NEW BABIES

my cousin, joepete, and i are so excited about our new rock climbing gear - the new babies. 

our latest addition to our collection are two pairs of shoes, one that came from the US and the other from HK, the models are Evolv Optimus *slip-on and Anasazi Lace-up respectively. 

before anything else, i would like to thank Rafael Nite and Nikolai Buted for bringing these great gear closer to our hearts, without them we are nothing and the love of these worthy owners (kelly and jp) wouldn't be felt by these climbing shoes  - ok wtf enough with cheesy lines and ass kissing. any way fuck it. lol hahah

first up - i tried fitting in the fresh from chamonix HK Anasazi Lace up and my frist impression was OUCH looks can be fucking deceiving - i'm really attracted to the shoes aesthetically - but you know what, Five Ten rubber and its synthetic canvas top is really notoriously hard. when i mean hard god it's so damn painful - but it doesn't show since i'm already used to that pain - blunt affect kelly. 

i wanted to have a second pair so i won't over use my favorite shoes - my Anasazi VCS, i haven't tried the Lace-ups on the wall but i hope it's a good performing shoes too. i'll probably test it on thursday or friday, just to have a twist i'll try doing it @ centro athletico cubao power up for a change.

even if the shoes was damn hard it only took me 3 days to finally break-it in. for in the third day i stupidly slept with it - yes we did it on top of the same bed, and yes i forgot to put it out. the pain woke me up and upon wearing-off the lace-ups a swollen pair of feet surprised my very own eyes. i should have seen the look in my face then. haha

for the next part of this breaking in story - for my cousin it's Chris Sharma's Evolv Optimus series slip-on climbing shoes. 

i never really thought my cousin would be that excited about his pair of glove like fitting shoes - for all i heard was a lot of complaining. by the way that was my first reaction when i felt the pain with my Anasazi VCS that is 2 sizes smaller than my regular street shoe size. the pain of putting it on would be 8-9 out of ten. my cousin may similarly be feeling the same pain for i got the optimus for him 1.5 sizes smaller.

 when i came back home from my 2k5 family meet i just discovered wild - 130 shots were taken in my camera - pictures of the great Optimus, my cousin's climbing hero - Chris Sharma, of course the box of evolve, trying the shoes on and parallel comparison of my cousin's foot and the shoes it self. spell quintessential shoe vanity haha. but it doesn't stop there - i encouraged him yet again to break those shoes in. 

because of the pain, i noticed my cousin was already giving-up. he is like too pessimistic about the optimus and the size i bought for him. and he was like repetitively saying what the shoebox was actually telling (some guidelines by evolv on shoe sizing) that "evolv synthetic climbing shoes will not stretch out" - ok then i have to make an action. 

i tried convincing him that the canvas will still stretch out. based on experience - and based on the testimonies other climbers have given. and to like give him a boost of morale i fucking wore those really tight fitting shoes! god that was agonizing for me, and stepping up as a "kuya" and doing that shit is plain stupid, ridiculous and wild at the same time. i have feet sizing up to 9.5 US for my street shoes - and the slip ons were sized 5 UK. it's a mother-fucking horror. 

i just played pretend and/or dumb that i wasn't feeling any pain at all but by god i swear that the my physiologic response was telling i'm freaking lying. i got sweaty and all, even its really cold that time i don't remember the air-conditioning unit if it was on but i must say its not a regular hot day. also i'm feeling much pain that my body temperature is actually rising big time. 

after all that harakiri moment, i got what i actually want - "the satisfaction of a painless break-in" for my cousin. he even used that shoes for jumping and he stand on in using 1 foot - clearly there is no pain anymore for him. still the shoes fits his feet like a glove.

so talk about first love - i mean this is his first hard earned pair, he did like saved-up for this one. he deserves this one. i hope we could try these new pair of babies asap and completely fall in love with it. yeah! climb on!

my brand new 5.10 Anasazi Lace-up

Jp's Evolv Optimus slip on's size 5 UK