Playing Doctor

Achievement

I climbed a 5.11 at the gym tonight. First time that has ever happened. Quite happy. Nevertheless I am still perplexed by some of the current 5.10s. I need to return to the roof section as well, having ignored that for so long, not to mention the bouldering and my half official goal of winning the next bouldering comp's intermediate section. I can't even reliably get up a V3 yet!

Real Rock

I experienced climbing on real rock for the first time today. Some friends from up the street and I went bouldering out at the sleeping giant park.

The appeal of rock climbing for me has always been the combined mental and physical challenge: what is the best sequence to get up the route and can you physically complete it? Not to mention avoiding freaking out on the rock, getting 'gripped' and managing the adrenaline along the way.

The physical aspect is largely ameliorated in the rock gym, at any stage you can relax and it is not a problem you either fall onto a soft mat or can just lean back on the rope. This is not the case when you are bouldering proper. This fact definitely hits home when your feet are maybe six feet off the ground and you really do not want to fall, but are not totally sure where you are going to put your hand next. Then you feel a little adrenaline, a little fear. It is a bit more intense than working the gym. It makes you more conservative about advancing. In the gym you can just throw yourself at something and if you fail it isn't a big deal, not always the case bouldering outside.

Another contrast between the real and the gym: The routes that are available are basically up to you on the real rock and are often times less defined, if you can find a hold and use it, then great. Nothing is marked except by other climbers' chalked hands. This is great for getting used to looking for holds in real rock. It isn't so great when the diversity of routes available in one spot are limited. The climbing gym is really great in that regard: many varied and rated problem sets in one small space. You do not necessarily get that on the rock.

There are practical things to consider too, the mud, moss and weather. Bringing jandals to put on after you top out on the boulder to avoid having to walk around in the dirt with your climbing shoes on. One or more crash pads to keep your ankles intact if you fall off, and some observant friends to spot you and stop your head hitting the ground in the event of an uncontrolled fall; some chocolate is nice too.

Overall climbing outside is fun, but at the moment I don't necessarily see it as superior to the rock gym itself. Perhaps with time my mind will change. I'd like to see what top roping outdoors is like...

The Game

I've been watching the CB series cricket series going on here. Once at the SCG and more times on TV. The coverage has been very good here. But, I have found the cricinfo adds an extra dimension to the game. Their live text commentary is peppered with wry and often withering comments that would not usually make it onto the televised discourse. Here are a selection from the recent NZ v. England game in the CB series:

44.3 McMillan to Plunkett, 1 run, England's game of pass-the-parcel continues!
44.2 McMillan to Nixon, 1 run, one more, one more. The asking-rate is a mere 13333.45 per ball

and

49.2 Bond to Nixon, FOUR, width, and carved through the covers! England have saved the bonus-point! Joy, happiness and rapture

I thought these was good too

Vettori is sporting a Victorian-style moustache. This has to be a bet; he looks like he's balancing a slug on his top lip.

48.2 Tremlett to Oram, SIX, smashed for a huge six in front of midwicket! Rubbing salt into the wound there, all right. And a bit of pepper. Possibly some vinegar

It's not bad for a little chuckle along with the match. Highly recommended.

For real

At the coast again today, did four hours in the water. It was like other times: fun. This time however I really rode a wave for real: catch, stand, ride. It was great.

Turns out the problem was that I was paddling too hard. You need to paddle on your board, matching the speed of the wave to catch it. I was out running the waves. The instructor was surprised, he'd never seen anyone with that issue before; usually people don't paddle hard enough

Grommit

Two weekends back I went east to Broulee (just south of Bateman's bay) for my first two surfing lessons ever. I had been told that it was great fun and I should definitely try it at least once. I had always thought it would be a shame to have spent so long in Australia without surfing here.

Behind enemy lines

My parents came to visit me while they were on holiday in and around NSW and the ACT a month ago. Much of their itinerary covered the multitudes of gastronomic options available in the region. One aspect of the food culture they had not counted on when arriving here, but that which my fiancé and I agreed should be part of their experience was the combined cafe, restaurant, sport bar. Especially, when the Bledisloe cup was at stake.
 

School of hard knocks

Sparring has become a regular fixture at kung fu training these days. I'm quite interested in this far more fluid, potentially dangerous, but more practical training than repeating the lesson 'drill' over and over again. I think the lesson is certainly valuable, but sparring is where it is at for me at the moment.

It is not easy to hold on to this attitude. Last Saturday afternoon, sparring again. It has been a while since I have done this. My opponents are much more practised, skilled and capable than I am. I guess it seems stupid, the learning curve is steep. I was soundly dealt with by three guys: one who has trained with the current instructor for about a decade, another who is a kick boxer from some where that I only met that lesson, and the last guy, the Northern Italian ex-boxer. Suffice to say I felt physically drained and pretty dejected after that. I did get winded a couple of times, and I collected a couple of bruises. Par for the course at the moment.(There are some slightly controlled conditions, People don't (shouldn't!) punch that hard, we wear at least 14 oz gloves, and a mouth guard is compulsory.) It is hard to integrate the tight guard and constant movement required to avoid being hit and being able to deal back. I didn't move enough last time.

I am determined to become competent at sparring and be able to handle myself. Previously I had gone up against those of similar or slightly greater skill. It was easier then, but I think there was less impetus to learn quickly!

Sport surprise

I was having a cursory glace at the idiot box before. I was a bit surprised to see this thing called the A1 Grand Prix. It's the 'world cup' of motor sport. Cars that look like F1 (sort of) cars are driven by drivers representing a seemingly totally global distribution of countries. The cars all seem to be technically equal. There is a thing called a 'speed boost' that each car has three of per race. It makes the whole thing seem like playing a computer game. Much like another life threating motorsport to be. I guess my interest was piqued because currently NZ are 4th! I suspect that the motor world views this whole thing as the retarded cousin of F1. I think it is better to have a real contest between the drivers, however.

Saturday training

Had training like normal on Saturday last weekend, apart from the last ten minutes of class. My instructor is incorporating a bit of sparing into normal training times for those who are interested now. It is only ever the guys who want to spar, and I am one of them. We all had brought mouth guards in preparation; chewing on those we got the gloves and groin guards on too then went toe to toe or fist to face for no more but sometimes less than a minute each.

I sparred three guys, one who is a bit shorter than I, the most senior student in the class who is two meters tall (!) and another guy who is my height but stronger than I am, and more experienced.

The first minute was easy. The guy who was shorter than me had a poor guard which made it easy to hit him and not take too much myself. It went the whole minute and I was clearly on top. He was keen though. I was careful to not hit him too hard and to tried to let him come at me. That's how it seemed to me at least.

I sat down for a minute after that then got back into it with the most senior student who I had sparred previously but that was quite a while ago. That time he had been pretty laid back but this time he didn't waste anytime and bet the crap out me. I had to call an end to it when I got a hook on my chin that made me feel as if my jaw might have been torn off. I timely warning about having a solid guard and staying mobile. My instructor said it was obviously a confidence thing, I had seemed much more proficient when I thought I was at an advantage in the previous minute.

The last minute of sparring that I did after having a sit down for a while started off ok. I felt more comfortable with someone who was my size but more skilled. It wasn't too long before I got a clean jab sqaure in my mouth combined with some poor footing that saw me sitting on the mat. It made all the spectators go 'oooo!'. It was a little embarrasing.

I felt pretty shook up after all that and I had a headache that was persistent for several hours afterward, perhaps a minor concussion from the senior student's punch to my jaw. Reflecting on the experience makes me think it was good to have an ego readjustment that way and realise that I have much to improve upon.

Formula one experience

Got down to the Albert Park circuit relatively early this morning (11 am) for the first practise session of the formula one cars. They are loud. I got my ear plugs in well before I got close to the track for the first practise sesssion, but by the time the second practice session rolled around later, in the afternoon, I was a bit slow to get the plugs back in. Formula one cars are loud. LOUD. I don't know how people can stand beside the track without hearing protection (and there are plenty of them).

At first I thought this car racing lark was a bit boring, watching fast loud things go by in a very repetitive manner. That impression started yesterday with the V8 supercars qualifying. It was very different today though. First of all the formula one cars (who were seen for the first time, today) are really impressive close up. Not at all like on TV. The V8s also had a 10 lap race today, which is a lot more exciting to watch for some reason even though it is all the things I cited as boring. It's turning out to be wicked week down in Melbourne and I'm really glad I came.

Going to head out for some night life later on here. Probably a pub or two, nothing particularly full on. Maybe some more on Saturday night. The racing is getting going pretty early these days so staying out late makes things interesting. As my mate from Dunners would say "Sleep is for fools".