Five Ten Athlete Natasha Barnes goes on a road trip to the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle and stops in Gold Bar, Index and Leavenworth on the way.
About 3 months ago I decided to compete in my first big comp since doing the Dark Horse last Fall/Winter, the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle. This time I had been training for the competition under the guidance of Kris Peters and with some strength training help from my friends at Anthropos Performance. A couple weeks ago I got to test myself against some of the best at the Aesthetic Invitational. I knew I could do a little better but nonetheless I was pleased with my performance placing top 5 in the comp. So last Saturday I left San Francisco and headed towards Seattle with the intent of stopping at a couple of bouldering destinations on the way.
I had just got my hands on a new pair of TEAMS--my favorite shoe-- as well so I was psyched to take them outside and to the competition and put them to work!
So far we've hit up Index, Gold Bar and Leavenworth. It's unseasonably hot here in the Pacific North West so there isn't too much sendage happening but it's fun to check out areas I haven't been to before. Did I mention how RAD the granite is here?!?! I am also very pleased with the new TEAMS. They are sticky (even though it's 80 degrees), fit like a glove and are high performance all around (slabs, vert, steep, textured rock or river polished). I got to hike 1 hour and 20 mins yesterday to a new area in Gold Bar with some friends and climb on some really cool boulders. There were black berries everywhere and I couldn't stop eating them! I sent an unnamed climb on that boulder and also sent Rubix Cube (V7) at the Clear Cut.
Today is Wednesday and Qualifiers for the competition are Friday so until then I will rest. My shoulder has been acting up after sleeping in the back of the truck during the trip and I'm getting it checked out tomorrow morning by a sports chiropractor in the area. More on that in the next blog. I'm hoping it will be ok for the competition. Oddly, the only thing that makes it feel better is climbing.
Stay tuned. I plan to blog from behind the scenes at the competition.