Every time I go to Curbar I think to myself that today is going to be the day that Strawberries moves from the "Things I should have done ages ago" pile to the "Thank god I finally got that done" pile. Yesterday it finally got moved - a subtle adjustment of the left foot allowed me to get the higher slot for the left hand in control (for such a small adjustment it is ridiculous how much of a difference it made) and then just pulled hard and hit the jug. BANG!!
At this point it falls to the mighty Dobbinator to sum up proceedings:
"...all you can do is try not to listen to the voices going 'this is the one! you did that move well, this could be it' and then when you get past the hard bit and find yourself shaking out on the 'easy but droppable' bit then the voice changes to be saying 'dont fluff it now, you know you did before...' and again, the voice gets a pillow on its face, and you push on. I felt more tired as I did the final moves than i have before, I felt wild, like I wasnt climbing well but somehow fought on regardless and then bosh! i was on the jug, swinging around at the top having finished the problem. The crowd didnt go wild, there was no roar of satisfaction but finally it was done. A warm glow of success spread slowly through my limbs in the minutes afterwards. Brilliant."
It was all of that and worse - Curbar has been a witness to some fine examples of shit climbing at times (most provided by me) but a new base line was reached yesterday. All the memories of the last time I made it to this point only to fall off came back to haunt me - I would have struggled to smother the voices with all of the stock contained within Mr Wong's Duvet Emporium let alone a single pillow. There was no way I was dropping it this time and reaching deep within myself I plumbed the murky depths of rad and syke. Finding something I hauled like a team of wild horses on the huge hand holds and without an iota of care for style or anything else I just dragged my useless feet behind me and onto the top of the block. Style? Who needs it...
From there it was off to The Ultimate Gritstone Experience where normal service was resumed - made it to my usual highpoint and that was that. One day I will figure out what I am supposed to do with my right foot when I get to the lip but success was proving elusive yesterday - a man can only slay so many demons in a day.
At this point it falls to the mighty Dobbinator to sum up proceedings:
"...all you can do is try not to listen to the voices going 'this is the one! you did that move well, this could be it' and then when you get past the hard bit and find yourself shaking out on the 'easy but droppable' bit then the voice changes to be saying 'dont fluff it now, you know you did before...' and again, the voice gets a pillow on its face, and you push on. I felt more tired as I did the final moves than i have before, I felt wild, like I wasnt climbing well but somehow fought on regardless and then bosh! i was on the jug, swinging around at the top having finished the problem. The crowd didnt go wild, there was no roar of satisfaction but finally it was done. A warm glow of success spread slowly through my limbs in the minutes afterwards. Brilliant."
It was all of that and worse - Curbar has been a witness to some fine examples of shit climbing at times (most provided by me) but a new base line was reached yesterday. All the memories of the last time I made it to this point only to fall off came back to haunt me - I would have struggled to smother the voices with all of the stock contained within Mr Wong's Duvet Emporium let alone a single pillow. There was no way I was dropping it this time and reaching deep within myself I plumbed the murky depths of rad and syke. Finding something I hauled like a team of wild horses on the huge hand holds and without an iota of care for style or anything else I just dragged my useless feet behind me and onto the top of the block. Style? Who needs it...
From there it was off to The Ultimate Gritstone Experience where normal service was resumed - made it to my usual highpoint and that was that. One day I will figure out what I am supposed to do with my right foot when I get to the lip but success was proving elusive yesterday - a man can only slay so many demons in a day.
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