Still here....

G'day dear readers. Again it's been some time since my last post. I know that you have been logging in here over the past couple of months. Eager to read more of about what has been going on in our little world, yet signing out only partly satiated. My apologies.....I have been otherwise occupied.

Philby, only a few days ago sent me a text message. This is not all that unusual, however the content of said message made me feel a little uneasy. I had been reminded of my lack of CoC posts of late and in particular the omission of a promised trip report from my adventure in Rocklands. My enlightenment was slightly soured by the realisation I had been back in Melbourne for close on 6 weeks, and in this time had done little more than work and drink too much alcohol.

Why had I not been climbing? Why had I not posted any news of my trip?

Well I can partly answer these two questions with the one response. At the end of my trip in South Africa, 3 days before I was to fly back to Melbourne, I sustained a trip ending injury. I was attempting a problem called El Corazon, made famous by D. Woods FA on the Progression video. Long story short (short story long in upcoming report) I completely  ruptured the A4 pulley of my right ring finger. Before you mumble away doubting the injury as it is an unlikely ligament to strain/rupture, I have the pain and scans to prove it. Not to mention the audible popping 10 of us heard on the day. This injury has since been cause to stay away from climbing for a while. I was in top shape, climbing well I thought, so it was a cruel end to an otherwise awesome trip. This hiatus also included inter web dwelling (of the climbing kind - porn is still fine) and hence had not bothered to write anything up.

The second part of my response is a little more contentious and directly relates to why I have avoided a blog that I hold dear. Not long before I travelled overseas, I had posted an update of my past 12 months or so. If you didn't read it, think of it as an '80's style teen montage, where the dorky would be hero paints his billy cart and lubes up the hubs before impressing the girl etc etc. In this post, I made mention of my training schedule that had helped before the State Titles and preparing for Rocklands. While not a supreme athlete in any sense of the word, some people may have found what I was talking about of interest. Perhaps this is because not a lot of Melbourne climbers have any idea about structured training, or it could be the fact I have great hair and look good without a shirt on.....I'm at a loss.

Either way, I mentioned that I had been traveling down to Bayside Rock in Carrum, a trip that takes up to 90 minutes if I leave from work where I had already been for 10 or more hours. Crazy perhaps, but all for good reasons that have since been removed from my entry while I was away. I am not going to repeat what I wrote at that time verbatim, there is no point. However what I did do was to critique a gym in Melbourne that I have had a long standing relationship with; being involved in its construction, an employee and ultimately spending countless hours training there. I use the word 'gym' but I could easily substitute it with "product", "service" or "brand", all terms loaded with a sense of public exposure. My critique was of the end result the public can utilise, and NOT as some may have believed a personal attack on the owner of said gym.

That said I will not apologise for opinions that I have more than once expressed personally to this particular individual as both employee and later as a customer. In fact the idea these opinions, which I made public so as to help improve the gym, have caused such a stir propels me to stand by them all the more. If the creators or owners of products and services did not value public opinion and as an extension criticism there would be no need for online surveys, product testing and other forms of market research. They know the importance of feedback, both the good and the bad. For without this information, their products or services cannot hope to be improved, or to meet standards held by the public.

As you may have gathered, and individual took this feedback of their gym (a public entity) as slander, as though it was a personal attack. As a result I have been informed (by a 3rd party) that I'm no longer welcome at this gym - I hadn't trained there in perhaps 12 months anyway. It also caused enough consternation among the members of the A-Team still in Melbourne, that it was deemed necessary to remove the blaspheming material. This my dear friends was rather off putting and may be why I have been hesitant to blog of late. Phil and Al were only minimising the damage potential, however this throws mud in the face of why we had a blog in the first place......to have a laugh, share our views of the Melbourne scene, enlighten the public of news that goes under the radar and of course, stir up shit. I dont remember awarding Gay Dave the Douchebag of the Month for falling out of a cheatbar because of calf failure being deemed an offence or a personal attack. Yes more tongue in cheek than my opinions of a gym, but far more personal.
Alas I am rambling and ranting.......maybe I'm just getting back into the groove.

So back to the present. I will endevour to read through a journal I kept from my Rocklands trip and once I have digested that I will post up some sort of rant about how good it was. It was really fucking awesome by the way. It will be another month or so before I am going to consider testing the finger out.In the mean time might start hitting the kettlebell and rings, break out the drill and bolts and get back into it. Or I could just have another beer.

In other news, Dave Graham and Nalle HowthefuckIspellhisnameAL? were in the Grampians. Awesome. I didn't meet them or chase them around like a star fucker puppy dog either. That all said, I'm very impressed that they did some significant walking and exploring in search of new boulders. Hopefully the projects they completed and found can spur on the Melburn Massive a little this spring. Rowan 'Rosey' Druce has taken some time off work, and has been in the Grampians of late. He has bouldered up a storm, repeating some of Al's, stating they are some of the best in the area. Most notable of his trip though was a repeat of PUNKS INTHA GYM 32......Awesome work mate!! Another local mutant, James Kassay has repeated the WHEEL OF LIFE V16, This is highly off tap if I can continue in my now excited spray gangsta talk. James is now the 4th person to sign his name in the leather bound book at the cave's exit. Some may say 'its about time' I say shut up that thing is hard, and I took him a lot of physical and I dare say mental effort. Those things get done when they are ready, not when they are about time.....does that make sense? If not that is okay with me as I'm now cross eyed and ready for bed. Nice work Jimmy K - make sure you keep an eye out for his new underwear line coming to an arse near you.

Peace out -

Grosey