Owl Rock - Aches National Park

Below is on of the climbs that I did in Moab, years ago. Enjoy

Rock Climbing

Athletic career: 2001

My first year at college (creighton university) was a exercise in undoing all the athleticism and fitness I had built up over the last 19 year. College calbre wrestler, undone. 2:02 half-mile, undone. Didn't drink beer in high school, fine. Now I will drink ten. Didn't eat mac-and-cheese or ramen noodles, fine. Now, three servings for late night. It was a exercise in glutny, and I was getting great marks. Interestingly enough, I some how managed some great grades that year. It probably had something to do with all the extra calories... or brain food that was going around.

I came home following my first year and decided that I no longer wanted the extra 20 lbs. It was unsightly, and I looked like a fat hippie, in my college tie-dye, flip flops, and shoulder length hair. I first got a job at an animal pharmicuticals company in charles city. One upside of the 6 am start time was that I could no longer go out and drink, at all. I tried it once, and things did not go well. Trust me. Standing up helping to produce drugs for barnyard animals in a moon suit does not lend itself to feeling hung over.

Another perk of the company was that the CEO had some kind of dispute with the local YMCA. Apparently, the Y wanted too much for membership for the 1000 employees, so in striking Mike Ball fashion(get it...) he said,"Fine..I guess I'll just build our own gym." And he did. 80-90k worth of fitness equipment... probably two years worth of what the YMCA wanted for membership. I started work in mid-may, and more importantly, I started workouts as well. Run and lift was the extent of my exercise, just did that 1-2 hours a day to start the path back to fitness. Apparently, I was the only one in the company that know that the gym existed. I would go weeks without seeing a soul.

One of the aspirations of a 19 year old returning to physical activity is to have the pecs, abs, and shoulders that is achievable with dilligence in the weight room and at the dinner table. Although I don't have any body for life pics, I assure you I was succeeding.

It was at this dinner table that my close friend and old wrestling coach posed the question,"Why do you want to get that way, anyone can do that. Why not do something challenging with your life, like climb a mountain." Brilliant. With that one statement, I know what was going to happen. I would start climbing. But how? I lived in Iowa...

Some quick recon shed some valuable information. The was a climbing gym at UNI in Cedar Falls. However, they charged 10 dollars per climb for non-students. Problem solved. Adam , my friend from high school purchased a summer long climbing pass for me... he was a university student. I was on my way to being a rock climber.

Another perk of my job was I only worked 4 days per week. This lent itself to more working out and some travel time on weekends as well. My schedule allowed me to go down twice a week and climb at their gym. There, I met some fellow climbers that offered a spot in their car that weekend to redwing minnesota to climb and camp... I accepted, learned how to climb out doors and the rest is history.

I came back to Creighton, started a rock climbing club that was financed by the university, took trips to minnesota, missouri, moab, and competed in the flat lands rock climbing competition in lincoln where I placed second. In all actuality, climbing may be my favorite sport. You don't have to do anything but climb and you body magically chisels itself under its own weight. Every climber I know, male or female has the ideal body, not too bulky not to lean, just right. Including the red-head that was imbarasingly good at UNO yesterday.

The reason I remember this stint, I because I went for the first time in 4 years, yesterday. I arrived to meet my friend from dental school, Nic. Right when I arrived to the UNO gym, I saw Nic working a bouldering problem. It was evident that Nic had traded in some winter weight, for the climbers physique, much like I had 7 years ago.

Climbing goes along with any other principles of physiology, use it or loose it. When I stopped climbing in 2004, I could sport climb 5.11-5.12 routes. In layman terms, I would have had to start climbing daily to see any greater gains if I were to continue with the sport. Or much like a good cat 3 cyclist trying to chase upgrade points in cycling. Everyday climbing workouts maybe hard, however, lifting my fingers(like right now) following my "every 4 years" climbing session trumps all of that business.

Monday

The close call for today was not five seconds after I stepped of my bike following my ride... rain. Like every other cyclist in Nebraska, I took advantage of the 55 degree weather by riding outside. The roads were great, and it was nice to get reacquainted with the local truck driving blowhards. As previously stated, I am at the end of a training block so today is a recovery week. It would have been nice to ride for 3-4 hours, but my idea is when you ride, you ride lots and when you rest you rest lots. I finished my recovery ride and as luck would have it, it started to rain immediately after I returned from my ride. Moral of the story - stick to the plan and you don't get wet.

Team Picture of Kaos riders.

Sunday take two

Preseason meetings - ah yes. we met at the upstream, had pizza and veggies, and heard about sponsors, jerseys, races, etcera, etcera. It was great to see everyone at this time of year, and my initial impression about the upcoming season is that Kaos has developed into a team of sinew climbers. John -thin, James -thin, Bryan -thin, Landen -thin, Dave -thin. Next years prediction - Dave Rogers and John Vondrocek rip stuff in the 3's and in master. John weighed 168 lbs. I could hardly keep his wheel in LPSR when he weighed 180 lbs. He is going to be fast.

In other news, I just finished up a training block. Three weeks X 17 hours. Now it is time to rest. when I mean rest, I mean 10.5 hours. Not off the bike like some local endurance guru's would have us do. And that is what I just did got in... a 90 min nap. Ready to go spin the legs out and gum up my bike some more in this 55 degree weather...yeah!

Ride well,
Pav

Sunday take one

While I make a last minute attempt at writing the sunday night coorespondence, I casually glance over at my bike. I wish that someone would clean that thing! It is amazing what accumulates on a bike after 4 hours. I started a long day by going over to Lindsey's house for some breakfast. I met Lindsey, Bob, Andy, and Nic for Coffee, Cinnimon rolls, salmon/bell pepper scramble, fruit, homemade granola, and yogurt this morning. If you couldn't guess, that girl know how to do breakfast! It was great to connect with everyone, and see how their winter seclusion was going.

"One roadie and four triathlete do breakfast." would have been the headline in Omaha. Luckily there is no anomosity between these two unique animals(in omaha). My plan was to roll out of town in the group, and following a warmup, get my zone 2 work in. This worked out perfect because everyone else was riding different lengths(2-4.5hrs) so it allowed for the group to break up and people to do their own thing. Whether it be for five minutes or five hours, riding with company after bat cave type winter seclusion is always a plus.

note: I would like to get a large weekly ride( ~4 hours) going at this early part of the season. I talked to a friend in Des Moines the other day and he sad that this is how their wednesday ride goes. No racing, just riding. I told him I did not know that such a thing existed. We will see how it works. Perhaps next Sunday (weather permitting), we can do my place for the caffeine and pancakes, and then a nice group ride?

Dispite the cold front, Pavlovich is hard at it, training for RABGRAI with Hawiian shorts and Miller Light.