We have apparently skipped right over the whole “spring” thing and moved directly into summer. It’s been in the 70s for the past week or so (at least), and the unseasonable weather looks to continue in the next week. Of course, it rains on the weekends (at least a bit), so we’ve yet to climb at the New River Gorge this year (remember, though, it’s not even April), though we did sneak out to Snake Hill outside of Morgantown. Even better, two weeks ago, we traveled to Virginia to help our friends set routes at their new climbing gym. That place was absolutely nuts, and it was incredible to be able to set on mostly blank stretches of wall. My only regret is that I didn’t get to really put much effort into my creations, but several 10+ hour days of route setting will do that to you.

Of course, an ill effect of that particular trip is that returning to the Pittsburgh gym is a bit of slap in the motivational face. Certainly, our local gym is pretty good, but, at the moment, they are remodeling a few of the walls, and those sections are closed off (and those happen to be my favorite sections). So the wind has left my sails. It’s not that I don’t want to climb (nay, I had a grand time climbing the routes at Snake Hill last weekend, even if they weren’t particularly hard), but I’m having trouble mustering the motivation to really train. It’s easy to be disappointed about this, but then I remember that I can’t live in a constant state of peak fitness, and that this little denouement is probably better in the long run for our trip to Maple. If I can manage to peel myself off the couch in the next week or so, I’ll still have roughly eight weeks build up my power and do a cycle of endurance training, which should be plenty. I may even arrive there at peak fitness, something I’ve missed the last two trips to Hueco Tanks.

Posted on 22 March 2012