Baking Barcelona

After Eindhoven it was back to work for 3 days before flying out super early on Thursday morning to Barcelona.  I didn’t think I was going to have time for any maintenance of my never ending back knots, but Global Therapies squeezed me in for a pummel during my lunch break as I was passing through Glossop on the Tuesday.  This was good timing as it meant I could rest for an evening and still fit in a quick climbing session the next day to realign everything (or knot back up a little!).

I spent a day and a half looking around Barcelona.  The architecture was stunning, the sky was blue and it was hot hot hot.  Here’s some photos of the beach/marina areas, around the Olympic stadium and some flora I liked.  Also a really impressive roundabout with associated bus route map – which bus were we meant to be on?

Then it was competition day, indoors with no air-con.  I was concerned about the heat as I have previously been unable to function in very hot conditions.  The lads were suffering, it was getting hotter.  I was red in the face and ridiculously hot, but I ultimately I felt surprisingly ok for competing.  My skin was in good condition and I didn’t need to chalk up as much as I had expected.  However, my comp vest along with everything else was wringing wet.  Pleasant.  I made a few errors, but this time I did enough to make the semi-final.  Yippeeee.  I qualified in 19th position and managed to gain a place in the semi to come 18th, my best result so far this season.

I almost got another top after taking 9 goes to get a dyno, but I thought the top hold was poor and needed to be gained statically.  I was wrong and I could have thrown for it.  I must keep trying to convince myself that if in doubt, I should throw for it.  It can make such a big difference – for example 8 places in this comp.

The GB girlies grouped together, all climbing similarly to place 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st.  Two lads also made the semis (top 20) to put team GB in 6th position. 

I attempted to help with the commentary on the live stream, but I wasn’t sure what to say.  What do people want to hear?  Let me know and I’ll pass it on.