WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259
To be honest, back in those days, training like

00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:05.799
a caveman, it was super fun. I love it. Speed

00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.679
in Spain was not developed at all. Like, I came

00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.640
here in 2017 to Madrid specifically because they

00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:17.699
built there the first wall in 2017. Of course,

00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:20.920
at the same time, I was training. With who? With

00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:27.059
nobody. How? Alone. Everybody thinks that we

00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:32.020
don't get injuries. fingers but no we get the

00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.000
same welcome to another episode of the that's

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.420
not real climbing podcast i'm your host Jinni

00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:40.460
and i'm excited to introduce my guest for today

00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:43.799
Erik Noya if you're not familiar eric is an accomplished

00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.750
speed climber from spain In this episode, we'll

00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:49.009
learn about how politics destroyed climbing in

00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:51.509
Venezuela, what it was like starting over with

00:00:51.509 --> 00:00:54.429
life and training in Spain, injuries in speed

00:00:54.429 --> 00:00:56.770
climbing, and we'll get his thoughts on other

00:00:56.770 --> 00:00:59.469
speed climbing formats like relays and yearly

00:00:59.469 --> 00:01:02.210
route changes. I hope you enjoy this episode

00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:13.560
with Erik. Real quick, I'm excited to announce

00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.060
my new sponsor helping make this podcast episode

00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:19.099
possible, Mad Rock Climbing. I got fitted with

00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:21.060
their brand new line of high -performance shoes,

00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.760
the D2 .1s. They just came out December 6th,

00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:26.659
but you might notice a few of your favorite gomp

00:01:26.659 --> 00:01:28.900
climbers are already wearing them, like Oscar

00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:33.650
Baudrin from Team Canada, and also me. This is

00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:35.450
the first time I've gotten to wear their shoes

00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:37.590
for an extended period of time, and I'm actually

00:01:37.590 --> 00:01:39.650
super impressed with the grip of their in -house

00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:42.269
rubber. And of course, the famous drone heel

00:01:42.269 --> 00:01:44.769
that everyone says is the cheat code to heel

00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:47.310
hooking small edges. Feel free to message me

00:01:47.310 --> 00:01:49.409
if you have any questions about the shoes or

00:01:49.409 --> 00:01:52.430
sizing, and you can use the discount code NOTREALCLIMBER

00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:56.510
for 10 % off your entire MedRock order. Info

00:01:56.510 --> 00:01:58.769
will be in the description. Back to the show.

00:01:59.010 --> 00:02:00.930
How are you doing today? Did you like train today

00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:04.159
earlier? I know you mentioned. showering so yeah

00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:08.120
I'm fine thank you yeah I went to the gym this

00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:14.319
morning I had a upper body session and yeah then

00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.900
I ate at the same facility where I train it's

00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:23.080
like a facility that we have here in Barcelona

00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:27.639
so I ate there then I went to the market I bought

00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:30.539
a couple of stuff then came home shower and now

00:02:30.539 --> 00:02:33.530
I'm here Is this like a training center kind

00:02:33.530 --> 00:02:36.270
of thing or is it just like a regular gym? No,

00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:43.050
it's like a specialized facility for athlete

00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:46.789
training and development, especially for Olympic

00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:53.889
athletes. So it's like a sponsorship, but that's

00:02:53.889 --> 00:02:56.610
the way. That's an easy way to see it, but it's

00:02:56.610 --> 00:02:58.990
a sponsorship that we have the athletes here

00:02:58.990 --> 00:03:02.169
in Spain. So we can go to a super cool facility

00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:07.490
without paying some extra money. And yeah, there

00:03:07.490 --> 00:03:12.530
we have for eating, we have physiotherapy, we

00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:15.710
have, of course, the gym and even the sports

00:03:15.710 --> 00:03:19.580
inside. We have the climbing gym. uh the the

00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:23.580
climbing wall sorry but it was rented so uh now

00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:27.439
we don't have it but as you can see uh it's a

00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.520
very cool facility to to train and there is the

00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:34.340
possibility to live and i lived there one year

00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:38.020
oh and now i have another spot yeah it's like

00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:43.699
a um crazy training spot We have like three in

00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:46.960
Spain, this big. Wow. And it's a methodology.

00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.960
Why'd you move out? Sounds like a great place

00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:54.900
to live. I moved out because I wanted to live

00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:59.580
alone and because I started a relationship with

00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:03.719
someone. So it was not possible for her to live

00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:08.340
with me in this facility. So I decided to go

00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:11.180
out with her. Okay. That's a fair reason, I guess.

00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:16.019
yeah yeah so yeah let's just get into how you

00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:19.240
started climbing and competing um and also one

00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.120
of the instagram questions that came in was what

00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.120
inspired you about speed climbing specifically

00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:28.740
oh that's so nice um well i started climbing

00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:32.100
when i was eight years old uh the first time

00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:36.779
i tried was in a birthday party uh with a friend

00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:41.050
but it was very special because yeah but This

00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:44.009
time it was in the rocks. So my first time climbing,

00:04:44.149 --> 00:04:48.990
it wasn't an indoor gym. It was an outdoor. Yeah,

00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:54.050
it was outdoor. So that was super nice. For me,

00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:58.209
I felt amazing. I loved it. And the feeling I

00:04:58.209 --> 00:05:02.670
got is that it was very easy for me. And the

00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:06.009
other kids were a bit scared or it was like difficult

00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:09.899
to do the moves. And for me, climbing was like

00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:15.100
very intuitive. So I liked that everyone was

00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:17.360
like, oh, I think you did good. I cheered and

00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.360
stuff. And I like it. But I was very small. So

00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.920
it was like only one time. But then my mom was

00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.339
skipping traffic in the hometown where I grew

00:05:31.339 --> 00:05:36.889
up. And we went on a different way. we are not

00:05:36.889 --> 00:05:40.670
used to and i saw a climbing gym i had no idea

00:05:40.670 --> 00:05:45.750
that we had a climbing gym in my hometown so

00:05:45.750 --> 00:05:49.089
i told my mom like okay i want to do that and

00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:55.089
um she was like not so happy because she's a

00:05:55.089 --> 00:05:57.810
little bit afraid of heights and i had to beg

00:05:57.810 --> 00:06:05.319
her like for one week and then after So many

00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.139
days pushing like, please, mom, take me there.

00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:11.639
I would love to try. She said like, OK, let's

00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:15.060
go there. And I tried and it was like love at

00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:19.680
first sight. I just fell in love with the sport,

00:06:19.819 --> 00:06:24.579
with the environment. I came from swimming, which

00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.660
is a very competitive environment. And then I.

00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:30.819
uh ended up in this climbing gym where everybody

00:06:30.819 --> 00:06:34.500
was so friendly they wanted to help me and um

00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:39.199
i don't know it was like uh home it felt like

00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:41.660
home to be honest like the same feeling when

00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:45.779
you got with your kids at the school but while

00:06:45.779 --> 00:06:48.480
doing a sport you know so that was kind of a

00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.740
nice feeling and that's how i started basically

00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:54.399
and then when did you start doing competitions

00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:03.170
well in this gym Like they had this philosophy

00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:10.889
where you do all three disciplines, like speed

00:07:10.889 --> 00:07:14.769
and boulder. So you had a speed wall there? No,

00:07:14.930 --> 00:07:17.730
because I was like eight years old. Like there

00:07:17.730 --> 00:07:22.470
wasn't even official speed lanes and everything.

00:07:22.610 --> 00:07:27.389
The speed competitions were on site. It was like

00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:30.889
you went to a isolation zone. This is very funny.

00:07:31.569 --> 00:07:34.430
You went to isolation zone, then you had like

00:07:34.430 --> 00:07:39.170
six minutes to read the route and then you started

00:07:39.170 --> 00:07:42.810
racing. So it was a different sport because like

00:07:42.810 --> 00:07:46.410
you had to adapt on every round. And of course,

00:07:46.410 --> 00:07:48.149
you have to read the route, how you're going

00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:50.730
to jump and stuff. Then you have to adapt on

00:07:50.730 --> 00:07:55.680
each round and improve the... the method, so

00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:58.980
to speak, to be faster. And that was very, very

00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:03.480
fun. It was the old school kind of competitions.

00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:09.579
Yeah. The speed route started in 2007. Okay.

00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:15.939
Yeah. And it arrived to Venezuela like two years

00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:20.819
before that. So imagine, I touched that route

00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:27.319
when I was 15. or 16 years so yeah did you always

00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:30.319
feel most inspired by speed climbing then or

00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.840
were you more interested in bouldering or lead

00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.639
no i had the same passion for all of them like

00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.700
for me when when i was a kid it was like everything

00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:44.379
kind of the same different but the same it was

00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.860
climbing and i had fun doing all of them for

00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:52.940
me speed climbing i felt always uh more competition

00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:57.210
on it and uh that was nice you know when you

00:08:57.210 --> 00:09:00.110
are growing up racing with your friends that

00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:05.190
was very funny and i loved that um also i had

00:09:05.190 --> 00:09:09.289
bigger influences that went out to competitions

00:09:09.289 --> 00:09:11.509
and did pretty good in international competitions

00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:15.009
and uh for me that was a lesson that's something

00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:17.830
i learned that i could travel around the world

00:09:17.830 --> 00:09:23.220
um competing and um Like I saw that environment

00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:29.080
since little, since I was starting to grow in

00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:32.379
the climbing community. So I saw an opportunity

00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:36.759
there. But I had the same passion for boulder

00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:44.100
and leap. And I trained them very hard too. Just

00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:49.240
that then to international, for going to international

00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:52.279
competitions, it was easier to. Or we were better

00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:55.759
in general in speed than in lead and bouldering.

00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.659
Of course, the competitive level in Venezuela

00:09:59.659 --> 00:10:02.080
was very different than the competitive level

00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:08.980
in Europe. So we get usually more fundings with

00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:12.720
speed than with lead and bouldering. But that

00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.779
was back in Venezuela, of course. Here in Spain,

00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:19.220
it's a different story. It's just the opposite,

00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:24.559
which is very interesting. But I think I'm a

00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.080
very particular case because, yeah, I have been

00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.039
in touch with all three disciplines since I started

00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:38.080
to do climbing. And yeah, I only stopped doing

00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:43.600
boulder and lead five or six years ago. Maybe

00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.700
when I started to compete like super, super hard,

00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:52.019
something like that. But until then, I did all

00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:57.480
three. And yeah, that was kind of a resume of

00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:02.179
my speed climbing history. Then in terms of competition,

00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:06.460
I saw you only started competing in IFSC in 2019.

00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.740
So at that point, I guess you were like 25 around

00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:14.440
that time. Um, why did it take you so long to

00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.019
start like competing internationally? I think

00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:20.919
in the, I'm not sure if this, uh, still like

00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:23.519
this, I guess. Yes. But if you go to the ISCC,

00:11:23.779 --> 00:11:29.139
there is two profiles of Eric Noia, one for Venezuela

00:11:29.139 --> 00:11:33.639
and one for Spain. So you probably went to the,

00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.990
uh, Spanish profile, but. You can go to the Venezuelan

00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:42.230
profile and there are also some results. So,

00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:47.090
yeah, I started competing since very, very young

00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:52.210
age. Like I said, in this gym, I don't know,

00:11:52.230 --> 00:11:54.389
like the philosophy was, yes, learn to climbing

00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:56.649
and have fun and everything. But it was also

00:11:56.649 --> 00:11:59.470
like for going to competition. It was very, very

00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:05.230
different than nowadays. big climbing gyms. This

00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:10.590
was a super, super small spot. We call it the

00:12:10.590 --> 00:12:14.990
caves. It was a super dark place with super old

00:12:14.990 --> 00:12:20.029
holes. So it was a very different story than

00:12:20.029 --> 00:12:25.190
we know from climbing and competitions from these

00:12:25.190 --> 00:12:31.169
days. So I remember I was probably like nine.

00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:34.179
or 10 years when I did my first competition like

00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:37.519
I started climbing and six months after I was

00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.360
already competing it was like super youth competitions

00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:47.059
and I had to go with older people than me because

00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:52.259
in my category there was no one or they were

00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:57.259
new people so it wasn't fair so yeah I started

00:12:57.259 --> 00:13:02.909
very very young And because of that, I like normalized

00:13:02.909 --> 00:13:06.730
competing. I started to have fun with it and

00:13:06.730 --> 00:13:10.210
I just didn't leave the competitions. And once

00:13:10.210 --> 00:13:13.110
again, for me, traveling around Venezuela first

00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:16.480
was... Very nice for me was an adventure with

00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.059
all my friends, knowing all the people, climbers

00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:22.240
from other regions from Venezuela. That was very

00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:27.259
fun for me. And I wanted to keep doing it. And

00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:32.340
I did. I started then doing international competitions

00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:36.840
when I was 15 years old. And actually, that was

00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:40.500
my first international competition. No, wait,

00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.320
wait, wait a second. I don't know if I went to...

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:52.159
some South American Cup before this IFSC Youth

00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.980
World Championships I'm not sure I'm not sure

00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.600
if I had some regional in South America before

00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:02.740
this but like the first event or the first major

00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:07.379
event for the IFSC that I remember was the Youth

00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:12.549
World Championships in Valence France Back in

00:14:12.549 --> 00:14:17.830
2000, I don't know when, I was 15 years old.

00:14:18.009 --> 00:14:22.490
And that was the first time I touched it like

00:14:22.490 --> 00:14:25.070
a speed route with the official speed holds.

00:14:25.289 --> 00:14:29.330
It wasn't the official route because it was too

00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:32.710
hard still for the youths. But it was my first

00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:35.250
international competitions with the hold. And

00:14:35.250 --> 00:14:38.490
I remember that I moved before this competition

00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:42.679
two months to another region in Venezuela. Because

00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:46.179
there was the official route. So we wanted to

00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:49.080
start training it. Did you move in 2019 then?

00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:54.440
No, I moved to Spain in 2017. I moved in 2017.

00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:58.120
I did my first national competition in 2018.

00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:02.679
And actually, that was the first national competition

00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:07.120
in Spain with the official route as well. And

00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:14.100
I won that competition. That was the first time

00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:20.460
I was Spanish champion. Oh, congrats. Yeah. 2018.

00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:25.620
Thank you. Ending 2018. And yeah, then in 2019,

00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:29.019
because of this competition, I started to go

00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:31.980
to my first international competitions with Spain.

00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.139
And I guess what was the purpose of the move?

00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:39.879
I think Venezuela was in a very dire situation.

00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:45.080
And like in political, economical, society terms.

00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.960
And I wasn't having fun. I wanted new things

00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.620
for me and I wanted to have a better quality

00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:58.860
life and to, I don't know, try to succeed, you

00:15:58.860 --> 00:16:04.860
know? But this country was very hard to succeed,

00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.940
especially in climbing. So I decided to move.

00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:11.090
I don't really... understand what the situation

00:16:11.090 --> 00:16:14.970
was like in Venezuela at the time. Can you just

00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.950
give a brief overview of, I guess, what was going

00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:22.769
on? Yeah, sure. Well, first of all, this is a

00:16:22.769 --> 00:16:26.549
very personal point of view. My people might

00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:31.049
disagree about this. But yeah, once again, this

00:16:31.049 --> 00:16:36.409
is an opinion. For me, in Venezuela, we had a

00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:38.879
dictatorship. The first one was Hugo Chavez,

00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:42.240
and then the second one was Nicolas Maduro, just

00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:48.120
after Chavez died. They were using all the resources

00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.139
from this country to stay in the power. And believe

00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:56.080
me, that's a lot of resources. These guys had

00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:03.879
a lot of oil, diamonds, gold, I don't know, whatever.

00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.779
there are even evidence that they were trafficking

00:17:08.779 --> 00:17:12.880
with drugs so they just did everything to keep

00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.900
in power and one of the goals was make the other

00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:22.779
people poor so it was easier for them to keep

00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:26.119
in the power so they just centralized everything

00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:34.660
and destroyed whatever didn't make them stay

00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:42.200
in power so like imagine a society with no rules

00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:48.720
and with no economic growth and stuck in the

00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:53.880
past you know so like as a climber there were

00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:57.380
there was for at least for me okay this is personal

00:17:57.380 --> 00:18:00.490
maybe other regions other people Had a different

00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:03.289
story. But my story was that I didn't get a lot

00:18:03.289 --> 00:18:05.230
of funding from climbing. It was very hard to

00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:11.170
leave from climbing. Also, we didn't go to a

00:18:11.170 --> 00:18:13.450
lot of competitions. It was very hard to compete.

00:18:13.630 --> 00:18:18.809
So at a certain point, I was training for nothing.

00:18:18.930 --> 00:18:23.529
And I hated that. I also felt that I had level.

00:18:23.930 --> 00:18:27.609
And when you are young, you have a lot of power.

00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.210
Somehow I lost that time. I don't think I lost

00:18:33.210 --> 00:18:37.950
it, sorry. I think that just I moved everything

00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:44.970
a little bit further. But yeah, sometimes I think

00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:47.470
about that, especially watching about the kids

00:18:47.470 --> 00:18:50.930
that now are pushing so hard on the competitions.

00:18:51.069 --> 00:18:54.329
I think about myself and I say, wow, what if

00:18:54.329 --> 00:18:59.789
I was there all the time? Maybe the story, Would

00:18:59.789 --> 00:19:02.690
have been different. Nobody knows. But once again,

00:19:02.769 --> 00:19:06.309
that was one of the problems of living in Venezuela.

00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:14.369
So imagine a sporting institution, corrupt, centralized.

00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:20.250
We weren't an Olympic sport. So it was very hard

00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:22.869
for climbing. But also it was very hard for living

00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:27.170
in general. Like all the industry got destroyed.

00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:34.160
Like, you have to be with them or you have to

00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:40.880
be fucked. So I decided that I didn't want to...

00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.099
I wanted new things. I wanted to live a little

00:19:44.099 --> 00:19:47.079
bit of an adventure. New moments for me in my

00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:51.980
life. And I decided to move. And it was crazy

00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:56.109
because... Yeah, I saw that everything was going

00:19:56.109 --> 00:19:58.589
bad with climbing. So I said, okay, let me focus

00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:02.210
with my studies. I continue with my economics

00:20:02.210 --> 00:20:07.609
career. But then I realized that I, and I stopped

00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:09.750
climbing. Like I stopped climbing for a couple

00:20:09.750 --> 00:20:13.369
of years. Then I realized that I wasn't happy

00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:17.190
with my life there. So I said, okay, I'm going

00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:21.859
to Spain. Why Spain? Because my dad. My dad's

00:20:21.859 --> 00:20:25.519
roots are Spanish. So I have the Spanish passport

00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:28.700
since I was born because my dad was born in Vigo,

00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:33.480
which is a city, a port city near to Portugal.

00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:37.880
So there is a lot that I am Spanish. Okay. So

00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:42.680
I had also some family here in Madrid. And this

00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:46.650
was the first family where I went to. I call

00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:49.750
them my saviors. This is, of course, exaggerated,

00:20:49.930 --> 00:20:52.670
but I appreciate them so much because they opened

00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:57.450
to me the doors of their home when I was in this

00:20:57.450 --> 00:21:00.130
situation. So for me, these people is my family.

00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:06.710
It's my godmother. So, yeah, basically, that's

00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:09.630
what... Having the passport and having family,

00:21:09.670 --> 00:21:11.829
of course, was the main reason to move to Spain.

00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:16.029
And then... When I arrived, I wasn't sure what

00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:17.970
to do with my life. I was a little bit lost,

00:21:18.089 --> 00:21:20.210
to be honest. Like, I don't know, continue with

00:21:20.210 --> 00:21:25.309
my economic career. I didn't know what to do.

00:21:25.390 --> 00:21:30.789
I even started to learn and to prepare some proof

00:21:30.789 --> 00:21:34.809
to be fighter fighter here in Spain. It's like

00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:40.630
a very good job opportunity here. So I decided

00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:43.990
to try. I didn't know what to do. But, you know,

00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:48.549
climbing for me has been always a pain reliever,

00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:52.789
not only physically. Actually, physically, it

00:21:52.789 --> 00:21:57.789
only led me with a lot of pain. But for my soul,

00:21:58.049 --> 00:22:01.009
it has been always like a pain reliever. So,

00:22:01.069 --> 00:22:04.109
I don't know, I have been related to sports always.

00:22:04.150 --> 00:22:09.009
So, for me, I just have never stopped. doing

00:22:09.009 --> 00:22:12.890
sports and moving my body is something that I

00:22:12.890 --> 00:22:15.269
really enjoy that I really like it's very important

00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:19.750
for me so I just came here and while I was looking

00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:25.369
what is Eric Noya I was keep climbing and doing

00:22:25.369 --> 00:22:30.200
sport so That's when I ended up Spanish champion.

00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:34.920
Then I knew people here that wanted to start

00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:38.359
to do something with speed because speed in Spain

00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.200
was not developed at all. Like I came here in

00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:46.119
2017 to Madrid specifically because they built

00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:50.180
there the first wall in 2017. Like imagine, that's

00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:56.470
very, very old for me, like zero. I came from

00:22:56.470 --> 00:22:59.750
a country that did a lot of stuff for speed.

00:22:59.930 --> 00:23:03.069
And we had a decent development. And yeah, everything

00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:07.809
went to hell. But like Spain, Mecca for climbing,

00:23:07.970 --> 00:23:11.750
having zero for speed was very impressive for

00:23:11.750 --> 00:23:16.690
me. So anyways, I started going into this climbing

00:23:16.690 --> 00:23:21.730
world, the first in Spain. And some people of

00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:25.940
the Madrid Federation. wanted to to learn about

00:23:25.940 --> 00:23:28.319
it of course and then some kids were interested

00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:32.599
and yeah so i started to be involved with the

00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:36.859
speed climbing scene here in spain and then what

00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:42.619
i yeah what i just told before then 2018 spanish

00:23:42.619 --> 00:23:45.160
champion and then i started slowly very very

00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:49.960
slowly to get every time more involved into everything

00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:54.470
and of course the the biggest change of my life

00:23:54.470 --> 00:23:58.250
and everything was Moscow 2021 when I ended up

00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:02.990
second in the world championships of official

00:24:02.990 --> 00:24:06.269
Olympic sport. That was like the main change

00:24:06.269 --> 00:24:09.049
of everything. And I guess I'm kind of surprised

00:24:09.049 --> 00:24:14.490
about I guess like how much investment Venezuela

00:24:14.490 --> 00:24:18.349
had in like speed climbing and climbing in general

00:24:18.349 --> 00:24:20.750
because we just don't really see them that much

00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:23.970
on the international circuit. Yes. That's crazy.

00:24:24.130 --> 00:24:26.589
Okay, I'm very happy that you say this because

00:24:26.589 --> 00:24:32.289
maybe it's about time to, I don't know, tell

00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:36.349
the story. But back in those days, Venezuela

00:24:36.349 --> 00:24:43.250
was a very, very strong country. I can easily

00:24:43.250 --> 00:24:46.309
say that in South America, we were the strongest.

00:24:47.670 --> 00:24:52.019
Maybe Ecuador, we... could argue with me and

00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:55.160
yeah maybe i'm wrong but ecuador and venezuela

00:24:55.160 --> 00:25:00.619
were the strongest okay so uh our scene was very

00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:06.640
nice very intense and we we had this like soviet

00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:11.740
approach you know where the scene the indoor

00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:15.759
scene was very competitive and we went even to

00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.779
international competitions they this First generation

00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:24.420
gave us a lot of funding. People that went and

00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:27.859
won the rock masters. I don't know if you remember

00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:30.799
this competition in Arco. Those were very important

00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:35.099
achievements and they just not increased the

00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.940
budget, but they were also a reference for me.

00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:41.019
You know, I saw this when I was eight years old.

00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.859
that generation that made me so we own them very

00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:49.519
much and it was a very very important generation

00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:54.660
because i'm not a isolated case you have the

00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:58.519
leslie case which is also competing for spain

00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:01.140
comes from venezuela and she went even to the

00:26:01.140 --> 00:26:04.319
olympics she had an olympic diploma she's also

00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:09.940
from from this school this generation so even

00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:15.779
I don't remember the exact year, but beginning

00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:20.839
of 2000, Venezuela was traveling with a delegation

00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:24.359
of 20 athletes or something like that. Yeah,

00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.539
yeah, yeah, yeah. And for many years, we had

00:26:27.539 --> 00:26:32.660
in San Juan de los Morros the best facility in

00:26:32.660 --> 00:26:38.160
South America. Easy, easy, easy. Yeah, I remember

00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.859
that when we went to Pan Americans. Our biggest

00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:45.740
competition was Ecuadorians and USA, of course.

00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:53.880
So especially in Burle and Lid, in Speed, we

00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:56.799
were, I don't want to brag, but we were very

00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:01.339
good. I think we had a lot of Russian -Chinese

00:27:01.339 --> 00:27:08.220
influence, maybe, or the fundings for doing results.

00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:12.019
And so I guess like what happened since then?

00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.759
You think just like the lack of funding that

00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:19.039
eventually... Yes, of course. Like this big political

00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:24.220
chaos just went to all the layers from the society

00:27:24.220 --> 00:27:30.559
and the economy. And like they spent all the

00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.799
money like crazy. So at a certain point, we were

00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:38.549
able to do some... trips and some competitions

00:27:38.549 --> 00:27:42.230
which are the ones that you see in my old profile

00:27:42.230 --> 00:27:48.990
but then suddenly everything stopped like they

00:27:48.990 --> 00:27:52.630
centralized so much the power that they changed

00:27:52.630 --> 00:27:58.650
the laws of sport so they can keep with the heads

00:27:58.650 --> 00:28:03.349
of all the federations or from many federations

00:28:03.349 --> 00:28:07.640
in Venezuela so we didn't have or own organizations,

00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:12.799
so to speak, in a certain period. And of course,

00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:17.000
this period was pure darkness, no internal federation,

00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:21.019
so we had no competitions, no money, no organization

00:28:21.019 --> 00:28:25.059
at all. It was like a black hole for Venezuela.

00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:29.740
To be honest, I don't know how is the situation

00:28:29.740 --> 00:28:33.940
now 100%, but I know that... They are trying

00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:36.660
to rebuild everything. And there is a team now

00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:41.299
working to put all the pieces again together.

00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:45.420
And we saw them for the first time last year,

00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:49.099
I think, in some World Cups. And this year, they

00:28:49.099 --> 00:28:51.299
want to join also in a couple of World Cups.

00:28:51.420 --> 00:28:55.839
So I'm very happy about it. But it was like that.

00:28:55.960 --> 00:29:00.660
Like, we had a peak. We were nice there. And

00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:05.640
then... geez so it wasn't like a slow deterioration

00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:09.740
it was just like immediately one day just from

00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:14.220
my from my point of view it was slow but in a

00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:17.700
history period it was like this quick of course

00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:20.339
because i grew up i went to some competitions

00:29:20.339 --> 00:29:25.839
and then okay i saw a little bit my my friends

00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.539
going to competitions whatever but then when

00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:35.480
i was 16, 17, then they didn't take us to international

00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:41.259
competitions. And then 2000, no, sorry, 2014,

00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:46.539
no competitions. Then 2015, no national competitions.

00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:52.240
2016, complete darkness. 2017, I said, screw

00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:57.670
this, you know? So it was like... Every year

00:29:57.670 --> 00:30:00.009
a little worse, worse, worse, worse, worse. And

00:30:00.009 --> 00:30:02.750
then suddenly it was nothing. It was nothing

00:30:02.750 --> 00:30:06.130
anymore. Crazy because I still went to the climbing

00:30:06.130 --> 00:30:08.849
gym, of course. And I kept climbing. I kept watching

00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:12.930
my friends. Many of them started to flee. And

00:30:12.930 --> 00:30:15.609
that was a sign for me. Like, okay, everybody's

00:30:15.609 --> 00:30:17.970
leaving. And then many friends also were doing

00:30:17.970 --> 00:30:23.160
good outside. climbing jobs or different from

00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.079
climbing or something related with ropes and

00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:28.920
heights but everyone was striving so for me that

00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:33.059
was a sign that I had to do it as well and it

00:30:33.059 --> 00:30:35.920
was the best decision ever I should have taken

00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.720
it way before to be honest but oh yeah it's hard

00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:42.980
to move so it's very hard to move yeah yeah and

00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:48.660
I trusted also like a change in Venezuela so

00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:52.259
I fought for it and I was living very nice with

00:30:52.259 --> 00:30:55.079
my family and I loved the environment there so

00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:59.259
it was a lot of attachment and yeah it was hard

00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:04.079
for me to to let go but but yeah after everything

00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:07.759
happened I think that I should have moved before

00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:12.079
way before yeah How was the move to Spain? I

00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:14.099
think that was another Instagram question that

00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:17.220
came in just in terms of daily life and training.

00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:25.299
Yes, I arrived to my godmother house and like

00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:31.140
you get a pension. I don't know how to say that.

00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.740
Like when you retire. A pension, yeah. A pension,

00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:38.099
right? Like I got a smaller pension and it's

00:31:38.099 --> 00:31:41.579
called. The translation would be like pension

00:31:41.579 --> 00:31:46.740
del emigrante retornado. It's like foreigners

00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:52.799
that come back pension. Oh, okay. I see. So I

00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:56.039
received like a little funding. With this, I

00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:02.059
paid a gym to go to training, but like a normal

00:32:02.059 --> 00:32:07.279
lifting gym. And I made contact with the Federation

00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:09.619
of Madrid. thanks to a friend that was living

00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:14.500
in Madrid. And they wanted to know me. And we

00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:19.579
did a first session. Once again, that was the

00:32:19.579 --> 00:32:22.519
first time they were watching the speed route.

00:32:23.059 --> 00:32:26.380
So suddenly, a guy from Venezuela comes, and

00:32:26.380 --> 00:32:30.900
he knows about the route. And I started climbing

00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:34.500
there. They saw it, and they liked it. And this

00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:38.039
person from the Madrid Federation, who... nowadays

00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:40.920
funny story is the vice president of the spanish

00:32:40.920 --> 00:32:45.259
federation she wanted to teach the kids and to

00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:48.680
have a team of speed in madrid so she said to

00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:51.900
me like okay eric first join the team of course

00:32:51.900 --> 00:32:55.500
we want you to compete for madrid and give some

00:32:55.500 --> 00:33:01.259
lessons to the kid so um i got passes to the

00:33:01.259 --> 00:33:06.359
gym thanks to the federation of madrid and And

00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:11.180
I started to give classes one day of a month

00:33:11.180 --> 00:33:16.519
to the Madrid Federation. And I was using the

00:33:16.519 --> 00:33:18.440
funds that I received from the government to

00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:22.920
study for the firefighter academy. But at a certain

00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:26.500
point, this pension, of course, it's over. So

00:33:26.500 --> 00:33:31.740
that's when I start to work in a proper climbing

00:33:31.740 --> 00:33:38.440
gym. And yeah, I stopped to do the firefighter

00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:44.000
stuff. Like I did the test to get in. I didn't

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.500
approve. It is very hard. It's very competitive.

00:33:47.019 --> 00:33:51.859
So I said like, okay, I don't know later, but

00:33:51.859 --> 00:33:53.980
I need to win money. So I started to work in

00:33:53.980 --> 00:33:58.180
a climbing gym. That was like the first big step

00:33:58.180 --> 00:34:03.470
to become a 100. percent climbing related uh

00:34:03.470 --> 00:34:09.309
worker and living by living person okay so yeah

00:34:09.309 --> 00:34:13.909
i started to do some some day uh some certain

00:34:13.909 --> 00:34:18.389
day classes uh for a gym whatever working with

00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:21.550
kids i did everything what you cannot imagine

00:34:21.550 --> 00:34:24.889
like watching holds everything oh yeah giving

00:34:24.889 --> 00:34:29.960
food everything and um Then working also with

00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:33.000
the Spanish Federation and training. Of course,

00:34:33.019 --> 00:34:36.199
at the same time, I was training. With who? With

00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:43.039
nobody. How? Alone. Wow. There is a super funny

00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.519
story. The little kids wanted to do speed climbing,

00:34:47.639 --> 00:34:53.059
but they had classes once a month. Or I pushed

00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:56.119
them to go for free to train with me so I could.

00:34:56.409 --> 00:35:01.429
climbed as well and so they had like extra classes

00:35:01.429 --> 00:35:04.969
but then it was another day of the week you know

00:35:04.969 --> 00:35:07.750
from from this whole month but of course i wanted

00:35:07.750 --> 00:35:11.949
to train every day so uh i was pushing everyone

00:35:11.949 --> 00:35:15.429
to to to train let's go to speed whatever and

00:35:15.429 --> 00:35:20.190
then just a little guy showed up he weighed like

00:35:20.190 --> 00:35:24.670
i don't know 18 pounds 18 kilograms 20 kilograms

00:35:24.670 --> 00:35:28.219
whatever The story is that he was climbing and

00:35:28.219 --> 00:35:31.320
then, you know, I needed to train so much that

00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:33.980
I accepted to climb with this little boy. So

00:35:33.980 --> 00:35:37.260
he started climbing. I was belaying him and everything

00:35:37.260 --> 00:35:40.059
was fine. But then we switched. And when he belayed

00:35:40.059 --> 00:35:43.019
me, we did like a flag. Like I started to go

00:35:43.019 --> 00:35:46.099
down and he started to wait up. Yeah. Then he

00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:49.719
had to go to rappel down with the... It was like...

00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:53.079
Now I'm telling the story and it sounds... But

00:35:53.079 --> 00:36:00.099
in that moment, it was so crazy. And then, you

00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:04.059
know, it's those stories of the daily struggle

00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:07.460
that I had to do what I love the most or what

00:36:07.460 --> 00:36:11.300
I like the most. That is speed climbing and training.

00:36:11.619 --> 00:36:14.179
You know, that was the environment for me for

00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:17.800
those days to train in Spain. That was like the

00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:21.260
beginning. It's super hilarious. Of course, it

00:36:21.260 --> 00:36:26.639
makes me so proud that now we have a proper speed

00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:28.920
climbing team and everything and training center

00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:31.019
and everything. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course.

00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:33.780
You have to do what you have to do. Yeah, yeah.

00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:39.380
But it was super slow start and so small steps,

00:36:39.460 --> 00:36:42.119
you know, that it's crazy. Yeah, I do kind of

00:36:42.119 --> 00:36:44.840
wonder like where you would be if you had like

00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:48.619
the training center from the start. Yeah, I imagine.

00:36:49.179 --> 00:36:51.539
And the same resources. That would have been

00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:55.920
crazy. And from moment one, you know, wow. Yes.

00:36:56.219 --> 00:36:58.539
And then I guess for those who aren't super familiar

00:36:58.539 --> 00:37:01.559
with like speed climbing training, how does it

00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:04.179
differ from boulder elite training? Is there

00:37:04.179 --> 00:37:06.179
like anything unexpected that you feel like you

00:37:06.179 --> 00:37:08.820
do as a speed climber? Something unexpected?

00:37:09.159 --> 00:37:12.119
No, I don't think so. Actually, the opposite.

00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:15.869
Like it's because and that's. the difference

00:37:15.869 --> 00:37:18.309
between boulder and lead and speed that we train

00:37:18.309 --> 00:37:20.889
on the same route now that changed the whole

00:37:20.889 --> 00:37:23.150
history of the sport and of course the history

00:37:23.150 --> 00:37:29.050
of the training so that's why you don't expect

00:37:29.050 --> 00:37:32.869
anything new because you just go to the same

00:37:32.869 --> 00:37:37.170
route every day but to be honest for me every

00:37:37.170 --> 00:37:41.449
day is a challenge and it's different because

00:37:41.449 --> 00:37:45.719
even though it's the same route You always have

00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:50.619
to improve something. So that's the part that

00:37:50.619 --> 00:37:55.139
it's very, very alike from boulder and leap,

00:37:55.219 --> 00:37:58.920
I think. Do you prefer that? Like having to make

00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:01.340
these tiny little increments on the same route

00:38:01.340 --> 00:38:04.320
every time? Yes, sure. Of course. I love it.

00:38:04.380 --> 00:38:09.980
It's super fun. It makes it challenging and,

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:15.250
of course, different every time. You know, it's,

00:38:15.250 --> 00:38:18.969
to be honest, it's the part that it's most related

00:38:18.969 --> 00:38:23.630
to climbing than just going there and do X amount

00:38:23.630 --> 00:38:25.989
of repetitions. That's the point of view that

00:38:25.989 --> 00:38:31.110
lead and boulder climbers many times don't understand

00:38:31.110 --> 00:38:35.409
that we are also improving in terms of climbing

00:38:35.409 --> 00:38:38.829
on every training. It's not like going there

00:38:38.829 --> 00:38:42.219
and just climb the route. Was there ever a point

00:38:42.219 --> 00:38:45.300
where you just didn't know how to improve? Or

00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:48.340
is there always stuff in the back of your mind

00:38:48.340 --> 00:38:51.440
of little changes you need to make to make your

00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:54.639
time better? No. Back in those days, I had no

00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:57.500
idea how to improve. Back in those days, it was

00:38:57.500 --> 00:39:01.820
going up as fast as you can. It was a different

00:39:01.820 --> 00:39:10.099
story. It was super... caveman way of training

00:39:10.099 --> 00:39:16.460
of approach of everything so yeah of course you

00:39:16.460 --> 00:39:19.099
try to change some stuff to climb faster and

00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:22.300
better but we had no idea how to do it it was

00:39:22.300 --> 00:39:28.079
all intuitive but now from I don't know one a

00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:33.679
couple of years from now there have been a huge

00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.119
change and the training have been changing and

00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:41.000
now I think we know how we should do it. That's

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:45.800
probably also making the biggest change in terms

00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:48.659
of times in the circuit. And that also makes,

00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:53.119
like, it's the biggest reason why we see so many

00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:58.239
young people thriving so fast because they are

00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:01.780
getting the most advanced and the most developed

00:40:01.780 --> 00:40:07.179
training methodologies for this discipline. And

00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:10.880
I think that's so interesting, so amazing. And

00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:14.860
I'm so happy about it. And from all those times

00:40:14.860 --> 00:40:17.159
in the past where you were just running up the

00:40:17.159 --> 00:40:20.719
wall like a caveman and not really focusing on

00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:23.960
any particular technique, do you feel like you...

00:40:24.170 --> 00:40:26.750
picked up any bad bad habits from doing that

00:40:26.750 --> 00:40:29.670
that are hard to break because i feel like you

00:40:29.670 --> 00:40:31.590
practice something a bunch of times maybe you

00:40:31.590 --> 00:40:34.150
practice it the wrong way it gets way harder

00:40:34.150 --> 00:40:37.389
to fix that since you've done it a bunch of times

00:40:37.389 --> 00:40:40.550
that way yeah definitely and that's actually

00:40:40.550 --> 00:40:47.789
something uh that's something with that i'm struggling

00:40:47.789 --> 00:40:54.099
with even nowadays like i have to fix All the

00:40:54.099 --> 00:41:00.340
things from my past in order to keep up the pace

00:41:00.340 --> 00:41:07.699
of the circuit and of the younger generation

00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:12.079
that is coming. But I want to say, I want to

00:41:12.079 --> 00:41:14.619
be honest, back in those days, training like

00:41:14.619 --> 00:41:17.119
a caveman, it was super fun. I love it. Once

00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.900
again, the climbing community is always so nice.

00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.619
I don't regret it. Like it was super, that was

00:41:23.619 --> 00:41:27.619
delicious anyway. Okay, good to hear. Nowadays,

00:41:27.739 --> 00:41:32.179
having to fix all my, sorry, but having to fix

00:41:32.179 --> 00:41:35.519
all my shit, it has been also a blast. It's super

00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:40.980
fun. So I think it's very, very cool that all

00:41:40.980 --> 00:41:43.760
this happened to me and it's somehow kind of

00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:47.460
the process and this made me connect with the

00:41:47.460 --> 00:41:51.320
people. with the climbers from Spain and with

00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:54.940
the community here. And I think that's a huge

00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:59.900
privilege, you know? And also give me the opportunity

00:41:59.900 --> 00:42:06.880
of strive despite my age, you know? Because I'm

00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.840
already what we can call a mature climber in

00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:13.000
the circuit. Good way to put it, yeah. Yeah,

00:42:13.019 --> 00:42:17.329
so... But knowing that I still can improve something

00:42:17.329 --> 00:42:20.789
on the technique that can make me improve my

00:42:20.789 --> 00:42:26.190
times, it's a bit of a good sign for me, of course.

00:42:26.469 --> 00:42:28.530
Yeah, what are some of the bad habits you're

00:42:28.530 --> 00:42:33.750
trying to break? Wow, I fix many. For example,

00:42:33.909 --> 00:42:40.070
on the middle of the route, the skip from hole

00:42:40.070 --> 00:42:44.400
number 8 to hole number 10. I was doing like

00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:49.340
a weird S move because we didn't match on hole

00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:54.539
11. We usually went to left. So before we went

00:42:54.539 --> 00:42:57.840
to far right on this skip and then we jumped

00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:00.880
to the left to grab both holes. But now these

00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:03.980
both holes doesn't exist. And we know that we

00:43:03.980 --> 00:43:10.280
have moved more straight. So like to make a resume

00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:12.500
for the people that doesn't understand what we're

00:43:12.500 --> 00:43:17.550
doing on the... to be more user -friendly, so

00:43:17.550 --> 00:43:22.150
to speak. Basically, I was doing like a snake,

00:43:22.550 --> 00:43:29.050
like a lizard while climbing. And now we know

00:43:29.050 --> 00:43:33.650
that we have to try to keep it up straight. So

00:43:33.650 --> 00:43:37.510
basically, I'm changing all my movements, all

00:43:37.510 --> 00:43:40.309
my muscle memory, which is the hard part, to

00:43:40.309 --> 00:43:45.889
make a correct movement. It's like I knew how

00:43:45.889 --> 00:43:51.949
to dance, but now I have to learn how to proper

00:43:51.949 --> 00:43:56.409
dance or to change the moves to make it better,

00:43:56.530 --> 00:44:01.309
so to speak. And yeah, I was a good dancer. So

00:44:01.309 --> 00:44:04.389
now you change me all the moves and it's been

00:44:04.389 --> 00:44:08.010
weird, but it's a fun challenge once again. What's

00:44:08.010 --> 00:44:10.550
one that you're working on right now to break?

00:44:11.340 --> 00:44:16.019
Oh, the top section. Top section is my nightmare.

00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:23.219
If you compare me with the rest of the circuit

00:44:23.219 --> 00:44:26.039
in general, in all the competitions, it's very

00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:28.519
easy to see that I'm very fast at the beginning.

00:44:28.679 --> 00:44:31.440
And then at the middle, they catch up. And at

00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:37.559
the end, they smash me. So I got to keep up until

00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:40.320
the end. Okay. What's the issue at the top? Is

00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:43.619
it a technique thing or you get like tired? Yeah,

00:44:43.739 --> 00:44:49.019
no, I think it's, it's technique wise more like

00:44:49.019 --> 00:44:53.360
once again, I'm going to more like I'm going

00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:57.400
too much to the left side. No, I'm going too

00:44:57.400 --> 00:45:00.179
much to the right side. And then that makes me

00:45:00.179 --> 00:45:06.119
do a move to the left side. So my gravity. my

00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:08.920
mass gravity center is moving to left and right

00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:15.619
so much that makes the moves even harder and

00:45:15.619 --> 00:45:19.900
um and of course it takes me more time but then

00:45:19.900 --> 00:45:23.539
you say like okay but correctly well because

00:45:23.539 --> 00:45:27.079
breaking these habits or understanding these

00:45:27.079 --> 00:45:32.760
moves is not that easy like i promise you i have

00:45:34.219 --> 00:45:36.639
thought about it i have dream about it i do it

00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:40.619
constantly and 24 7 with these moves in my mind

00:45:40.619 --> 00:45:43.780
and sometimes i wake up and i said like okay

00:45:43.780 --> 00:45:46.360
i dreamed about it or i imagine this move and

00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:48.340
i'm going to the wall i know how to do it and

00:45:48.340 --> 00:45:51.159
i will do it and then i just go and it doesn't

00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:53.500
happen like that oh i totally get that yeah so

00:45:53.500 --> 00:45:57.500
it's crazy it might sound crazy but it's the

00:45:57.500 --> 00:46:00.420
way it is it's the process like if it would be

00:46:00.420 --> 00:46:02.780
so easy everybody would be doing four or five

00:46:02.780 --> 00:46:06.239
right now Yeah, no, that totally makes sense.

00:46:06.460 --> 00:46:09.860
I think all climbers can relate. You think about

00:46:09.860 --> 00:46:12.360
yourself climbing it. You think you have a great

00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:15.019
idea. And you're like, I'm going to go do that

00:46:15.019 --> 00:46:18.440
tomorrow. And then it just doesn't work at all.

00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:21.519
And you're like, oh, this is why. Exactly, exactly.

00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.260
You end in the same loop from the day before

00:46:25.260 --> 00:46:29.719
where you didn't understand anything. Yes. So,

00:46:29.719 --> 00:46:31.860
I mean, you're still definitely improving. You

00:46:31.860 --> 00:46:34.900
had some really great personal runs and, yeah,

00:46:35.019 --> 00:46:39.239
like, personal bests. Even in, like, OQS earlier

00:46:39.239 --> 00:46:41.440
this – or, wow, I guess it's not this year anymore.

00:46:41.539 --> 00:46:44.579
Last year. Yeah. Yeah, you had, like, really

00:46:44.579 --> 00:46:48.679
great personal bests in OQS, but you didn't manage

00:46:48.679 --> 00:46:51.559
to secure a big spot there. What are your thoughts

00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:54.679
reflecting on that time? Please excuse this brief

00:46:54.679 --> 00:46:56.699
intermission, but if you're interested in deleted

00:46:56.699 --> 00:46:58.960
scenes from this episode where we talk about

00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:02.039
his favorite competition moment and also whether

00:47:02.039 --> 00:47:04.139
or not it's possible to become a speed climber

00:47:04.139 --> 00:47:06.480
without knowing how to rock climb, do consider

00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:09.559
helping support this podcast on Patreon. Some

00:47:09.559 --> 00:47:11.639
other perks include a membership pin shipped

00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:14.300
to you after two months, prioritized guest questions,

00:47:14.340 --> 00:47:17.079
or the ability to submit video questions, and

00:47:17.079 --> 00:47:19.710
more to come. The proceeds go back in the podcast

00:47:19.710 --> 00:47:22.030
to help me break even, and they help me improve

00:47:22.030 --> 00:47:24.710
the experience of the guests. If you'd like to

00:47:24.710 --> 00:47:27.110
help out non -monetarily, liking, commenting,

00:47:27.170 --> 00:47:29.550
and sharing always helps a great deal as well.

00:47:29.750 --> 00:47:32.329
Back to the show. To be honest, I gave it all.

00:47:32.409 --> 00:47:38.050
I tried with all my heart. I was disciplined.

00:47:38.210 --> 00:47:43.250
I think that I did all that was in my hands even

00:47:43.250 --> 00:47:46.769
more. And I don't know if this was the reason

00:47:46.769 --> 00:47:49.650
why I didn't make it or maybe I have no idea,

00:47:49.730 --> 00:47:56.090
but I put everything on stake and I did an all

00:47:56.090 --> 00:48:02.250
-in. So I think that was brave of my side. I

00:48:02.250 --> 00:48:06.590
think that I fought it very hard and that it

00:48:06.590 --> 00:48:09.909
wasn't easy to kick me out. Like the people who

00:48:09.909 --> 00:48:13.650
kicked me out, they had to fight it. with their

00:48:13.650 --> 00:48:17.329
teeth. So, of course, I'm proud of that. And

00:48:17.329 --> 00:48:24.150
for me, it was an amazing experience. So I'm

00:48:24.150 --> 00:48:28.690
very grateful, to be honest, of everything, even

00:48:28.690 --> 00:48:32.769
of the outcome. I learned a lot of this process.

00:48:33.489 --> 00:48:39.050
So I would give it a 9 out of 10 because I didn't

00:48:39.050 --> 00:48:44.480
qualify, of course. I leave it with a lot of

00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:49.340
passion. And I think that was the goal of it.

00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:53.079
Okay. I mean, you still... Next time, qualifying.

00:48:53.539 --> 00:48:57.460
Yeah, hopefully. You still continued competing

00:48:57.460 --> 00:49:01.340
right after that. You didn't really take any

00:49:01.340 --> 00:49:05.260
break after OQS, did you? Yeah, I only missed

00:49:05.260 --> 00:49:07.800
one competition that I really didn't want to

00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:13.030
go. It was the same weekend of the... which was

00:49:13.030 --> 00:49:16.489
a little bit crazy. But yeah, then I started

00:49:16.489 --> 00:49:23.309
again because I think that life is like this.

00:49:25.590 --> 00:49:32.010
Not much to add, to be honest. Life is like this.

00:49:32.050 --> 00:49:36.030
You just keep going and sometimes you win, sometimes

00:49:36.030 --> 00:49:41.210
you lose. But my family still loves me. When

00:49:41.210 --> 00:49:43.030
I go to the gym, the people I care are still

00:49:43.030 --> 00:49:47.250
there. The people that I like are still with

00:49:47.250 --> 00:49:50.250
me. So for me, in the end, that's going to be

00:49:50.250 --> 00:49:54.030
always very important and I still have it. So

00:49:54.030 --> 00:49:58.150
it will be very selfish not to think about them,

00:49:58.269 --> 00:50:01.469
you know, when something bad happens with the

00:50:01.469 --> 00:50:04.610
climbing. Is that like your motivation, you would

00:50:04.610 --> 00:50:06.929
say? Because I can only imagine it must be very

00:50:06.929 --> 00:50:11.099
hard to... I don't know, find the drive to get

00:50:11.099 --> 00:50:13.559
back into things or when you're feeling kind

00:50:13.559 --> 00:50:15.960
of burnt out or you work for something for so

00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:19.920
long. I mean, like I knew that it was a possibility

00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:27.480
not to qualify. So I thought about it before,

00:50:27.539 --> 00:50:31.280
like, okay, what if I don't? Well, if I don't,

00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:34.760
I don't. So I think when it happened, it was

00:50:34.760 --> 00:50:38.260
a shock for me. But then I was able also to process

00:50:38.260 --> 00:50:42.940
everything kind of fast. At the same moment,

00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:46.559
I have other stuff that motivated me. Changes

00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:51.159
in terms of coaches, of Federation stuff, in

00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:58.820
terms of life, in terms of many things. So that

00:50:58.820 --> 00:51:03.260
made me also push. I was curious about what was

00:51:03.260 --> 00:51:07.900
their future. bring it to me so i try to focus

00:51:07.900 --> 00:51:13.079
more on that than other stuff and also at the

00:51:13.079 --> 00:51:16.659
same time i lost a huge amount of money because

00:51:16.659 --> 00:51:21.599
not qualifying to the olympics so i have to solve

00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:25.960
other problems okay rather that and keep thinking

00:51:25.960 --> 00:51:29.440
that i i didn't qualify yeah okay that makes

00:51:29.440 --> 00:51:32.559
sense yeah the uh the money issue is always that's

00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:36.699
always a big one Exactly, exactly. But also,

00:51:36.820 --> 00:51:41.420
something that happened, I want to tell you this

00:51:41.420 --> 00:51:45.280
because for me nowadays, this is the highlight

00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:49.900
of the fact that I kept pushing. I didn't understand

00:51:49.900 --> 00:51:52.559
it in that moment. But then we had a competition

00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:58.239
in Madrid, the first four -lane format event.

00:52:03.179 --> 00:52:06.659
We have a new coach now in Spain. To make the

00:52:06.659 --> 00:52:10.179
story short, it was the first time the coach

00:52:10.179 --> 00:52:12.920
was meeting the athletes from Spain to present

00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:19.179
himself and whatever. And they said to him that

00:52:19.179 --> 00:52:22.739
for them it was very impressive and it was like

00:52:22.739 --> 00:52:29.400
an inspiration that I kept pushing. that I was

00:52:29.400 --> 00:52:31.460
still competing and that I was giving the face,

00:52:31.599 --> 00:52:34.920
no matter what happened, you're still there pushing

00:52:34.920 --> 00:52:40.460
and with a smile. They said to him that it was

00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:43.719
very meaningful for them and they learned a lesson,

00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.559
so to speak. And the coach after said this to

00:52:46.559 --> 00:52:54.639
me and that meant a lot, like being a good inspiration.

00:52:55.400 --> 00:53:01.219
or better saying, being a good role model for

00:53:01.219 --> 00:53:06.260
the generation of speed climbers in Spain, wow,

00:53:06.440 --> 00:53:11.579
really filled my heart. It was a very good sensation.

00:53:12.019 --> 00:53:15.599
And it happened unexpectedly, you know, because

00:53:15.599 --> 00:53:22.260
that wasn't my intention when I just kept competing.

00:53:22.670 --> 00:53:27.949
Also, I have a saying, or I noticed in my life

00:53:27.949 --> 00:53:35.230
that, like, I say that you relieve pain with

00:53:35.230 --> 00:53:39.110
more pain. And you might think that this is crazy,

00:53:39.170 --> 00:53:42.530
but when you have a lot of pain and soreness

00:53:42.530 --> 00:53:45.210
in the body because of training, the best thing

00:53:45.210 --> 00:53:49.949
to do to let this pain go away is go again to

00:53:49.949 --> 00:53:55.320
the gym. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I said like, okay,

00:53:55.400 --> 00:53:59.260
keep competing. Vamos. Okay. I don't know if

00:53:59.260 --> 00:54:01.699
I agree with that one personally. I don't know

00:54:01.699 --> 00:54:05.119
if I can do that. Well, to be honest, it pays

00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:08.139
off. After a couple of months, I don't know,

00:54:08.199 --> 00:54:13.239
it was one or two months after LQS, we had, yeah,

00:54:13.320 --> 00:54:15.980
it was just right before Olympics. We had the

00:54:15.980 --> 00:54:19.699
European Championships and I did good. I did

00:54:19.699 --> 00:54:23.829
third there. And it was very, very important

00:54:23.829 --> 00:54:29.889
competition and very important spot. So now I

00:54:29.889 --> 00:54:35.210
think it was a very smart idea to be cold -blooded

00:54:35.210 --> 00:54:37.989
and keep going, definitely. Yeah, no, that's

00:54:37.989 --> 00:54:40.590
good to see. And I'm glad that it paid off. Okay,

00:54:40.650 --> 00:54:44.710
so for the future, thinking about the upcoming

00:54:44.710 --> 00:54:47.789
season starting soon, what's your goal for the

00:54:47.789 --> 00:54:53.320
upcoming season? Well, try to keep it up with

00:54:53.320 --> 00:55:01.699
the pace. Yeah. When I set my goals, I try to,

00:55:01.699 --> 00:55:06.619
of course, aim high, you know, of course. So

00:55:06.619 --> 00:55:09.039
my goals for this season, I really want to be,

00:55:09.059 --> 00:55:13.539
again, in the top 10 of the world ranking. I

00:55:13.539 --> 00:55:18.599
managed to be this year. I want to keep it up

00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:25.539
with that pace. I would love to be top 10 also,

00:55:25.659 --> 00:55:29.860
or even better, top 8 in the World Championships

00:55:29.860 --> 00:55:39.260
in Seoul at the end of this year. Those are my

00:55:39.260 --> 00:55:46.260
biggest goals. Also because in terms of money,

00:55:46.800 --> 00:55:52.400
they will give me the most value. Also, another

00:55:52.400 --> 00:55:56.119
personal goal for this year for me is, of course,

00:55:56.159 --> 00:56:01.480
break the five seconds barrier. And I want to

00:56:01.480 --> 00:56:05.579
be able to do my first four. Yeah. In competition

00:56:05.579 --> 00:56:10.000
or also in training? No, in competition. Okay.

00:56:10.159 --> 00:56:13.079
So in training, you've done it. No, no, no, no,

00:56:13.079 --> 00:56:15.739
no. Ah, okay, sorry. Yes, no, I've never done

00:56:15.739 --> 00:56:18.639
four seconds in my life. Usually I have better

00:56:18.639 --> 00:56:21.559
times in competition than in training. So, yeah,

00:56:21.639 --> 00:56:24.599
I'm expecting to see my first four fingers crossed

00:56:24.599 --> 00:56:28.519
on competition. Hope to see it this year. Do

00:56:28.519 --> 00:56:30.780
you think for most people they have better competition

00:56:30.780 --> 00:56:33.000
results than training results? I guess I'm kind

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:35.039
of surprised about that. No, no, I think it depends.

00:56:35.380 --> 00:56:39.250
I think it has to do with your age. There are

00:56:39.250 --> 00:56:45.630
many factors. But at a certain period, it was

00:56:45.630 --> 00:56:49.710
a type of better time of training. And then everything

00:56:49.710 --> 00:56:53.110
changed. And now I'm more of the competition,

00:56:53.369 --> 00:56:55.849
PB kind of type. How do you think that has to

00:56:55.849 --> 00:56:57.989
do with age? I know you mentioned age like a

00:56:57.989 --> 00:57:00.210
couple of times. You are kind of one of the older

00:57:00.210 --> 00:57:03.030
athletes. I don't know if it has to do with age.

00:57:03.599 --> 00:57:06.320
To be honest, I think everyone is very, very

00:57:06.320 --> 00:57:09.079
particular. Everyone is very different. Just

00:57:09.079 --> 00:57:12.739
that I live it this way and it's very interesting.

00:57:12.900 --> 00:57:17.179
I can relate to both types of persons somehow

00:57:17.179 --> 00:57:21.039
because it happened to me both ways. But I don't

00:57:21.039 --> 00:57:28.480
know. We can let the science maybe make some

00:57:28.480 --> 00:57:32.809
tests and decide. And speaking of age, in terms

00:57:32.809 --> 00:57:34.750
of being one of the older climbers, do you feel

00:57:34.750 --> 00:57:36.949
like speed climbing allows for more longevity

00:57:36.949 --> 00:57:40.610
as an athlete? Because I mean, I guess it's kind

00:57:40.610 --> 00:57:43.730
of less injury prone than say maybe like bouldering.

00:57:44.250 --> 00:57:48.349
No, I think it's very hard to tell. Speed climbing

00:57:48.349 --> 00:57:52.110
is also very, yeah, not harmful, but yeah, it's

00:57:52.110 --> 00:57:59.139
very intense. I had two broken pulleys. Oh, wow.

00:57:59.219 --> 00:58:04.239
Really? Three partial broken pulleys. So we have

00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:07.000
in the end the same injuries that people from

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:12.059
Boulder and Leeds as well. So I'm not sure if

00:58:12.059 --> 00:58:16.340
there's a difference between disciplines. And

00:58:16.340 --> 00:58:21.139
also, I'm not sure if I'm better because of the

00:58:21.139 --> 00:58:24.039
age or I don't know. I don't know if the age

00:58:24.039 --> 00:58:29.420
is something that reliable stuff. Maybe because

00:58:29.420 --> 00:58:32.559
of... I have thought about this a lot, okay?

00:58:32.659 --> 00:58:36.760
To be honest. And everyone travels very different.

00:58:37.079 --> 00:58:41.780
I think that because I didn't have many opportunities

00:58:41.780 --> 00:58:44.239
when I was very, very young, I'm trying to push

00:58:44.239 --> 00:58:48.860
as long as I can now that I'm an older athlete.

00:58:49.019 --> 00:58:54.610
So maybe there is other people that... burn the

00:58:54.610 --> 00:58:57.010
attach we say that in Spanish I don't know if

00:58:57.010 --> 00:59:01.090
you say something similar in English like you

00:59:01.090 --> 00:59:04.570
burn your period differently so then in the future

00:59:04.570 --> 00:59:08.650
you want something else you know maybe somebody

00:59:08.650 --> 00:59:12.389
that already compete a lot with I don't know

00:59:12.389 --> 00:59:16.550
25 they did everything they wanted with 10 to

00:59:16.550 --> 00:59:20.610
5 then they say okay it's over for me it's easier

00:59:20.610 --> 00:59:24.710
to step out but For me, I didn't have that. So

00:59:24.710 --> 00:59:28.429
that's maybe why I'm trying to push harder and

00:59:28.429 --> 00:59:35.849
to keep being an athlete for a longer time. I

00:59:35.849 --> 00:59:40.670
think in general, your story is inspiring and

00:59:40.670 --> 00:59:42.650
it's like a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication,

00:59:43.050 --> 00:59:48.510
like never giving up when things get hard. I

00:59:48.510 --> 00:59:53.420
guess, do you have an idea of when to give up

00:59:53.420 --> 00:59:55.500
or like an idea of what retirement would look

00:59:55.500 --> 00:59:59.179
like for you? Yes, of course. Sure. I mean, when

00:59:59.179 --> 01:00:04.619
I see that for me, it's impossible to keep it

01:00:04.619 --> 01:00:11.000
up with the pace of the international competitions.

01:00:11.099 --> 01:00:15.800
I will lower my level to regional competitions

01:00:15.800 --> 01:00:23.119
or national competitions. then probably, I don't

01:00:23.119 --> 01:00:28.679
know. But I mean, when I'm not performing, I

01:00:28.679 --> 01:00:31.300
know that many people and many stuff is giving

01:00:31.300 --> 01:00:35.900
me resources. So when these resources are not

01:00:35.900 --> 01:00:38.920
good enough to make, for example, one final,

01:00:38.980 --> 01:00:43.420
two finals of a World Cup in one year of the

01:00:43.420 --> 01:00:46.079
circuit, then of course that could be like a

01:00:46.079 --> 01:00:50.900
sign and I will step out to maybe... Let other

01:00:50.900 --> 01:00:57.760
people get involved with that risk. And also,

01:00:57.860 --> 01:01:01.780
I think that I have a lot of people now around

01:01:01.780 --> 01:01:05.320
me, around the Spanish team that will also help

01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:11.699
me to show me when it's the moment, you know,

01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:14.980
that's good. But for me, I'm giving results.

01:01:15.139 --> 01:01:18.840
So if I'm giving results, everything is OK. But

01:01:18.840 --> 01:01:22.179
I'm very honest and clear. When those results

01:01:22.179 --> 01:01:27.599
are gone for medium time, I'm already having

01:01:27.599 --> 01:01:30.880
a lot of fun teaching the new generation, teaching

01:01:30.880 --> 01:01:34.039
the kids, and being there with the community

01:01:34.039 --> 01:01:42.699
makes me feel it. That's good to hear. I'm not

01:01:42.699 --> 01:01:46.760
afraid to step up. That's what I mean. Yeah,

01:01:46.800 --> 01:01:50.019
that's good to hear. Yeah, I'm always kind of

01:01:50.019 --> 01:01:53.760
worried when I hear people, I don't know, it's

01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:56.179
really good to have dedication, but then I'm

01:01:56.179 --> 01:02:00.019
always worried for these people who are super

01:02:00.019 --> 01:02:04.119
dedicated, how they'll feel once, I don't know,

01:02:04.199 --> 01:02:06.760
once it starts to go away. But it's good that

01:02:06.760 --> 01:02:10.320
you seem to have a very clear head about what

01:02:10.320 --> 01:02:13.679
the future might look like. Yeah. Also, I know

01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:18.440
that... stop competitions stop competing doesn't

01:02:18.440 --> 01:02:21.260
mean that i have to stop climbing so yeah it

01:02:21.260 --> 01:02:23.139
will be different if you say to me like okay

01:02:23.139 --> 01:02:25.179
now you don't compete you don't climb anymore

01:02:25.179 --> 01:02:29.079
okay it's a different story you know but i will

01:02:29.079 --> 01:02:30.900
keep climbing so everything is going to be fine

01:02:30.900 --> 01:02:34.340
and back to the the injuries you said you mentioned

01:02:34.340 --> 01:02:36.940
um i didn't know that people got pulley injuries

01:02:36.940 --> 01:02:40.199
from speed climbing oh yes this is a lot a lot

01:02:40.199 --> 01:02:43.199
you may ask you may ask their whole circuit and

01:02:43.199 --> 01:02:47.199
everybody's having pulling issues as well yeah

01:02:47.199 --> 01:02:51.519
yeah and it's interesting because lead and boulder

01:02:51.519 --> 01:02:56.800
no it happened also a lot to us and uh in boulder

01:02:56.800 --> 01:03:00.420
and lead there is a lot of there is a little

01:03:00.420 --> 01:03:03.739
people making studies imagine for a speed everybody

01:03:03.739 --> 01:03:07.900
thinks that we don't get injured injuries but

01:03:07.900 --> 01:03:14.210
no we get the same um i think Even if it's a

01:03:14.210 --> 01:03:18.110
jug, okay, the hold is a jug, right? But when

01:03:18.110 --> 01:03:21.289
you go so fast, you don't grab a jug. You just

01:03:21.289 --> 01:03:26.210
put your finger and put as much pressure as you

01:03:26.210 --> 01:03:29.289
can. And that makes you make like a cream. You

01:03:29.289 --> 01:03:32.710
know, we are not grabbing the hold, holding it

01:03:32.710 --> 01:03:35.050
and then pushing. No, no, no. It's just with

01:03:35.050 --> 01:03:40.800
the tip of the fingers and trying to go up. I

01:03:40.800 --> 01:03:44.480
think we still put a lot of pressure in attendance

01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:47.500
and, of course, then in our pulley. And then,

01:03:47.539 --> 01:03:52.780
yeah, we have all those tendinopathias, tendinopathies.

01:03:53.780 --> 01:03:56.880
Same like in boulder and leap. Wow. Okay. I had

01:03:56.880 --> 01:03:58.760
no idea. That's actually really interesting.

01:03:59.219 --> 01:04:03.820
So also, for example, in many moves, you have

01:04:03.820 --> 01:04:08.940
to, like, hold tight a flag, for example. And

01:04:08.940 --> 01:04:11.420
when you're doing this, you're applying a lot,

01:04:11.500 --> 01:04:15.579
a lot of strength on your fingers. And actually

01:04:15.579 --> 01:04:18.900
that was one of the case why I broke one of the

01:04:18.900 --> 01:04:25.780
pulleys. So now that I have a voice, first, all

01:04:25.780 --> 01:04:27.440
the people should know that we have the same

01:04:27.440 --> 01:04:32.199
injuries than lead and boulder. And that it will

01:04:32.199 --> 01:04:35.219
be also very interesting to study this because

01:04:35.219 --> 01:04:39.619
what I noticed also. with my injuries is that

01:04:39.619 --> 01:04:44.280
the protocol for lead and boulder is very different

01:04:44.280 --> 01:04:47.840
than the protocol for speed. So to go back to

01:04:47.840 --> 01:04:49.639
the wall. Yeah. What do you have to do differently?

01:04:50.639 --> 01:04:54.340
For example, I think that because of the way

01:04:54.340 --> 01:04:58.400
we behave and we move, I should have rested longer.

01:04:58.559 --> 01:05:02.019
You know, when you are a lead or boulder climber,

01:05:02.119 --> 01:05:09.159
you can say like, okay, just. do super easy moves

01:05:09.159 --> 01:05:16.460
on jogs um as a way to to heal you know like

01:05:16.460 --> 01:05:24.159
for therapy but in speed climbing like our moves

01:05:24.159 --> 01:05:29.980
are already set you know like there is something

01:05:29.980 --> 01:05:33.219
on your brain that because you know the movement

01:05:33.219 --> 01:05:37.079
or what everything like I was always pushing

01:05:37.079 --> 01:05:40.159
too much. Yeah, that makes sense. Always pushing

01:05:40.159 --> 01:05:43.579
too much. So definitely the protocol has to be

01:05:43.579 --> 01:05:47.039
different. She said to me like, okay, go to the

01:05:47.039 --> 01:05:49.960
speed wall and just climb like in lead, super

01:05:49.960 --> 01:05:53.059
easy. And I promise you, I wasn't even running.

01:05:53.519 --> 01:05:59.440
But it's different. Also, the person that was

01:05:59.440 --> 01:06:03.489
treating me, she was a climber. She was a specialist.

01:06:03.630 --> 01:06:06.889
She's the best person in Spain. But she has never

01:06:06.889 --> 01:06:09.530
done speed. And she hasn't been on the speed

01:06:09.530 --> 01:06:13.949
wall for one week to see what we're doing. So

01:06:13.949 --> 01:06:19.289
we're working on intuition here. And it would

01:06:19.289 --> 01:06:26.269
be nice to have more scientific tools, resources,

01:06:26.409 --> 01:06:30.139
or whatever, or knowledge. Did you ever just

01:06:30.139 --> 01:06:33.119
do like bouldering or lead to try to fix your

01:06:33.119 --> 01:06:35.360
injury? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did a little bit

01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:39.039
of climbing. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, that's super interesting.

01:06:39.659 --> 01:06:42.619
I had no idea about like speed injuries. I thought

01:06:42.619 --> 01:06:45.260
it was pretty safe. But I guess that's just as

01:06:45.260 --> 01:06:47.920
someone who's like, I've only touched the speed

01:06:47.920 --> 01:06:50.480
wall a couple of times. Once with Albert when

01:06:50.480 --> 01:06:54.400
I visited in Salt Lake. And I did it in like

01:06:54.400 --> 01:06:58.659
40 seconds. So it was all drugs. Yeah, that's

01:06:58.659 --> 01:07:05.360
good to know. Well, there is a big example. It's

01:07:05.360 --> 01:07:10.300
Piper Kelly from Team USA. She competed at the

01:07:10.300 --> 01:07:13.119
Olympics with a broken pulley. Oh, I didn't know

01:07:13.119 --> 01:07:17.340
that. Okay. That's crazy. That's crazy. No, that's

01:07:17.340 --> 01:07:20.480
not good. Everything, like, I can't imagine.

01:07:20.679 --> 01:07:27.230
But it's, once again, it's like a... very clear

01:07:27.230 --> 01:07:32.030
example uh that in speed we have this issue very

01:07:32.030 --> 01:07:36.389
very hard okay that's good to know um okay so

01:07:36.389 --> 01:07:40.010
outside of i guess climbing and speed climbing

01:07:40.010 --> 01:07:43.510
um i'm just thinking back to like retirement

01:07:43.510 --> 01:07:48.730
as well um anything that you like doing outside

01:07:48.730 --> 01:07:51.789
of climbing or speed climbing competitions i

01:07:51.789 --> 01:07:55.980
don't know i'm not sure i i really enjoy The

01:07:55.980 --> 01:08:00.360
adventure, I really enjoy living. So I don't

01:08:00.360 --> 01:08:03.480
have something specifically in my mind, like

01:08:03.480 --> 01:08:06.780
another sport or something. I did a lot of kitesurfing.

01:08:08.219 --> 01:08:13.500
Maybe I start to do kitesurfing again. But to

01:08:13.500 --> 01:08:18.199
be honest, I have no path in my mind. And for

01:08:18.199 --> 01:08:21.600
my future retirement, to be honest, I'm thinking

01:08:21.600 --> 01:08:27.039
now, this day, today. Something related with

01:08:27.039 --> 01:08:32.279
speed climbing. Okay. So, yeah, I don't know.

01:08:32.319 --> 01:08:36.439
I'm not sure if it's going to be as a coach working

01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:42.720
on the Federation. I just finished my sport management

01:08:42.720 --> 01:08:48.979
master degree. So it could be anything related

01:08:48.979 --> 01:08:53.180
with sport events, sport facilities. It doesn't

01:08:53.180 --> 01:08:56.859
have to be with climbing. you know, hard to think

01:08:56.859 --> 01:09:00.699
about something else. Right. Also, I'm working

01:09:00.699 --> 01:09:06.220
on a small personal project, which I'm very happy.

01:09:07.199 --> 01:09:13.100
I'm creating like a climbing clothes and accessory

01:09:13.100 --> 01:09:19.619
brand. Okay, cool. Yeah. So I'm really getting

01:09:19.619 --> 01:09:23.060
into like... making the designs, creating the

01:09:23.060 --> 01:09:26.699
web, creating some hoodies, some t -shirts, some

01:09:26.699 --> 01:09:30.079
stickers, some stuff related to climbing. And

01:09:30.079 --> 01:09:33.439
also I'm doing stuff related with speed climbing

01:09:33.439 --> 01:09:38.380
for older lead and rock climbing. There is a

01:09:38.380 --> 01:09:41.720
lot of stuff on the market, but for speed climbing,

01:09:41.840 --> 01:09:47.949
there's nothing. There will still be stuff from

01:09:47.949 --> 01:09:50.609
Boulder Elite and Rocks, of course, of everything.

01:09:50.789 --> 01:09:55.630
I don't want to close it just to one niche. But

01:09:55.630 --> 01:09:58.329
the highlight is that I'm going to include stuff

01:09:58.329 --> 01:10:02.170
for speed. So I'm currently having a lot of fun,

01:10:02.289 --> 01:10:05.529
like I said, thinking about the designs. Oh,

01:10:05.569 --> 01:10:07.710
this is cool. This is going to work. No, this

01:10:07.710 --> 01:10:11.859
is not going to work. And I received some. some

01:10:11.859 --> 01:10:13.960
material oh i don't like this i want to change

01:10:13.960 --> 01:10:17.460
this oh now this is broken i have to so it has

01:10:17.460 --> 01:10:20.180
been a fun for it to be honest okay really exciting

01:10:20.180 --> 01:10:22.699
i can't wait to see it is it gonna like come

01:10:22.699 --> 01:10:25.199
out soon or yeah yeah it's gonna come out soon

01:10:25.199 --> 01:10:29.180
um i hope that maybe i don't know when is this

01:10:29.180 --> 01:10:33.239
postcard uh gonna be out live i think early may

01:10:33.239 --> 01:10:38.319
actually Yes, sure. Okay, perfect. I thought

01:10:38.319 --> 01:10:44.079
it was soon. Yes, it is. Perfect. By then, please,

01:10:44.220 --> 01:10:48.319
everyone, go and visit climbgurus .com. It's

01:10:48.319 --> 01:10:57.159
a super nice apparel and climbing shop. And for

01:10:57.159 --> 01:10:59.939
sure, by that time, it's going to be ready. I

01:10:59.939 --> 01:11:03.020
hope, actually, in the next couple of weeks.

01:11:04.650 --> 01:11:08.489
start doing the marketing campaign and everything

01:11:08.489 --> 01:11:11.609
wow exciting okay i will leave a link in the

01:11:11.609 --> 01:11:13.430
description so people can take a look that'll

01:11:13.430 --> 01:11:16.149
be awesome let's see what happens let's see what

01:11:16.149 --> 01:11:18.590
happens that's cool how did you get the idea

01:11:18.590 --> 01:11:23.390
for this to be honest first i want to they sell

01:11:23.390 --> 01:11:25.329
some stuff from speed climbing on the competition

01:11:25.329 --> 01:11:29.329
and it's very bad and there is nothing for climbing

01:11:29.329 --> 01:11:32.100
and Also, like I said, I lost a lot of money

01:11:32.100 --> 01:11:37.039
not qualifying to the OQS. So now I'm working

01:11:37.039 --> 01:11:45.279
in plan B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, A, you know, like everything.

01:11:45.420 --> 01:11:50.239
I'm trying to keep it up. So this was one of

01:11:50.239 --> 01:11:56.680
the ideas. And I like to do some drawings, design.

01:11:57.500 --> 01:12:00.380
And now with the mid -journey, it's crazy the

01:12:00.380 --> 01:12:02.520
stuff you can do with the AI. So I was having

01:12:02.520 --> 01:12:07.140
fun. And then everything started to come up together.

01:12:07.359 --> 01:12:09.920
I have a friend who is a graffiti writer, a graffiti

01:12:09.920 --> 01:12:13.699
painter. And I was talking to him what I was

01:12:13.699 --> 01:12:16.579
doing. I really love the stuff he does. Actually,

01:12:16.619 --> 01:12:21.520
he's also a climber. And I had a small wall in

01:12:21.520 --> 01:12:23.880
my house in Venezuela where I climbed. And he

01:12:23.880 --> 01:12:26.670
went always to do graffitis. I have a very close

01:12:26.670 --> 01:12:31.869
friend, and he was the one who told me, like,

01:12:31.949 --> 01:12:36.010
how to make the business feasible, you know?

01:12:36.449 --> 01:12:38.949
Like, oh, bro, yeah. Like I said, like, yeah,

01:12:38.970 --> 01:12:40.810
I'm doing this, I'm doing that, but I have also

01:12:40.810 --> 01:12:42.710
this money issue. And he's like, okay, you can

01:12:42.710 --> 01:12:49.310
do this. So I really want to do quality stuff,

01:12:49.510 --> 01:12:52.130
nice stuff, stuff that the people like. Like

01:12:52.130 --> 01:12:55.220
I said, there's nothing for speed. I think there

01:12:55.220 --> 01:12:59.880
is a niche of nice people that may need good

01:12:59.880 --> 01:13:07.640
apparel. But also I'm trying to create a business

01:13:07.640 --> 01:13:11.359
of this and to create some income to keep speed

01:13:11.359 --> 01:13:18.880
climbing. Because that's also nice that I feel

01:13:18.880 --> 01:13:21.260
it's like the community helping the community.

01:13:22.700 --> 01:13:25.159
Because with that money, I'm going to keep doing

01:13:25.159 --> 01:13:27.899
speed climbing, of course. Awesome. I can't wait

01:13:27.899 --> 01:13:31.079
to see it. It's worldwide shipping, so everybody

01:13:31.079 --> 01:13:37.039
in the globe can buy and get the link and everything.

01:13:37.460 --> 01:13:40.800
Cool. Okay. I guess those are all the questions

01:13:40.800 --> 01:13:43.920
I had. We had a couple of Discord and Instagram

01:13:43.920 --> 01:13:48.000
questions come through that we'll go into. First

01:13:48.000 --> 01:13:51.279
one, I think you kind of were hinting at this

01:13:51.279 --> 01:13:54.359
a little bit earlier. This is also maybe a little

01:13:54.359 --> 01:13:57.239
bit, I don't know, might be a little controversial,

01:13:57.460 --> 01:14:00.939
I guess. What's your opinion on the latest changes

01:14:00.939 --> 01:14:05.699
in FEDME? I guess that's the name of the federation,

01:14:05.880 --> 01:14:10.899
F -E -D -M -E, the Spain federation. Wow. That's

01:14:10.899 --> 01:14:14.840
very controversial, yeah. Okay, yeah. So what's

01:14:14.840 --> 01:14:17.779
your opinion on the latest changes there? Particularly

01:14:17.779 --> 01:14:22.319
the firing of David Macia from the Olympic selection

01:14:22.319 --> 01:14:26.380
for 2028. A little controversial. A little controversial.

01:14:29.600 --> 01:14:35.060
I mean, it's not difficult, but I don't know

01:14:35.060 --> 01:14:37.840
what the people want to get with this question.

01:14:38.000 --> 01:14:40.899
You know, that's the weird part. Like, I could

01:14:40.899 --> 01:14:44.579
be honest. I could say what I think, but I don't

01:14:44.579 --> 01:14:48.859
know if people is going to misuse this. So I'm

01:14:48.859 --> 01:14:53.380
being very cautious about it. So I think I will

01:14:53.380 --> 01:14:59.000
not say if it's, if I'm like my feelings about

01:14:59.000 --> 01:15:02.939
it, I will not say it. I just want to say that

01:15:02.939 --> 01:15:09.500
from a speed climbing perspective, all the changes.

01:15:10.329 --> 01:15:15.010
are being good because um we are now more open

01:15:15.010 --> 01:15:19.289
i was like it was part of the job i was like

01:15:19.289 --> 01:15:23.409
in this facility uh super focused for the olympic

01:15:23.409 --> 01:15:27.010
qualifiers for the olympics and everything so

01:15:27.010 --> 01:15:31.250
we we closed ourselves a lot and now i feel that

01:15:31.250 --> 01:15:34.789
i'm open and that i'm working again with the

01:15:34.789 --> 01:15:39.170
little kids that i'm open with the teams from

01:15:39.770 --> 01:15:42.510
other regions in Spain that I'm developing speed,

01:15:42.770 --> 01:15:47.149
you know, like I'm adding my grain of sand in

01:15:47.149 --> 01:15:53.090
this national community and that now makes me

01:15:53.090 --> 01:15:59.210
happy. But this was going to happen either with

01:15:59.210 --> 01:16:05.449
David or without him. So to be honest, for me,

01:16:09.290 --> 01:16:11.770
like for me it was a little bit of the same if

01:16:11.770 --> 01:16:18.390
he stayed or or no, you know like This is a little

01:16:18.390 --> 01:16:20.430
bit selfish. No, no, no. I don't want to say

01:16:20.430 --> 01:16:22.689
it was the same No, I don't want to comment about

01:16:22.689 --> 01:16:27.649
Speed about boulder indeed, but speed climbing

01:16:27.649 --> 01:16:31.909
now is perfect So that's what I want to say about

01:16:31.909 --> 01:16:35.550
our latest change here in the Federation. I think

01:16:35.550 --> 01:16:38.289
we're working good We're working together. We

01:16:38.289 --> 01:16:42.090
are working with a specialist, Mateusz Miroslav,

01:16:42.289 --> 01:16:49.949
which is the gold medalist for the women's and

01:16:49.949 --> 01:16:55.090
world record holder as well with Ola Miroslav.

01:16:55.810 --> 01:17:00.229
So he's a super crazy good coach, super nice

01:17:00.229 --> 01:17:04.270
guy. And I am really having a lot of fun training

01:17:04.270 --> 01:17:07.699
with him. I just, I don't know too much of what

01:17:07.699 --> 01:17:09.899
happened. Is it like a really long story? We

01:17:09.899 --> 01:17:11.180
don't have to get into it. No, no, no, it's not.

01:17:11.359 --> 01:17:16.380
I mean, after every Olympic cycle, it's like

01:17:16.380 --> 01:17:18.779
classic, just that people want to make a novel

01:17:18.779 --> 01:17:21.520
about everything. You know how it is. There wasn't,

01:17:21.520 --> 01:17:24.920
every Olympic cycle, there is sports elections,

01:17:25.260 --> 01:17:30.819
like federation elections. They got to help new

01:17:30.819 --> 01:17:35.800
elections. So the federation was changed. There

01:17:35.800 --> 01:17:41.260
was a new plancha, like a new guy trying to come.

01:17:41.399 --> 01:17:45.699
He won. He kicked the other people out. And this

01:17:45.699 --> 01:17:51.520
new federation decided that David wasn't going

01:17:51.520 --> 01:17:55.779
to be the seleccionador, which is the person

01:17:55.779 --> 01:17:59.739
that chooses who goes to each competition. So

01:17:59.739 --> 01:18:03.260
I think that one of the mistakes is that people

01:18:03.260 --> 01:18:06.100
are thinking, oh, David is... not going to train

01:18:06.100 --> 01:18:08.119
anymore. No, no, no, no, no. He's still a trainer.

01:18:08.239 --> 01:18:11.840
And I think that he was, he's a very good trainer.

01:18:11.939 --> 01:18:15.420
He still trains Alberto and many other athletes.

01:18:15.520 --> 01:18:19.800
And for that, he's doing like, you can see his

01:18:19.800 --> 01:18:22.699
results. He's doing a perfect job. But that has

01:18:22.699 --> 01:18:27.720
nothing to do with the job of choosing the people

01:18:27.720 --> 01:18:30.500
that goes to this competition or that competition.

01:18:30.899 --> 01:18:34.590
Okay, gotcha. David has now less power to choose

01:18:34.590 --> 01:18:37.050
who goes to this competition or that competition.

01:18:37.329 --> 01:18:41.609
Well, yes, but maybe we can give the chance to

01:18:41.609 --> 01:18:45.510
another person. I don't think that... I don't

01:18:45.510 --> 01:18:49.510
know. It's not bad or it's not good. And that

01:18:49.510 --> 01:18:53.350
was the whole story. But what happened? It doesn't

01:18:53.350 --> 01:18:58.390
apply to us. Because David, before even he was...

01:18:58.720 --> 01:19:01.340
change it or kick that or whatever you want to

01:19:01.340 --> 01:19:05.180
call it, he already incorporated Mateos to the

01:19:05.180 --> 01:19:10.359
team. So speed climbing was already separated,

01:19:10.720 --> 01:19:14.439
splitted before everything happened. So that's

01:19:14.439 --> 01:19:17.739
why it's meaningless a little bit to us. We have

01:19:17.739 --> 01:19:20.939
nothing to do with that anymore. Okay. Good to

01:19:20.939 --> 01:19:24.329
know that it's not like a really... Too controversial,

01:19:24.590 --> 01:19:27.229
at least. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm just cautious

01:19:27.229 --> 01:19:31.130
because you know that people love to speak a

01:19:31.130 --> 01:19:35.050
lot. Yeah, they're bored at home. Eric said this.

01:19:35.130 --> 01:19:38.789
To be honest, all the stuff that I'm saying here,

01:19:38.989 --> 01:19:41.449
they are not meant to harm. They are not meant

01:19:41.449 --> 01:19:47.170
to... I want to create the most positive impact

01:19:47.170 --> 01:19:50.250
on my community, to be honest. And that kind

01:19:50.250 --> 01:19:53.619
of chitchat, if it doesn't create... Positive

01:19:53.619 --> 01:19:58.100
impact, omit it. That's my message to the people.

01:19:59.199 --> 01:20:03.479
Don't pay attention to it. Okay. Awesome. Okay.

01:20:04.039 --> 01:20:06.899
We'll move on then. So next question. What do

01:20:06.899 --> 01:20:08.800
you think of all the ideas to innovate on speed,

01:20:09.039 --> 01:20:12.479
like relays, changing the route every year, four

01:20:12.479 --> 01:20:16.260
climbers at a time, anything else? Well, I think

01:20:16.260 --> 01:20:19.260
that relays is a very nice format. We tried it

01:20:19.260 --> 01:20:22.350
in Madrid and the result. The result was amazing.

01:20:22.510 --> 01:20:26.329
I think everybody loved it. We were able to do

01:20:26.329 --> 01:20:30.970
many runs. The competition in general had more

01:20:30.970 --> 01:20:33.689
sense. We had more opportunities. It was faster.

01:20:34.229 --> 01:20:38.770
That format was very, very nice. About changing

01:20:38.770 --> 01:20:43.369
the route every year, I'm not sure about it.

01:20:43.449 --> 01:20:48.770
That's a tough one. To be honest, we can create

01:20:48.770 --> 01:20:54.029
a new sport. we can do uh on -site speed climbing

01:20:54.029 --> 01:20:58.069
or classic speed climbing and then we have people

01:20:58.069 --> 01:21:04.289
who is very good on um creating new paths so

01:21:04.289 --> 01:21:06.289
to speak and then we have people who is very

01:21:06.289 --> 01:21:11.289
good on be strong and and develop it so much

01:21:11.289 --> 01:21:16.630
technique that goes up super fast but creating

01:21:16.630 --> 01:21:20.020
a mix doesn't make a lot of sense you know having

01:21:20.020 --> 01:21:23.300
having the world record meant a lot to us to

01:21:23.300 --> 01:21:27.159
the olympics to all the all this sport that we

01:21:27.159 --> 01:21:32.260
are developing now so taking taking that out

01:21:32.260 --> 01:21:35.840
it would be messing it up like it would be a

01:21:35.840 --> 01:21:40.600
step back for us so i i wouldn't advise to change

01:21:40.600 --> 01:21:45.060
the route but if we want to see again that classic

01:21:45.060 --> 01:21:48.319
format then we have to create another sport and

01:21:48.319 --> 01:21:52.420
make, like before, speed climbing on site. That

01:21:52.420 --> 01:21:56.619
could be also very cool. I'm super pro into trying

01:21:56.619 --> 01:22:01.380
new things, into keep pushing, like everything,

01:22:01.579 --> 01:22:05.479
create content, everything that may give us visibility

01:22:05.479 --> 01:22:11.659
and grow opportunity and change even the game.

01:22:11.699 --> 01:22:14.579
For me, that's a very positive aspect. Okay,

01:22:14.659 --> 01:22:18.859
makes sense. Thanks. um okay next one why did

01:22:18.859 --> 01:22:21.180
you decide to run the chinese top when no one

01:22:21.180 --> 01:22:23.819
else was and can you give like a brief explanation

01:22:23.819 --> 01:22:27.000
of context of what that is okay yeah the chinese

01:22:27.000 --> 01:22:32.000
tub uh like the classic move you grab food chip

01:22:32.000 --> 01:22:36.939
okay it's very hard not to speak in speed climbing

01:22:36.939 --> 01:22:41.500
uh terms uh i think that might be okay yeah okay

01:22:41.500 --> 01:22:48.170
okay in the in the end move uh people were grabbing

01:22:48.170 --> 01:22:53.409
a hold like a foot chip 18, 20, 90 and then top

01:22:53.409 --> 01:22:58.149
and then I switched to going to the left in that

01:22:58.149 --> 01:23:04.770
moment it was very weird movement and like nobody

01:23:04.770 --> 01:23:12.569
knew if it was better or no but to me it was

01:23:12.569 --> 01:23:17.569
very very clear that it was more straight to

01:23:17.569 --> 01:23:20.470
go to the top like you didn't have to make a

01:23:20.470 --> 01:23:24.010
curve like it was yeah it was a little bit of

01:23:24.010 --> 01:23:27.670
intuitive like I saw it and for me by intuition

01:23:27.670 --> 01:23:32.569
it was much better and and then I said like okay

01:23:32.569 --> 01:23:34.750
I just have to do it and so it worked out for

01:23:34.750 --> 01:23:36.670
you I know you mentioned the top has always been

01:23:36.670 --> 01:23:40.689
hard so for for everyone everyone switch it up

01:23:40.689 --> 01:23:44.310
in the ending of the season okay so everyone's

01:23:44.310 --> 01:23:47.819
doing it now Yes, that was the thing. Like I

01:23:47.819 --> 01:23:53.199
was able to see a game changer stuff very, very

01:23:53.199 --> 01:23:57.319
early. But for me, once again, it was intuitive.

01:23:57.479 --> 01:24:00.180
Like I saw the movement and I tried and for me

01:24:00.180 --> 01:24:02.560
it was very logic. Like, yes, of course, this

01:24:02.560 --> 01:24:06.640
has got to be like this. So people were skeptic,

01:24:06.680 --> 01:24:13.159
but for me it was no error margin. And it was

01:24:13.159 --> 01:24:15.680
crazy because a lot of people, the world record

01:24:15.680 --> 01:24:18.539
was with other techniques. So the people were

01:24:18.539 --> 01:24:21.199
like, why aren't you doing the world record technique?

01:24:21.340 --> 01:24:23.199
You know, it didn't make sense. That's why it

01:24:23.199 --> 01:24:25.979
was very crazy for me to change it. How long

01:24:25.979 --> 01:24:28.520
did it take you to like just start incorporating

01:24:28.520 --> 01:24:30.520
that one instead of doing what you were doing

01:24:30.520 --> 01:24:34.939
before? I think about myself as a very adaptable

01:24:34.939 --> 01:24:38.539
person. So it took me, I remember like one month.

01:24:38.680 --> 01:24:42.090
I was like training for one month. And then I

01:24:42.090 --> 01:24:46.069
was able to put it on the competition. But then

01:24:46.069 --> 01:24:52.329
I switched from foot chip to hold 15. And that

01:24:52.329 --> 01:24:56.609
took me a little bit longer. Wow. I'm just now

01:24:56.609 --> 01:25:01.050
realizing how little I know about speed climbing.

01:25:01.369 --> 01:25:04.609
Because I just, I mean, it goes so fast. I don't

01:25:04.609 --> 01:25:07.430
even notice people doing different techniques

01:25:07.430 --> 01:25:10.529
at any. point on the wall it's just like i mean

01:25:10.529 --> 01:25:14.029
it's only five seconds there's no yeah yeah and

01:25:14.029 --> 01:25:17.590
it's also crazy because i like i don't expect

01:25:17.590 --> 01:25:22.369
you to know the numbers of the hole so when i'm

01:25:22.369 --> 01:25:26.210
speaking i'm saying a number i'm i'm on a part

01:25:26.210 --> 01:25:28.409
of the route and you have no idea where i'm on

01:25:28.409 --> 01:25:32.369
the route so i it's very hard yeah it's really

01:25:32.369 --> 01:25:35.670
hard to explain yeah okay yeah exactly also exactly

01:25:35.670 --> 01:25:39.779
i gotta study that myself too Okay, next one.

01:25:39.859 --> 01:25:42.539
Do you have advice for people starting out speed

01:25:42.539 --> 01:25:46.659
climbing? Well, first of all, have fun. Like,

01:25:46.659 --> 01:25:49.720
try to have fun while doing speed. That's the

01:25:49.720 --> 01:25:54.279
main reason why we do it. And try to climb straight.

01:25:55.039 --> 01:25:59.659
That would be my advice. Try to avoid going from

01:25:59.659 --> 01:26:02.260
one side to the other. And what about in terms

01:26:02.260 --> 01:26:06.760
of, like, training? In terms of training, be

01:26:06.760 --> 01:26:09.439
cautious. It's very easy to break your fingers.

01:26:09.779 --> 01:26:14.100
There is no studies about it, but it happens.

01:26:14.340 --> 01:26:17.859
So hear your body whenever you feel pain on your

01:26:17.859 --> 01:26:24.340
fingers. Be cautious. And sometimes, I don't

01:26:24.340 --> 01:26:28.020
know, like less is more, but also train hard.

01:26:28.779 --> 01:26:32.859
And last question, how was training with the

01:26:32.859 --> 01:26:35.479
Indonesians? Some people noticed improvements

01:26:35.479 --> 01:26:40.659
after. Oh, that's really good to hear. Well,

01:26:40.859 --> 01:26:43.720
training with Indonesians and being in Indonesia

01:26:43.720 --> 01:26:47.579
was life changing for me. I think it's very,

01:26:47.699 --> 01:26:53.000
very nice people. Like in this country, they

01:26:53.000 --> 01:26:57.079
have somehow the same temperature, the same humidity

01:26:57.079 --> 01:26:59.680
and the same kind of feeling I had in Venezuela.

01:27:00.779 --> 01:27:04.840
Also the noise there. architecture many stuff

01:27:04.840 --> 01:27:09.220
remind me of Venezuela and they are also super

01:27:09.220 --> 01:27:13.979
nice so I felt a huge bond with them and we had

01:27:13.979 --> 01:27:17.279
the opportunity to spend more than one month

01:27:17.279 --> 01:27:21.399
with the team training in Santicas in Jakarta

01:27:21.399 --> 01:27:27.779
and of course this super nice environment makes

01:27:27.779 --> 01:27:32.300
you want to push And training with the fastest

01:27:32.300 --> 01:27:36.840
guys of the planet also makes you improve a lot.

01:27:38.739 --> 01:27:41.520
That would be a very cool advice for the people

01:27:41.520 --> 01:27:45.260
that are starting to do speed climbing. Try to

01:27:45.260 --> 01:27:50.460
stick yourself with better people. And yeah,

01:27:51.220 --> 01:27:54.460
stick with better people. That's a very good

01:27:54.460 --> 01:27:58.460
advice. Of course, that's why it was very, not

01:27:58.460 --> 01:28:02.979
easy, but it was, you were able to look that

01:28:02.979 --> 01:28:06.520
I improved after one month. Imagine one month

01:28:06.520 --> 01:28:09.300
training with Vedrick, you know, it was like

01:28:09.300 --> 01:28:13.720
the same. I went to Salt Lake City last year

01:28:13.720 --> 01:28:17.079
and training them with all the beasts that you

01:28:17.079 --> 01:28:19.979
have there in Salt Lake City made me push so

01:28:19.979 --> 01:28:24.050
hard that. I hope that you also would see my

01:28:24.050 --> 01:28:30.550
improvement on the season. But I think I will

01:28:30.550 --> 01:28:35.090
highlight those two stuff in Indonesia. The people

01:28:35.090 --> 01:28:39.090
and the level. Did you ever feel intimidated

01:28:39.090 --> 01:28:43.949
training there? Not intimidated. But, of course,

01:28:44.109 --> 01:28:49.810
I knew that I had a lot of work to do. Okay,

01:28:49.930 --> 01:28:53.560
yeah. Always good to learn from, yeah. I felt

01:28:53.560 --> 01:28:58.060
that I was a couple of years behind them. But

01:28:58.060 --> 01:29:03.840
that's okay. Like I said, it made me push and

01:29:03.840 --> 01:29:08.300
it made me admire them a lot. And that's very

01:29:08.300 --> 01:29:12.300
nice. Okay, that was the last question. Well,

01:29:12.359 --> 01:29:15.460
there were a couple of other people just talking

01:29:15.460 --> 01:29:20.300
about how great you were in the Instagram question

01:29:20.300 --> 01:29:25.020
answer box. Pedro said, Eric's a great guy, always

01:29:25.020 --> 01:29:30.560
helping others. I don't know if you know this

01:29:30.560 --> 01:29:34.880
person, Lili Clymer? Leslie, yeah. Oh, okay,

01:29:34.880 --> 01:29:37.850
Leslie. Yeah, she just asked, how can you be

01:29:37.850 --> 01:29:46.649
so handsome? I'm going to ask her because I follow

01:29:46.649 --> 01:29:52.229
all your beauty advices, Leslie. Thank you. Okay.

01:29:52.569 --> 01:29:55.329
Yeah, I just figured that they would want to

01:29:55.329 --> 01:30:00.000
get the shout out there. Okay, awesome. So that's

01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:02.100
all the questions I had. Thanks for joining me

01:30:02.100 --> 01:30:05.760
today. Any last minute words of wisdom you want

01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:08.899
to get out there? No, just wanted to say thank

01:30:08.899 --> 01:30:11.819
you for the opportunity for giving me voice.

01:30:12.479 --> 01:30:16.819
It was very fun. I had a blast. I hope that once

01:30:16.819 --> 01:30:22.199
again. the people enjoy this podcast and that

01:30:22.199 --> 01:30:26.840
I'm open to anyone who wants to keep chatting

01:30:26.840 --> 01:30:30.760
with me on my Instagram. Just send me a DM or

01:30:30.760 --> 01:30:35.039
whatever. And of course, thank you all the audience

01:30:35.039 --> 01:30:39.539
for taking their time and listen to us having

01:30:39.539 --> 01:30:43.020
a fun conversation. I will link all of that in

01:30:43.020 --> 01:30:45.220
the description. All right. Thank you. It was

01:30:45.220 --> 01:30:49.680
amazing to talk to you. perfect i have a great

01:30:49.680 --> 01:30:52.380
time once again and thank you very much thank

01:30:52.380 --> 01:30:55.000
you so much for making it to the end of the podcast

01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:57.779
don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed

01:30:57.779 --> 01:31:01.619
otherwise you are a super big climber if you're

01:31:01.619 --> 01:31:04.020
listening on a podcasting platform i'd appreciate

01:31:04.020 --> 01:31:06.760
if you rate it five stars and you can continue

01:31:06.760 --> 01:31:09.560
the discussion on the free competition climbing

01:31:09.560 --> 01:31:12.539
discord linked in the description thanks again

01:31:12.539 --> 01:31:18.789
for listening Thank you.
