An Event At The Rock Gym

   Which fortunately didn't include me or my climbing partner.   Bob D. and I had just completed one climb when we heard a loud thump from another part of the gym.  A couple (man and woman) were practicing falls and the woman dropped the guy.  He fell about forty feet.  I didn't actually see the fall, so I don't know whether she really screwed up and just dropped him or whether she couldn't control the fall.  In any case he was awake and able to move (the gym floor has padding) though obviously hurt.  EMT guys strapped him to a board for possible neck or back injuries.   I didn't go to assist (before the ambulance got there) because there were several people closer, and I didn't see anyone trying to do something stupid like moving him  -- I figured my 20-year-out-of-date first aid card wouldn't be useful.
   Both of the climbers were (are) better than I am, and at late 20's or early 30's, old enough to have outgrown the dumbs.  I've mixed feelings about practicing falls.  It certainly can be useful (although I don't do it -- intentionally anyway) but it's also an invitation to disaster.  Another reminder to be careful when climbing, even at the gym. 
   Riding the bike back home, I was passed by another cyclist -- not surprising in itself -- but this guy looked like an old, disreputable street-person.  He was riding a Trek commuter bike.  I admit I made an assumption regarding how he got the bike, but the interesting part of it all was the open tall-boy can of Millers in the water-bottle cage.  I haven't seen that before, but so it goes.  DA