Nina Williams Instagram – Are you the one that works hard, dials in all the beta and trains for an objective or the one that just says “what the worst that can happen?” A few years back, @sheneenagins and I teamed up to simul the Diamond. It went so smoothly that we entertained the idea of the Longs Peak triathlon. It didn’t take long for Nina to get serious, she bought a bike started training, became a biker, and refreshed her alpine skills all while I had a kid, took on teaching a new class and continued to just climb whatever I had time for or sounded the most fun at the moment — i.e. laps on the naked edge. Two weeks out from the tri Nina and I do a warm-up lap, biking to and from Eldo, I can do 30 miles round trip, good enough I thought? After the initial 41 mile uphill bike ride I was deep in the pain cave, I can’t remember the last time I did something that cardio intensive. When I hopped off the bike I was so sore and so wobbly, wondering how I ever thought this could be fun. For the first mile of the approach, I was cramping up virtually every step. It did get better, but marginally. Things changed for the brief hour the rock shoes were on and we scrambled the north chimney and floated the 7 pitches of the casual route, passing 2 really friendly parties. A nice reminder that rock climbing fitness is not the same as biking fitness. As we scrambled the last bit to the summit, all I could think about is how I could get out of biking back to Boulder. I’m not sure if I ever actually said that or if it’s the lack of air at 14,000 ft. Seems a lot more pleasant if you train, but in my never ending quest to live a balanced life sometimes just accepting the suffering is a bit easier— not really sure I made the right decision on this one… #adventure #rockclimbing #biking #longspeak #longspeaktriathlon #climbingismypassion #tradisrad #tradclimbing #alpineclimbing #rmnp #rockymountainnationalpark