Monthly Archives: May 2009
Vertical Cracks
It’s a sunny morning, and should continue to be a sunny day. After two days of rain, on and off, this idea excites me. Unfortunately, I’ll be at work almost all day today – I know it’s Memorial Day, but I’ll be getting paid substantially more money to be there, so I’m not complaining too much. I’m working afternoons/evenings for the rest of the week, and I’m looking forward to making the most out of the open mornings, before it gets too hot. Hopefully lots of rock climbing is on the schedule.
Cycling probably won’t be on the schedule for a few more days, unfortunately. In the crash i talked about on the 11th, my bike fared a little worse than my body. My friend Andy and I, in the bike shop at work, were looking things over and noticed my headset was loose, leading to a loose compression plug as the culprit. I pulled the fork off the bike to give a closer inspection, and was greeted by two nice cracks in my carbon fiber steerer tube, obviously from a hard frontal impact judging by where they were. It’s a really bad idea to ride on cracked carbon when it’s anywhere on the bike, but it’s an especially poor choice to ride a cracked steerer tube. We’re talking instant face-plant and dental reconstructive surgery if that thing fails.
So, $180 later, I’m waiting for my new fork to arrive in the mail from Easton. It’s killing me being without a road bike. I’ve been fighting the temptation to jump on it and ride anyways – plastic surgery be damned – but I took everything apart yesterday so I’d at least have to look at the cracks, and then consciously put it back together in order to ride.
I moved my furniture into the new house yesterday. All I have left to do is some boxing of smaller items – books, clothes, and shoes mostly – then the apartment will be no more. I also applied for [another] new job last week, so we’ll see where that goes. If this one doesn’t work out either, I think I’m going to be leaving Austin. Destination is still unknown, but I’ve narrowed it down Denver, somewhere in Wyoming, or Anchorage. I’ll know definitively by July, and I’ll be on the road by August. I just need something new in my life, and I’m not finding that here.
I love Austin, and I’ve met some fantastic people during my time here, but I can’t seem to keep the things that I want in my grasp anymore. It’s frustrating to me when I can’t have the things that I want, especially when those things are so important to me. A drastic and radical change in my surroundings is feeling like the best way of shifting this frustration into something positive.
Animals in my World
Been away for a while, sorry about that. Since Thursday my typical routine has changed quite a bit, and I haven’t been able to dedicate the time to write as usual. Life at the new house has been quite exciting, and the changes it has brought about have been good so far. As I mentioned before, I’ve been pet sitting while Steven and Emily are out of town. The animals are definitely a handful. My day consistently starts at about 6:45am – when the first ray of sunlight hits my window. The bird starts with a few gentle “hello” like squawks from inside it’s covered cage. If I don’t move, it’ll start singing to me – usually a fusion of the Andy Griffith theme song and the Mexican Hat Dance. It’ll keep singing until I give it attention – the best alarm clock I’ve ever had.
I’ll brush my teeth and pull on my shoes, then head out the back door to see the dogs around 7:30. They’re excited, jumping up and down, ready for their morning walk. I’ll put captain on his leash, and bronco will grab the biggest log he can get his mouth around, which he’ll carry the entire walk. Then we’ll head to the neighboring nature preserve, where small trails zig-zag through the trees. I still don’t know my way around the trails too well, so we haven’t taken the same route twice yet. I’m still slightly amazed that we always make it home. The walks are good – bronco prances ahead of me on the trail with his log in his mouth, and captain is good on the leash. Captain does get a little temperamental around other dogs, so I have to be careful when we see others on the trail. This morning in particular, a pack of three ladies and six dogs (not on leashes) were out there and got him a little worked up. I can hold him back easily, but can’t control the others coming up to say hi…
We’ll get home and I’ll give them their food and make sure they have water, and they’ll be happy until I get home in the evening. The house has been such a nice addition in my life. It’s quiet, always bright, and has plenty of room for me to breathe. I think I’ve been missing a good personal space in my life for a while. I haven’t been home too much though these past few days, with friends in town for the weekend and the associated social obligations, and an especially good yesterday evening spent with Carolina. Tonight after work, I’m looking forward to sitting out back with the dogs, maybe watching a movie, and being asleep before 11.
I’ve been writing this post over the course of my late morning and early afternoon. I’ve changed locations four times, starting at Halcyon, then moving to the lake, then to Lift juice/coffee bar on Lamar near the lake for lunch, and now back next to the water. It’s such a nice day today, with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze. I’m working at 5:00pm, so I have plenty of time to take it in.
Good Days
Yesterday was an exciting one. I woke up at my leisure around 8:00am, got cleaned up and dressed, then walked down the road for coffee and internet. I’ve been watching the Giro live on justin.tv for the past few mornings, and it’s been a fantastically entertaining way to begin my day. After Di Luca took the stage, and I was sufficiently caffeinated, I headed home to start cleaning/organizing/packing my apartment. This evening will be my last night sleeping in my current residence. Pretty exciting.
I went to work at 1:00pm for my usual cycle/camp/stocker gig. I don’t really have a specific job title anymore – I kind of just float around to where I’m needed most and where I can be most productive. It’s been a pretty solid gig so far. We had a bike commuting presentation scheduled for the evening, with a pretty well known bicycle advocacy speaker lined up to give it. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we discovered he was in Washington D.C… We already had 20 something people waiting in our classroom – too many to cancel the event – so I stepped in and taught the class. It all went really well – I still enjoy public speaking every now and then.
As mentioned in my last post, I went climbing Monday afternoon. It was definitely my best moment out on the rock so far. We were at Seismic Wall, on the greenbelt; “we” being Rami (from REI and the Ozarks expedition), Pipkin (from REI), and later Kit (REI), Kit’s sister, and one other friend. A good group, for sure. Rami is a very technique savvy climber, and is very good at passing that knowledge on. I took in a lot of really great information, and really challenged myself on some pretty cool routes. I’m getting much stronger, and much more confident in my movements. It’s fun to be doing something so completely new to me – to start out as a blank page and and watch it slowly fill up with knowledge.
We climbed until after dark on Monday – 4:30 to 8:30pm – then I jetted home, washed the dirt and chalk off my body, and headed down the road to meet Michael at the Crown & Anchor. Michael is a good friend of mine from Texas 4000, in Austin for a few days before returning to law school in Lubbock. It was good seeing him again, and hanging out with Natalie and Amy, also from our T4k days. With my afternoon of climbing, it turned out to be a fantastic Monday.
Lots of cool people will be coming to Austin this weekend. Thomas, one of my few remaining friends from Burkburnett, TX, will be in town. My family will probably be in Austin as well; possibly with my brother, wife and infant niece in tow. I have two residences until the end of May, meaning plenty of space to house everyone.
Working
Busy days at REI should be over with for a while now. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were definitely long days; we did 3-4 times as much business as usual… My birthday was pretty low key – I was at work most of the day, and didn’t really feel like celebrating. I did make a big bowl of fruit salad that evening, which turned out incredibly well.
Saturday night I joined Patrick and a few other friends for the full moon ride. We left the Lamar pedestrian bridge a little after midnight with 200 others, winding through downtown, heading up north for a ways, landing at a nice park off of Shoal Creek. We hung out here for quite a while. It was a blast, and the ride was pretty gentle and chill. The group continued further up North, but I turned back early, as it was already 2:30am and I needed to be at work the next morning.
I was riding my fast(er) bike, and was really cruising on the way home – no cars, no wind, nice and cool outside. I was on a road I’ve been on a million times. I knew there was a nice mound of pavement I would need to swerve – the City of Austin likes to keep us on our toes – exactly three feet out into the road, and maybe 40ft after crossing Medical Pkwy on 40th. I could ride this route with my eyes closed! But for some reason on Saturday night, I failed to swerve, and went right into this nice piece of concrete, bringing me down pretty hard. My right elbow is nasty, and my shoulder is sore, but I didn’t do too much damage. I landed under the bike. Oh well.
My wounds are all cleaned up and healing now, and the soreness is slowly creeping away. No big deal. I have the day off today, which will give me a much needed break. I’m going climbing this afternoon with Rami at the Greenbelt. I also need to start packing, sorting, and trashing my belongings – I’ll be moving later this week. Both of those activities should keep me occupied for most of the day…
Reimers and Such
My weekend was pretty great. I was working most of Saturday, as it was the second day of our big sale at REI. That evening, I met up with three old Texas 4000 friends of mine and had a few beers. It was good to catch up. I didn’t stay up too late Saturday night so I could be up early Sunday morning. I made plans with Emily and Stephen, my future housemates, to go climbing out at Reimers Ranch, about 30 minutes west of the city. I left my place at 8:00am to get to their’s at around 9:00am. Thankfully, the weather forecast worked in our favor – cloudy skies turned to brilliant sunshine, and the threat of rain never materialized.
Reimers was great fun; the rock out there is so much better to climb on compared to the greenbelt. We were climbing mostly 5.9 routes, which are right at my level of strength and skill at the moment. The last route I climbed really challenged me at the start – you have to move quickly and confidently or your hands will become unusable. The rest of the climb was fairly straight forward until near the anchors, where you really have to stretch and struggle for the ledge a few inches above your fingertips. Of course, Emily made us look like buffoons – she’s one of the tiniest girls I know, but she climbs rock like a mountain goat.
We spent half the day out at Reimers, then drove down the road to Hamilton Pool to cool off. It was pretty glorious. We were all pretty exhausted by that point. On the way home, we landed at the Austin Pizza Garden for beer and…pizza. Fantastic pizza too – you should check it out if you’re in that neighborhood. I got home around 7:00pm, and probably fell asleep no later than 9:00pm.
Monday brought me back to work with sore muscles, but not quite as sore as after my first climbing experience. I sent my resume off to another job opportunity – doing nonprofit development writing. We’ll see where that goes – I think I’ve stopped anticipating any promising returns from my efforts. I feel like it’s the format of it all that’s holding me back – I hate writing about my accomplishments. But I’ve bit the bullet a little bit with my recent attempts, throwing some interesting numbers into the mix. Maybe they’ll help.
I have the rest of the day off, and I’m thinking about getting back on the bike for a few hours. I’ve been away from it about as long as I’ve been away from the blog.
First Time Climbing
Yesterday was my first step in my new rock climbing hobby. It was more of a leap, actually – but it was the most fun I’ve had outside in a long time. I joined Ryan, my friend and co-worker from REI, at around 8:00am; he would serve as my guide for the day, showing me the ropes so to speak. Climbing is a very mouth-to-mouth kind of sport – you can’t do it without a partner, and you can’t get started safely without proper instruction from an experienced climber. Ryan was my partner and experienced climber for the morning.
We headed to Austin’s greenbelt, about five minutes from downtown, to Seismic Wall. Seismic is a pretty beginner friendly wall, and would be a nice place for me to get a feel for things. It was completely empty – we had the place all to ourselves. Ryan showed me the gear we’d be using, and how to use it. Most important would be operating the belay device, a chunk of metal used to control the rope from the ground. Aided by this piece, the climber on the ground (belayer) is directly responsible for the climber on the rock’s safety – without it nothing would be holding the rope when you fall. We then pulled on harnesses and shoes, and were ready to climb.
We started on a pretty easy route to let me get a feel for things. I’d be belaying Ryan as he took the rope up the rock, which would then be anchored at the top of the climb. He made it look easy. All of the belay functions and responsibility came fairly easily – it’s all pretty intuitive once you actually do it. With a top rope set up, it was now my turn to give it a shot. I tied in, put my hands on the wall, and started to climb. Maybe two feet up the rock, my ass swung out away from me like the big wooden doors at the Texas capitol – possessed and unstoppable – pulling me off the wall. Interesting. After a few pointers, I put my hands on the rock again, pulled my hips in towards the rock, and started to climb again. This was better. I gingerly climbed to the top of the route on my second try, kissed the anchors at Ryan’s instruction, and was lowered down. What a thrill.
We moved to the left on the wall, and climbed one more easy route, a little easier than the last. Ryan sent up a continuous stream of tips and information to me as I made my way up – where to put my feet and hands, what to do with the rope, how to transfer my balance from one foot to another, how to save my energy. I was amazed by how sticky climbing shoes are – I could literally put my big toe on a dime-sized bump in the rock and support my entire body. Climbing is like an interactive chess match, and the rock gives you endless possibilities to approach any given problem. It definitely makes you think.
After two easy “learning routes”, we continued to move left on the wall, this time to something a little more difficult. This one had some overhanging rock at the top of the climb, and a really tough start. Ryan made it look easy again as he led, but as he was hanging underneath the overhanging rock, I knew I might have a tough time with this one. On my go, I just couldn’t get the start. I must have tried eight times, slapping at the rock looking for a hand hold, failing, and falling backwards. And then I got it – my left-hand fingers reaching just far enough to wrap around the back of the hold. My foot went up, then another hand. When I got to the overhang, my arms were just too tired to make it up and over, but I put in a good effort. I got to the difficult part, hung with my back parallel to the ground, slapped at the rock for the next hold, and then peeled off of the wall, swinging out and away from the rock. I’m glad the rope worked. I repeated this a few times, then headed down.
My arms were so incredibly tired at the end of the all – about two hours on the rock. Today I have sore muscles where I never knew muscles existed – mostly in my hands and forearms. Climbing is an entirely new beast of a workout for me.
Ryan and I had to head to work immediately after our morning excursion, making for one exhausting day. My bed felt pretty good last night. I’ll be at work again this afternoon and evening. Fun. I am excited about tomorrow morning though. I’m going out to Reimers Ranch with Emily for another climbing excursion. Reimers has much less traffic then the greenbelt, making the rock a little more textured and less slippery, or so I hear. It’s going to be an awesome day. That’s all barring rain of course – if it’s wet I’ll have to ride instead. What a travesty.
