The FastDay Forum

The mention of 2-stroke's brings back happy memories of shell-R and FS1E's !

Surely Castrol R?

Surely Castrol R?

Your memory is in a better shape than mine ! It was the smell I remembered..it was indeed Castrol.

Knocking the restricting washer out the top of the exhaust, skimming the heads, milling the inlet port a tad, s&m filter and oversized jets...

All to get an extra 20mph out of a little 50cc Wow that seems like a lifetime ago.

Loved the smell, but my 2-stroke was a Cyclemaster 32 cc engine-in-wheel device that would not exceed 20 mph on a good day - no call for castor oil in that, unfortunately! Wish I still had it, would be worth something now as a British Classic...

I had a Honda 100, it was cool! Amazing you could get on them and drive without a test or anything at 17. Going round corners when windy was an issue, as they sometime didn't go around and you ended up in the hedge. Still brilliant for going to see the obliging Farmer's daughter who lived in the next village!

I remember that trick with the restricting washer in the Exhaust, you were always on the look out for the Rozzers!

CreakyPete - where are you standing in your avatar, yosemite, mt kinabalu or...?

Yosemite, top of Lembert dome in Tuolumne Meadows, last July. Well spotted!
This was an old man showing his elder son the hallowed ground of Yosemite, where I used to go climbing in the seventies. First visit in 35 years but need to get back there sooner rather than later...

Did you meet any of the Camp 4 characters back in the 70s? John Long`s Wall Rats, hang dogs... book is one of my favourites. Not been there myself, yet. What was your proudest acievement there?

Met Dale Bard, Billy Westbay, John Bachar, Ron Kauk (the stunt climber for Cliffhanger) and a fair few others. First visit was Oct 75 with a club mate from Leicester with the intention of doing The Nose on El Cap, but we psyched ourselves out a bit with the wide cracks so ended up being happy to do Triple Direct in 4 and a bit days, mainly aid climbing. Last visit in 78 was aimed at Sentinel Northwest face and Salathe wall on El Cap, both ticked with Howard Johnson, and I also was lucky enough to climb with Andy Parkin on The Rostrum and New Dimensions, which were both pretty hard...
Proudest is difficult, but anytime I see a picture of Half Dome I say to myself (and anyone nearby!) "Done that - straight up the steep bit!"
Love the place, although not so much in July with all the crowds. Need to go September/October for perfect conditions and fewer people. Must get back there soon - I have to get my big lad multi-pitch capable, at the moment it is climbing walls occasionally and no real bottle...And I am getting too old!

I am very impressed, if the USA part of your climbing cv has those entries you must have done some interesting stuff in Europe too. With those credentials you are without doubt entitled to be this thread!
My 8 yr old daughter has her sights on an el cap ascent after watching andy kirkpatricks daughter do it on kids tv a few weeks ago. She's very confident on the rock plus ab'ing but not tried prussicking yet. Thanks for divulging the above.

Used to follow the rockhopping scene back in the early 70's, used to sit and drool over some of the big stuff over in the states, we just couldn't afford it back then. Had to make do with outcrops and old quarries

How things have changed, even live in a bungalow nowadays

+1 to bungalow! I climbed at Wilton once, nice rock. God's own rock is in Derbyshire, of course...

Skippy: Not that much in Europe, certainly not in the alps. Made several trips to Verdon and Buoux in France, and a couple to the dolomites around Sella - preferred steep limestone to snow & ice infested mixed routes. Snow was OK for skiing, though - used to do quite a bit of that till then kids came along.
Not so much men things, just big boys I suspect - maybe we need a new thread?

Pete - my highlight for US climbing was a trip to the Wind Rivers range. Super place with super rock and not so super bears and mozzies. I'm not in your league though and never did anything harder than 5.9. Have always regretted not making the effort whilst we were in Wyoming of doing the devils tower.
As you say, the arrival of kids puts so many dreams on hold.
Bringing the subject back to fasting, have you felt any degradation in performance on the rock on and the day after fast days? (Carefully checked the spelling on that last sentence...)

Hi Skippy, I have not been on any real rock since I started 5:2 but I have been going to the new bouldering wall in Loughborough since it opened. I reckon I am doing much better at nearly a stone lighter and now keeping up with the girls from my climbing club. The problem is my hips are shot with osteoarthritis and very stiff/painful sometimes - bridging is difficult - but I am convinced that I am healthier & happier now than I was 3 months ago. Mark Sisson reckons that diet can help arthritis damage, I think it might as at Xmas I was in much more pain and finding it difficult to sleep. The physio I saw told me to stop running and get biking (new bike due at the weekend - carbon fiber etc!) But my doctor said to keep climbing - he is a climber, and thinks it is as good as Pilates etc. Took my old mountain bike out in the perfect windless sunshine yesterday to establish a baseline for the new bike and knocked another 90 seconds off what I thought was an unassailable 55 minutes for 14.6 miles - felt strong and keen. Later did 4 by 400 meters fast intervals with wife much faster than last week so hoping for a breakthrough at parkrun on Saturday. Running is currently restricted to one day a week so it is saved for racing... Life is great at present! Would love to do the Devils Tower sometime - another thing on the list. I was going back to Yosemite to have a go at Astroman in 1989 except we got pregnant...