Down in Byker...

It's team training and league season. A lot of the wall leagues fall in the same weeks as each other and also on the same weeks as team training so I've been climbing my socks off recently.

The last team training weekend was at the newly opened Climb Newcastle in Byker Village. Andy Earl took us through periodisation of training, campus boarding and fingerboarding. The main features of the weekend for me were two bumper sessions of comp difficulty blocs. A big workout of 15 on the first day and 8 on the second, along with trying the men's blocs and revisiting the blocs from the day before.

There is a really good mix of styles of climbing in the setting. I got a dyno - hurrah. Also some big slopey moves. Some of the fingery problems were so crimpy and small that I was beginning to wonder if this was my strength after all. Lots of grimacing for the top!

Monday's Foundry league felt steep after all this with my arms not really pulling through and my fingers all jelly-like.

Mountain Biking

Hooray, I went mountain biking for the first time in months and months... ow, I'm sure my saddle wasn't that uncomfortable.

Nine of us stayed in a bunk house in North Wales. A recipe for a great weekend. We did the MBR trail at Coed-y-Brenin and the Marin trail at Llanwrst. I'm a bit slow on the uphills (sorry guys) but managed to scare myself on some of the downhills. Big grin, point and shoot stuff screaming like the girl I am when only just missing tree stumps etc.

Cheers to Lex the birthday boy.