If you've known me for little over 10 minutes, it's probably pretty easy to pick up that I'm about as OCD as you can get without requiring medication. Actually, maybe I do require medication, but I've never been diagnosed. I think when I decided to eat vegetable stew for 3 meals a day / 7 days a week for 3 years of my twenties, I became resigned to the idea that obsession would have more pull over my life than common sense. When I went out to set the world distance record for handbiking (non-amputee division), that theory would be solidified all the more. So it should come as no surprise that given enough free time, good weather, and lack of distractions, climbing would overtake my life. Oddly enough, I don't even come close to having enough talent to set any climbing records; in fact I feel like I'm barely grazing the edge of climbing mediocrity.
When I came to China last year with my friends Marshall and Josh, it was a much more balanced trip of climbing and discovering the culture. We visited local hot spots, went out hiking, tourist caves, meat-dog farms and the like. This year I'm pretty much climbing every day. You're supposed to climb 2 days on, 1 day off; however if you don't care how poorly you're climbing or how mangled your fingers get, you really don't have to stop. Climbing every day will decrease your performance and in turn make you an overall worse climber. And thus the constant struggle I seem to face with athletics and OCD. I guess it comes down to what your goals are; climbing well or keeping a smile on your face by just being out there. Here is a video of one of the projects I worked on while in Yangshuo.
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