Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

man i have not posted in a while. i guess my oldguy motivation has been down. i havent been training, but ive been climbing. ive been riding my snowboard. i have been eating hella.
im going on vacation for a while.
happy holidays
here is an interesting interview with marco regarding the olympics and climbing and some other stuff. from 8a of course.

Marco Scolaris Kiev from Medvedeva Olga on Vimeo.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Team Vertical World in Ecuador





this last week was the pan american youth climbing championships. a few of our kids made it down for the event. as i have been to a couple of these i can say that it is always a great event that gives our kids a bit of an international experience that serves them well later.
im real proud of our kids.
a couple years ago i went to youth world championships down in ecuador and got to see these walls and the same places the US team stayed at this time. the people of ecuador are nothing but wonderful. i had so much fun and really enjoyed their country. im sure our kids did too.
Alex Fritz placed First in boulders, 2nd in difficulty and 9th in speed. male A overall champ.
Melina costanza placed first in both boulders and difficulty. female D 3rd overall.
gavin robertson placed 4th in difficulty. 10 place youth D overall.
nice work kids, way to represent our team and the US.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

alex fritz


alex as well as melina have both been crowned continental champions for boulders.
nice job guys.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

melina in ecuador


here is the world famous melina costanza warming up for her final round of the bouldering portion at the continental championships in ibarra ecuador. go get em.
today alex fritz placed first in the bouldering portion. he is continental champion.
way to go guy.

Monday, November 22, 2010

chihuahua funtime

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

SBC

Another year of SBC went off. Really fun. Great routes and as always a local favorite of the climbing community. I think there was close to 300 competitors. Crazy.
Our girl audrey hsu won female open again. She looked good. Sean McColl won male.
Mike stayed at our house all week as he cheufes the event. My wife and I love him here. We wish he and Marlowe would move back.
Good job kids and coaches. That was fun today. I only got through 5 levels of angry birds during the event. So I musts been entertained.
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sbc finals

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sbc

More
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sbc open qualifier results.

5 of our girls in finals.
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SBC today!

Here we go.
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

happy birthday oma







today is my Oma's birthday. i was her first grandson. she was my favorite person.
she was a very classy lady and always carried herself with dignity.
we miss her very much.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

My opa


here is a picture of my Opa, Dr. Melvyn Arthur Bayly Sr. from his college years late '30s or early '40s before he went to the war.
his basement is filled with pictures like this. i could spend hours down there going through old memories and stories of times long ago. i hope that someday someone in the family is able to put together an autobiography of his life. he is a great man who has done so many wonderful things for so many people.
this picture is worth 1000 words to me.

a few new ones






in the past month i have had a little bit of work done.

Copas. best boots ever made.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Veterans day


this photo really sums up what this day means to me. men and women like this soldier have done and do things every day that most of us would never be able to or could even conceive. regardless of what your thoughts on todays current situations are, there are some things you cannot overlook.
to all those who serve our country.
thank you

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

RIP Dave Niehaus



for much of my life i listened to Niehaus. through the good and the bad.

Monday, November 8, 2010

i now have the facebooks


i know i said i would never do it. but then i realized the planet only communicates via facebook now.

now accepting friendship applications.

Sounders why??????????

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Old School

so these were the hottest skate shoes in junior high. i had a couple pairs. i loved them.
i wish they were not leather, i would buy all colors.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Lil Sid and Melina halloween


as i mentioned before, not much greater an honor.
my champs looking better as me than i do.

New Cee-Lo Green album


i had to post this. it is very hot. take a listen at NPR

claudiu

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

claudiu and alina

Claudiu and his wife have made the journey to seattle to watch the sounders kill the galaxy.
PIKE PLACE ON A RARE SUNNY DAY
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

i have never been so honored



there is not much greater honor than to be made into a halloween costume.
melina you are wonderful

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

its that time again


Renew your Vows

BOO Fritz!!!!


years ago there was this kid who would come to all the comps wearing a tie dyed tshirt. he was in youth D. i tried to recruit him. he denied me. in a snotty little boys voice he said that he climbed for cascade crags and he wasnt leaving.
a couple seasons later he joined my team. he and his family have become one in a long line of wonderful families and climbers to have grown from this amazing rock climbing team. it is guys like alex who make this team what it is today and what it will continue to be for years to come. he has stayed true to the Team VC code and makes me proud every time he climbs.
way to go buddy. lets go bouldering, i've been training.
here is an article written in the Herald where Alex talks garbage about football players.

Monday, October 25, 2010

front page

The biggest thing. Sounders are setting records all over.
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happy birth day marshall

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Sunday, October 24, 2010

leavenworth

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leavenworth

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leavenworth

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leavenworth team trip








adam and I spent the last couple days in leavenworth with a group of the kids from team. we got some great climbing in on saturday and even though it was raining most of sunday we were able to get quite a few boulders in. we had a ton of fun. Ronya was able to climb a V3. emmaline was sending V4s all day. brekkan, clare and trevin were getting it done as well.
Aran and i were trying some harder stuff. i have been to leavenworth 2 times in the last 4 years i think. once the spring before last and then this weekend. the most frustrating part is getting on problems i used to be able to do and getting served. this weekend was a different story.
i did dangle (v7) again, and kobe tai (v8) again. and even did the coffee cup (v10, seemed a bit soft) after about an hour. ive been training boulders for the past month or so and it seems to be working. it feels good after a short summer of not climbing much at all.
we had a cabin out there and it was fun seeing a few generations from my climbing team hangin out. corinne, from the first group of kids i ever coached is now 24 yrs old. chelsea just aged out, and all the ones who are currently on team. it was fun.

Monday, October 18, 2010

new girls team stuff is in

This is the best we have ever looked
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Erden is still going strong

our friend Erden is still killing it on his attempt to circumnavigate the globe via man power.
check his latest post from his website. and check his tracker.



October 18, 2010 (Day 98)
I was having trouble with my modem connection by satellite phone. It kept dropping, making emails and dispatches impossible. It remains unreliable, I may have partially fixed it, time will tell.

I now have a spare oar, ready for use. When I found the epoxy, I started the work to assemble it. While I was on para-anchor waiting in the cabin a while back, I began to prepare the shorter handle side of the broken oar.

With the shaft diameter being the largest at the handle and tapering down toward the blade, I had to slide the also tapered 70 cm long plug, which I had already cut from a different shaft, down from the end toward the break. I had wrapped electrical tape at the end of the plug both as an even spacer for centering the plug and as a gasket to contain the epoxy that I was to pour. When jammed in place, the plug extruded about 40 cm past the break, leaving about 30 cm inside. I placed four little rolls I had prepared evenly around the plug to center it at the break as well, then once I fashioned a little paper cone taped in place to serve as a funnel, I was ready to pour epoxy in the 3-4 mm gap between the plug and the shaft.

I stood the oar shaft on its end then tied it to the corner of my footwell. Its total length with the plug was about 1.5 meters. I mixed two parts by volume of epoxy with one part hardener in a plastic cup which I had sacrificed for the cause. The wind was down to 15-20 knots but still too strong for the job at hand. At 25 knots, the darn wind blew food off my spoon! At 15, it wanted to blow the epoxy past my funnel. I managed to get most of the epoxy where it was intended; the gap filled with epoxy up to 2 cm from the break. I let the shaft rest overnight for the glue to set. In 24-hours, it would be rock hard.

Before gluing the blade end of the broken oar, some preparation was necessary. I had to make sure that the blade would have a "zero pitch angle" meaning that when the oar was placed in the oarlock, the blade would go in and out of the water vertically. This is unlike racing shells where a small pitch angle is introduced to the blade. This feature literally lifts the racing shell in the water to counter the upward and backward momentum of the rower when all the strength of the legs are applied to pull on the oars once the blade enters the water -- that moment is called "the catch."

So I lined up the blade and marked the correct angle with some tape on either side of the break which I would match later. I wrapped electrical tape again at the tip of the plug before I inserted it into the remaining blade side shaft. When the plug jammed, the separation at the break was about 4 cm to account for the jagged carbon fiber shaft ends that I had cut using a hacksaw; therefore the total length of the oar shaft remained about the same. Because of different shaft tapers from separate oar manufacturers, the gap to fill with epoxy was much tighter in this section of the oar. I centered the plug by setting four tiny wedges around it that I had cut by sacrificing two laundry clips.

Pouring epoxy in that gap was a battle. When I stood the oar on its blade, the break stood at about 2.4 meters. That was at my chin level when I stood high astride the footwell. Any side to side movement from the rolling motion of the boat was amplified up there, so lining up the epoxy cup with the funnel was tough. The job required two hands, but I also felt insecure wanting to hold on. The cabintop was level with my hips; I had to keep pumping my knees to counter the bucking boat. And IF I lined up the funnel, the wind blew half of the epoxy glue away splattering it all over. A lot of grunting and cussing later I managed to get some glue in place, then quickly sacrificed a towel to wipe down. That glue as well had to set over the following 24-hours.

With the plug firmly positioned, I could now continue the work by laying the oar on the deck. I wrapped plastic sheet tightly across the 4 cm separation to act as a mold. The sheet was cut from a ziploc bag; epoxy does not stick to such plastics. I taped the sheet in place then placed a new paper funnel on the top side of the separation. When I poured epoxy, it propagated down into the shaft horizontally. I helped it flow by tapping the shaft with the handle of a heavy diving knife. Soon the entire space around the plug including the 4 cm separation at the break was filled with epoxy. This too had to wait another 24 hours.

Next, I wanted to make the best use of my remaining epoxy. I wished I hadn't wasted so much while pouring in the wind, oh well... I cut four 20 cm sections of 4-inch medium weight fiberglass tape. I wet two of those with epoxy and placed them lengthwise across the separation which had by now been filled evenly with the outside shaft surface. The two four inch width tapes were wide enough to overlap about 1 cm on their edges. I used another plastic sheet to wrap over the fiberglass then gently massaged through it to remove any significant air bubbles underneath. Another 24 hours passed before I laid another two sheets of fiberglass tape. These layers of tape would act like a splint on the outside of the shaft, and prevent any tendency of the carbon fiber shaft edges at the junction to splinter.

Another 24 hours and I was done. All I had to do was to reattach the handle. When the excess glue dried completely, I was able to peel it out of my plastic cup as well. It was a nice bonus to recover my cup.

My oar is probably stronger now, and certainly heavier. It sure displays better back on my starboard rack than in pieces for weeks on my deck.

Erden.

bend climbing team

bend climbing team blog had a write up about our comp last weekend in tacoma.

thanks mike and nice job.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Go Dawgs

What a great game. Overtime win.
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enzo discusses the Real Madrid game while linus couldnt care less

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

tacoma comp

Vw youth Ds
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Friday, October 15, 2010

verticalworld routeset comp crew

Jason mikos, brian doyle, me, adam Brossard, bret johnston, ross Halverson.
I love this crew. What jason and brian used to do at stonegardens over a decade ago was setting the standard in the northwest. Now years later, they have stepped back into the game. Its so much fun. There is a lot of routesetting lineage in this picture. It all comes full circle.
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signed and delivered

All done. 65 problems tested, tweaked and done. 15 hours total.
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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tacoma

Day 1@12:10pm.
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tacoma ABS comp

Day 1 of 2. Like clockwork.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Banksy does the simpsons

saw this when it was aired. it was even a little farther out than usual simpsons.
now i understand why.
here is the interview with al jean.

Banksy does the Simpsons from Transfer.TV on Vimeo.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

oh man this is awesome

i forgot how great this show was. i am watching it right now on boomerang channel. arabian knights, danger island, and of course the splits. this brings back many memories. direct TV rules.

food of champions

Kyle and his beast food.
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Sunday, October 10, 2010

vicious chihuahua attack

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trevors nameless bulldog

Trevor just adopted this rescue bulldog. She is very sweet as you can see.
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tacoma throwdown

here are a few problems i set for our tacoma throwdown that was a couple weeks ago.
alex fritz, jonny goicheachea and ryan olsen on display.




check back this weekend october 16th when we are having our ABS comp at tacoma and prolly some more classics from me.


i am the champion

BOOYAH!!!!!
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Saturday, October 9, 2010

tyson vs audrey

I decided to compete today in the second session. Audrey and i are going head to head. Neither of us doing very well. More training for me. And less competing against the oldguy for her.
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max bachar

Here you see max becker harnessing the bachar/chionard look. Its working.
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stoneworks comp

First ABS comp of the year. Me and adam are down here. They have opened up the space nicely.
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

new team bags

One of our loyal sponsors, asanaclimbing. Com has comeup with custom bags for us this year. Man they look great. Thanks adam and jamie and everyone at asana.
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