Pushing Past Pain - NY Times

While I assemble pics for a couple posts on trips to the Red and Jackson, here's an interesting performance article from the NYTimes.

In short, if you spit, you will climb harder.

Just kidding. There's a part of this article I found painfully funny; it talked about top runners finishing races with saliva covering their faces. I assume they're spitting instead of swallowing as they run, and certainly not bothering to turn their head while doing so. All in an effort to conserve energy and keep focus.

This part was very akin to the redpointing process and certainly made sense:

"And as athletes improve — getting faster and beating their own records — “it never gets any easier,” Dr. Swart said. “You hurt just as much.”
But, he added, “Knowing how to accept that allows people to improve their performance.”
One trick is to try a course before racing it. In one study, Dr. Swart told trained cyclists to ride as hard as they could over a 40-kilometer course. The more familiar they got with the course, the faster they rode, even though — to their minds — it felt as if they were putting out maximal effort on every attempt.
Then Dr. Swart and his colleagues asked the cyclists to ride the course with all-out effort, but withheld information about how far they’d gone and how far they had to go. Subconsciously, the cyclists held back the most in this attempt, leaving some energy in reserve."

I'll hopefully have pics and some words up soon. Enjoy your Fall climbing!

Can't Stop, Won't Stop: 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell

It has been one week since the adventure at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. This was my first time at “Horseshoe Hell” and Dane’s first time to HCR. We arrived Friday around noon, and spent the first day doing a little climbing and bouldering. Calvin worked Leather Face, a V7 crimpy roof problem. I did not get to see his attemp

t Saturday, but Friday he was putting it together nicely, and will hopefully send it next trip!

The 24 hour competition itself was intense. The first ten hours were easy; everyone climbed hard, spirits were high, and energy was flowing. Dane and I got on some 5.11s, while John and Yusuf sent some .12s. All four of us were cruising, s

ticking to our motto of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.” Once it started getting dark, the first wave of exhaustion hit. What we had accomplished so far was a normal day of climbing, but instead of going home to cook food and drink beer we were to climb for another fourteen hours, the next eight of them in the dark.

By midnight, I found the atmosphere was becoming surreal. It was no doubt partly due to fatigue-induced delirium; the glow of all those headlamps flying along the rock, the climbers heard but not seen, the mixture of people napping, hanging out, and madly scrambling upwards – everything blurred together, and as we continued to fight our way through the routes, people would appear out of the darkness. What kep

t us going, other than the red bull and sugar we inhaled between climbs, were the cries of “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” that frequently permeated the night air, letting us know that Yusuf and John were not too far away. We repaid the favor in kind.

By 10 am Sunday we were past tired. Luckily Calvin drove us home: I would not have made it out of the ranch’s gates. St Louis’ performance in the comp was extraordinary. Russ and John Richard placed 7^th and 8^th in the Team Total Points category, with John and Yusuf right behind them. Dane and I accomplished 101 pitches each, breaking the century mark at 9:52 am on Sunday morning! All in all, an amazing experience. If you haven’t done it yet, clear your calendar for the last weekend of September next year, because whether you compete or volunteer, it is a great weekend.

We all have t-shirts with our motto.

-Marc C. (guest blogger)

REGRESSION

Another production from our director extraordinaire Yoli. Enjoy! It is comical!

Regression from Yolanda Chen on Vimeo.

The Red - Sept 11-12, 2010 - UPDATE

D on the Burrito

Climbers - Marc, Kevin, Danielle, Calvin, Yoli, Christian, John, Jaime and Conor
Weather - soggy, then nice


Some Pics.


While Soph puts together her entry for the Labor Day trip, I'll put in a quick entry for another interlude taken this past weekend.

Major props to Danielle on her first trip to the Red for sending Breakfast Burrito .10d (uprated in the new guidebook since the flexijug broke) second try and flashing Whipstocking .11a! D took a day of getting her bearings on Corbin sandstone to start looking like a rock goddess. You could see the "click" on Burrito. A few hesitant clips, assessing the climb, then "click" and she started rocketing up the stone. Way to go!


Day 1 - Saturday
John/Jaime/Conor and Yoli & Christian got down for some Friday climbing, and apparently enjoyed the stone at the Gallery. I'll let them fill in the spots since that was before the rest of us got there.

Saturday was a drizzly overcast and misty day. We decided on Roadside to get some drier climbing in, and also to give Marc a chance to Ro Shampo, his project there. Marc had a great first attempt, falling at the last bolt on the crimps! Unfortunately, humidity really set in after and his first attempt proved his best for the day. It'll come soon. Kevin, Yoli, Danielle and Jaime all worked Ro and made good progress.

It was crowded on the .10 wall, so we traded draws on all of the routes, from AWOL over to Pulling Pockets. I put the draws up on Stay the Hand, .12a and got shut down on the opening moves. Hard! I think the extreme humidity didn't help, but Stay requires a pocket and fingery boulder problem to start and it kicked my arse. The rest of the climb went okay, but that's a reminder that I have to return to the hangboard to restrengthen my fingers. Several sessions last season really went a long way, but I've held off this year due to finger injuries.

Yoli had an epic time with Marc and Kevin on Return of Chris Synder, .11d. by timing her climb with a torrential downpour, complete with lightning and thunder. I wasn't there to see it, but I hear she had a great time. :P

Christian and I spent a little time on Tic-Tac-Toe, .12b, but it was slippery and humid. I've fallen at the crux multiple times now, and need to up my game.

Day 2 - Sunday

We were thankful to wakeup to a beautifully clear and sunny Sunday. We partially packed and headed to Drive-By!

Marc in the crux of Check your Grip

I've already given props to D for her sends above. I think she was a little frustrated to not climb well at Roadside, but it takes a little time to get used to a new area and the humidity really made it hard. I think she had a great showing and set the bar high for a first trip.

Kevin took a breather as his finger acted up, and John/Jaime/Conor headed back early to St. Louis as Conor had picked up a cold. I enjoyed 2 new climbs, Fire and Brimstone, .10d and Big Sinkin' Breakdown, .11c. Both were pretty pumpy, but felt good. Marc climbed the Burrito and warmed up on a .10b while Yoli & Christian warmed up on the .10b and Slick and the 9mm, .10b. Slick is an underrated climb; I highly recommend it.

That left Check Your Grip, something I'd always tried on the last day, last attempts of a trip, and hadn't sent. CYG now has perma draws, probably because of the level of traffic it sees, and that was really nice. Marc had a proud first attempt, getting to bolt five (traversing from crimps into the side-pull slopers) before taking a massive whipper. I apparently wanted to imitate Marc as I took the same whipper immediately after. Christian has video that I hope we can link to soon. Marc and I rested and tried again, and I was able to get it second go. CYG is definitely more of an endurance climb, not so much a cruxy one, so that played to my current (non)strength and allowed me to send.

It was only a two day trip for the four of us, but we had a great time. Thanks to Yoli & Christian for inspiring us for another trip to the Red!! I love that place.

End of the month will see us at the 24HHH. Stay tuned!

RRG - Labor Day 2010

Before I have more time to write up on a glorious WE with so many good friends, here are some random photos of Team Saucisson in action! I am 180% sure we'll be back before soon (;) inside joke...)

Here's to a Great Fall Season (trip to the Falls Aug 28, 2010)

Climbers: Calvin, Angie & Tony
Weather: Warm, but not too bad

It's been a long summer. Yesterday, I reflected on what has seemed like a summer of record temps, extreme humidity and general unpleasantness in the Midwest. Team Saucisson has been quiet as a result, with some trips to other locales, but mostly gym climbing and injury healing the rule of the season.

With the temperatures the way they were, I leapt at the chance when I got a call from Tony asking about a trip to the Falls on Saturday:

T: "Hey buddy. You see the temps for Sat?"
Me: "Yeah. High of 90, looks pretty good."

Funny how 90 degrees previously would have made me scoff at any mention of going outdoors to climb, especially at Jackson. Well, a summer of no outdoor climbing, no trips out west, and suddenly, I think 90 degrees equal sending temps. Welcome to desperation.

We got up early and were on the road before 5:30. Angie had never been to the Promised Land, and was excited to go see a new area, so we headed there. We didn't do much climbing; just old main-stays like XOXO .10b for the warm-up; Angie worked on Fashionably Late .11a, Tony re-visited Balance of Power which he sent a while ago, .12b/c(d?) and I worked Hubba Hubba, .12a/b(c?). Sending didn't happen, but we ran laps, relearning beta, coping with the heat and just loved the outdoors. Props to Angie for attacking FL on lead and getting more comfortable. Props to Tony for completing his one-year intensive graduate program in nursing and for looking like he hasn't missed a step. Tony 1-hung BoP his second and third go. By contrast, I thrashed up HH two times and dogged BoP so badly my rope-mates were looking for moral victories when trying to avoid embarrassment about compliment my climbing.

Around 4:30pm, we ran low on water and headed out with roughed up fingertips, throbbing digits and smiles on our faces.

The Fall is coming. We've got a Labor Day trip to the Red, the HCR 24HHH comp, a November trip to Hueco and other exciting trips this fall. Here's to a Great Fall Season!

Team Saucisson on the Woody

Here is how Team Saucisson can spend a few hours "speed climbing". The only time you might see Yusuf climb really fast!!!!
The video is, of course, courtesy of Yoli our photographer extraordinaire.

Speedy Woody Sesh 2010 from Yolanda Chen on Vimeo.