Four New South Wales central west towns have been the winners in the state budget, with money set aside for health projects and infrastructure.

I did get to fly Last Saturday at the South Side. OB was there as well as half a dozen other pilots. It was a bit of a raw morning. The typical glassy morning air didn't last long. The wind was bumping up to 25 by 9am, and by the time I was set up and ready to launch at 9:30 we were feeling gusty spikes close to 30. I was able to squeeze in a few sorties on my new T2 before it was blown out.

This weekend We had a friend out from Minnesota. Dan and I flew hangs together back in the day. For all His reasons, Dan gave up flying in the late eighties and never picked it up again. Dan has remained interested in hang gliding so it wasn't to hard to convince him to drive for me on Sunday. Inspo looked like the most obvious choice for the day. It was my third - launch in a good cycle, get drilled, catch something over the sub-station just before unzipping, work zero to 100fpm lift to 7000asl......this year. I am thankful for that flight, but man, this year has been a bugger!! Is it just me? I am getting in a few flights on the T2, and realizing what a great wing it is - solid!


Not the T2. A vintage photo of one of my first flights. Circa - 1976.

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Eto i zadnji dan je odrađen na Evropskom prvenstvu u Abtenau. Hvala svima koji su pružali podršku i pratili ovo prvenstvo online putem LIVE trackinga. Nadam se da Vam je bilo zanimljivo. Nešto o današnjoj utrci Kako se nije letilo sve dane radi kiše organizator je za zadnji dan odlučio to sve nadoknaditi dugačkom utrkom od čak 141 km jer je dan obećavao, a htjelo se da ostane Evropsko u sjećanju dobrog letenja a ne kiše. Iako je sama duljina trke bila velika, zadatak nije bio toliko težak te je dosta ljudi došlo do cilja. Od naših su to bili Habek i Bonačić dok smo Biondić i ja zapeli po putu. Prozor za polijetanje bio je u 12:00 a marker odnosno početak utrke u 12:30. Na startu skoro ništa vjetra ili čak leđni vjetar i nikako da poletimo. Neki su sa par boljih pozicija poletjeli na vrijeme dok smo mi startali tek pred marker. Biondić i ja smo da ulovimo sad vodeće u dobroj poziciji jurili nisko prema glavnom grebenu te tamo zaglavili na neko vrijeme, a Biondić je tamo i sletio. Dok sam se izvukao iz doline vodeći su bili već 10 km ispred mene i izgledalo mi je nemoguće da ću ih stići. Po grebenu planine Dachstein žurio sam i jurio te pažljivo birao rute i termike da stignem vodeću grupu. Nakon prve okretne točke i 45 km preletenih počinjem gazit krilo do kraja i polako stižem prvu grupu, ana drugoj ih već stignem. Bili su 200 m visinske prednosti i ubrzali su tempo tako da su mi šanse za prestizanjem bile vrlo malene. Prema cilju postavim se negdje na 15. mjesto i ostaje mi samo zadnja točka i cilj. GPS pokazuje manjak visine, ali vidim da je prva grupa to odradila, a ja još i višlji pa ne očekujem nikakav problem. Okrećem zadnju točku na brdu i u tom trenutku uđem u turbulenciju, krilo se zatvori i kako sam bio nisko upadnem u jednu jelku i za mene trka završava a i dobar rezultat. Dok sam se spremio Habek i Karlo odrade cilj. Izgubili smo ekipno 6. mjesto te smo pali na 15. Meni promaklo cca 15.mjesto te sam završio na 60. Cijeli rezultati tu… Inače pobjednik dana bio je Luca Donini ITA koji je i zasluženo postao evropski prvak. Moram priznat da leti klasu bolje od nas i vidi se da je uvježban i istreniran za takvo letenje. Više tu… Eto i zadnji dan je odrađen na Evropskom prvenstvu u Abtenau. Hvala svima koji su pružali podršku i pratili ovo prvenstvo online putem LIVE trackinga. Nadam se da Vam je bilo zanimljivo.Nešto o današnjoj utrciKako se nije letilo sve dane radi kiše organizator je za zadnji dan odlučio to sve nadoknaditi dugačkom utrkom od čak 141 km jer je dan obećavao, a htjelo se da ostane Evropsko u sjećanju dobrog letenja a ne kiše.Iako je sama duljina trke bila velika, zadatak nije bio toliko težak te je dosta ljudi došlo do cilja. Od naših su to bili Habek i Bonačić dok smo

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Danas napokon lijepo vrijeme za letenje. Jutro je izgledalo vrlo jadno, ali prognoza je obećavala pa su nas otpeljali na Bichling. Start je bio prvo u oblaku pa smo čekali i na kraju baza se podigla par sto metara gore. Task je postavljen 66 km većinom niz vjetar jer ga je bilo oko 20 km a i visina baza na početku nije davala neke mogućnosti. Polijćem među prvima i fotkam okolo ljud ei čekamo startni marker 8km oko prve točke. Biondi napada sa planine, a ja od starta vrlo visok.

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U Austriji još uvijek kiša. Totalna depresiva, ne može se ni trčat ni ništa jer pljušti i hladno je 3C. Ostaje nam još petak i subota za trke, ali objektivno gledano mislim da će biti samo subota ok za neku kratku utrku, em radi prognoze em radi toga što je zadnji dan pa se neće davat duga utrka. Nažalost prvaka će odlučiti u najboljem slučaju dvije male utrke, a ako ne bude još jedna onda je Evropsko propalo. 

 

Last winter a 19-year old Austrian youth, David Lama, went to Patagonia to try to free the Compressor Route. The actions of his film team and their guides have caused an international furor. For those not in the know, the Compressor Route was the scene of a complete debacle when Cesare Maestri bolted (bad style) his way up a big face on Cerro Torre, an amazing mountain in Patagonia. Maestri first claimed to have climbed the mountain using "fair" means, but few believe him, so he went back and blasted it with bolts.
Anyhow, Lama, a 19-year old prodigy, decides to free the route. Cool, that's a neat idea. But a film team gets involved and things get sticky for Lama when his film team and their guides add about 60 bolts to the climb, and leaves fixed ropes hanging all over it for months. If you're a climber you understand that this is really bad style on many levels. The climbing world has of course gone on a rampage against Lama and one of his and my sponsors, Red Bull. Lama hired some local guides to remove the ropes and some of the garbage, but the bolts are there. Lama hasn't helped his cause by declaring that he did "nothing wrong." Maybe he didn't put the bolts in, but his team did, and an athlete is responsible for what happens on his trip. Period. Ultimately the athlete has the power and the responsibility on any sponsored trip.
Without knowing Lama or exactly what really went on, I'm still very unhappy about this. Adding that many bolts to an existing route just isn't at all cool. In fact, I'm incensed about it. It isn't Red Bull's fault directly, but they did bankroll the trip--along with Lama's other sponsors. Much of the climbing world is rabidly pissed off at Red Bull. I don't think that's completely fair, but hell, I'm upset by this both as a climber and that one of my sponsors helped pay for this junk show. What's the best course of action for me as both a climber and Red Bull athlete?
First, I've contacted Lama directly. He's 19, and I bet many of us can remember that age and comment, "Yep, did some stupid stuff." I can imagine Lama arriving in Patagonia with a film crew, a few European guides (they are reportedly the ones who did the bolting for the film crew, the bolts weren't for Lama's climbing), and some bad weather. The Austrian guides want safe rigging for the film crew in the sketchy weather, bolts are safe, bad decisions are made in the interest of time. Lama may not even have really seen the repercussions of this; he's focused on climbing, not filming or rigging, and he's 19 so if an older guide is making decisions about safety and rigging he might just defer, or perhaps just not even get the issue (his statement shows he clearly doesn't get the issue actually). Still, as climber, you're responsible for what goes on on your trips. Lama is responsible for those bolts, and like it or not, so by extension are Red Bull and Lama's other sponsors.
Second, I've contacted a few of the people directly involved to see what the best possible solution is from their perspective (Rolo, Red Bull). Red Bull has always been one of the best companies I've ever worked with in terms of respecting what their athletes want to do. I walked away on a very expensive climbing project at one point because it just wasn't the right thing to be doing in terms of safety, and Red Bull stood by me for that. They tend to trust their athletes a lot, which is great but they certainly wouldn't condone something they knew was wrong. I'm sure this is causing some waves back at the world HQ in Austria. When athletes do something stupid--or great--sponsors have to deal with it. At the moment I'm most annoyed at the older European guides on the trip, they really, really should have known better and shown some leadership.
When I get all the first-hand information back from those involved I'll try to contribute in some positive way to getting the best outcome for this cluster, it's just not right. I'll post up here when I have some more information.

A group of central western New South Wales councils is stepping up efforts to attract medical professionals west of the Blue Mountains.

I spent the weekend cheering/coaching my wife, Kim Csizmazia, and all the other athltes at the Canada Crossfit Regional Games, which are a sort of athletic torture festival. Athletes at the Regionals have already qualified through a "Sectional," and a top six result at the regionals will send them to the Games finals in California. The competition is fierce, the events nasty, and the effort level high.
I wrote most of the following as notes on my phone during the event, so it's a bit rough, quick sort and here it all is:

Impressive:
-Masters. The over-50 athletes are strong, every time I caught a little of their action I was incredibly stoked. I would love to be over 50 and still putting strong numbers like theirs. Solid.-Crossfit athletic skills. Double-unders (skipping two revolutions of the rope per jump, it's harder than it sounds), overhead squats, wall balls, etc. If you didn't have these skills dialed you were going home in the bottom of the pack. Watching someone bust out 50 double-unders without breaking a sweat is impressive, give it a try... The level is now high.-Going hard. These athletes try hard. That "dig deeper" effort is a hard thing to teach, but Crossfit does a uniquely good job of getting people to reach way outside the individual comfort zone many people never leave. Respect for that, it's one of the most valuable things Crossfit can teach.-Ability to do an incredible amount of work for short (under 20 minutes) time. Tire flipping, clean and jerk, running, going like a total nut case for about 10 minutes for the winners. I'm super impressed, that's sick.-Physical results. The top athletes, male or female, were physically impressive, and also impressive for what they could do. I did a workout in a local gym one day during the event, it was funny to watch a guy doing bicep curls after seeing a CF woman bust out sets of 20 pullups straight (full ROM too). No arguing with the look of the athletes, if you wanna look good naked this stuff works.-Good vibe. Overall very positive, pretty much standard stoke for any good athletic event.-Kim. She has a hip that's been resurfaced, a gimped knee, she's 42 and many other things that generally don't help athletic performance, but she gave it the whole comp and placed mid-field despite starting this up only nine months ago. If she could do double-unders she would have been ten places higher. Solid.-The women. Crossfit is a great venue for athletic women to fit in. Kim said, "I've found my tribe." There's truth in that. A lot of the world still would prefer women to wear dresses and sip tea in the shade. Crossfit is for everybody, but I think it might be uniquely suited to bringing out the athletic best in women. Cool.-The mental strength of the top competitors. I always watch for this in athletes, it's usually the biggest determining factor between winning and not. The top competitors were STRONG in their heads, cool.-James Fitzgerald, of Optimum Performance Training. This guy is obviously one switched-on dude. He was quickly on weak judges, always cheering athletes, and generally giving it everything he had. It takes an army of hard-working volunteers to make a big event work, but the tone and direction comes from the top, and "OPT" did a great job from what I could see.
I'm less impressed with:
-The run. It was a 5K run, mostly on grass, damp mud and paths, Kim and I checked it out an hour before the race and thought it was a fun course. It was supposed to be 6.7K but the organizers cut out 1.6K at the last minute because it was "too dangerous." I ran the "dangerous" portion of the course immediately before the event, it was muddy but not bad at all. You'd think a bunch of people with sayings like, "Today is a good day to die" on their shirts could handle a little mud and even the possibility of a muddy abrasion or two, eh?
-Running times/skill. I'm sure an average junior high school trail runner would kick ass on all but a few of the running times (which, for some reason, weren't kept, just places), and an average trail racer would destroy all the times (and a trail racer would get destroyed on clean and jerks, but these athletes are meant to be "elite" generalists--this level of physical performance is like a 90lb bench press). I ran most of the course with the men to see what parts had been cut from my scout an hour earlier, their pace was generally anemic (and I'm a below average runner), as were the times I recorded. I ran almost all of it again with Kim ten minutes later, she was gimping hard on her hip, hadn't done any real running in ten years, and still finished mid-pack (which is a good effort for her). Several women and men would have easily gone to the games if they hadn't sucked so bad on the run. it was obviously a huge hole in their training even compared to the performances of others. This level of running fitness is tragically low, and really rips the heart out of the "Fittest Athlete in the world" hype for me. Running is a basic athletic skill, the Canadian CF programming is weak on this skill, no way around it.
-Event organization. Crossfit is a young sport, and young sports always have teething problems, but this event really, really needed an experienced event manager. Maybe there was one, but starting the running race almost two minutes early (there were women running hard for the start line 30 seconds after the gun went off) and a few other errors I saw like that hurt the event's credibility. CFers suck this sort of stuff up (read this woman's comments on her wall-ball experience), but it's not right.
-Communication. Kim had to restrain me from going and grabbing the microphone and doing some announcing on the last day--there were a lot of spectators there, but nobody was getting any useful information or even PSYCHE over the PA. Here are some athletes doing some RAD shit, and the announcer has nothing useful to say at all about what they are doing, who is in the lead, fastest time in the heats so far, nothing. If Crossfit wants to make these games spectator friendly, and I fully think it's deserving of spectators, then it needs to be more spectator friendly! I was so stoked by what was going on, but unless you personally knew an athlete there was no way to figure out who was battling, or how the heat was doing relative to other heats.
-This lack of organized communication is a real problem with the Crossfit Games organization as well; the Games web site is getting better, but it's still near-useless compared to what it could be with a little work. There are no athlete bios (beyond the occasional "featured" athlete) so you can't click on a results or registered athlete page and know how old an athlete is, where he or she is from, what they weigh, sporting background, etc. I'm sure every CFer in Canada and likely around the world was checking the event out, it would have been a lot better to have all this info available, and it's relatively easy to do today.
-The hype, the "Ultimate proving ground for the world's fittest athletes," the T-Shirt slogans, "forged" stuff. This type of poseur rhetoric is a lot like the fat kid on the playground telling everyone how he's going win the elementary school running races the next day. No he's not, and you know he's not cause the kid who is going to win is out playing soccer.... Crossfit kicks ass on all general physical training I've ever seen, it is highly athletic, so talking big only makes it look weak. Talking all this smack about "being the fittest" is a form of "Compensatory behaviour" in psychological terms. When someone talks endlessly about how great they are they're usually not secure with their own worth or accomplishments. Crossfit obviously isn't very secure in its own rightful place as a worthy form of training and athletic event; grow up, get rid of the insecure hype, and celebrate what Crossfit is.
-Weak Calves on almost all the athletes. This relates to the run; most of these athletes must spend most of their time on relatively stable, flat surfaces, the relatively weak lower leg musculature shows it. More running, more time playing sports. "Paleo!" is a big rallying cry in the CF world, no paleolithic guy or gal had weak lower legs.
Overall, I completely dug the Games, it was a worthy experience to watch even if Kim hadn't been there. I'm proud of her, she put in a hell of an effort. Watch out in seven years, we're both gonna give 'er in the Masters!

Overseas investment in local mining exploration is being hailed as a great boost for central western New South Wales.

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Uh uh. Danas smo dobili obavjesti od organizatora da sutra moramo donijeti dinamički test glidera prema Section 7b. Kako se to nije radilo na natjecateljskim krilima zadnjih 6 godina sutra će na team lider brifingu past odluka ili će glideri bez testa biti  izbačeni pa će prema tome ostat tekmat se samo serial glideri ili će se evropsko nastaviti, ali će biti neslužbeno. Cijela frka je sada tu, a sve zbog Ozonovog propusta kod trolinijskog modela i Biondićevog incidenta. Moram reć da se u jednu ruku slažem sa time jer piloti postaju test kunići novih krila koje se dovode do samog ruba tehničke izdržljivosti, ali opet nije postojao način za testiranje i CIVL je to znao cijlo vrijeme ali su to zanemarivali. Sutra nema letenja, ali brifing za tim lidere je u 8:30 i vjerojatno će biti žustre rasprave.
Nešto o tome tu: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=205217  

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Danas ništa. Došli smo na start te čekali oko 3 sata možda i više. Na kraju je postavljen task ali kako baza nije išla iznad starta task je otkazan. Većina pilota ipak je odletila prema Abtenau gdje nas je čekao roštilj  mmm. Vrijeme ne obećava naredne dane.

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Task 2 – 56 km race to goal Hrvatski tim vrlo dobar danas i svi su došli u cilj u pristojnom vremenu. Pobjednik utrke bio je Luc Armant iz Francuske a mi smo bili: Hrgetić 23., Biondić 27., Bonačić 58. Habek 100. U nacijama smo 8. Pregled utrke tu

Cijeli rezultati će biti tu. Fotografije ce biti tu.

Na brifingu ujutro dobili smo meteo izvještaj koji je prognozirao veliki razvoj oblaka odnosno grmljavinske oblake pa smo bili podosta skeptični. Na start smo išli ovaj put na Traterberg sjeverno od Abtenau već u 9 a u 10:00 smo bili gore. Lijepi travnati start dovoljan za preko 300 krila. Dok smo došli na start navukla se srednja naoblaka (stratocumulusi) koji su bacili sve u sjenu i na našu sreću nismo imali kongestuse i Cbove ali krofne su bile lijepe i obećavale dobra dizanja i dobru utrku. Postavljeno je 56 km radi najave oluje cik cak pokraj

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Task 2 – 56 km race to goal Hrvatski tim vrlo dobar danas i svi su došli u cilj u pristojnom vremenu. Pobjednik utrke bio je Luc Armant iz Francuske a mi smo bili: Hrgetić 23., Biondić 27., Bonačić 58. Habek 100. U nacijama smo 8.

Cijeli rezultati će biti tu. Fotografije ce biti tu.

Na brifingu ujutro dobili smo meteo izvještaj koji je prognozirao veliki razvoj oblaka odnosno grmljavinske oblake pa smo bili podosta skeptični. Na start smo išli ovaj put na Traterberg sjeverno od Abtenau već u 9 a u 10:00 smo bili gore. Lijepi travnati start dovoljan za preko 300 krila. Dok smo došli na start navukla se srednja naoblaka (stratocumulusi) koji su bacili sve u sjenu i na našu sreću nismo imali kongestuse i Cbove ali krofne su bile lijepe i obećavale dobra dizanja i dobru utrku. Postavljeno je 56 km radi najave oluje cik cak pokraj

It's been a really good spring for interviews with top rock climbers. Climbing's "The Low Down" just did an OK one with Dai Koyamada, surely one of the all-time best boulderers on the planet. He is repeating cutting-edge problems in short order, while living in a country without very many high-end technical rock climbers (Yuji and a few others obviously are amazing, but Japan isn't Europe).
Part of becoming really good at any sport is hanging with the best in the sport, at the places in the world with the best venues for the sport. Surfers go to Hawaii, Sharma moves to Spain, Graham to Switzerland, etc. etc. That Koyamada does what he does in relative isolation is extra impressive to me. This "get together with the best" program is important no matter what your climbing level; the fastest way to go up a grade or two technically is to climb with people who are a grade or two better than you. Anyhow, in keeping with Ondra, Sharma and others, Koyamada describes his training as, yep, climbing:
For training I just climb in the gym. But I climb kick-ass hard problems and volume! And I also do campusing occasionally.
If anyone has any doubts about what basic training apparatus is required to become a stronger, better and higher-performance climber the last three links to interviews with the best climbers in the world should remove them. Want to be a better climber? Climb. Of course there's some art and science with quantity, quality and programming, but that's secondary and not that hard to figure out if just get a little guidance from a book, coach, friends, whatever, and track your performance.
Specific injuries, rehab, etc. may require gym time as Clyde Soles noted in the comments.
Personally, I'm doing some Crossfit-inspired programming for general fitness as well as short rock and gym sessions, along with paddling, mountain biking and running. Yeah, I'm a multi-sport mess, but I've got some goals that are going to require high fitness in three different sports, so stoked!!
My elbow feels good, but I am sure that if I push it too hard it will blow up, I need to build it up slowly. I'm also getting some great results with these thera-bar exercises, which is what I'm going to do as soon as I stop typing on here.
Today's workout is going to involve a short (45 minutes of movement) session at the climbing gym, followed by moving a ton or two of logs (we heat with wood, time to get next year's wood!), then driving to the Crossfit Canadian Regionals in Okotoks, which my wife, Kim, has qualified for! I'll likely run part of the course before she has at it this evening, busy day. And some kid wrestling....






strongest all

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Danas smo imali opasan task 48 km niz vjetar. Veliki razvoji oko nas i jedno pranje kišom na startu i onda polijetanje u 1500. Opet speed run (nisu ga trebali dat) sa izlazom 5 km oko starta. Ja kasnim na startu odnosno pokušavam dignut što više pa pustim grupu ispred sebe. Jurimo ravno preko jedne doline pa vrtimo na nekom brdu i tu se podijelimo na dvije ekipe. Jedna koja je krenula na brda i jedna dolinom. Brda su bila bolja opcija a ja sam jurio dio puta dolinom pa spojio opet na greben. Jak dolinski vjetar i letenje u zavjetrinama rezultiralo je sa 2 rezerve. Naš Biondić je imao frontalac pri kojem su mu pukle A linije i morao je baciti rezervu, srečom sve ok a uz pomoć live trackinga moglo ga se pratiti dali je sve u redu sa njime i gdje se nalazi. Biondo je ok ali ljut radi krila. Ja sam se dovukao do cilja ali je task stopiran kad sam bio 2 km od cilja. Obzirom da je bio Speed run mislim da se neće vrijediti. Karlo i Habi su kapnuli na skoro istom mjestu na pol puta. Moram priznat da je bio horor na grebenu uz vjetar do 35kmh po grebenu sa balonima do 7 ms. Ako stigenm napisat ću još par riječi.

I saw this on a FB post - worthy of sharing.

just a bit of catching up. Flying has been inconsistent lately, but I guess with a few broken ribs mending it's been a moot point. Last weekend I volunteered to drive for Lisa V, and it turned out to be a great day for Lisa and fun day for me being on the support end of things. Lisa launched from Horse Heaven and flew to Payson for a 40 mile flight.

Today I got to fly Inspo (ribs are good). I got there a bit early and worked on the Bailout LZ. The forest service closed the road to launch to do some brush removal, but not before Shadd and a few other pilots passed. They were able to launch early and thermal up to the top of the inversion, which was around 9000asl. The road opened at 4pm. I launched around 4:45 and found a nice thermal near the sub station that took me up to around 7100asl. Lisa V launched a few minutes after me, and found lift in the same thermal. I raced over to the foothills above the water tanks, but didn't find much there. I settled for a nice landing in the big green LZ. Nice flight!

Talks have been held to urge the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) to restart planning for the new Forbes and Parkes hospitals, west of Orange.

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Jučer smo imali trening utrku za zagrijavanje. 150 pilota svi sa live trackingom koji se mogao pratiti uživo putem Live24. Utrka je bila duga 48 km cik cak kako bi se izbjeglo letenje u zonama sa jačim vjetrom. Start Bichling a utrka Speed Run odnosno indivvidulano vrijeme sa početkom u 1400 pa svakih 15 minuta kasnije novi start. Ja sam odlučio da prvi krenut nije najpametnije jer neznam teren te sam startao u 14:15 što je bio pogodak te sam uspio uloviti i prvu grupu do kraja utrke te sam prema rezultatu bio peti (nisu svi predali GPS). Uglavnom zadovoljan sam sa krilom. Ostatak ekipe je startao kasnije pa su to odradili sa guštom malo više turistički. Dan je bio jako lijep sa dizanjima 4 - 7ms te uz turbulencije na pojedinim lokacijama pa je i jedan R10 platio rezervom. Danas je otkazano radi jakog vjetra.