Bent Forks and Broncos

David powering through 59" Drillbitch Climbs: 59" DrillBitch  (5.10a)  ★★★★ Bethel  (5.10a)  ★★★★ Spinner  (5.10a)  ★★★★ Mancala  (5.10b)  ★★★ Bathtub Mary  (5.11a)  ★★★★ ★ Bullfighter  (5.12b)  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Somewhere, deep dark down inside us, there's a being that knows everything about us. It knows when your terrified, it knows when happy. It knows what your feeling. It knows what your capable of. It knows what your not capable of. It knows what you've done. It knows your dreams. Or, in my case, it knows that you don't know your dreams. It knows how you acted and it knows how you will act. I think everybody has this being--it's everybody's inner reflection of them self, its what you think you are. But it's also the truth: it's what you are and it's what you think has happened and will happen. It's the truth as in it's sort of the baseline where everything you do comes from. I think my inner being is very differen...

Lexington Attractions/Stops: Woodford Reserve : ★★★★★ (Classy. Good. Bourbon Balls.) Bluegrass Distillers : ★★★★ (Friendly, informal, personal tours) West Sixth Brewing : ★★★★★ (Chill ambience & Smithtown is next door) Smithtown Seafood : ★★★★★ (I don't like fish but I love Buffalo Catfish Bites). Chuck and the Woodford Reserve The sky was gray. Dreary gray. London gray. The sort of gray that exactly matches the forecasted rain. Ugh, gray. It was Wednesday, our rest day. I'm don't recall if we had planned Wednesday to be our rest day or if nature had forced our hand. Either way, I wasn't complaining: we had just climbed for three days straight. Today was for relaxing and whiskey. We did our best to plan as little of our day as possible, but the distilleries called our bluff. Most required advanced tickets. Zach was stoked on  Woodford Reserve , I was stoked on going somewhere good, and Dave-O and David were stoked for any distillery tour. So, we picke...

Climbs : Plate Tectonics  (5.10a) ★★★★ Gettin' Lucky In Kentucky  (5.10b) ★★★★ 5th Bolt Faith  (5.10c) ★★★ Tall Cool One  (5.9) ★★★ Universal Gravitation  (5.10d) ★★★ Moonshine (5.10a) ★★★★ Sunbeam (5.10c) ★★★★ Prologue: Our ragged band of misfit heroes slowly wake up, not lost--but not quite found--somewhere in the backwoods of Kentucky, preparing to save the world.... or at least climb 5.10. The Crush-This League at the Bat Cave Scene I: Breakfast TONY STARK: Good morning, sunshine! DICK GRAYSON: And protein-packed pancakes-- SAITAMA:  PANCAKES!! GRAYSON: --are ready! BANNER: Save some for the rest of us, Saitama! SEVDA: These are lovely, dear. And because they are brown, you can't tell that they're burnt. GRAYSON: The extra chocolate chips really help too. SAITAMA: So much better than drinking your protein. BRUCE BANNER: Especially your  vegan protein shakes, Saitama. I don't know how you drink that. STARK: Or where ...

David on Amarillo Sunset Climbs: Miranda Rayne (5.9+): ★★ (OK) Audie (5.8): ★★ (Fun) Amarillo Sunset (5.11b): ★★★★★ (A.M.A.Z.I.N.G) Samurai (5.12b): ★★★★ (Very cool.) On Monday morning, we woke up and made pancakes. Protein-packed pancakes. They came in a box with an angry grizzly bear face imprint. They were good. Savage. Somewhere in the middle, we added chocolate chips. They were even better. More savage. We didn’t worry about climbing. It was still too cold. The clouds had cleared, but it was ust barely above freezing. Which is great weather, when you’re bouldering, at the top of Mount Everest, or swimming with polar bears. But it’s not great weather your a wanna-be weekend rockstar sport climber. But we were men (+ Sevda--but she had to work (boo Mondays), so she couldn’t climb). We would handle the cold. We settled on PMRP, North 40. There would be several easy climbs. There would be several moderates. There would be several five start lines. Hop...

It was snowing. Literally. We were in the car, driving from the luxurious Comfort Inn to Muir Valley, for our first day of climbing. With the exception of lunch, dinner, and a quick stop at a Halloween costume shop, we had spent all of the previous day in the car, our excitement overflowing: we were going climbing for a week. Last night, we smuggled the five of us into a far too small, two-queen-bed hotel room. Zach and Sevda got a bed; David, Dave-O, and I got a bed. Actually, David took one for the team, claiming that with a pad, the hotel floor was actually more comfortable than many of his past accommodations. I believed him, but I also really wanted a bed. Easy Choice This morning, we stuffed ourselves with Comfort Inn’s [Continental] Breakfast of Champions: seasonal hotel pumpkin spice waffles (yum!), paper-thin strips of real plastic bacon (nope), reconstituted mash labelled scrambled eggs (nope), something like fruit (yes) and actual oatmeal (you can’t ruin oatmeal...