What is new in your little world?

[Whiskey 7]

It is Sunday morning here and we're off tomorrow morning early like 4am on our driving holiday. Away 2 weeks so don't fret

Today I have to write another nasty letter of complaint to the paper. The stuffed the delivery up again this morning even after it was 'sorted' on a lengthy telephone call yesterday.

I must have a magnet for this bad service at the moment

[syp0s]

Seneca said people who struggle most in life are those who keep expecting the worst to happen, but realise they were hoping it wouldn't when it finally did happen. Essentially, they were optimists.

This cycle of endless frustration at this newspaper company is your own doing. You'll feel a million times better if you just let them keep the cash

[Whiskey 7]

I am an optimist and I am sure of that. The glass is always half full.

It is not about the money. It is about delivery of bad "service".

People get paid a wage to deliver the Customer service product & fail. If no one told them it would only get worse IMO and we simply should not put up with continued failure, or, is it just me at the moment

[syp0s]

You've kind of missed the point of what I was saying. Good luck getting the outcome you want, with the same expectations every time.

[seremtan]

It is not about the money. It is about delivery of bad "service".

you won't be lying on your death bed thinking "if only i'd gotten better service that time"

[Doombrain]

new forks

how do airshocks stack up against springs? i know they're adjustable, but is that the only gain?

More responsive equals better traction and better feel.

[axbaby]

My Giant Octocopter is coming along nicely.
I am documenting the build process and updating when I hit a milestone.
In a couple days I tackle the electronics.
Here is my blog ... link fixed.
http://www.diydrones.com/m/blogpost?id= ... %3A1985006

http://www.diydrones.com/m/blogpost?id= ... %3A1985134

[mrd]

I know nothing about bikes, what's with the kink in the frame, strength?

Aye!

DB that's a nice ride. I assume you are mostly XC type stuff still? I don't see a bash guard...

[obsidian]

My Giant Octocopter is coming along nicely.
I am documenting the build process and updating when I hit a milestone.
In a couple days I tackle the electronics.
Here is my blog and photo
http://diydrones.com/profile/RJoly

That's amazing! I'd like a drone of some sort for rock climbing camera work, but I know nothing about actually building one. How much do you figure the completed copter will set you back?

[axbaby]

Final cost will be about $7000.
If I added labour cost ... eish.
I am really digging how this is going.

[YourGrandpa]

Cool project... Is the primary body material an ABS type plastic that your performing rough cuts on with the dremel?

[xer0s]

Cool drone, Ron. Looks heavy though. What battery life are you expecting?

[vileliquid1026]

Quite the hobby, Obsidian. Nice gear, great pics.

dat gif

^This

[axbaby]

It is on the heavy side but I calculated it takes less then 3 motors and propllers to fly, I have 8.
my motors max out at 3KG of thrust each, so technically I can lift 24kg.

I am running 2 lipo batteries equalling 24.8 volts rated at 3.2 amps.

I made it with Carbon Fiber Plates 400mmx500mm and 25mm Carbon Fiber tubes.

just electronics left to do .. lots of soldering.

I am targetting 25 minutes of flight which means more batteries and weight.
tweaking various propeller pitches will help acheive 25 minutes.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

I've been having fun working on this year's veggie garden. Not working with a ton of space but so far I've got 3 kinds of small tomatoes, 2 kinds of beets, peas, beans, trinidad scorpion peppers, chocolate scorpion peppers, ghost peppers, carolina reaper peppers and strawberries. I have room for a few more things. Might post a few photos...

[obsidian]

As part of a four hour speed climbing marathon for a cancer charity, I had set my goal to be higher than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (the world's highest building) at 2,722 feet. I was just shy of that last year at about 2,500 feet. This year, I crushed it by climbing 3,850 feet.

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

owned

[Whiskey 7]

Checking in briefly

Hundreds of miles from home on holidays and a country drive. I just knocked another item off my bucket list. I may post photos when I get home in a week or so.

Two words to sum up so far: Beautiful country.

[syp0s]

I went indoor climbing for the first time yesterday, and fell totally in love with it.

For anyone in here who climbs, I have a question. I saw some kid, probably weighed about 130lbs hanging off ledges the width of a penny. 1cm or so. Do I assume he has more grip strength than me, or is it just static strength? No way could I hold 120lbs in the tip of my fingers with a pinch grip, but he held himself on this tiny ledge for about 30 seconds - seemed an insane feet of strength to witness in person.

[scared?]

For anyone in here who climbs, I have a question. I saw some kid, probably weighed about 130lbs hanging off ledges the width of a penny. 1cm or so. Do I assume he has more grip strength than me, or is it just static strength? No way could I hold 120lbs in the tip of my fingers with a pinch grip, but he held himself on this tiny ledge for about 30 seconds - seemed an insane feet of strength to witness in person.

This dipshit is such a weakling in denial he can't even comprehend that little kids are just way stronger than him in general.... Lol midgets... ... Also I bet this little kid was taller than him... ...

[obsidian]

Yes, there is a lot of grip strength involved, and I would be wary about trying something like that until you've been climbing for a few years - pulled or snapped finger tendons are the most common climber injury and is most prevalent with overzealous beginners. Tendons takes significantly longer to strengthen than muscles, so a lot of beginners will try to climb a bunch of crimps and injure themselves. You'll also want to practice an open hand grip instead of a crimp, the former is harder to use but is better for your tendons, the latter allows you to use more strength but is more prone to hurting yourself.

Open hand (left), crimp (right)


In addition, climbing generally has a lot to do with strength-to-weight ratios. It certainly favours people who are light but with lean muscles. At 130lbs, he has a lot less weight to carry up. Other important aspects include flexibility for a lot of acrobatic moves, balance to reposition your center of gravity, endurance for longer climbs, and a certain level of problem-solving and intuition to "read" the route and plan your next moves. A lot of technique is involved to climb efficiently, maintain balance, and to even reach certain holds... especially when you start getting into overhangs which puts everything you learned into a whole different game.

There are so many aspects to climbing that it eventually breaks down into whatever works for you. Your solution for a climb will not work for someone else with a different body type and they'll have to find their own solution. If you watch other climbers, you'll see a wide range of body types that can accomplish the same feats using different skills. It's why muscly pro climbers like Chris Sharma can climb 5.15 routes and be equally matched by Ashima Shiraishi a 13-year-old girl who last month broke the 5.15 barrier for a both age and female categories.

Beginner tips:

• Work on balance. Pay attention to your center of balance and learn to shift your weight around between your different points of contact with the wall.
• Use your legs. Beginners tend to try to do pull ups and they'll climb for half an hour and go home, never getting any better. Your legs are a lot stronger so whenever possible, use them to push your body weight up rather than pulling with your arms.
• Pay attention to where you place your feet. The majority of your body weight comes into contact with the wall at your feet, so learn to place them quickly, accurately, and efficiently. If you have to shuffle your feet around a lot or you make a lot of noise kicking your feet against the wall, you're doing it wrong.

Glad you discovered rock climbing, hope you keep at it. BTW, I usually consider 1cm wide holds to be a rest spot, just wait until you try balancing off a razor less than half of that using just a couple of fingers.

[syp0s]

haha, I came home and totally geeked out on Chris Sharma videos for a couple of hours on the day!

Thanks for the advice. I think the leg part is definitely where I need help. When I look back at what I was doing, I was basically pulling myself up the wall with my hands, instead of pushing myself up with my legs.

I've done Yoga for years now, so I think the balance as flexibility is already there, just gotta find a way to transfer that skillset over to climbing. I really love it, though, not many things you can do as an adult that really make you feel like a kid again, but this is def one of them.

A quick question: what shoes do you recommend?. I don't want to spend too much money, because I've read that beginners burn through their first pair of shoes fast, so I'm thinking something cheap, but I can't tell if I should be buying a specific type of bouldering shoe. All of my stuff is going to be indoor on the wall - if you can advise, it'd be appreciated.

[syp0s]

Obsidian, I ended up buying a pair of FiveTen Verde's. Have you heard of them? They seem pretty good judging by reviews.

[obsidian]

The shoes that fit should be the shoes that you buy. They need to fit very snug so there is zero chance your feet will slide around inside, but not so tight that they pinch. 5.10 Verde's are a fairly flat shoe which should work well for beginners and when doing face climbs. I've seen them around, but I have not climbed with them.

Personally, I've owned several pairs of La Sportiva Testarossa's but those are among the more aggressive downturned shoes ideal for overhangs. I've been climbing with them for so long I find it hard using anything else. La Sportiva came by and tried to hook me up with a few pairs of Solutions and their new Futuras, I liked the Futuras but still ended up going back to my old faithfuls.

TL;DL: You really just have to try on shoes, find the right fit, and see what feels best for you.

[Doombrain]

I know nothing about bikes, what's with the kink in the frame, strength?

Aye!

DB that's a nice ride. I assume you are mostly XC type stuff still? I don't see a bash guard...

Not on this, it's too heavy. I use this for AM/enduro and aggressive trail. I have a bash but never put it on, there's enough clearance not to need one. I have a HT 29er for XC, that has a bash ring on which gets some use lol.