David Nichols

Well, here we are, January. Wait, that's not right, February. This year is off to a record start and I can't believe I'm already 1/12 of the way through it already. January has been a crazy, yet awesome whirlwind experience. Wait, so was December. Wow, I'm behind.

So, December was packed with my usual excursion to Oklahoma City. We had a great Preachers' Study, which I still need to get edited and posted on-line. The New Year's Meeting was good too, and I really enjoyed it. I got to meet some new friends: a family that started attending at Edmond, and two awesome Australians: Jim and Bonny. Also got to see a lot of old friends again. It was a great way to end the year.

January was crazy busy too. I started a new job at Classy Llama Studios. It's an awesome group of people that love what they do and are just a blast to be around. We develop e-commerce websites with Magento and are generally awesome. I'll probably be making a few posts about Magento as I start working in it more and start to learn the ins and outs.

I got behind on my rock climbing because of all the crazy, but I did manage to get down to Rocktown in Oklahoma City while I was there. It's a set of grain silos that's been converted into a climbing gym. It was a pretty awesome, but cold experience. I'll have to try and dig up some photos to share. I'm also finally back to a semi-regular schedule at Big Rock. I hope the weather gets better soon so that I can start going to Arkansas regularly.

I also picked up an EMT class. It's been keeping me pretty busy after work, but it will be a good set of skills to have in times of disaster.

Since this year is shaping up to be one of the busiest in quite a while, I'm going to be trying to get better organized to make the most of my time. I'm starting with cleaning up the house. I'm going to try to just take it one room at a time and get rid of junk I don't need to try and get things simplified.

Well, I probably better leave it there for now. I'll try to have some kind of updates on here as time permits. Until then, stay classy.

Even though my fall goal is officially complete I wanted to give a little update on my latest accomplishment. I cleanly sent a strong 5.9 overhang on lead. I'm real happy about finally getting it under my belt and look forward to even better climbs in the future. It took a couple attempts to complete though, and the first round ended in a 4-6 meter whipper that got me woke up good.

Also, I'll throw this out there real quick. I'm a finalist in the Achieving Autumn promotion at Dynamic Earth. I would appreciate a vote (like) on my entry. You can also take a look at my Achieving Autumn page for more details on my goal. Thanks for following my adventures along the way.

Great news! I took a trip to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Saturday with Matt and we got to do some awesome outdoor routes. I on-sighted a 5.7 and two 5.8s. I sent Green Goblin (5.8) the first try, but it wasn't clean. I had to stop and rest for a few seconds about half-way up the 65 foot route. The sandstone was nice to climb and had a good feel and grip to it. Also, I lead climbed all four routes that day.

It feels good to have accomplished my goal and even learned to lead climb in the process. The month isn't over yet either. I'm hoping to lead climb a nice overhung 5.9 in the gym either by the end of the month, or early December.

Megan finally got her belay certification Monday night and on-sighted her first ever route! It's the same 5.6 that I learned to lead climb on. She did a great job for her first night on the walls. I really look forward to climbing/bouldering with her in the future.

I think this is one hobby that will stick with me for years to come. I've enjoyed everything about climbing so far. I've made wonderful progress in a short time, and gained more strength than I ever did in the gym. There have also been several new friends gained along the way; and, I've managed to get existing friends interested in climbing as well. It's great sport for teamwork and friendship since you have to trust each other with your lives and we're helping push each other to greater heights instead of competing with each other.

Big thanks go out to Dynamic Earth for the gear and motivation to get started. The guys over at Big Rock Climbing Gym are some of the best coaches, friends, and motivators I had along the way. The Take A Hike group is highly awesome as well and has some awesome, friendly climbers. Everyone I met at the gym was super friendly and fun to climb with. I learned a lot from all you guys/gals. Finally, big shout-out to Megan and Matt for being my main bouldering/climbing/belay buddies and helping motivate me to finish off this goal in style.

The last two climbs were really big for me. I found a belay/climbing partner named Matt from the Take A Hike group. Thursday we put away a few bouldering problems and I send a 5.6 and 5.7. I got a little lazy on Saturday and didn't go out.

We totally tore it up last night though. The gym was packed and after a few warm-ups we hit the walls and were climbing/belaying the rest of the evening. The Take A Hike group was in full force and I got to meet some new people. Boone lead climbed a 5.9 with a big overhang and I top roped after her and unclipped the route. It wasn't 100% clean, but it was a real fun climb for sure. I also sent three 5.8 routes including this one slab route that was quite a different experience for me. Christian also put up a new ~V1 route that was fun to work. Overall, a great night and major progress on the goal.

I've also got plans to go outdoors with Matt this month as well so I can knock out the outdoor climb.

So much for a post at the end of last week. Making good progress though. Three nights a week is working out well and I'm continuing to make progress in strength, balance, and technique. I on-sighted another ~V1 and sent several new problems that were set while I was sick. I'm working on V4 problems now and plan to start doing more wall climbing this week. I feel like my stamina and strength are where they need to be to start making good progress on the top rope. We'll see how it goes to-nite. The one problem is that I don't have a belay partner, so I'll have to see if there's someone who will help me out. I also talked to Brad about outdoor climbing and it sounds like we might be going on a quick trip towards the end of the month.

I'm still having problems with my weight though. Seems I need about 2500 calories a day to maintain weight right now. It's been hard to keep up and try to exceed that to add on some mass. Thankfully, I'm back to about where I was before I started climbing.

The lack of updates the past two weeks has been due to some sort of zombie flu that had me incapacitated for a while. I managed to miss the rock trip and nearly two full weeks at the gym. This week though I was finally able to make it back to the gym and get re-acclimated. Thankfully I managed to not lose too much strength. I sent a few new routes and even on-sighted a new V0/V1 that showed up while I was gone.

Megan seems to be improving as well. She had the flu almost as long as I did and wasn't able to go much either. We're going to try and step it up to at least three trips to the gym each week to hopefully boost our progress. We've been recovering fairly fast compared to when we first started going and it shouldn't be to bug of a deal to do three days a week.

That's it for now, I'll probably post another update at the end of week on the results of our next two trips.

Sent my first climbing  route Tuesday nite, a 5.6 at the gym. I realized that I'm apparently still afraid of heights some in the process. The first part of the route overhung some and by the time I got to the end of that section I had lost most of the strength in my arms and my legs were starting to get a little twitchy. I think that's what probably freaked me out more than anything. After a bit of a rest on a bar I was able to finish the route. I have to give Brad at Big Rock some props here though. He was my belayer for the route and gave me some awesome moral support while I was up on the wall, he's the best.

I also bouldered with Megan on Monday and had a good time. I've got a few new problems under my belt now. There were three V1-2 problems I got, along with that V3 that I was after last week.

Eating has become a big chore these days though. I have a hard time getting in enough calories to make up for what I burn in the gym. I lost about 2 Kg when I first started, but I'm almost back up to my normal 53-54 Kg range. Something tells me it's only going to get harder to keep the weight on going forward though.

Friday was an excellent day at the gym. I was there for about 3.5 hours, so my endurance and pacing seem to be improving. My climbing partner was out sick, so I was working bouldering problems solo. I sent seven new problems: 4 new V0s and 3 V1s. I also came very close to sending a V3 but just ran out of energy finally. One of the guys that works at the gym, Christian, came and bouldered with me a bit just before closing. He taught me a little bit about flagging, which helped me a lot on the V3.

I've been really surprised and impressed with the progress I've made in just a week and a half. I noticed a big improvement in strength and endurance last nite over where I had been just a little more than a week earlier. I'm going to start working a lot more on technique next week and hopefully start sending some V3 problems in the process. Also, I'll be picking up my climbing harness next week so that I can start working on the big walls. Wish me luck!

Achieving Autumn

Went back to Big Rock today for my second trip to the gym. This time I brought along a friend, Megan, who's starting climbing too. I showed her a few of the easier routes before we starting taking turns on the wall. I managed to nail the brown route which had been eluding me last time (either a V0 or V1) and then started trying a few V1 routes. Feeling much less sore and a better grip today. I'm hoping to be able to make a V1 on Friday when I go back. I feel like that would be a decent accomplishment for 1.5 weeks of training.

I'm going to make a protein shake here before bed to help with the muscle growth/strength. I'll share my favorite recipe that I like to drink right after a good workout:

• 1 Banana
• 1-2 servings of unflavored whey protein
• About 12 ounces of whole milk
• Chocolate syrup

Blend well for a protein shake that you'll actually want to drink for it's flavor. (who knew?)