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The NW Disconnect


Blake

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>..Not being one of those that dont blog<. I agree with that, but its about 50%-50%. Not a lot of people pulling hard at either sport, but it doesnt matter. We all do it for ourselves and our partner/friends. My best days are a casual route with friends. No pressure, just fun.

I think the limiting factor of being a good cross-sport enthusiast is the body type you have to build to be good at the 2 sports you talk of. They are very different sports requiring specialized muscle groups. It is possible to be great at both. Aging, and work sucks, I would love to be pulling 12s and up.

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Wayne, I'm feeling this too. I'm only 42. I still feel like a full on beginner in all of these sports. I go to Denali... my body get's it's ass kicked. I still hurt tons, and climb Rainier like it's just a day hike. Then a day of ice climbing and I wake up in pain. Another day of rock climbing (very low grades) and I get up in the morning and feel like I could make it to my crossfit class. I don't know what to focus on because if I really want to alpine climb I feel like I need to focus on everything. I've never pulled a 12 (never climbed above 5.9 outdoors). Maybe someday.

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Yeah, I knew the denial comment would follow my post, but we can only speak for ourselves, no? Your tragic Glory Days ego analogy is nothing I recognize in my own aging experience.

 

Quite the opposite.

 

I don't buy the bullshit contractive narrative so popular in this country. If you've suffered a debilitating injury or illness, that's one thing. Barring that, one should be able to expand the depth and meaning of one's experience regardless of age.

 

Personally, I've had just about the most exciting, interesting, and wonderful year ever. Big walls, skiing, family life, the list goes on. I enjoy the people around me more than ever before. Sure, I'm blind as a bat and can't run a 10K as fast as 20 years ago, and I don't really care much. Hey, I can swim farther, though.

 

This expansive experience in later age is shared by friends now in their sixties.

 

Ego is a weakness, in my view.

 

Guess you younger folks will find out what I'm talking about one way or the other or not. It depends the attitude you face each day with, I reckon.

 

 

Edited by tvashtarkatena
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I don't buy the bullshit contractive narrative so popular in this country. If you've suffered a debilitating injury or illness, that's one thing. Barring that, one should be able to expand the depth and meaning of one's experience regardless of age.

 

Amen. Life is what you make it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

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Tvash,

 

I agree with you on almost every front. Especially ego. But as I have elbow tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, have bone growths on every single finger but also have many memories of being in my youth, which extended to the age of 50, it is somewhat difficult to absorb. My body feels like it has been through three lifetimes.

 

But last year I did very well from the waist down and the neck up.

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Well, then you have my sympathies, and I mean that. I've been lucky (and I know it) regarding my health. Not that I haven't put some work into it, and not that its all that much to write home about, but I've never really been injured out there, other than the usual pulled muscle and one or two cases of epic induced PTSD. Then again I'm more risk averse than some, which I'm cool with. Works for me.

 

I've also always been a generalist with a lot of various interests, meaning I pretty much suck at all of them. If an injury or something curtailed climbing, I'd just switch to my other interests; making cheap junk into expensive junk, kayaking, compulsive masturbation, or a new sport, like very low altitude base jumping.

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Cycling is a European sport so it was sleazy way before Lance got involved. He just destroyed America's unrealisticly-clean impression of the sport.

 

You're not giving him enough credit; he brought good old-fashioned American excess and ingenuity over to the European doping culture and completely upped the game. Good on ya, lance.

 

YOUR MOVE, EUROPE

 

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