Re"soul"ing my Anasazi...

It all started when my friend Shiwen, one of the owner of Madmonkeyz Bouldering Gym ordered 2 big sheets of Madrubber from Madrock. And I was given 2 pcs of Bottom soles and 2 pcs of Rand soles.

Everyone in our group got excited especially the older climbers like me due to the fact that we have too many old shoes that is left in the store untouched due to the sole condition that limits the climbing performance...

And we all took home 4 pcs of rubbers happily... So, what's next... None of us actually know what to do with the 4 pcs of rubber we took home, so we decided to ask Mr Google and Mrs Youtube to give us some hints of how to it should begin. There are tonnes of video and article about Climbing shoe resoling but non actually shares how the Rand resole is done. Guess it's a Secret Recipe where all the resolers refuse to share.

Anyway, Shiwen started off with his girlfriend's sister's shoe. And next, there are some tricky and creative attempts from Fey and Shang.... Different people came out with different idea and method of resoling.. So, everyone achieved different result along the way...

So, this is my step by step attempt with some pictures attached.

Picture above shows the hole on the Rand and the worn sole with round edge at the shoe tip.

First of all, I Cut off the bottom sole from the shoe carefully. I try to avoid any accident by cutting the inner sole which is the leather. Then, I brushed the the remaining to flatten the bottom , I then brushed off the rubber on the hole and other thin weak area to make it even thinner.

*Bare in mind, you only trim down the affected area. Not the entire rand. And you don't want to remove the rand completely... Just trim down.

On the new material, surface preparation is important. I use a metal brush to brush one of the surface that's ready for Contact Adhesive application.

Apply Contact adhesive on the rand and the prepared surface of the new rubber and patiently, wait for at least 30 minutes. Actually, this is the hardest part because Humans are impatient.

Wrap the rand rubber on top of the area which you trimmed. In this case, I overlap it on the untrimmed area. by a little. And next, trim the excess rubber which might cause difficulty in folding later. Then, you fold them onto the bottom. Please use force when folding in so that it follows the shape of the shoe.

At this point, you may realized the fold down part is not falt and fold a little. Grind it flat. Remember not to over grind it to remain the strength of the rubber.

Next, I prepared the bottom sole surface by doing the exact same thing u did when I prepare the the rand sole surface. I also grind the bottom surface one more time to make it smooth and flat. I then clean both surface which I prepared for Contact Adhesive application.

So, Contact Adhesive was applied at both soon to contact surface and waited for 30 minutes. And again, Patience is very important.

After wrapping the bottom with the new sole, I trim off the excess rubber according to the shoe shape. And the final step would be grinding off  the edge of the rand to make them smooth and also grind off the bottom sole. Best is to eliminate any contact opening. 

And finally... TADAAAA!!!!! This is my Old 5.10 Anasazi with new Soul...

Thank you for reading though there might not be any. Have a great day and happy trying.

Timz

"Because it's there... "-George Mallory

To all the climbers in the world, there is a name to remember other than Edmund Hillary, Norgay Tenzing, Chris Sharma and Babu Chiri Sherpa... George Herbert Mallory Leigh( 18 June 1886 - 8 June 1924) which was believed to have ascended Everest 29 years before The Edmund-Tenzing did.

George Mallory was asked once, "Why do you want to climb the Everest..?", and his answer was, "Because it's there..."

15 years ago, I started Rock Climbing... And after realizing that I appreciate the adventure and height than the grade, I started to learn more about climbing height and not difficulty... As I read more and more about rock climbing, I was bumped into an article, "Big Wall, the ultimate adventure for Rock Climbing"... It really triggered my interest. And the closest to start with is doing multipitches climbing. Soon, I started reading more and more about multipitches climbing and I dreamed about being the first among Malaysian Big Wall Climber. I began to read more and more about Big Wall Climbing and I emailed Scotty Nelson, the first ascend of the ONE AND ONLY Big Wall Route in Malaysia, The Waking Dream which was located at Tioman Island, Johor. We discussed about the route and I told him how much I wanted to climb that route...

Somehow in 2001 or 2002, A Malaysian team consist of 5 climbers which I know successfully seconded the Waking Dream. My dream of becoming the first shattered... But I was happy for them and I was glad that Malaysian did it... But I still wanted to climb the The Waking Dream so much...

2 years later, fate has destined me to bumped into my climbing mentor. Mr Anthony Bubb from Clolorado US due to his business trip to Singapore and he came all the way to Batu Caves to climb. And he told me he could climb the The Waking Dream with me... Tony is a known climber in Colorado Climbing community and Scotty Nelson have heard about him. They began discussing about The Waking Dreams and Tony was confident in completing it in 3 days with me. A year later, Tony asked me if I wanna do the Waking Dream in his next business trip to Singapore... I told him I was extremely interested, but I have limited experience on a big wall. So he asked me to look up for a book called Big Wall, written by John Middendorf... John Middendorf was the inventor of Portaledge, the founder of A5 Climbing Equipment, The first person ever ascended an A5 graded Big Wall, The only team ever ascended Trango Tower. I was so excited and started to preparing myself for the ultimate challenge... I went around MPH and POPULAR looking for the book, but I couldn't really find anything similar... So, I tried my luck looking for John and emailed him. To my suprise, he replied.... With the a scratch of the book as an attachment... I was so happy that I couldn't sleep that night... I didn't ever expect such a big name would respond to a small dream by a small person.

When date approaches, I realized that my Dream Shattered for the second time due to the Examination weeks that was scheduled on the day Tony visiting KL. The day came and we went out for some simple climb in Nanyang... On the day he left, He gave me a book Big Wall written by John Middendorf. At the back of the book, Tony wrote.. "Don't let the Waking Dream remain unawaken... Tony Bubb". Tears ran down from my eyes... I was touched and at the same time, also sad... For not being able climb The Waking Dream with the person I wanted to climb most with... Anyway, that was the last time I see Tony in person.

Several years down the road, I did tonnes of multipitches climbing with my closest climbing partner then, KF Lee which is actually my close friend's elder brother. And we did alot of crazy routes and even ascended one of the longest route back then in Selangor... Pussy Key which consist of 9 pitches and having a vertical height of approximately 200 meters from ground. It took us 11 hours to start and ended at where we begun...

Years passes and KF Lee slows down in climbing. And soon, more and more of my climbing partners stopped climbing due to some responsibility and obligation... And me too, soon left climbing 4 years ago due to my shoulder injury... A 3 years complete rest basically doing nothing on Saturday and Sunday.

So, as said in the first post, I was back in climbing about a year ago... And somehow, I manage to take another 2 enthusiast climber into the multipitch climbing... These 2 climbers are far more talented than I am and I am pretty sure they can go further than I was and I will be. Only if they can see their dream... And I hope I can bring them some new inspiration... And see their dream... But, I only manage to make one realizes his dream. I failed on the other one... Maybe Rock climbing and multipitches is not that important for her afterall... Maybe it's just me being over concern about other people's interest... Maybe I should just stop ranting around and get myself a life... Maybe I should stop pushing them because they climb on Saturday or Sunday because they have nothing better to do... haha... It was just me afterall.

Recently, I'm in the process of waking my dream again... I started to buy more and more gears to assist me in my Big Wall project that was scheduled to be on September but postponed to probably April. As planned, I will first make a visit to Colorado to meet up with my long unmet friend plus mentor... And we'll nail some big wall around Zion or Other part of Colorado. If time and financial permits, I will make a Florida to visit one of my friends migrated there from KL. Or, I might meet up with other climbers in California to try out some routes in Yosmite. And when I'm back, I am ready to call up Sharin to wake my unwaken dream...

Well, that's still just a plan until it materializes... But I will never allow it to just flew away just like how it did. If it failed this time, it better gonna be a pretty strong reason...

So, I begin collecting gears for my big wall so that I don't need to pay with my lungs and liver when the time comes... And I've been buying alot of gears.. Some online, and some from my friend whom owns a climbing proshop... He's also one of a person I taught once upon a time. He have been very supportive all the while to sponsor me some gears, some anchors, some chain and other maintenance we did at Nanyang and some other climbing sites. And one day he asked me,

SW: Tim, why are you buying so much gears...? U really want to climb The Waking Dream meh... 
Me: Yeah... You knew I wanted to do it so badly back then right..? If I were to buy all the gears just to climb The Waking Dream, I would...
SW: Wah... Why want to climb Waking Dream and Bigwall so much..?

Me: Because it's there....

Thank you for reading, though there might not be any.... But do take care and have a great day ahead...
Cheers ^^

Timz

Best things in life usually take place when u least expect them

Well... It's been some time... Life has been busy with everything... Anxiety, Climbing, Work, Business... etc... Just everything to make things short... Well, Guess that's life...

Recently, I'm back with insomnia and migraine... Crap, wose case scenario... Haha... Well, I've gone through worse... Not sure what causes this... But I have my way to do with my insomnia... Though I still can't sleep well, but I learnt to relax by spending 30min to an hour of personal time with my guitar... Trying to play some old songs and learning some new songs... singing to myself...

Hmm... just about a month back, I had a sudden urge of doing something which I believe i am talented in, but I haven't do for a real long time... Drawing and painting... It's not out of nowhere I suddenly wanted to draw and paint... It was to make a very special Birthday Card for someone special to me... Though I may not be very special to her... Haha...

It started when I was walking around in POPULAR Book store... And I saw some colour card... I bought a variety of them in different color and thickness... And I got myself a few different grade pencils, a pack of watercolors, some brushes, and a book of artblock... So, I went home and begin scratching.. scrapping... scratching... and scrapping.... It used to be so easy, so friendly... But it felt like a stranger to me now... Well, after weeks passes, and the birthday card plus comic was finally being presented to my dream girl on Thursday night... And I ordered a bouquet of roses to be sent to her office on Friday too...

Friday came and I called her... She was out from the office before my roses arrives.. Shit... And Saturday, she head North for her sisters' graduation with her family, Sunday was the actual graduation day and her birthday. So, she and her family extended the weekend and had a trip to Cameron and finaly back on Monday late evening... Well, I suspect the roses would be dead by the time she sees it. Or maybe the cleaner should have relocate it into a rubbish bin for attracting ants and produces odor... Too many question in my mind...

On Saturday evening as I was attempting to meet her at Kampar... And on my way, suddenly something told me to stop... Because I might be doing too much and it may scare her... So, I u turned and went home... However, I managed to call her and wished her Happy Birthday and got to know that she have yet to open the Birthday card... well, maybe it's not that special to her afterall, or there might be tonnes of idiots like me doing the same thing...

Somehow, I had a chat with one of my very close friend... She asked to meet up before she deliver her second baby which was scheduled to be on 10ish of September. But I couldn't make it on Saturday itself.

Sunday was a working day for me... It was an extremely hot day. Well, no messages, no reply, and not answering calls. Maybe I scared her or something. Work dismissed earlier than scheduled, so I called my friend for a dinner. And yeah, we went out for wantan mee and tongsui. Had a great dinner with lotsa laughter talking about the old days...

Monday came... was still worried if the roses survived the hot weekend. But there's nothing I can do. As usual, started my day with a morning wish to her... And didn't expect much. But instead of a reply from her, I received a message from my close friend. She delivered a baby boy... And both are safe... What a WOW on a Monday morning... The baby wanted to see the world 3 weeks ahead and it just came out. Look, Saturday, she wanted to meet up for a dinner and say let's meet up before the delivery but I couldn't make it. And Sunday we met up for a dinner and all of a sudden, Baby boy came out on Monday...

What a week to start with... Guess best things in life happen when u least expect them... And I think I should expect too much sometimes and just do what I've gotta do.... And let fate destine my journey...

Not sure if this will help in my migraine and insomnia... But it will at least, I guess it will loose some tense in my already saturated brain...

Have a nice day everyone. Thanks for reading though there might not be any... :-)

Tim