Aikido these days seems to involve (since there is often only two of us students) Sensei throwing one of us until we're so exhausted we can't stand, then throwing the other of us until we're so exhausted they can't stand. Then he goes back to the first person..

So, after an hour of that, I biked around the city in circles for another hour in order to go bouldering (I was following someone who wasn't particularly sure where they were going.)

The odd thing is, even though we were basically still in the central city, down by the river we could have been miles out in the country. It looked like this:

.. except even more picturesque. I would have got pics of the prettier bit, but I was too busy trying to keep up with my climbing buddies, Tom & Yeshe, on their flash new bikes. For some reason it's buy-a-new-bike-week, and nobody told me. Hmph.

Anyway, the bouldering spot was this totally excellent wall under a railway bridge:

Lots of awesome crimps, tricky footwork, a ton of variety, lots of vertical movement required to traverse.. FUN!

The kind of spot where you can move a couple of feet left or right & hit a totally different grade. It was awesome.

Oh, I almost got hit in the head by an egg, thrown by a passing car (apparently it's the kind of thing that happens around here), but my awesome powers of magical egg deflection protected me. Not so lucky the pavement (or the wall, but it didn't hit any of the holds, so hey, who cares, right?)

Anyway, we got an hour or so there before it got too dark to see, then biked back along the river. This was pretty awesome. It's a chunk of the river I've never seen before, including these nifty jetties that are pretty much there just for the cyclists. The first one was confusing (we got lost), but after that we got the hang of them:

Not so complicated really. Looks like it's for boats — but it's not! I rode along about 10 of these in an 8km stretch. Super cute!

On the way we also stumbled across an actual designated bouldering zone. Wtf? Yes, it's true. There were three walls there, ranging from easy (vertical) to medium (slight overhang) to hard (extreeeeme overhang. Ok, it wasn't a roof, but still, it all helps). Plastic holds on wood, but tons to choose from. Here's what climbers look like at night:

Umm, yes, that's more or less normal behaviour. Climbers have a special gene hidden from the rest of the population. Emphasis on 'special'.

Here's what the river looked like right by that second bouldering spot:

And this was wayyyy closer to the city. Crazy, I know. I was a touch concerned about standing on a snake, since I had to venture into long grass to take this shot, & everything was pitch black (this camera is insane in low light), but hey, both my ankles are intact. Australian snake population: 0. Si: 1.

So that was fun. We played there for a while, then I left the other guys & continued along the river. The great thing was, even though chunks of the ride were near a motorway, you could hardly tell, it was just so damn beautiful:

I also passed this:

I have no idea what that means.

I tell you what though. There really are uglier places to be than this:

(click for much nicer, bigger version)

Also nifty was getting to bike past one of my favourite art installations in Melbourne, the weirdo bells (probably not their official name):

All these bells on sticks are controlled by computer, and every hour or so they play whatever piece they're currently programmed with. They're all different pitches, and it's kinda crazy to be surrounded by them all going nuts at once.

Also neat — finding a new walk bridge I didn't know existed:

I arrived home super exhausted, aching, bruised and thoroughly happy.

Pic © Dean Fidelman

I've always loved bouldering for its simplicity. No ropes, no harnesses, no gear. Just you, your shoes, maybe a chalk bag.. and the rock. Never going high enough that a fall is likely to kill, but still adrenaline & lactic acid pumping hard enough that you can burn yourself out completely in half an hour (I know, I've done it on several occasions when there was only enough light for half an hour's climbing *grin*).

Turns out there's a new craze, even purer, simpler, closer to nature. Climbing completely nude. California based climber & photographer Dean Fidelman (who took the photo above) has even released calendars of the climbing in action, called "Stone Nudes."

Climbing by itself is such an incredibly beautiful sport. Fluid, graceful motion, intense amounts of power, stunningly intricate technicalities & the pure harmonious blend of mind, body & spirit. To do it completely naked simply captures that beauty perfectly.

Notice the complete lack of ropes? Yes, that's right. Any mistake and he's dead.

Oddly enough, this guy (Dan Osman) is now. But he died by doing a massive base jump — umm, without a parachute, just with a rope. He was one of those kinda guys, just pushing, pushing, pushing until there was nowhere left to go.

Anyway, turns out they're not that uncommon in the climbing world. Maybe adrenaline junkies, maybe just a low self-preservation index. Here are some Czech climbers, doing tower jumps:

Full story (and the video, if the above doesn't work) here

Ho boy, I feel so incredibly grounded & sane, by comparison. In bouldering we don't use ropes, but you specifically don't go high enough that a fall is going to damage you — and you always have someone underneath you to cushion the fall. It's about super intense, short distance climbing. Jumping off though? Ahh, that feels so unintuitive. Counterproductive. Contradictory. And I guess, perhaps, that's also part of the appeal.