21 Juli - Climbing heat

It is another hot day in Heilbronn today. It rains to break the heat pretty often, but seems to heat back up just as fast along with a thickness in the air.

I haven't been climbing as much lately and it shows. When I was climbing twice or at least once a week, I thought I could see improvement, but now that I only climb once every few weeks, my skill is rapidly declining. I was going to meet Michele at the climbing gym tonight.. it was after all his birthday, so how could I say no. Skylar was pretty beat after school today and didn't want to go to the gym because it was so hot, so he stayed home with Nora, who kindly offered to keep an eye on him. The gym is about a 45 minute bike ride away and it takes about 30 minutes on the bus, so after all my whining about the bus, I decided it might be nice not to be exhausted at the start of climbing, so I would take the bus. However, I mixed up the times and it was 20 minutes until the next bus and I would've been late in meeting Michele, so I rode my bike.

I was already sweating when I got there and completely worn out from the ride. We did a top rope to warm up and then did some lead climbs. The first couple went really well, but my arms got pumped really fast. After just a couple hours, I could barely do a 5+ (which is about a 5.9 on the US scale). Top roping when you're tired is hard enough, but leading when tired is just way too anxiety provoking for fun. So we called it a night and decided to have a birthday beer. Michele got a Raddler which is what Juliane ordered the other day, so I inquired to what it was. It is beer mixed with lemonade... not lemon flavored beer or something like Mike's Hard Lemonade, but actually half lemonade and half beer. Since I'm not real fond of beer anyway, I didn't like it much and thought it was pretty strange. Seems to be pretty common drink of choice in the heat and after activity. Apparently it is named after a motor bike guy who made it as a way to drink and be able to still ride his bike because of the lower alcohol content when mixing it with lemonade. Interesting.

The ride home was actually quite refreshing and I collapsed on my bed missing a few pieces of skin from rope burn and grabbing at hot slimy holds. I think I'll be feeling nice and achey tomorrow.