june and july

After a great trip to Val di Mello at the end of June, I have mainly been working, training when possible and me and Andy got our CBT (and new bike). It is interesting to see how you ‘get used’ to having real rock so close to your home. It almost seems I climb less outside at the minute than I did when I was still living in Holland. Although I must admit that the bad weather that we have had to cope with the last couple of weeks, might be another important factor for my reduced frequency of outdoor climbing.
But than again, I had a nice session at Rothley with Chris and some guys of the Climber magazine on Thursday and this morning Andy and I cruised some problems I hadn’t done before at Shaftoe.

Due to the extreme heat in Val di Mello, we were unable to stick to the rock. Therefore we created a serious 'ping-pong battle of the rocks competition' during the day (see springers blog for the results).

Our new bike.

A pic of Charlie (Andy's 3 year old nephew) after his second climbing 'session' at Sunderland Wall last Monday (I just really like the picture).

Tomorrow we (Andy, Chirs, Darren and Daniela) might go to Sheffield to climb and watch the BBC finals. I am glad I decided not to compete this year, as I hurt my wrist badly last Monday and I have not been able to use it properly (i.e. painless) ever since. Fortunately the physio said I will be fine within a couple of weeks (and even more fortunate, I don’t really feel it during climbing).

Good luck to those who will compete tomorrow.