-Sunday dawns
-And eyes open and decide to relax today
-Feet don Mountain Master tennis shoes and walk outside
-They work the gas and the clutch for three hours
-Until the beautiful walls of Yosemite
-Climb into view
-The feet walk away from the pedals
-And run down a trail others only walk over
-Fingers touch stone
-And together
-With the tennis shoes (that aren’t climbing shoes)
-They climb up the Royal Arches
-As graceful as Spiderman*
-But a practiced graceful
-And earned graceful
-A lived graceful
-Dances up the stone
-All 1400 feet of it
-Without any rope, without any protection
-Just fingers, tennis shoes, and stone
-The 10 hour climb passes by in 28 minutes
-Lungs breathe in gold cup oak, silver fur, red cedar,
-The wind breathes too
-And the treetops of Yosemite, breathe with the wind and the morning air,
-And they sound like ocean waves
-As the graceful dancer
-Runs along the ridge
-Before descending down
-Through North Dome Gully
-Three hours of descent pass by in 48 minutes
-The climber passes through a 13 hour day in Yosemite
-In one hour and 16 minutes
-The tennis shoes find the gas pedals on the floor
-The fingers find the steering wheel
-And together they drive back to the afternoon in Rocklin

Brian Biega of Data Integrity Management used to hold the speed climbing record for the Royal Arches at a time of one hour and 12 minutes. He recently found out his record was broken at a time of 52 minutes, 26 seconds. Brian is confident he will reclaim the fastest speed climbing record for the Royal Arches very soon.

* TM Marvel Comics