The power of the jazz pants

Popped up to the board at lunchtime yesterday. The heating is broken in the building at the moment, which is sort of a good thing. The temperature in our room follows the outside temperature by a couple of days. When its been cold outside, and then warmed up, its the colder temp in the school. It can of course be too cold. Then it goes glassy and isn't good. The tor-conditions-indicator in the car suggested 9 degrees on the way up, but it must have been colder the day before as it was v.cold in there. I took Dylan with me, and we opened the door to find Zippy and Al Williams chatting beneath the moon board. Al had popped in to collect the book for some TShirt ideas. Warmed up. Felt quite sparky. Did my three semi hard problems on the first go of each. Psyched. Tried too fluffy, climbed past the hard bit and hands slipped off dramatically depositing me on my arse. Try again, get to the wooden pinch but this time its my feet that blow off and again I'm on my arse. Have a quick gander at Amoeba Assasin. This is a dirty little problem that involves pinching a screw on foot hold and moving off it. It's hard. Make the move off the screw on but fail to hold the resulting cut loose. This is the crux for me. Move the magic on to Smoores - a Si problem that James opened. It's hard, but at first glance it appears theres just one move thats tricky. I had never done said move, and it didn't feel any closer at first. Then I nailed it, deadpointing the destination hold but sagging out, having not properly set the hold up. Blimey. That's not happened before. Climb from there to the top again to make sure I could do it if I get there. Feels over the horizon, but you never know. Rest up. Have another go on 'the move' and again, nail it! awesome, perhaps it is on. Fall off trying to move out of it again. Rest up, try from the ground, nail the move on the link from the ground but again, fail to move out of the resulting position. Shit. Perhaps its not on after all. Rest up again, have a really good go, where I get to the hold, start trying to move up and think I'm going to do it, but my foot pops! aaargh! Have a bit more rest and pull on again. If nothing else the last few idiot goes have served to refine the steady first moves. I take the holds right, I know i have done, and this time when I manage this hard move in the middle, there's something different about how I've managed to hold it, it's more secure, and I'm not letting go for anyone! cram my foot on, get to the pinch, take the time to adjust on the holds and make sure I am going nowhere but up. Its over, a wave of excitement ripples past. Brilliant. Its great to do a problem you've not done before, but I don't feel as elated as when I have done other stuff. Think this comes from how much work you have had to put in. Except if you flash something, then you get an extra buzz, but it's shorter lived. If you put the time in on something then it feels really special when you finally succeed. Amoeba Assasin is next. I hope that the pushing through a move I didn't think I could do will give me the confidence boost perhaps I need to sort that one out too.

 

Can't remember if I mentioned these dubious white pants I've been pimping? think I might have done. Anyway, I found these old white pants that were clubbing pants in the back of my wardrobe. Rather than throw them out, I have put them to good use at the board, and now they have gotten me up something worthwhile. James texts : "There's a theme here. Jazz pants. Jerry, Bernd. Now you. I felt on fire in mine before I went to swiss, and I wasn't wearing them when I fell off... think on.". I dont consider myself a superstitious chap, but whenever I have climbed something in a certain pair of pants I consider that they might be special lucky pants. When I did my first route 8a it was in a pair of flashed pants I got from TC. Those became the 8a pants, and all subsequent ones were completed in them. Until I got a better newer pair of magic pants. Its not clear how the magic moves, but you know when it does. And I don't mean you climb like a flid in your old lucky pants all of a sudden, its just time to move the magic, and you just know in your heart. Man.  

 

Zippy made an interesting comment, about people over analysing everything. It's all bollocks he said. Just work hard. Noone has gotten good without hard work. He said that all he does with people is impose discipline. I have tentatively arranged with Roy 'The terminator' Mosely to feel the discipline when he and I are back from der Schweiz. Watch this space club kids, it could be the gateway to the next level!