Today was
the youth lead 2015 in Rock Steady in Bussum. I am really happy with the
result. I qualified second in the semifinals and managed to stick the hanging
ball in the finals which turned out to be enough for the first place. I loved
the circus move in the route. Too bad that my figure of four didn’t work out as
planned.
The funny
thing is that I was ill last week and in bed for 3 days; I didn’t touch any
plastic or rock for 7 days. On Friday I was still so weak I could not do a
single pull up. Maybe super compensation does work. On top of that I forgot to
bring my shoes to the isolation so I had to climb the finals on shoes I had to
borrow from my friend Don. Maybe I should consider switching to five-ten. They
did bring me a lot of luck ;).
On our way
back home I was with Vincent in the car, two gold medalists in the back seat. We
played we are the champions and sang along. We decided that this is just the
perfect moment to burn our climbing harnesses and completely focus on
bouldering. But then again, I still have an 8b somewhere in Spain that is
waiting for me……
I am looking
forward to Catch 25 at Bolder Neoliet in Rotterdam with lots of circus boulders
and of course the pancake event at Monk in Eindhoven. But most of all I am siked
about my Christmas trip to the USA where we will go bouldering in RedRocks and
Moe’s Valley.
Seven days in the Forest. It has been great. Together with
Marianne and Ricardo we had a nice house with Wifi, very important, and a
Sauna. The latter blew up the fuses when we tried to heat it so that was a bit
of a pity.
The first day on Monday we went to Beorlots, after warming
up I did three 7A’s of which I flashed one, 74% de
Cacao. After that I started to work in a very nice 7B+ just left of 74% de Cacao.
A couple of times I came very close to toping it, falling off on the last move
and unfortunately was too tired to try it again and send it.
On the second day we went to Cuisiniere where I managed to
do Excalibur. It is a really nice boulder, which was high on my wish list so it
felt good to be able to top it. I also did Mouton a Cinq pattes.
My trainer Michiel was also in the Forest and he posted that
he was close to 100 Eight grade boulders. Inspired by his post I looked at the
number of Seventh grade boulders I had already done and it turned out that was
also close to 100. The goal for the rest of the week was reaching that magical
number.
On Wednesday I did a really cool 6C+, Fissure de Envers and
a weird 7A+ which I didn’t count because I was not
sure of the definition of the boulder and the way I did it felt a bit easy.
Thursday was a rainy day and I needed some rest as well so
time for shopping. With a new pair of Solutions in the pocket I managed to do
the really cool slab, Science Friction in Apremont on Friday. I also did la
Lune assis, 7A and flashed Huenco Depart, my second 7A flash in Fontainebleau. I
also managed to do Fleur de Rhum a nice and high 7A+. I worked in le
Treizieme Travaille d’ Hercule but the power
was gone so I didn’t manage to do that one.
Saterday I tried the 7B+ again in Beorlots but the boulder
was too moist for me and I slipped off the slopers. After a couple of tries I
gave up I didn't feel strong enough. We bumped into a part of the Nihil group and some of the strong guys
in the group did managed to do the boulder. This problem is definitively something
to come back for.
We headed to Isatis where I managed to do a great 7A,
Renversement Dialectique. I tried this problem half a year ago but had no idea how to top it. With some good tips from Ricardo and after quite a number of tries it felt good to be on top of it.
Sunday the last day we went to Bas Cuvier. With one hour of
extra sleep due to fall back time, good weather and good conditions, great grip, I was siked to go for my magic number. I warmed up in some blue and red circuit
boulders and did Marie Rose again. The first time I send Marie Rose was 6 years ago at the age of 9. I did her
again when I was 11 but never had a movie of my sends. Now it is finally there,
Marie Rose revisited.
I did my first real Dyno in Bleau, Pif Paf, great jump.
Behind Pif Paf is a very nice problem with a topout on slopers, la Conque a Doigt.
With 99 problems in the pocket I truly hoped this would be my number 100. It
not only became my number 100 I also flashed it. The tiny bit of skin I had
left was offered to Banlieu Nord number 101.
