Clementine Pradal

Here at jjobrienclimbing we've had hundreds of letters from readers asking "When are you going to add some sophistication to your blog".

Hey, what was wrong with Big Al?............. OK, OK, I hear you.

So here's Clementine Pradal. She's French, she's stylish and she climbs in pearl earings.



Sophisticated enough?











That's Damo in the background, more from him later.







Clem works Coolm Cave's icon 26, "Screaming Insanity".

I'mconfident the stylish bloggers over at Red Phoenix Styleare going toaward Clemtheir highest approval.































Even Princess Russ never lookedthis good at the Cave.





Clem grew up climbing real mountains (in the French Pyrenees) with her family. Before she could walk she would climb mountains.



Two years ago she climbed 22's and hated anything and everything steep. Now she loves steep routes, enjoys falling (sometimes!), secretly hates slabs and climb's mid-20's.















Oo, nice chalk bag jj







All that stylish climbing can wear a girl out.

Dream Wool Cycling Jersey Concept

A number of manufacturers have come out with updated versions of the classic wool roadcycling jersey over the past few years, and I've accumulated a few. All have some nice features, but none are perfect. Yesterday I noticed one that I think might come close, and exchanged some emails with my Ibex contact Julie lamenting that there is no women's version. This ended with the people at Ibex saying they will consider it for Fall , which, in turn, inspired me to be more specific about what I envisioned. This is not directed at Ibex necessarily, but at wool manufacturers in general. It is a simple concept, and shouldn't be difficult to execute - yet no jersey quite like this exists at the moment as far as I know.





The key to my dream wool cycling jersey is a very lightweight merino fabric. And by lightweight I mean summer weight, t-shirt weight. The wool Swobo and Woolistic use for their jerseys is too heavy. Rapha, Road Holland and Shutt Velo Rapide use "sport wool," which is a wool/polyester blend that, for me at least, works nicely over a base layer in cold temps, but not against bare skin. Icebreaker adds a touch of lycra to their paper-thin wool jerseys for stretch, and I like their fabric as a possibility. But the nicest I've worn so far has been the 18.5 micron, 195g/m2 merino used by Ibex for their Indie line of jerseys. That fabric feels pretty much spot on.




I prefer cycling jerseys with long sleeves, even in summer, because this way my arms don't get burned. Also, if the fabric is lightweight enough, I actually find it more comfortable to have my skin covered in the heat than not. The combination of the t-shirt weight wool and the long sleeve length is perfect for temperature regulation on both hot and cool days.One thing to add here, is that I beg whoever makes this jersey to not do anything crazy to the sleeves - like what Swobo did here by adding seams. I have both the older (no seams) and the newer (seams! why?) versions of their long sleeve jersey, and the seams on the newer one make the sleeves constricting. Please just leave the sleeves be; they don't need reinventing.






One feature I would absolutely love to see in a cycling jersey is a 2-way zipper. I think this would be an especially useful feature for women, as it would enable us to unzip the jersey for extra ventilation just like men do, but without exposing the bosom. With a 2-way zipper we can unzip along the tummy and leave the chest covered up. I am surprised no one has tried this yet actually. The zipper should be covered on the inside of the jersey, so that it doesn't come into contact with the skin.






Women sometimes complain that cycling jerseys are unflattering, and one way to remedy this would be to tailor the jersey via shaping darts - which Ibex already does in some of their athletic tops. However, I am reluctant to suggest this, because it does introduce additional seams which for some may cause chafing. Personally I am okay with or without darted tailoring, though a women-specific fit would be nice.






In the back, all I want is the classic 3 jersey pockets, elasticized at the top. No more or no less; no bells and whistles; nothing weird. Some manufacturers have been getting clever with the pockets - adding all sorts of secret zip-up compartments for pumps and wallets, which I really feel is unnecessary, and if anything, limits the use of that potentially vast pocket space. Just the standard 3 pockets please!






As far as looks, I am open - just please keep it simple. No flowers, no swirly shapes, no faux-oriental designs, and no clever slogans. Classic colours. Maybe a stipe or two somewhere, with room for embroidering a club name across the chest and back. I love this colourscheme from Ibex, and these from Rapha (sans prominent logo), and this one from Shutt Velo Rapide - and of course these vintage beauties from Bridgestone. Less is more, and a couple of contrasting stripes go a long way.






I have not described anything complicated here, and I hope manufacturers reading this will consider producing something like it. Ibex is probably in the best position to do it, because they already have the perfect fabric and a design that comes very close. But I'd love to see more options for lightweight, women-specific wool cycling jerseys across the board. Your thoughts and input are, of course, welcome. Who knows, maybe we can make something happen.

Where I Was

May 1979. I can still feel the freezing cold of the water as I walked through the stream to the dunes. The warmth of the sun and the chill of the morning breeze. The quietness broken only by the occasional laughter and voices of other visitors. It was a time of change. One stage of life ending and another beginning. A return to civilian life after 9 1/2 years in the Navy.

I purchased a postcard at the gift shop that I still have posted on the bulletin board next to my computer. It included a few words written by Ann Zwinger ". . . even in winter there is the promise of spring. . . The white of snow becomes the white of summer clouds. . . part of each season is contained in every other."

Anyone care to venture a guess as to where this picture was taken? A little hint, western United States ;-)

Update May 21, .. 11:00 a.m

Craig Manson of Geneablogie fame has correctly identified the above scene as the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. Located in the southwest corner of Colorado, it is an amazing area. It's on my list of places to visit, again. Someday.

Some incredibly nice photographs:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/grsa/resources/photos_dunes.htm

Children's artwork inspired by the dunes:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/grsa/artwork.htm

Links to more photographs:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/grsa/resources/photos.htm

There are a lot of other nice websites, just do a search for Great Sand Dunes...

Mt. Rainier, Furher Finger

Mt. Rainier finally had a good weekend forecast, so it was time to attempt the Furher Finger route.



Our route is shown in red. We descended the Kautz Glacier route, shown in blue.

Dave on the Nisqually Glacier passing some crevasses on our way to high camp.

Our camp at Turtle Rock (9400').



We got an "alpine start" at midnight, so we could hopefully get to the top and down before the snow got too soft. Dave moving up Furher Finger.



Doug near the Hourglass.

Doug and Dave on top with a little snow falling.

Dave below the steep pitches on the Kautz Glacier, just above the Turtle Snowfield.





The weather was great on day one and OK on summit day. The fresh snow from a few days earlier made the climb pretty tiring. We ended up using our snowshoes to keep from sinking into the mushy snow on the way down from high camp.





It was fun and challenging to climb a new route on Rainier.

Stepping it up a bit now

Climbing 'Malsonando', Gandia.



During the week in Spain I have been doing some 7b and 7cs onsight just to get into the flow of climbing again, but I was also keen to see just how far away from recovering my form on harder routes. So I tried an 8c called Malsonando at Gandia.




I had no idea how I’d get on. Before coming out, since starting climbing again I’ve had 6 weeks or so of some indoor climbing and started from a very low base of fitness and very gentle climbing on easy ground at first. I did manage to climb the 8a endurance circuits in TCA Glasgow and in the past I’ve found that if I can do 8a indoors I can usually do 8c or even 8c+ outdoors. Folk sometimes find that weird and don’t understand it. Partly it’s because my hands sweat quite a lot and so climbing outside in cold conditions allows me to climb a lot harder. However, the main reason is I’m not that strong and so struggle more indoors where I can rely on technique more outdoors.




Anyway, the rule held true and yesterday I was able to climb Malsonando in pretty bad conditions which I was very happy with. My endurance is still barely off the baseline level and I got quite pumped well before the crux, but it’s definitely a good place to be 2.5 months after the surgeon was drilling into my Talus.



Today was good too, an 8b first redpoint, another 8a and a 7c+ onsight.




On the way home from the crag, I began to think that I could start to set some firmer climbing ambitions for the coming year now.

Exploring by Bike: Alternative to Touring

While I both travel and cycle a great deal, I have come to the conclusion that bicycle touring is not for me. This is not to say that I have anything against bicycle touring at all; it sounds like fun for those who enjoy it, and I love reading others' accounts of it. But it does not appeal to me personally for the same reason I've never liked touring in general: I am not satisfied passing through places. For instance, the idea of touring Ireland - that is, trying to see as much of the island as possible by going from town to town - would leave me feeling disoriented and empty. I enjoy getting to know a place, connecting to it in some way. And I don't feel that I can do that via sight seeing and moving on.






The way I see bicycle touring, is that it is first and foremost about traveling by bike. But what if we want to delve deeper rather than go further? Exploring by bicycle could be a rewarding alternative.






My idea of exploring involves choosing a location of significance, and committing to staying there for whatever length of time is sufficient in order to feel settled. For me that means a minimum of a week. The key is then to have something to do there other than sightseeing in of itself. A work-related project. An artistic, literary or research pursuit. Relatives or friends to visit. Something that anchors me to the place and provides an occupation.






Long ago I've noticed that when we approach a trip as a vacation, we expect the place we are visiting to entertain us. But that approach cannot possibly reveal what this place is truly like. For that we need to actually experience it in a real-life setting, as a temporary resident with a purpose rather than as a tourist. We will still get to see all the sights while there, but everything we see will attain a far greater sense of context and personal meaning.





We will also be much more likely to notice nuances that might have otherwise evaded us.







So where does the bicycle come into all of this? Well, to me the bicycle makes an ideal tool for exploring, in that it allows me to set my own pace and to vary that pace spontaneously. I can go as fast or as slow as I like. I can cover long distances or I can ride around in circles. I can carry all that I need with me for the day, transitioning easily between cycling for the sake of cycling, exploring, and transportation. On my first day on the Antrim coast my travel radius was tiny, but I rode quite a bit. Another day I might find myself 50 miles from my home base.





On my bike, I can feel the landscape open up and reveal itself to me as it never does with any other mode of transportation. I can also ride to the grocery store - or to the pub, or to the library, or to a meeting, or to a friend's house.







The bike allows me to feel at home, comfortable, and entirely independent in the place I am exploring and I couldn't ask for more. Maybe I will tour some day. But for now I prefer to stay put and go deep. The bicycle is as perfect of a companion for this kind of travel as it is for touring. The possibilities are endless.

Leaf Season

Having returned to Boston from our stay on Cape Cod, we were greeted by the "Leaf Season" in full effect. It happens so fast! This is very new for Eustacia Vye, who has never seen Autumn before. I had to keep reminding her to pay attention to the road, as she continuously got distracted by the leaves. She thinks that the Fall season matches her colour scheme very nicely - I agree!

This is the fist time I have ridden my Pashley in over two weeks, and the absence made me hyper-aware of the differences between her and my Motobecane mixte. To my surprise, the upright sitting position took a bit of re-adjusting to: To be completely honest, I was somewhat frustrated with the bicycle's composed and stately demeanor after having grown accustomed to the faster and more responsive mixte. Also, I do not have a front rack or basket on the mixte, so another thing that took some re-adjustment on the Pashley was the enormous basket obstructing my view of the front tire.

Mulling this over as I went on various errands, I did not really begin to enjoy the Pashley again until our trip to the grocery store: With the basket and saddlebag fully loaded, the Pashley truly shines - a super stable, super comfortable, utterly luxurious ride. I would have been miserable trying to do this on the mixte.

It was a crisp Autumn day, and it felt oh so cozy to glide through the streets in my soft, flowing cream sweater upon the nicely broken in leather saddle.

I tried to capture the sweater here, but this wasn't my day for successful self-portraiture. Wearing it made me feel as if I were officially acknowledging and celebrating Autumn.

Tweed hat, bought at the Provincetown Army/Navy store - my current favourite cycling cap.

And an attempt at a "Panda shot". Not very informative I admit - but hey, it captures the moment. Happy Autumn cycling!