[dobbin]

Round 1 is tonight...

[Fiend]

I came, I saw, I was fat and weak.

Seems the jump between category 1 and category 2 was very absolute....i.e. most of cat 1 were easy and well flashable and the remainder of cat 2 were very hard even for the good climbers....

[dobbin]

The Cat2 probs weren't that hard!! it only went up to about 7b, this compared to the Edge boulder league where the hard problems are harder and the BBC's where they are seriously HARD!

Every single problem was flashed - by different people, only silly mistakes prevented a clean sheet (isn't it always the way?)

[Fiend]

I must have missed the people making problems 16,17, 19 and 20 look easy then.

Regardless there was quite a leap in the standard. One could equally say that some of the lower number problems should have been harder...

But then again I don't know shit about competitions or anything.

[squeek]

...and the BBC's where they are seriously HARD!

Without jokes!  When they left them up at B-Uk after last years I couldn't even do one of the Mens qualifiers,  (although I think the easiest was about V7! )

[BoulderHog]

only silly mistakes prevented a clean sheet (isn't it always the way?)

Yeah no shit, I hate those silly mistakes, missing holds on a v2 and consequently losing out on a brand new pair of shoes   :cry:. Considering buying one of those monk style punishing whips, bash some sense into myself.

Wouldn't have minded coming along to this, any chance of a weeks notice for the next one maybe? Not Sheffield based anymore.

[Fiend]

Mr Hog, it was mentioned on the UKC news page for quite a while so I assume the next one will be.

[dobbin]

Mr Hog - sorry, I haven't been to the Foundry for ages before Monday so didnt have the dates. The next one is the 22nd November.

Re: "Considering buying one of those monk style punishing whips, bash some sense into myself. "

This could be the answer, this could be all thats been wrong over the years - I am good enough, just not punished...

Mr Fiend:
Re:

I must have missed the people making problems 16,17, 19 and 20 look easy then.

19 and 20 were on the board right? 19 was blue tapes and about 6c+ - Myself, Roy M and Neil Travers flashed this comfortably. 20 - did get flashed, fair enough this was quite hard, but 16 was really steady, 17 roy flashed with ease!

Regardless there was quite a leap in the standard

Granted. 1-5 were v.easy, but then, there were lots of kiddies there...

[Fiend]

19 was V5 was it? Maybe I should have tried that then...

Would you say the comp was too easy overall then?? I'm interested as I don't know anything about them (I entered this one for, gasp, "fun", and I had it, albeit mostly on problem 12).

My point is more about the jump than anything, as I say they could have made a few problems below 15 a bit harder (the only ones I didn't flash were due to, guess what, silly mistakes (bring forth the whip)).


It's a bit awkward for me as I am exactly sandwiched between 1 and 2...

[dobbin]

Its very difficult to set a comp to cater for all levels. Last night had both young kiddies and British Team regulars take part, so I guess this tiered system is supposed to try and cater for both which really is impossible. At the lowest end they are going to feel easy for someone like you (with a wealth of experience behind them) and at the top end they have to split out the contenders.

As you mention, the local bouldering leagues are about having fun, banter with your mates etc etc. Looking around I'd say generally people looked to be doing that. The BBC's are still good fun but the standard is much higher.

I wonder when you get promoted? I mean, if you rolled up and said you were only fit for Cat 1 and then flashed everything, presumably they would put you in cat 2? but wheres the cut off?

[saltbeef]

Yeah, me and a few friends went down on thursday and did the problems, they weren't that bad, the only one that loked fierce was the blue effort on the wave, didn't try it but my mate si did(but then thats not a reccomendation that it's easy!) but as dobbin said they're a fair bit easier than the hard edge ones...

[Fiend]

What did you think of the latest one, dobbers??

Apparently I didn't come last the previous time so stayed in Cat 2....but found it all quite tiring this time. Usual mistakes - not choosing problems in the best order, not brushing holds, missing holds, blah. But I managed to burn Seb Grieve off on one problem lol wahey (nearly ruptured my spleen with the effort of doing it tho).

I found some of the logistics were a bit awkward this time, especially problems 4,6,20,21, and 22 all of which either started in the same place, finished in the same place, crossed over the other 4 of those problems or sometimes all of the above, causing a lot of traffic jams and queuing.

Again a bit of a leap from 1 to 2 but not as bad as last time I don't think. I managed one cat 2 only problem and could have done two others (silly mistakes) so hey ho...

[Fiend]

Edit: Actually thinking about it, there wasn't really a leap at all this time.

[dobbin]

I'm sulking today, having been shite last night. Good comp, good problems, nice to have the craic with people, but (and here comes the big fat excuse) a weekend of recreational drug taking and sweating was not the best preparation and I was shite - silly mistakes abounded.

There were a lot of problems where you had to check around lots of other problems to avoid running into each other at the top. More annoying was the three vertical traverses, two of which used all but two of the same holds, meaning a massive queue built up and remained throughout.

Roy boy is in font with the Harris, so I replaced him with Pinchmaster Sergio, but poorly finger stopped him bearing down. I came out with a paltry 130 and I have no idea how Serge faired. Travs was back in business again getting 141 and young rob romped away with the winners ashes scoring 145.

Everything got climbed, with prob 15 (?) getting only two ascents, and noone clean sheeting everything. I was more pumped at the end of this one than last time, if thats any indicator of difficulty although it could be related to other things.

[BoulderHog]

Good comp, well set, good overall level of difficulty. Major downside was the bay problems, number 21 I think, with the strectch in the middle - there were 5 other problems running through this one, and the queues really built up just here. I think problem 16 was the hardest, with the blue sloper and undercut in the middle.

I'll be doing the next two for sure, was a good laugh.

a weekend of recreational drug taking and sweating

tut tut, let that be a lesson to you, no more fun allowed. Mind you, I had a lovely weekend of rest and relaxation, with just the right amount of training the night before, but still felt like shit, one of those really heavy limbed days where you feel tired and pumped before you even pull on. There must be a secret for squeezing out a best day - an in the zone condition for comps, but I've not figured it out yet. Maybe the trick is to not try and plan it, just climb and train as usual and hope for the best on the day.

[dobbin]

Peaking is a hard one to get right. You should never take too much notice of what anyone else does, as they will recover at a completely different rate.

The moseley reckons up to a week at half volume followed with a couple of days clear rest, whilst I have never rested more than about three days before a comp. The Croxall says three to four days with a v.light warm up on the day just before the comp.