bikes and things » Climbing

Climbing

Andy — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:49:21 +0000

I haven’t been climbing for a while now due to spending so much time at work recently but this video is certainly inspiring. Quite athletic and some insane moves going on. I guess I’ll just have to stick to lumbering up low grade route for a while longer. Think I might go climbing next week and try and get back into it.

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Regime change

Andy — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:24:43 +0000

No, not a post about the election or Iran etc, just a post about trying to get a bit fitter and trying to change a few bad habits I’ve picked up over the years.

During my year out (2002 time) I got incredibly fit by basically doing lots and lots of exercise. I was riding 12 miles each way to work – home up Box Hill – swimming at lunchtimes, running in the evenings (before cycling home) and climbing or mountainbiking at the weekends. I was pretty healthy on this lot and was having a great time. However I was only half way through my Architectural training. So this all kind of stopped pretty abruptly when I went back to studying in Portsmouth. Late nights, curry, beer and not much exercise. An ERASMUS trip to Vienna sorted that little blip out with another 5 months of exercise – mainly lots of cycling each day. The trouble is I came back and settled into the same old thing of curry, beer etc.

After graduating from Diploma things kind of got worse, I spent 2 hours minimum commuting to work in Winchester from Portsmouth each day and working late nights and eating junk. Riding at the weekends didn’t really make much difference really. After a year or so of this I moved to London and was riding to work again but still not doing that much exercise.

The long and short of it? I sit on my arse all day clicking a mouse, drinking coffee and eating nice sandwiches for lunch. I’ve developed an incredibly sedentary lifestyle which isn’t exactly what I wanted. The cycle commute doesn’t really count as that much exercise. The net result – I was getting fatter and fatter and not really feeling great about myself.

Anyway, time for a change. Hey I’ve recently hit 30 so why not? After talking about it for years I’ve joined a gym. Never thought I’d say that either but I have. Bizzarely I actually enjoy it too. I’ve got a mixture of cardio and weights to do in my hours session as well as a load of stretches. I’m managing to go 3 times a week at the moment which isn’t as hard as I thought. I’ve also had the benefit of a proper consultation session which has really helped. I had 3 aims:

1. Not be so fat
2. Sort my back out
3. Strengthen my knees

It’s actually working on all 3 counts. I’m definitely not as fat – I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and my back and knees are a lot better. Combining this exercise with less beer, not eating so late and less crap. I feel miles better and even have a resting heart rate of 50 bpm. Hopefully this is here to stay. More weight to lose but got to set the right habits now for later life I guess.

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Climbing again

Andy — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:12:52 +0000

After living in London for almost 5 years I’ve finally managed to go to the climbing wall and do some top roping rather than just bouldering. The last time I climbed properly was with Lee back in Bath around 2003 time, before I went back to do my Diploma.

I’ve remembered how to belay and some of the climbing techniques but my upper body strength is pathetic. My harness is also a lot tighter round my waist than I remember. I struggled on some 4b routes which is shameful. Anyway, I’m going to make it a regular thing each Weds now and hopefully improve.

The Castle really is an impressive place though it’s a converted Victorian Pumping Station which has plenty of space within. It’s pretty busy during the week but Aaron and Alex showed me the top room which seems to be a lot less busy. The changing rooms there really do stink though, like a hideous cheese smell.

The castle route setting, originally uploaded by squeezemonkey.

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Condor road bike…

Andy — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:12:14 +0000

…is on it’s way.

Voucher was on my desk when I got in to work so popped down to Condor to put it down on a new steel framed road bike. Unfortunately they were out of the pink one I wanted so I’m getting a 2009 model which is in a nice black colour – the stealth option. Unfortunately this means that the price also went up! Damn it.. plus Condor charge a handling fee on Cyclescheme vouchers of £50. More than I wanted to spend but never mind. The test ride was spot on. Lovely feel to it but felt weird having a freewheel on the road bike.

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Sifting through old photos

Andy — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:30:33 +0000

No posts for a while. Had Thursday and Friday off work due to this stomach bug and just relaxing today. Been sifting through some old photos in iPhoto today and deleting any crap I don’t need.

Found a few old ones from when I used to go climbing in Portsmouth in 2001 whilst i was finishing my degree. Would love to start climbing again but can’t seem to find the time or the motivation at the moment. There’s a load of equipment I’m not using too!

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