem I really pull on in any given session. It was fine. After a few more warmups I decided I should properly test my fingers and got involved on the 30 deg board and Cressbrook board where Joe and Jon were attempting one of the hardest 7b's in the school. I did uncle crimpy guts, micro machine, turn the hold please (without turning the hold) without any trouble or pain then moved onto the 30' board. Joe pointed me at a problem I don't think i've done before (7b), it's good. I then remembered an amazing problem on there: Totally Sic System Bro, 7b+ what a problem! I fumbled 8a forgetting its a bit more slopey than I remembered but not to worry. I then pulled on to what I thought was the Pussy, did it and got down looking confused, it felt far too easy, not unsurprisingly as I'd got 4a instead of 4, there is a big difference, oh well.
At the end of the session I thought i'd give my circuit a quick blast as I made good progress in Saturdays session, I barely got half way through the first problem before sagging back onto the mats completely spent!

At least i'm not taking a break now.

I'm still struggling to vaguely convince anyone that MyProtein.co.uk is just as good quality as Rego, High5 and Maximuscle, despite being able to pretty much prove it as they have external lab certificates showing the quality of their ingredients, even the mixing is nonsense as they use industry standard mixers. Its as simple as this: if it has the same %age purity and it has the same chemical name, it IS the same. Anyway, no worries when my latest vat of cyclone runs out i'll have some cheap stuff instead. I just need to check my formula with someone more in the know to make sure its correct and isn't going to poison me. They've got a forum full of meat-heads that should be a good place to start.

The clinic

My RH ring finger A2 is sore, very sore. Can this be down to scar tissue? I'm really not sure, it is however really starting to piss me off. I WANT to climb, I've spent long enough taking it easy and doing rings etc.
When this problem first appeared I went to 'The Clinic' night at the works and rick carried out some tests on my finger saying it was most likely scar tissue as when the finger was curved, applying pressure didn't make me scream in agony. It now does. Maybe its time for a follow-up appointment or maybe it's time to shell out for them to do something with it (ultrasound or acupuncture potentially). Or maybe I've just been fiddling with it too much (my finger that is).
To be honest I haven't a clue what to do, which isn't a new feeling.

Cyclone vs. Mr Muscle's Own!

Here follows a public service announcement:

I know at least Dobbin and Lee use or have used Maximuscle cyclone, well... stop paying £30-40 per tub because if you go on to myprotein.co.uk (customizer) you can nicely copy out the ingredients list frm the back of your current tub, spec the flavor to whatever you like all for a whopping £15/Kg (a little more delivered but still less than £20/kg) which is a shed load less than Maximuscle.

Maximuscle even give you the ingredients in nice handy percentages!

If you're too lazy to even do that, then they make something that looks strangely similar (in ingredients and name) to cyclone for less than £15!!!

A gem of wisdom?

It's been a while since I posted, a fair while actually, the main reason for this is that I watched a documentary about a controversial blog which said a new blog was started every 7 seconds, are there really that many people out there writing stuff thats worth reading? I doubt it. I then wondered who on earth wants to read my self pitiful ramblings about injuries and such things. Today however I shall write as I believe I have something worth writing about!

I recently found out that one of my colleagues (if that is the right term) won a gold medal in the triathlon sometime last year, this amazed me as thats one hell of an achievement. On Friday Alma, another colleague graduated, we all went for a drink and I got talking to Kieran about his achievement thinking we'd have the same kind of obsessional thinking about training etc. I was surprised to find out that as soon as he won that medal, he quit, he hasn't been on his road bike since nor has he been swimming, he later informed that he didn't think he would ever get to that level again, everything was right on the day and everything went his way, therefore that was enough for him. This got me thinking, with climbing there is SO MUCH MORE that needs to be right; the temperature the precipitation, being strong enough, being uninjured enough etc. What are the chances of bettering your best (or hardest) climbing day? Since last year I've had a broken leg, two finger injuries a nasty tendon ganglion and a few other niggles I'm certainly nowhere near where I was. Maybe he was right with quitting while he was ahead, however I spend so much time training for climbing, thinking about climbing and talking about climbing I doubt I'd every find anything to fill that void.

I've had a few sessions since the new year but not many, a couple down the works and a couple up the board. I must admit I'm pretty disappointed by the works at the moment, the problems are poor and the new circuits aren't up to the usual standards, the training board has lost its appeal to most people and needs a revamp as well, I'm also slightly apprehensive about their new carpet covering for the mats, my leg hurts enough falling from the top of the wall!

I had a great session the other night at the board (it was my second session on), everybody was down and its great to see so many people (namely Dobbin and Uncle) crushing problems left right and center. My arms felt lacking which they obviously will be after such a prolonged period of non climbing but my fingers felt extremely strong, I won't list the problems I succeeded on or failed on, however I was happy with both and I proved to myself that my fingers were currently strong.
Today I trained again after a days rest, warming up, my fingers ached a lot. I was feeling pretty negative about the whole affair and was about to pack it in until Rich Heap turned up. A lot of tape and a lengthy warm up and things stopped aching. Nat returned from the works very quickly as the place was crawling with people, she tried her long term project of chalk and blow (a modest but worthy target) failing on the move from the large pocket to the crimpy jug. She's not far off mind you and is progressing reasonably well.



Other stuff: You might notice the blog has gone green, this is slightly tongue in cheek and is mainly due to Nat's boss fobbing off the role of office "environmental champion", since that day she's been trying very hard to impose her new green morals on me and the way we live which isn't a bad thing I suppose. You might also have noticed the chicken counter on the right hand side, if you saw the shows you know what this is about, if you didn't and give a cr*p then take a look, if not just ignore it!