This afternoon my neighbour and I tried to fix our fence. One of the posts is lose, and propping it up with a plank of wood turned out to be a bad idea when the plank slipped in a storm and punched a hole through the fence panel. So he went to Home Depot and got a couple of metal braces for us to put around the post.
You install these by putting them alongside the fence post and then hitting them with a sledgehammer as hard as you can for ten minutes, driving them into the concrete around the post and holding it steady. So we walloped and walloped until my hands were numb, and eventually we had the post stabilised. Then we sheared off two huge bolts (quarter inch thick ones) trying to screw the plates to the post, and gave up and zip tied the fence post to the reinforcing plates. I love zip ties.
Perhaps as a result of this, I was exhausted, so I only managed 45 minutes climbing this evening. Then again, climbing at 9pm never yields great results due to fatigue. The new wall has just opened in Fremont and it’s not my favourite yet: the routes are either impossible or too easy, with little in between. Or I’m tired.
I had forgotten that new holds are rough. After months of use, each hold wears smooth, but they’re incredibly grippy when they’re brand new. That’s good, but rough on the hands – another reason, along with tired arms, why I had to give up pretty early on.
Oh, and I’m exhausted. But there’s the weekend ahead of us…
One response to “Getting hammered”
It must be good to get back to the climbing wall. Onwards & upwards. An interesting background colour, it looks very soothing, but that’s probably not what you need !!!