Gri Gri 2 Recall – Why EVERY climber should know

Posted on June 30th, 2011

My first reaction to the emails flying around my inbox amongst climber email lists I’m a part of was, Oh GEEZE; stop discussing this and just trade in your GriGri for a new one. I was forwarded the recall notice several times via email and Facebook. But after a while I stopped getting annoyed with it because I saw how beneficial the message was to ALL climbers, even the ones that don’t use a GriGri.

The reason the message is so important is safe climbers always climb with a partner, sometimes in groups and people are always exchanging belays (belaying other climbers). With so many different people belaying it’s important to know if their equipment is safe. How would you like if an owner of a recalled GriGri2 was belaying you and the equipment malfunctioned? According to PETZL the device could become stuck in the open position, thus the break would not work, and you could be dropped to the ground (if the person was not paying attention and breaking as if using an ATC device).

Not that anybody would do this intentionally, but in the off chance the owner of the device did not know about the recall, you the climber can always ask the condition of the device. If the belayer was unaware of the recall you can simply ask them to change to a traditional ATC just to be safe. The multiple postings by just about every climbing website out there is HIGHLY NECESSARY in order to maintain a safe climbing community. The more channels the announcement is broadcasted in the better. That way nobody is missed, and if by some chance somebody did not get the message other climbers can make sure the device they are being belayed with is safe before proceeding with a climb.

The reason for the recall on this device was that the break lever could potentially become stuck in the open position, thus causing the auto breaking function to not work. Even though manual breaking would still work, an unobservant belayer could potentially drop the climber. So, knowledge of this malfunction is a must know amongst climbers of all experience levels.

I would encourage you all to forward any climbing recall notices to your other climber friends. Just becuse you don’t use the particilar pice of equipment in question doesn’t mean your partner doesn’t. Here is the official announcement by Petzl on the recall.

Climbing by OrganicClimber
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A New Adventure – My First Triathlon

Posted on June 24th, 2011

So, after some coaxing by a friend of mine that is moving into my apartment complex I agreed to enter the Austin Triathlon, and train with him! I had always told myself I would never enter a Tri, but I think I knew deep down inside I wanted the challenge. The swimming part has always been my biggest fear for two reasons. One, it’s just different and for some reason a lot more scarry than biking or running, even thought at one point I had never done either of those. Two, I simply fear being the one guy that doesn’t look good in a speedo, but I have recently learned that speedos are pretty much no longer a part of tri’s.

To make this an even crazier challenge, I am entering the Olympic distance. That is a one mile swim, 25 mile bike ride, and six mile run. I’m not in the least bit worried about the bike or run portion of the race. My only fear is being completely exhausted after the one mile swim. It will be even worse if I’m not able to train enough to swim the entire mile. Thankfully I know a couple of people that are willing to help train me in the area of swimming. With some luck and hard work I should be able to pull this off.

This is will by far be the most challenging thing I have done in terms of endurance sports. I have had plenty of challenging climbing endeavors, and worked hard to finish my third half marathon in under 1:50, with a pace of 8:21! It’s also been a while since I have even done any endurance running due to my bicycle accident last October. But having almost fully recovered from that I am up for the challenge.

I will also be doing the run portion in my Vibram Five Fingers. I have been running exclusively in them lately, but am still struggling to build up the muscles in my calves, but the frequency of my runs is also not what it used to be. But, six weeks (the time until the Tri)  should give me plenty of time to build up the necessary muscles. It helps to have natural running resources like Endura Lab. I have become a huge advocate for natural running ever since my bike accident (I tore meniscus in both knees) and have noticed a huge difference in how I run. I had always had arch pain in my left foot due to it being slightly smaller, but since I’m now running without arch supports… NO PAIN! I highly recommend leaving traditional running shoes behind and picking up natural running.

Barton Springs Pool

I will be hitting the open waters of Barton Springs tomorrow morning for my first official swim. Barton Springs is a naturally spring feed pool, so the water will be VERY cold. Hopefully it will be a hot, sticky humid morning so diving in will be a welcomed relief.

The training program will be pretty rigorous compared to the training I have done in the past for half marathons. So finding time to do everything may be difficult, but I’m up for it, even if it means waking up at 5 a.m. and riding twenty miles before hitting up Barton Springs. I’m thankful to live so close to the springs since admission is free before 8 a.m. So I won’t have to worry about pool fees during my training. A short 2.5 mile bike ride puts me outside the gate.

My training has pretty much already begun, as I have put in more workouts this week than I have in a long time. I look forward to updating everybody about my training progress. I will be posting all my workouts on Dailymile, and Tweeting a lot, so be sure to follow me there. I have also added a category “Tri Training” so you can keep up with me that way as well.  I’m also open to any advice you might have for training if you have participated in Tri’s, yourself.

Cross Training, Cycling, Health & Fitness, Tri Training, Uncategorized by OrganicClimber

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New Bikes

Posted on June 5th, 2011

Me, enjoying my new Scott CR1 Team at Safari Waters Ranch. Following my family in a golf cart.

In my previous I mentioned our stolen bikes. Well, we have now had them replaced with the help of Allstate Insurance and Jack & Adams Bicycles in Austin, TX. We hardly had any problems with Allstate, other than convincing them of the value of my bike, but in the end they gave me the full retail value, and priced Kristy’s bike reasonably well also.

The result of the whole stolen bike fiasco was upgrades! Because of the generous pricing we received on the bikes from insurance and the sale we found on our new bikes we were able to get something considerably nicer. I’m still bummed about having Kristy’s bike stolen, thought. It was unique and custom built. Even though her new Felt Z85 with 105 components is a stellar bike, it’s just not the same (see previous post for photos).

Scott CR1 Team, my new road bike!


My old bike was a Cannondale Caad9, which I loved. When shopping for new bikes I was torn between the new Cannondale Caad10 and the Scott CR1 Team carbon fiber bike. Both were extremely light and race ready. But ultimately the Scott won me over because of the excellent customer service I received from Jack & Adams Bicycles, not to mention the extensive test riding I was allowed to do. The other bike shop down the road would only let me ride around the shop and didn’t take the time to size me properly like the staff at Jack & Admas did.

Now I have a bike that fits like a glove. Just this past weekend I went on a 45 mile bike ride and coasted up hills, keeping up with the fastest riders in the pack. The carbon frame rides extremely smooth. It’s like riding on rails. It handles well and is a climbing machine. I’m not 100% sure the Cannondale wouldn’t have been a better fit, but Cannondale should really think about who the let rep their bikes. If they aren’t willing to let customers take longer test rides, they aren’t likely to gain loyal customers.

Previously I thought I would have ridden Cannondale for life, but when you walk into a shop full of arrogant triathletes that could care less about sizing you for the proper ride, you better believe I’m going to buy a bike from somebody that is going to size me properly

Having recently started Bearded Brothers, I recognize the importance of good customer service. We make a strong effort to reach out to our customers and address any concern they may have by solving their problem. But understanding good customer service really stems from experiencing it myself, both good and bad. We learn what not to do from poor customer service and what to do from good customer service.

Now, I’m not saying I will ride Scott Bikes for the rest of my life now, but they have definitely one me over in terms of recommending their product to other people and I will likely look at their bikes first for future purchases.

Last weekends ride was the longest and fastest yet. We rode 47 miles and averaged a speed of 18MPH, some stretches were probably closer to 22+MPH. Those sections were definitely more challenging, but the Scott made it a tad bit easier. Here is part of the RunKeeper data from the ride. It’s not totally accurate due to turning on the GPS late and not stopping it during a pit stop, but you get the idea of how speedy we got!

Cycling, Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
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