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I wasn’t going for a cliff-hanger, I was having technical problems with the blog. The guys at BJJ Globetrotter who generously host the blog were off doing Jiu Jitsu, surfing, and running a week long BJJ and surf camp. I’d love to go and do one of those one of these days. Maybe, after all of this hiking and watching Jen hike is done, she’ll feel obligated and let me go. Or, as usual, I’ll just go, and she’ll gladly have some time off to watch trashy T.V. and have popcorn or pie for dinner. 

But it did snow, for a couple of days. It snowed on me, in my trailer, which was fine, and actually quite beautiful. It snowed on Jen, in her tent, which was expected, but not awesome. Especially the part where she’d forgotten to bring her tent poles. 

Jen and I have had this ongoing debate about ultra-light vs. not-so-light backpacking. She wants everything as light as possible, of course, since she has to carry it. I want things to work and not be a hassle and not break, and since I’m heavier myself, I worry less about the ounces. Her backpack and her sleeping bag are ridiculously light, made from some kind of spider silk or titanium fabric. They’re made by http://www.zpacks.com/ and it’s good stuff. It works, the company has good customer service, etc. Her tent, however, is a point of contention. 

It is also made by z-packs, this is one of those items where I think light has sacrificed too much. You use your walking poles to set the thing up, and there’s a fair bit of driving in stakes and adjusting lines and the whole thing is complicated, and well, I don’t like it. I would prefer Jen lug around a heavier tent which has its’ own poles and will stand on its’ own without all the mucking about with engineering. Since I’m her husband I worry about her, and since I’m a man, I like to be right about things, especially about manly things like traipsing about in the wilderness. Even though I do much less of it than Jen, being a man and growing a beard makes my opinion on these things carry more weight, much like  I do. You know, some things make less sense when you say them out loud, or write them in a blog. 

Irregardless (which is not a word, I know, but I like it), Jen has this ultralight tent, but she got one that is a little more sturdy since there are some poles in addition to the trekking poles and all that string, but she forgot them in the trailer. If the weather is nice, it’s not a problem. If the weather decides to put a bunch of heavy snow on your tent, it causes problems. And makes everything you own, and need to wear, or sleep in, wet. 

After taking a few days off, hiking across the ugly dessert corridor, seeing some beautiful sights, Jen decided that between being all wet, and her feet not having healed up, maybe it was time to reset and dry off, so I picked her up, and she spent the night with me and the boys, and babied Marley, who is recovering nicely. 

First, she had some milestones to accomplish, so as soon as the weather cleared, and her gear had dried, she was back at it for a few more. She hiked back up into the hills, this time on the other side of the Coachella valley. She hiked up out of the valley, past a huge windmill farm, where she shared the sunset with the moon, and a lot of bats. Bats are cool.

She hiked above the clouds that were threatening to come back in and rain and snow some more. 

She hiked towards the next big climb, after having dropped thousands of feet of gain.

She hiked past these beautiful flowers, which she is convinced is the notorious poodle dog bush. 

which looks more like this

but she doesn’t care and is avoiding all purple flowers for now. 

She hiked past a rock that looks either like a frog or a brain, or maybe a giant frog brain, not really sure.

and she hiked all the way to mile 250. Yep, 250!

And what was I doing all this time? Well, being awesome and supportive and opinionated, and doing some Jiu Jitsu of course. 

I had to head down the hill for a vet appointment, where Marley got his drain tube taken out. He’s doing great, no sign of infection, and he looks and feels like nothing happened. Except where they had to do a little hair cutting to get at his stitches. He feels great, but he looks a little off I think. 

I also had a chance to roll in Yucaipa. Yep, that’s what I said. Not only that, but I had options. There were three gyms in this little town at the base of the mountains. I chose the very nice but unfortunately named BloodSpiller BJJ. http://www.cjjfsocal.com/index.html

The class was being taught by a purple belt, who did a good job on a half-guard escape. Mostly white and a couple of blue belts in the small, clean gym. Very welcoming of course. After class the instructor asked me to roll, suggesting that we keep it playful. That means a lot of things to a lot of people, of course, and this was a prime example. We slap hands, fist bump, and I kind of casually slide into a buzz saw. Now, this guy was young, smaller than I by about ten or twenty pounds, but damn he was strong and quick. He also, let us be clear, was NOT being a dick, or going all world championship match on me, but his “playful” involved a lot more pretty hard choking than my “playful.” He got on top, and I tried to survive and escape, and keep his damn hands out of my collars and off my throat. I would like to say that after about ten minutes of this, he gave up on choking me. Which is true, but only because my choke defense eventually gave him a Kimura, which I tapped to. 

It was a really good roll, and I think he wanted to test his Purple level against mine, since he probably rolls only with the newer students, and his black belt, Aaron “BloodSpiller” Miller, whom I didn’t meet. Funny, of course, because I did talk to him on the phone, and he sounded about as nice a guy as you could want. However, I’m not sure I’d want to roll against a guy like that as my primary opponent. It’ll make you better, if you don’t quit, which you’ll want to. 

I headed back up the hill, and picked Jen up at mile 250, and we had a little celebration. 

As I’d mentioned, I was being my usual awesome supportive self. That’s a giant red velvet cupcake, with the “250” in icing on it, which I picked up special for Jen. 

I also had a bunch of cookies to share with other hikers to help them celebrate, but only one guys showed up. I could neither remember or pronounce his name, since he was Hungarian, but it was the Hungarian equivalent of Paul, or so I told myself. He had a cookie, hung around politely for a while, and hiked on. 

Jen came back to the trailer with me, now parked at Barton Flats on the Angeles Crest highway near Big Bear, and rested up. Her blisters were still killing her, not really healing, and it was time. We had an intervention, and she broke up with her bad boyfriend boots, for now. We drove into the smog, found an REI, and got her some new boots, some Chinese food, and a diet Pepsi. 

For now, Jen is going to let her feet heal. We’re taking a few days off, heading to the beach, and holing up in a VRBO in Dana Point. 

Greetings From Stockton UK!

I got into Stockton easy enough, it was only a short train ride down from Edinburgh. It was probably my shortest trip in the UK. Stockton is a small town, I don’t know if it’s smaller than Wigan but there’s not a lot going on in this town. That’s ok though, I could use a break from sight seeing.

The bridge of the town, pretty much the only ‘sight’ to take photo of.

Miscommunication

It was a nice sunny day, I was supposed to meet up with Chris at the train station so I hung outside for awhile, texting him to let him know I was in town now. While I was waiting I looked at the map on my phone for what was around the area and how far I was from the gym. I decided since it was only a few minutes away and on the way to gym, I’d walk up to the Burger King and re-charge my phone, and use their wifi with my laptop. I was there for a while, probably 2 hours even, and still I wasn’t getting any response from Chris. So I decided I would walk up to the gym, by the time I got there it would be about 7:30, prime time for classes, hopefully someone would be there. But no one was. Now I was getting annoyed. I was stuck in a town with no one to contact, I was supposed to be put up by Chris and his club so I didn’t have a place to stay let alone train at. What do I do? I decided I’d try my luck with some of the hostels, or guest houses as they were called, and I went by 3 different places, no one had room. Apparently there are a lot of of town workers, contractors, that come in and stay in these guest houses during the week. I ended up having to take the city bus to Middlesbrough, which is right next to Stockton, and get a room at a hotel that was out of my usual price range but was my only option. At this point, after checking into the hotel and finally being able to drop my bags off after carrying them while marching around town for a few hours I got a message back from Chris. He was in Italy for a seminar and just came back. I was battling between being mad and concerned during this whole ordeal. I was mad for being stood up, and also at myself for not sending a message the night before to confirm everything before leaving, but I was also concerned that nothing serious had happened to Chris or his family.

Tons of swans hang out in Stockton apparently.

As it happens Chris was thinking I was coming another week and didn’t get back into town until evening time. After we got in contact with each other we made plans for training the next day, and Chris would set me up to stay somewhere else for the remainder of my time in Stockton. I didn’t just get set up at a friend’s couch or at the gym mats, Chris and another student, Amin came to pick me up the next day, both of them by the way are huge guys, I don’t think I ever felt so small as with these guys (well, other than being at James Foster’s in Seattle), anyways, they came and picked me up from the hotel in Middlesbourgh and brought me to a really nice hotel in Stockton that is way out of my budget and set me up there for the next few days. It was pretty awesome and totally not what I thought was going on, I actually figured I’d be camping out on the mats at the gym. Chris really took care of me, once we got the miscommunication out of the way and met up it was a great stay, and I learned so much from him too. I’m seriously thinking of going back for a short camp and learn some more Catch Wrestling from him. Thanks for everything Chris!

There’s a water course beside the hotel Chris put me up in.

A kayak club was going through the course one day.

My Introduction To Catch Wrestling With LPW – Legit Pro Wrestling

Chris Crossan is both a veteran of Catch Wrestling and a BJJ black Belt so he has a lot of experience and insight into grappling and a very different style. This allowed him to be able to really pick part my game and show me techniques that would work perfectly with me. When Chris and Amin picked me up and checked me in the hotel, we then went to the gym. LPW – Legit Pro Wrestling is a unusual set up, it’s not in fitness gym or sharing a space with another martial arts club, it’s in a community church, Sowing Seeds Ministries. The two rooms for the gym are large mated areas, with lots of space to roll and train techniques on. Chris and Amin brought me to the upstairs space, which is a bit smaller then the main floor space. With just the three of us I had basically I own private introduction to Catch Wrestling. We starting some warm up drills, working pummeling and arm drags, and then moved to testing me with some positional rolling and then showing me some techniques to help each position. We went over different techniques with Chris taping them and then replaying them for me to see where I need to fix it, for at least an hour. I learned a lot of cool tips that have really helped my game as well as get a great introduction to Catch Wrestling.

One of the gym rooms, this is bigger longer one, but both are pretty big.

BJJ VS Catch Wresting

The next day I went to the open mat and got to try out my new techniques and tips I was shown the day before. I was looking forward to working out my no gi game against catch wrestling and seeing what different things they would do. I will admit the first few matches I was pretty lost, just not used to how they reacted to my game or the move sets they used, but as the matches went on I found my footing and was able to work my game. As I was rolling with the class for the first few minutes I thinking maybe they were wanting to take it to the “new guy” and were be being overly rough or just doing ‘dick moves’, but I quickly came to my senses and realized, this isn’t BJJ. Submission wrestling plays with different moves, a different move set and objective from BJJ. In the Jiu-Jitsu community you hear of ‘dick moves’ and lot of them come from a wrestling, or other grappling sports, background. This got me thinking, what if a lot of these ‘dick moves’ that the Jiu-Jitsu community says not to do in the name of safety, are really more about shutting down submission wrestling to make it less effective against BJJ. It’s just a thought I’ve had since my time with LPW. I understand there are some moves that are definitely frowned upon in the interest of safety, like neck cranks,  but there are also a lot of moves I wonder why people call them ‘dick moves’ and we’re told not to do them. Footlocks and wristlocks are frowned upon or just not studied depending on the club, which to me is really weird, they’re out there and they’re allowed, especially at non IBJJF events which are gaining more popularity now a days. Things like using your elbows to break guard or ‘pie-facing’ to control the opponent’s mobility definitely aren’t fun moves when they’re done to you but they’re not actually hurting you and they work. Using your elbows to break guard was actually the way I was taught in traditional Jiu-Jitsu make in the 90’s, then when I started in BJJ later on I was told ‘it doesn’t work’ and that it’s a ‘dick move’.

I remember the first few times I got armbarred by a wrestler who would ‘pie-face’ as he put the submission. It sucked, and I would think ‘why does he have to fight dirty to get the technique?’ but let’s look at the technique. putting my weight on your head to control your spine so you don’t move while I lock up a submission seems pretty logical to me. In BJJ we use shoulder pressure when in side control, that’s not a ‘dick move’ so why would me putting my weight down on the side of your head while in half guard to keep you from getting deep half or sweeping me be considered such? I’m not saying I agree with everything, I’m not a fan of slamming for instance, to me that’s a safety thing (except for jumping guard, I that’s most stupid move ever and they deserved to get slammed for it, and then put to sleep with the Million Dollar Dream), but there seems to be some moves that people don’t allow in BJJ more because it shuts down BJJ than safety or any other factor, which just reminds of the Jim Carrey Sketch of ‘You attacked me wrong!‘          

Chris Crossan and Catch Wresting Techniques 

At the end of the open mat Chris and I did a video together where he explained to me about Catch Wrestling and his school as also showed me a few moves. It was cool getting some details from him on video. I got Chris to show me the double wristlock, or as the BJJ community knows it as, the Kimura. There’s a large variety of move sets, both offensive and defensive, from the double wrist lock in catch wrestling and if you watch old pro wrestling highlights, like the Lou Thez highlight, you’ll see it used from practically every angle. Chris was also happy to show me the Lancashire Grovet, the signature move of Catch Wrestling, it’s basically a neck crank guillotine. Check out the video below, it was a lot of fun and going forth I may try to get more moves on video for the articles, whenever I can manage to get a video done.

To see the video head over to the Panda’s Odyssey YouTube Channel and watch it there, and while there show some love by liking, commenting, sharing and subscribing, thanks!

After an all too short stop learning some Catch Wrestling I was on my way back to London, the last stop of my UK and Ireland trek, to meet up with a friend from BJJ Globetrotters, some old friends from Canada and also meet an artist and Jiu-Jitsuero that I’m a big fan of, Meerkatsu!

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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Hello to all! ¡Hola mis amigos! Olá meus amigos! Bonjour mes amis!

As I type out this blog post on my almost decade old-Macbook, I find myself at a loss for words. Had you told 13-year-old me that within ten years he’d be a sponsored athlete; that he’d be on the cusp of graduating college, preparing to leave on a seven week journey to do the things he’d love most in the world… well, 13-year-old Mike Barr would’ve awkwardly laughed in your face.

My name is Mike Barr. Before I go anywhere with this, I have to thank BJJGlobetrotters for giving me the opportunity to share my story, my journey, and my experiences with all of you. I am humbled by their interest in my upcoming odyssey, and hope that my words can do it justice. Now, back to my intro.

Like I said, my name is Mike Barr. Bald Mike, Baldy, Magic Mike, Mikey, Unicycle Guy, Tightrope Guy; all names I’ve been known by as of yet. At the moment I’m writing this, I am 21 years old, on the cusp of graduating university, and am, like most twenty-something grads, absolutely thrilled, yet terrified, to be entering this new chapter in my life.

A slightly chunky, even more slightly awkward 13-year-old Mike in the flesh. 

After a serious amount of thought, a few beers at the Red Jug Pub in my small college town of Oneonta, New York, I decided that my first blog post to all of you should be, well, about what go me here in the first place. Don’t worry; I’m not here to share my life story. I’m here to write about BJJ, and write I shall!

I was introduced to grappling at a rather young age. Though my parents never really ventured into the world of martial arts, I am the younger middle child of a family of four boys. Needless to say, living room wrestling and basement smackdowns were a normal part of my formative years. Additionally, weekend wrestling tournaments were the norm for my family; my oldest brother, Larry, wrestled for much of his life (6th grade to his junior year in college). I didn’t care much for it back then; the tournaments were boring and I didn’t understand the sport as a quiet seven year old. 

My first introduction to BJJ, however,  is rather typical for today’s practitioners; I recall watching UFC around the age 8 or 9. Around the same time Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell were at the peak of their rivalry, my older brother Dan had started training at a small hole-in-the-wall MMA gym a small hike from my house in Mount Kisco, New York (a small suburb of New York City).

My first BJJ class was somewhere around 2006/2007, and it was during this haphazard period where Dan was desperately trying to get me involved. I remember walking into Black Dragon, putting on a smelly, white jacket that seemed WAY too stiff to move around in. I tried, and quickly failed, at tying my pants; pants that dragged past my heels and tripped me up rather easily. Dan helped me tie them hurriedly before we sat in a circle and stretched. We were never terribly close, and still aren’t, but I’ll never forget that class. I recall everything being so strange and foreign; the movements were so difficult. I found myself struggling with a kimura from the closed guard as Dan and Sifu Brandon guided my pudgy eleven-year-old body through the motions. Before long, the white, stained jacket had seemingly gotten tighter and heavier, and constricted my breathing as it enveloped my chest like the worlds worst hug. I couldn’t breathe, and the panic attack was imminent. I tore the jacket off, tossed it aside, and sat on the edge of the mat until class ended, embarrassed and ashamed. 

Though Dan’s surging confidence in BJJ interested me for a time, I became focussed on another area of my life, music. Between this interest and my hellish first class experience,  my BJJ journey had been forced into dormancy. For the next few years, BJJ was simply something that existed. It was nowhere near what it would become, but it never really went away. I’d watch UFC and think, “Oh, there’s a triangle,” or “Oh, he’s got back mount.” I’d occasionally scroll past a Flying Triangle tutorial on YouTube, inevitably dragging my little brother downstairs to practice. I never succeeded.

My high school years came and went with minimal exposure to the martial arts; a gym-class judo unit here, a self-defense seminar there. Though this was fun, I was much more involved in my artistic interests for most of high school (read: I was a theater nerd. No shame.) And alas, as the summer of 2013 drew to a close, my family packed up my dad’s white Jeep Cherokee, we piled in, and off I went to my first semester of college at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta. At the time, I was in a long-distance relationship with my high school sweetheart; a relationship that definitely took a toll on my health. I was pretty overweight, out of shape, and had an overarching negative view of myself. I needed something to get myself back. I needed a release. 

At the time, my oldest brother, Larry, had been making strides in BJJ. He’d transitioned from collegiate wrestling to BJJ roughly a year prior, and was absolutely killing it on the competition scene. After seeing him medal at the Dallas Open as a white belt, I decided on a whim to check out any BJJ schools in my college town. Oneonta is a small town of about 14,000 people in upstate New York, located smack dab center between Albany and Binghamton. Needless to say, it’s more or less in the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t exactly optimistic when I’d searched “Oneonta Brazilian jiu jitsu” in the Google search bar. 

… and then something popped up. I couldn’t believe it. I clicked on the first link: Infinity Jiu Jitsu. They had a pretty simple website; class schedule, About Us, Instructors, etc. After clicking on the “Member Rates” tab and seeing “Unlimited Training only $80 a Month”, I knew I had to pull the trigger. A few clicks led me to their Facebook page, where I then conversed with a nameless representative who invited me down to the gym that coming Monday for my first week of training. As it turned out, I had contacted them barely a week after they’d opened up shop at their new location. They had advertised a free first week, which excited me.

On October 2nd, 2013, I trekked the mile up the road to the gym and… couldn’t find it. I came upon a Real Estate office and a gas station, but no gym. I called the number they’d given me, and spoke to a surprised male voice who said, “Oh! It’s below the Real Estate office.” I walked down the hill, saw a small sign above the door that simply said, “Jiu Jitsu”, and walked inside. The rest is history. After walking out of class that night, I promised myself I was coming back. I grabbed a business card off the desk, and kept that card on my person every day for that first year of training. It was in my wallet, in my pocket, or in my backpack for 365 days and it always brought me back. 

Oneonta Jiu Jitsu Academy before it was OBJJA. The business card that changed my life.

I could write for hours on my days and nights spent in our little gym for hours (and I plan to: stay posted!) In the four years since walking into that tucked away slice of BJJ heaven, I’ve become the best version of myself. Jiu Jitsu has given me peace that no music ever has, and to this day remains my greatest passion. It is a part of who I am, and is my source of peace. For the 12 hours a week that I train, nothing else exists in the world. I’m not worried about the classes stressing me out, the rude and unpleasant customers at work, the papers that need writing, etc. I’m beyond proud that I’ve been able to watch as this gym grow from a few guys and girls rolling at Infinity Jiu Jitsu to the Pan Am Champ producing crew of monsters that Oneonta Jiu jitsu Academy has become. 

I am so humbled to share my upcoming journey with everyone reading. I hope to meet you in my travels and share my love for this lifestyle we share! Follow me on Instagram @mikebarr93 or @koh.magic for constant updates on my trip! Until next time, go train!

A word of warning here. There won’t be as much BJJ in this blog, so hopefully you’ll be okay with that. Jen started sending pictures and videos out, and I picked here up at a trail crossing somewhere outside of Hemet. Yes, there is an outside of Hemet. 

First, the Jiu Jitsu. Scroll down 4 paragraphs if you’re not a fan. I had a good session with Joao at Ribeiro in Carlsbad, and said good bye. Please check out his school there. http://www.ribeirojiujitsucarlsbad.com/  Also, it wouldn’t be modern media if I didn’t ask you to like him on Facebook too. https://www.facebook.com/ribeirojjcarlsbad/

It’s only been open a short while, but he’s the best dude and knows how to teach. I feel like I made a new friend. Maybe it’s because he’s short and bald and on the wrong side of fifty, but I feel like we have much in common. Except he can speak Portuguese. I can speak Spanish, but only kitchen Spanish, which involves much discussion of lechuga and who’s sister is the town bicycle. It helps if I’m drunk, much like my dancing. 

On my way out of town, I dropped in at Studio 540 again. I had mentioned that I was there, and the instruction was really good, but no rolling. Today was the opposite. Some high level concept stuff for back control, including a cool lockdown from back, and all positional drilling at 50% effort. Then rolling! 

This is paragraph 4, so we’re almost done. Let’s just suffice it to say that I really learned allot about the wide range of skills at Purple Belt. Which means that I had my ass handed to me by two purple belts at the school. These guys owned me from start to finish. All survival mode, which was less than totally effective.  Then I rolled with the Professor, Aaron.

Not effective at all. Really cool guys, but they are “competition Purple” compared to my “hobbyist Purple” 

Best Hike Today

I don’t know how many of you have seen this thing, but it’s both really cool and kind of daunting. This is the map. 

https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/maps/

You can click on the Half-mile way-points, and see the miles. I picked Jen up on this dirt road in that Anza Borrega State Park. It’s a trip, because there were all of these for sale signs for what appeared to be empty, rocky desert on this rough dirt road leading to the PCT intersection. Besides Sarah Conors’ sketchy friend from T-2, and some outlaw bikers, I can’t imagine who would buy a lot out here. 

BTW, Terminator Wiki says his name is Enrique, and he’s Guatemalan. You know who else was Guatemalan? This guy.

Anyhoo, the point is, I picked her up in this lovely and strangely hot selling area at MILE 139. 11 Days ago, when she started out, I was supposed to meet her at Mile 100, give or take, which was two days ago. But it was supposed to be today. You picking up what I’m laying down? She’s 39 miles ahead of schedule. Most of us will never walk 39 miles, let alone be 39 miles ahead of the 100 miles we’d already walked. 

Lucky for most of you who don’t want to read about which gym I got my ass kicked at, Jen is now here, in the trailer, full of pizza and cuddling the dogs. Also, hogging the blankets. I think we’ve both gotten used to sleeping by ourselves, and it’s an adjustment to crawl back into bed with someone. 

Speaking of crawling into bed, Jen found a perfect cuddle buddy for Joe, our PCT veteran friend. 

This one is not of the rattling variety, but he’s big. Funny story: when I was growing up, we had a lot of snakes, mostly of the rattling biting variety, on our property. My father always warned us to be careful, and for the most part, we were. He also said that the non-rattling kind were harmless, and don’t be afraid. To make his point, he showed us a king snake that had gotten got in some bird netting around a fruit tree. Dad grabbed the snake to cut him free of the netting. The snake promptly bit him on the thumb. Hard. Lesson learned. Snakes are like cats. They can’t help biting you. 

Since you’re probably bored of my meandering, here’s a cool video Jen took of her hike:

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlraydon/videos/10212879659935526/

Her hike that afternoon. Not the one she did that morning. Or the the one she did the day before. Or the one she did the next day. What she is doing is really hard, but I think part of why she likes it is that it’s simple. What do I do today? Walk. Tomorrow? Walk. Next four months? Walk. We live in a world of endless options, and not to be all hippy about it, but deciding where you’re going to get your fat-free half-caff vanilla macchiato sucks up a lot of our time, and I don’t think it adds much to our lives. 

While I was fighting with my cable company so I could watch T.V., Jen was watching this ant haul what I assume is a giant rabbit turd back to his hole. 

“The joy of my afternoon is stopping to watch with tiny ant push this ball of something home. Cause he’s got high hopes. High Apple pie in the sky hopes.”

So, in that vein, here’s what she did the next day. Walked. I guess my lifestyle isn’t as rewarding right now, but at least I don’t get blisters. 

Isn’t she lovely: 

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlraydon/videos/10212878510986803/?video_source=permalink 

The country here is what is called the desert section, but we’re sitting at 4000 feet right now. That’s more than 1000 meters if you’re from Europe. I think. I don’t metric good. It’s full of sandstone pushed up by granite and what I assume is a huge tectonic plate smash up. http://www.abdnha.org/anza-borrego-desert-geology.htm It’s really cool and amazing, and looks like a Western. Plus, there’s snakes. For Joe. 

We’re hanging out for the day, Jen is sleeping in, eating a large pizza I got her, and petting the puppy dogs. It’s her first rest day, called a Zero in PCT hiker lingo. She’ll get back on the trail tomorrow most likely. She’s got her boots back from the boot stretcher, so we’re hopeful that the blisters will calm down. I also got her a bunch of fresh tortillas. She eats them with tuna. For some reason, that sounds disgusting. 

Last note, Jen walked past the “town” of Warner Springs, which was officially the end Section A of Southern California! That’s the second official PCT accomplishment, the first being 100 miles! I think she gets to unlock some kind of charm or power-up for that, right? She’s now in Section B. Southern California ends at Section F. 

Greetings From Dublin Ireland and Belfast Northern Ireland!

Start of the night, leaving Wigan and feeling ok.

I made it to Ireland! But not without an adventure to get to the airport first. When I first looked at getting to the airport from Wigan, where I was staying for the weekend, everything seemed ok. But when I looked again while in Wigan planning my route suddenly the buses weren’t running at times indicated before. It seemed my only options to make it to the airport on time where to take an incredibly expensive taxi ride, or a long convoluted trek on the trains to make it the airport and hang out there over night. Neither one looked fun, so in the interest of saving a few dollars I picked the train ride. Having bought the tickets online I walked to the station and waited for the last train that would take me in the direction of the airport. And waited. After 15 minutes past the time the train should have arrived I walked up to information desk and asked where train was. I was told some upsetting news. The train was actually at the station across the street and I had missed it. You see there are actually two stations, one on each side of the street, and apparently the ticket, which says to show up at the station I was at, then tells you to walk across the street to catch the train at the other station. Showing up at the wrong station is a usual occurrence with people buying tickets online that have never taken this line before, from what I was told. I personally think it’s stupid to have the ticket marked for another station than in small print say to walk another station. That’s like saying for all plane tickets you first must fly to London’s Heathrow airport, so if you’re flying from New York to Florida, first fly to London then off to your destination. Just stupid.

Finally on my flight to Dublin, been up all night and feeling so so drained.

So I missed the train. I only way to get to the airport in time for the flight in the morning now was to take the next train in the opposite direction, to Preston which is almost back to Blackpool, to catch a bus to the Manchester airport. Except that there would be a 4 hour wait for the bus. That wouldn’t be a problem, if not that for the fact that the station shuts down at night after the last train arrives. So with no coffee shops open overnight I was forced to wait outside in the damp chilly night until the morning bus. Great. I will also add that this detour was costing an extra $30 CDN. I was not happy but there was nothing I could do, I had to make it to the airport for my flight, although this adventure was almost worth spending the $150+CDN on a taxi in the morning instead. Anyways, the bus showed up and I was on my way to the airport, thinking back now the bus driver never checked my ticket, making me think maybe I could have gotten away without spending the $30 CDN on the second ticket after all. I caught my flight to Dublin and made it downtown, tired and sore, grumpy and feeling like shit, but I was in Dublin!

Wandering The Beautiful City

Before I get into the training and meeting all the cool people in Dublin let’s first go over all the cool places I got to see and take photos of. Like this giant unicorn horn the city has sticking out of it, called The Spire.

I made sure to wander down to the Guinness and Jameson distilleries, and if I was a drinking man I would have had a drink or two at each spot, something my brother says I still should have done anyway, but instead I settled for picking up a few souvenirs for some family members.

I found a lot of my walking around and taking pictures included finding cool looking churches and thinking back now that I’ve been to a few places I could probably get a whole photo album dedicated to churches.

And of course I walked by the Trinity College and checked out the Dublin Castle and stopped for ice cream at the beautiful St. Patrick’s park beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Too Drained to Stay at The Gym

So I told you about the ordeal of making it to my flight to Dublin, but my journey for rest wasn’t done yet. I showed up downtown on very little sleep and made it to where I was supposed to meet up with my host, Hugo. I was supposed to be staying at Hugo’s gym and was looking to meet him and his club and have a great time in Dublin, but I would need a nap first. I get to the gym, which is a garage on  a side road, and it’s locked and no signs of anyone around. I try getting a hold of Hugo and see what’s up and I’m getting no response. I figure there must be some sort of emergency or miscommunication going on so I head down the street and grab myself a meal and use the wifi at the Burger King (if you follow my Instagram you know I’m a big fan of the Whopper). After a while of working on the blog I get a response from Hugo. Apparently he’d been having problems at the gym with electricity and has been frantically trying to get it fixed all last night and today, so I can see how he missed me trying to connect with him. I’m not sure the specifics but basically he lost power to most of the place and the front of the gym is an automatic garage door, without power they can’t open for class.

I made my way back to Hugo’s gym to meet him and the guys and finally drop off my bags I’ve been carrying around all this time. I get there and greet Hugo at the front gate to the parking lot beside the gym. As he was busy with a repairman he directs me to the back door, where a few others are hanging out. I meet the others and find out that they all live there with Hugo in the gym. The back of the gym is turned into a dorm of sorts, with bunk beds in each room and a community kitchen. Half the people trained Jiu-Jitsu and every one I believe was Brazilian, so they were all speaking Portuguese and I didn’t really know what was being said in conversation, but I was too tired to care. After asking where I could sleep one of the guys offered my his bed to take a nap. I was only able to get a little bit of rest but it helped a lot. When I woke everyone is out back setting up a BBQ, they were going to have a Brazilian BBQ for dinner that night, which was awesome because I love grilled meats! As the evening went on I was still really drained from being up all night the day before and all the traveling. I could see the place was really busy with everyone living there and having their own jobs, not to mention trying to sort out the front door. I would had loved to stay with Hugo and everyone at the gym but there was no way I would be able to get enough rest to be able to train, at least not with the plans I had to visit more than one club a day. So I made the choice to move to a hotel just around the corner from Hugo’s. I told him of my plans and Hugo totally understood, being pretty drained himself from the whole ordeal of trying to fix his gym, so we made plans to meet for the evening class the next day. I thanked everyone for their hospitality and left for the hotel.    

2 Gyms a Day! 

After a hot shower and solid night’s rest I was ready to start the day. It’s amazing how much a single night of good rest and relaxation can re-vitalize you. With feeling back to normal I started out on my way to visit the first of many clubs in Dublin. I was able to visit 4 of the total of 6 I had hopes of checking out but one evening I hurt my neck rolling weird during warm up. Although it was short lived, training twice a day was fun and I hope to be able to get into that kind of rhythm for a pro-longed time during this journey at some point.

Team Ryano

The first club I visited was Team Ryano, which is funny since as a affiliate student of Prof. Kieth Owen I am a member of Team Rhino. Team Ryano is run my Prof. Andy Ryan, with Ryano obviously a play on words of his last name. The club is above a cross-fit gym that seems to run a lot of women’s conditioning classes from what I saw of the posers. The gym is a big open space with an MMA cage off the to the side of the mats and some heavy bags lining the mats as well. It was fun meeting the club members, everyone seemed happy to have a visitor and I guess it’s not everyday you have a Canadian passing through Dublin training BJJ. Those I partnered up with during training were helpful and rolling with everyone was competitive but friendly. It was a good first club to train at to give the feel for the Ireland Jiu-Jitsu scene.

During rolling after class I got to have a round with Prof. Andy, who is a big guy, probably about 6 feet or more and similar build to myself. I expected him to be strong and with the nickname ‘Ryano’ I figured he would crush me. What I was not expecting was his agility as he danced around moving from one side to the other. I didn’t just get crushed, I got destroyed on a whole new level! Prof. Andy’s movement isn’t just good for a big guy, he is seriously nimble. After class he thanked me for coming out and instead of giving me a club patch, as I usually trade a Panda Patch for one, he gave me a Team Ryano t-shirt! Awesome.

Fight Arena 

That evening I returned to Hugo’s gym, Fight Arena Fitness, for his class, there were actually 2 classes, with a kickboxing session in between but after his first class I was done for the day. Having trained earlier that day I just didn’t have it in me to go another hour or more that night. With the class being mostly guys who lived there I figured the class was going to be tough as lets face it, Jiu-Jitsu is in their blood. I was not wrong. Hugo had us start with repping out berimbolo’s and that 180 degree guard regain spin around that I’m sure there must be a better name for, either way both moves I had a lot of problem with, given my build and lack of flexibility for inverted techniques. We then moved on to our warm up drills which weren’t anything out of the ordinary, shrimping and front rolls etc. Most of class involved those first two movements, moving to an inverted state of some variation. needless to say I didn’t fare very well trying to drill out these techniques. After drilling we had rolling, and the guys did not let up on the new guy. I first rolled with Hugo and he simply had his way with me. He’s a brown belt, but a top competition level brown belt at that, he’ll have his black belt soon enough I’m sure. The one thing that got me the most was Hugo’s movements. I tried going on the the defensive and just try and survive but I couldn’t tell where he was moving to and all his set ups where foreign to me. After the round he told me I need to be more aggressive and I told him, I didn’t know what was going on so I was a deer caught in the headlights.

As it ends up one of the reasons Hugo’s movements are so fluid and different is they have a Capoeira teacher at the gym, they call him ‘Capoeira Master’ which he denies being but after rolling with him and watching him roll with others he’s body movements are next level. I was so lucky he was only a white belt as he was able to dance around me with ease but didn’t have the technique yet to lock in any submissions. He will be scary in another year. I wasn’t able to return to Hugo’s gym again on this trip, but thank you Hugo for the class and the offer to stay at your gym, maybe it’ll work out better next time.

Royal Grappling Academy

I was curious to visit the Royal Grappling Academy as it’s a Marcelo Garcia affiliate and I haven’t been to any of his gyms so I was really looking forward to see how they trained. The club was easy enough to find, it was in a block of industrial buildings and had a big sign out front, much like Team Ryano. The inside there were stairs up to the main training mats just as you walk in, with the front desk and smaller mat space just to the right. After introducing myself and changing I headed up stairs for the class and meet the rest of the class. It was a no gi class, which I could always do more of, so I was looking to pick some tips, I was not disappointed. It wasn’t so much as the techniques themselves that helped my game as much as some help with placing pressure and how to move transitioning. During warm up we worked takedowns, not just drilling one takedown over and over but actually working our own takedowns we want to sharpen and just drill the set up and entry for a minute or so then switch, back and forth for a while. I was happy with this warm up drilling as I find this aspect of people’s games aren’t worked on enough, actually working over set ups and drilling entries to takedowns. Every match in a tournament, or incident on the street even, starts on your feet, and the best offence isn’t just the technique itself, it’s having a smooth set up to it. And the best defense to any technique, especially takedowns, is knowing how it’s done so you can shut it down.

I picked up some great guard passing and top pressure tips during class and then saw how they’re really used rolling with the guys. I went in with the idea to just survive and see how their games are, see what they pick apart from my defense so I can work on that. Well, I can say from the start my no gi defense game isn’t nearly as good as my gi. I got destroyed pretty easily, but in a good way. I really enjoyed rolling with everyone there, it was a good vibe and everyone was friendly while also very sharp technique wise. After class I traded patches and again got a new t-shirt, this time a green one, which was exactly what I needed for St Patrick’s Day coming up!  

Jorge Santos BJJ

That evening I was off to Jorge Santos BJJ which was just around the corner from where I was staying, on the other side from where Hugo’s gym was. I had heard good things about this club and was looking forward to visiting. Being that they’re right off the main street it was easy to find and I showed up early as kids classes were still on. I spoke to the front desk, Jorge Santos himself was sitting back there with the person working the desk, just relaxing before class. He was busy talking to someone else at this point but later on we spoke and he was a very friendly guy and happy to have a international visitor. I had showed up with the hopes to do both the fundamentals class as well as the intermediate but I was told the fundamentals was only for white belts and I’d have to sit out and watch. I always love taking part in the fundamentals classes because I love seeing how each gym teaches them, but being a senior blue belt I should start being used to intermediate or advance classes only.

The gym is a bit small and down in a basement lot, so there’s not a lot of mat space, but they use it very well, for warm up they do a set pattern of drills, doing one drill down one side of the mats and another set down the other side on the way back, like in a loop. There were all kind of warm up drills, front rolls, shrimps, side rolls, technical stand up, etc. and going through this loop keeps a good flow in an otherwise small space that would create a lot of stopping and not really getting people warmed up. It was a brilliant solution.

I must have stressed my neck on one on the side rolls during the warm up because as class went on it was hurting more and more and eventually I couldn’t go on and had to stop and sit out. I did manage to stick it out and work on a cool snap down to pull guard to arm bar chain but I had to miss out on rolling and the king of the mountain they had at the end of class. Watching the king of the mountain was fun, it was all starting from standing and getting the opponent down to dominate position with a timer on to push them to make a move. There was only one match at a time with everyone lined up along the wall cheering. It was a great way to end a class and I think something like this both keeps the competitive edge up and brings the class together more as they cheer each other on and push to make each other better. After class Prof. Santos and I, and some of the students as well, talked some more about traveling and training at different gyms and the usual questions of what I’ve seen or experienced. Jorge Santos and his gym were very friendly and caring people, in fact during my time sitting off he several times came over to make sure I was ok and even put a cold spray on my neck to help. It was a great time there, I just wish I didn’t get hurt and could have trained a more than half the class.  

King of the mountain.

Prof. Jorge Santos and myself.

Sick In Belfast..

This is in the center of town, it’s called ‘the Spirit of Belfast’.

After hurting my neck I took the last day or so in Dublin off and went out sight seeing. It sucked not to be able to train and not to be able to drop by SGB Dublin or East Coast Jiu-Jitsu but I you have to listen to your body, and when it says you can’t turn you head in one direction, that means it’s time to rest. To add insult to injury I got into Belfast feeling like shit. I felt a little worn down when I got on the bus going up to Belfast and by the time I got in and made my way to the Air BnB I was staying at I knew I was coming down with something. I grabbed some tea and medication and hoped it would pass over. I still tried to set up going to class, thinking if it’d be better to have a class set up then scrambling last minute. As it happens I never made it out to any of the gyms. I met up with Mike Summers of Break, BJJ/sportswear clothing company and Podium, a Jiu-Jitsu news site. I met Mike on Facebook through one of my first friends I’ve made through BJJ Globetrotters, Luke. Luke’s in Australia and I’ll meeting up with him eventually, but in the meantime I might as well meet some mutual friends along the way. We had a great chat about all sorts of Jiu-Jitsu topics one afternoon, I was looking to do an interview and talk about his brands but we didn’t have a good spot to do it when we met so we decided after class the next day, which I of course never made it to. The only thing I did make it out to was the St. Patrick’s day Parade, but then went promptly back to bed.

St. Paddy’s Day

Here are some picture’s of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Belfast. From what I’ve been told the bigger one is in Dublin but this was still a fun parade to watch. I can’t tell you what some of the groups were in the parade, I have no clue how the caveman rock band playing on a float looking like a dinosaur skeleton has anything to do with St. Patrick’s day but, hey, it was fun to watch!

Star wars fans, they’re everywhere.

Caveman rock band riding a float of dinosaur skeleton, nothing more St. Paddy’s than that…??

By the end of my stay I was feeling a bit better, but my respiratory system was still pretty raw feeling and I had a horrible voice. I was off now to Glasgow Scotland to meet Giles and Christiana hoping this could wouldn’t get in the way anymore. Little did I know how well they would take care of me and get me back on my feet! But that’s for next time.

Until next time, see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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