40: Erik Noya, Spanish Speed Climber
Erik is an accomplished speed climber from Spain! In this episode, we’ll learn about how politics destroyed climbing in Venezuela, what it was like starting over with life and training in Spain, injuries in speed climbing, and we’ll get his thoughts on other speed climbing formats like relays and yearly route changes. Hear from speed climbing’s most positive athlete!
Timestamps
Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Intro
1:11 - Mad Rock Shoutout!!
1:59 - Training at a special facility
4:12 - How he started climbing and competing
11:00 - IFSC athlete page mixup
14:46 - Moving from Venezuela to Spain
16:07 - Why he moved away from Venezuela
24:06 - Venezuela's PREVIOUS climbing dominance
31:07 - Starting over in Spain
36:54 - The differences in speed training
40:10 - Bad speed climbing habits to break
46:40 - Reflecting on OQS and not making the Olympics
54:37 - Climbing goals for 2025 season
57:26 - Being an older climber
59:37 - Knowing when to give up
1:02:27 - Speed climbing injuries?!
1:07:32 - Life outside of speed climbing
1:13:54 - Discord Q: Opinion on the changes in FEDME: the firing of David Macia from the Olympics selection for 2028?
1:19:57 - Discord Q: Thoughts on relays, changing the route yearly, etc?
1:22:09 - IG Q: Why did you run the Chinese top the nobody else was?
1:25:30 - IG Q: Advice for people starting out speed climbing?
1:26:23 - IG Q: How was training in Indonesia?
1:29:52 - Words of wisdom + where to find Erik
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WEBVTT
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To be honest, back in those days, training like
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a caveman, it was super fun. I love it. Speed
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in Spain was not developed at all. Like, I came
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here in 2017 to Madrid specifically because they
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built there the first wall in 2017. Of course,
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at the same time, I was training. With who? With
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nobody. How? Alone. Everybody thinks that we
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don't get injuries. fingers but no we get the
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same welcome to another episode of the that's
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not real climbing podcast i'm your host Jinni
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and i'm excited to introduce my guest for today
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Erik Noya if you're not familiar eric is an accomplished
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speed climber from spain In this episode, we'll
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learn about how politics destroyed climbing in
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Venezuela, what it was like starting over with
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life and training in Spain, injuries in speed
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climbing, and we'll get his thoughts on other
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speed climbing formats like relays and yearly
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route changes. I hope you enjoy this episode
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with Erik. Real quick, I'm excited to announce
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my new sponsor helping make this podcast episode
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possible, Mad Rock Climbing. I got fitted with
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their brand new line of high -performance shoes,
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the D2 .1s. They just came out December 6th,
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but you might notice a few of your favorite gomp
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climbers are already wearing them, like Oscar
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Baudrin from Team Canada, and also me. This is
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the first time I've gotten to wear their shoes
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for an extended period of time, and I'm actually
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super impressed with the grip of their in -house
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rubber. And of course, the famous drone heel
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that everyone says is the cheat code to heel
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hooking small edges. Feel free to message me
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if you have any questions about the shoes or
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sizing, and you can use the discount code NOTREALCLIMBER
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for 10 % off your entire MedRock order. Info
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will be in the description. Back to the show.
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How are you doing today? Did you like train today
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earlier? I know you mentioned. showering so yeah
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I'm fine thank you yeah I went to the gym this
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morning I had a upper body session and yeah then
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I ate at the same facility where I train it's
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like a facility that we have here in Barcelona
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so I ate there then I went to the market I bought
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a couple of stuff then came home shower and now
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I'm here Is this like a training center kind
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of thing or is it just like a regular gym? No,
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it's like a specialized facility for athlete
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training and development, especially for Olympic
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athletes. So it's like a sponsorship, but that's
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the way. That's an easy way to see it, but it's
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a sponsorship that we have the athletes here
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in Spain. So we can go to a super cool facility
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without paying some extra money. And yeah, there
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we have for eating, we have physiotherapy, we
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have, of course, the gym and even the sports
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inside. We have the climbing gym. uh the the
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climbing wall sorry but it was rented so uh now
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we don't have it but as you can see uh it's a
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very cool facility to to train and there is the
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possibility to live and i lived there one year
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oh and now i have another spot yeah it's like
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a um crazy training spot We have like three in
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Spain, this big. Wow. And it's a methodology.
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Why'd you move out? Sounds like a great place
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to live. I moved out because I wanted to live
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alone and because I started a relationship with
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someone. So it was not possible for her to live
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with me in this facility. So I decided to go
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out with her. Okay. That's a fair reason, I guess.
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yeah yeah so yeah let's just get into how you
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started climbing and competing um and also one
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of the instagram questions that came in was what
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inspired you about speed climbing specifically
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oh that's so nice um well i started climbing
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when i was eight years old uh the first time
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i tried was in a birthday party uh with a friend
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but it was very special because yeah but This
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time it was in the rocks. So my first time climbing,
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it wasn't an indoor gym. It was an outdoor. Yeah,
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it was outdoor. So that was super nice. For me,
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I felt amazing. I loved it. And the feeling I
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got is that it was very easy for me. And the
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other kids were a bit scared or it was like difficult
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to do the moves. And for me, climbing was like
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very intuitive. So I liked that everyone was
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like, oh, I think you did good. I cheered and
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stuff. And I like it. But I was very small. So
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it was like only one time. But then my mom was
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skipping traffic in the hometown where I grew
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up. And we went on a different way. we are not
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used to and i saw a climbing gym i had no idea
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that we had a climbing gym in my hometown so
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i told my mom like okay i want to do that and
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um she was like not so happy because she's a
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little bit afraid of heights and i had to beg
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her like for one week and then after So many
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days pushing like, please, mom, take me there.
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I would love to try. She said like, OK, let's
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go there. And I tried and it was like love at
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first sight. I just fell in love with the sport,
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with the environment. I came from swimming, which
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is a very competitive environment. And then I.
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uh ended up in this climbing gym where everybody
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was so friendly they wanted to help me and um
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i don't know it was like uh home it felt like
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home to be honest like the same feeling when
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you got with your kids at the school but while
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doing a sport you know so that was kind of a
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nice feeling and that's how i started basically
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and then when did you start doing competitions
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well in this gym Like they had this philosophy
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where you do all three disciplines, like speed
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and boulder. So you had a speed wall there? No,
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because I was like eight years old. Like there
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wasn't even official speed lanes and everything.
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The speed competitions were on site. It was like
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you went to a isolation zone. This is very funny.
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You went to isolation zone, then you had like
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six minutes to read the route and then you started
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racing. So it was a different sport because like
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you had to adapt on every round. And of course,
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you have to read the route, how you're going
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to jump and stuff. Then you have to adapt on
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each round and improve the... the method, so
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to speak, to be faster. And that was very, very
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fun. It was the old school kind of competitions.
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Yeah. The speed route started in 2007. Okay.
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Yeah. And it arrived to Venezuela like two years
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before that. So imagine, I touched that route
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when I was 15. or 16 years so yeah did you always
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feel most inspired by speed climbing then or
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were you more interested in bouldering or lead
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no i had the same passion for all of them like
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for me when when i was a kid it was like everything
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kind of the same different but the same it was
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climbing and i had fun doing all of them for
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me speed climbing i felt always uh more competition
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on it and uh that was nice you know when you
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are growing up racing with your friends that
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was very funny and i loved that um also i had
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bigger influences that went out to competitions
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and did pretty good in international competitions
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and uh for me that was a lesson that's something
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i learned that i could travel around the world
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um competing and um Like I saw that environment
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since little, since I was starting to grow in
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the climbing community. So I saw an opportunity
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there. But I had the same passion for boulder
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and leap. And I trained them very hard too. Just
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that then to international, for going to international
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competitions, it was easier to. Or we were better
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in general in speed than in lead and bouldering.
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Of course, the competitive level in Venezuela
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was very different than the competitive level
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in Europe. So we get usually more fundings with
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speed than with lead and bouldering. But that
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was back in Venezuela, of course. Here in Spain,
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it's a different story. It's just the opposite,
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which is very interesting. But I think I'm a
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very particular case because, yeah, I have been
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in touch with all three disciplines since I started
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to do climbing. And yeah, I only stopped doing
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boulder and lead five or six years ago. Maybe
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when I started to compete like super, super hard,
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something like that. But until then, I did all
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three. And yeah, that was kind of a resume of
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my speed climbing history. Then in terms of competition,
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I saw you only started competing in IFSC in 2019.
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So at that point, I guess you were like 25 around
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that time. Um, why did it take you so long to
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start like competing internationally? I think
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in the, I'm not sure if this, uh, still like
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this, I guess. Yes. But if you go to the ISCC,
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there is two profiles of Eric Noia, one for Venezuela
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and one for Spain. So you probably went to the,
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uh, Spanish profile, but. You can go to the Venezuelan
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profile and there are also some results. So,
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yeah, I started competing since very, very young
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age. Like I said, in this gym, I don't know,
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like the philosophy was, yes, learn to climbing
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and have fun and everything. But it was also
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like for going to competition. It was very, very
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different than nowadays. big climbing gyms. This
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was a super, super small spot. We call it the
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caves. It was a super dark place with super old
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holes. So it was a very different story than
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we know from climbing and competitions from these
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days. So I remember I was probably like nine.
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or 10 years when I did my first competition like
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I started climbing and six months after I was
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already competing it was like super youth competitions
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and I had to go with older people than me because
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in my category there was no one or they were
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new people so it wasn't fair so yeah I started
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very very young And because of that, I like normalized
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competing. I started to have fun with it and
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I just didn't leave the competitions. And once
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again, for me, traveling around Venezuela first
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was... Very nice for me was an adventure with
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all my friends, knowing all the people, climbers
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from other regions from Venezuela. That was very
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fun for me. And I wanted to keep doing it. And
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I did. I started then doing international competitions
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when I was 15 years old. And actually, that was
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my first international competition. No, wait,
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wait, wait a second. I don't know if I went to...
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some South American Cup before this IFSC Youth
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World Championships I'm not sure I'm not sure
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if I had some regional in South America before
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this but like the first event or the first major
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event for the IFSC that I remember was the Youth
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World Championships in Valence France Back in
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2000, I don't know when, I was 15 years old.
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And that was the first time I touched it like
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a speed route with the official speed holds.
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It wasn't the official route because it was too
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hard still for the youths. But it was my first
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international competitions with the hold. And
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I remember that I moved before this competition
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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
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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.
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I did my first national competition in 2018.
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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
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I won that competition. That was the first time
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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,
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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other perks include a membership pin shipped
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00:47:22.030 --> 00:47:24.710
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help out non -monetarily, liking, commenting,
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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.
