I bought an ATC and a locking carabiner. Excitement. I’ve started some lead climbing at the gym. I find that I hurt quite a lot, often. But that just means I’m getting tough!
Going to see the Banff Film Festival tomorrow night at the Mercury, that should be good.
I did my lead climbing course at the indoor gym the other weekend. Tonight is the first time that I’ve had a chance to do some leading. I hurt. Last week I was in Melbourne and went climbing at Hard Rock, that has to be the best indoor gym that I’ve climbed at. It’s awesome. So tonight was my first climbing night at the gym. I hurt! But in a good way. This weekend I’m going to buy an ATC I think. It’s been a long time since I bought any climbing gear, well, except for tonight when I bought myself a chalk ball. Or gonad as they’re called. Funny names for all this climbing gear.
I went to my first Bikram Yoga session last night. Wow. This morning I felt like I’d been bowled over. The yoga session went for an hour and a half and is done in a room that is heated to 40 degrees with 40% humidity. Bikram Yoga is basically Hatha Yoga in a hot room. That the only thing that seems to be different. I’m more familiar with Iyengar Yoga which is very controlled and uses blocks and mats and other props to achieve certain types of stretches.
Bikram Yoga is sometimes called Hot Yoga, because of the heated room. I think a more accurate title would be Sweaty Yoga, Slippery Yoga or Melty Yoga. The sweat literally drips off you. It’s supposed to be good for you, but I was really dizzy last night.
I’m pleased to report that I’m getting back into the groove of going indoor rock climbing up at the Vertical Reality Climbing Gym in Holden Hill. I think I’ve been back into it now for maybe 5 or 6 weeks? I’m beginning to lose count. Last night’s climbing was great. Each week I can feel myself getting stronger, fitter and able to take on another level of challenge. I’m climbing walls graded at 16/17. I got stuck on a new 17 grade climb last night, where the last move required a dyno (climbing terminology for leap or jump) to reach it. I gave it a few tries, but I’m not quite strong enough yet. Something to work on.
Hopefully soon I’m going to do a lead climb course at the gym, this will be good as I can start learning some new techniques and climbing some different walls. I’m keen to start doing more outdoors climbing, but finding the time and the people to go with has been proving difficult.
As for other climbing news, there was a mobile climbing wall at the Norwood Food and Wine festival on Sunday. I had a climb of this (for free) in a dress and bare feet! What a laugh!
Wow, I spent ages trying to figure out how to embed a youtube video…. finally, here’s a solution!
Before I can really even start to think about leather jackets for motorbike riding, I need to think about having a helmet to wear. I’ve got plenty of jackets and coats, but a motorcycle helmet is something I don’t have at all. The question really is, how much is my head worth? How much would I be prepared to spend on looking after my face and my brain?
When I was looking at bike helmets last night, there was one that really caught my eye!
The only price that I’ve seen so far is $428 USD on the Kneedraggers website.