alpinisto's blog

As the travel restrictions after the corona pandemic gradually opened this summer I had been looking forward to get back to wrestling again - but as I had many other travel plans than those for wrestling, it now was time and money setting the limit for my wrestling activities, as there hardly are any MF wrestlers here in Denmark. Luckily the open borders also meant the chance that wrestlers could come to Copenhagen so I didn't necessarily had to travel myself for wrestling.

This was the case with rsl4fun from Colorado, who visited my home town in June on a cruise, and I was happy that he had invited himself for wrestling me. As I seven years earlier also had received a Mexican wrestler here on his cruise I had organised that I could book a room in a nearby hotel for a few hours for our match. But this was not possible now in 2022, so the only option would be to take him home so we could wrestle on my bed. As expected this was not optional, but we spent an enjoyable time exchanging scissor holds, as I always have loved muscular masculine legs, and he certainly had a good pair of such.

Two days later it was my turn to cross the Atlantic to visit my friend in New Jersey, as I had not been in the USA since before the pandemic, and much to my surprise this gave me another chance to wrestle, as wrestlepa from Pennsylvania also had wanted to have a wrestle with me, and he didn't mind the two-hour drive to Trenton to wrestle me. Neither did my non-wrestling friend object us to wrestle in his livingroom, actually he had suggested this possibility himself. So this was another good chance to work my scissors, giving my a proof that my legs now had returned to their former strength after my knee surgeries.

Returning from the States was a return to my postponed matches, which now 'only' were 55, as two of the postponed wrestlers had left MF in the meantime. In August I visited Berlin again as I before the pandemic had made a deal with afinil, that we should have a rematch whenever possible - though none of us had expected that it would take more than three years before that rematch could happen. But this time we succeeded, and I was happy that we could swap our singlets after a good and sweaty match. Unforunately this was the only match I had in Berlin this time.

For the next wrestling travel I had hoped to cut severely down on the number of postponed matchess, as it now was possible to visit London again without any restrictions, and this was where I had the largest number of postponed matches. Thus I decided to make a week in London, where I only would focus on wrestling. However, from previous visits I knew that there would be a lot of no-shows in London, so I invited two of the guys from outside the city to stay the night(s) with me in my double room and wrestle in the daytime. Plus furthermore two wrestling visitors a day, so there would be a good chance that I could get some wrestling done this time.

I should not be surprised when this arrangement didn't work this was, but still I was surprised when both the guys I had expected to share the hotel room with never showed up, though at least the Jersey guy in the last moment told me that he had been called for unexpected work in preparing for Christmas. Maybe autumn just is a bad time for planning wrestling matches in London. At least four of the planned ten wrestling visitors did show up, so it was not all in vain.

The first guy was asianfighter10, and he showed up on time this Thursday morning. Which was a good sign, as the previous day had given me two more no-shows, but not only was Kay reliable, but also a hot guy. So we really had a fun wrestle. He was more into wrestling in briefs than a singlet, so therefore he had brought a very colourful pair of briefs for me to wrestle in. He had a pair himself, and after a quick change we were ready. Certainly I was more experienced than him, but he was much younger than me, and this gave us both the opportunity to exchange and practice various holds. I did my best to avoid making use of my weight advantage so we had a quite even fight, so we were both happy with the result. And after the fight and a quick shower he invited me for a sandwich before returning to the hotel where the next wrestler was waiting.

This was kingj, and while asianfighter10 had been ten years younger than me, kingj was ten years older, and I could clearly notice the difference. I did not expect to get much resistance from him, though he declared that he had spent a lot of time watching World Of Sports. But I know that you can't learn about wrestling by just watching it, and kingj certainly had done some practice on the side, which I could feel from his strong arms. Time to introduce my own strong legs! Resulting in a good long and sweaty match, though I had the impression that kingj ended more sweaty than me in the end.

Both kingj and asianfighter10 had been lighter than me, but I mostly enjoy wrestling the heavier blokes, and luckily one of those were ready for me the next day. It could have been londonlad80, a guy who I had been looking forward to wrestle - or rather: get wrestled by! But at least Bearhuggruk showed up! And although he was not as heavy as londonlad80 it really felt good to be handled by this muscular guy. Obviously we could do with more space than my double room could offer, as we during our preceding chat had been talking about how he would rack me on his massive shoulders, and there simply was not room for that. So we would have to meet again, and next time do so in a decent mat room so he can show all the power contained within his body. Really a good match for my 100th opponent!

My last opponent came on the Saturday, and this was GrappleFun, who indeed was an interesting guy. As an Opera singer he had a performance the same evening and rehearsal at noon, but could still squeeze in a few hours before he had to return to the opera house. But although I found him very relaxed given his busy day he had had time to pack in a small load of wrestling gear so we could start in singlets and later change to speedos as we got warmed up. This guy could certainly give some good bearhugs, which I paid back with my legscissors. We had a good two hours wrestling, and like Bearhuggruk he also was unhappy with the limited space in the hotel room - so he would also be interested in paying the £25 to have access to the mat room in Barnet. Still we had about two hours' good wrestling before he had to return to the opera house after a quick shower.

And this was the end of my wrestling week in London. I was happy that I already had a local wrestling appoinment the next month, but he also cancelled this meeting. Instead I would now start planning the matches I hopefully would have in 2023.

After almost two years with the corona pandemic challenges with lockdowns and subsequent travel restrictions we finally could put all the restrictions in Denmark aside in February and return to what once was the everyday life. So I was looking forward to return to wrestling again. I had intendedly not cancelled any matches, as I was of the hope that this pandemic was only temporary, so I had postponed all my matches until better times. But I had never thought that I would end up with 59 postponed matches.

However, gradually the world opened up, and just before Easter I got an invitation to wrestle a guy in Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany, who during the pandemic had moved to Cologne. He did not have space to wrestle, and the option of a hotel wrestle was not really there because of local restrictions. I was thinking that maybe we could meet at g6fighter's place in Düsseldorf, as I had wrestled him several times before and therefore knew that he had a private mat room. Luckily he was open for a few days with wrestling just before Easter, which I was happy with. Even though this meant that I could not meet the Cologne guy, as he was having his holiday at that time.

Instead we had both found additional guys for our wrestling days in Düsseldorf. I found another local guy here on MF who would enjoy to wrestle g6fighter and me, and he came on the Tuesday, just as I had arrived from the airport where g6fighter had picked me up. He was a nice guy with some wonderful brown eyes - but maybe he was not in the right mood, as we never really got to wrestle, or maybe g6fighter had taken too much toll on him, the only guy I imagined that I could win, as I knew from my past matches with g6fighter that he was a strong wrestler. So it did not come a surprise for me that he also this time won over me.

g6fighter had invited waterrescue on Wednesday, and this was a guy I also had wrestled in 2018 when I had visited another wrestler in Düsseldorf, and therefore I knew that he was just as strong as g6fighter. Especially when g6fighter told me that he would be needing my help in his combat with him! So he was lining up a 2-vs-1 match this afternoon. And while I had not been wrestling much during the pandemic, these two guys were only separated with half an hour's drive and therefore had been able to wrestle regularly through the pandemic - lucky them!

I had expected that I should assist g6fighter with keeping a hold on waterrescue in the fight, but they were not more busy wrestling than they both had time to enjoy working through my hairy body from time to time. Which I didn't mind so much, as the many months of corona inactivity had taken its toll on my fitness. So as a result they both won over me one more time. After all it was good to have some wrestling done again, although it would have felt better if I had been able to offer more resistance than I did.

Thursday, the following day, I was to fly back home again, back to my 59 postponed matches. Although I had not been able to reduce the number of postponed matches it had been good to wrestle again - my first match this year, though I hope there will be more. So what will be next? What wrestlers should I meet next month? I soon was to realise that the pandemic was not over yet. Some of the matches I had postponed for the longest time were in London, and while one had disappeared from MF in the meantime the other one did not have time for meeting now. Next was Bremen, but here there still were troublesome restrictions, and Manchester, the third option, was not much better, as two guys had moved during the pandemic and three were no longer to be found here on MF.

I had to get back on the horse again, so maybe London would be the best choice after all. Even though I for now could eliminate two guys from my list of postponed matches there would still be 18 more guys on my list from London, and the travel ban and all the former restrictions here were lifted now. So hopefully I will be able to visit UK again next month.

I had known kimmetje for more than four years, but various reasons had impeded us from meeting earlier. But towards the end of 2021 I suddenly saw an opening, as Kim intended to spend some days in Paris, and thus I could just take a flight down there and we could share not only the B&B he had organised but also meet some of the many strong French wrestlers around there. And as I had no plans the last weekend before Christmas this became the time when we finally got to meet.

Actually it was the plan that I should have my first match on the Thursday of my arrival, but because of the problems finding the way through the Gare du Nord maze it then was too late, so the match was postponed until the following morning. Fabrice was the name of the strong fighter I met on Friday morning, and not only did he have experience in wrestling but also in Judo and bjj, which I didn’t have practised before. But he tapered down to my ability, as I still had to take care of my knees which had had surgeries in 2019 and 2021. And we had five rounds, which initially had me down on the floor in seconds, but slowly I could do better during the rounds, my weakness a result of the five months I had not been wrestling since July. However, this didn’t worry me, as I was only happy to be able to wrestle again!

Of course Kim also had a few private matches while we were in Paris, but I left those to him, as those guys maybe were even stronger than the guys I was to wrestle. So the next guy in line for me was somebody we both should wrestle, as he had asked for a 2-vs-1 match with Kim and I, a style which I had no experience with. Thus all I did was to make sure that I could keep him in a tight hold and then leave it to Kim to do what had to be done, and this I seemed to succeed pretty well in, as when I could feel that he was trying to break free I tensed my muscles and he no longer would be able to free himself. While when he tapped I could loosen my holds a bit. And we both seemed to feel good with this arrangement.

After that fight there was time for a quick match with Kim, as this I found was the least I could do, now he had invited me to spend a few days with him in Paris. And slowly I got the feeling that I can have much enjoyment in wrestling once my surgeries are completely healed and corona is a thing of the past so I can return to former fitness. And maybe returning to wrestling every month like before corona.

The next day Kim returned home to Brussels, but as I had a few more guys I’d like to wrestle I had booked an extra night in a nearby hotel - but I was disappointed to find that my first opponent that day had to sign off, as he had been a too close encounter with a working colleague who later had been tested covid positive. Which I was unhappy with, for especially that guy I had been looking forward to wrestle. So it seems that I will have to return to Paris again after corona.

But the last guy came on time, and this was Laurent. He was the only opponent I had wrestled previously, which was back in 2018 when I last time had been in Paris, and like most of the other opponents I then had wrestled I had much respect for him, especially when he now came on me like a bull. But probably it was good that I had been wrestling the previous days, as I had a feeling that I could alleviate many of his attacks. None of us tapped or wanted to give in freely, so it was a good long wrestle we had - and sheding a lot of sweat doing so. Thus a good finish of this visit to Paris!

As I had expected it was good that I could get to Berlin, so that I thus could have my first wrestle for a year. I knew that the days I was going there would be in the middle of the holiday season so I knew that there would be less people available for wrestling. But this wouldn't matter much, as after the recent year's inactivity I would be happy with a slow start.

However, I had not expected that catchbear1 also would be away on vacation as this was a guy I had always been happy to meet and wrestle as we had quite similar stats and I always had enjoyed wrestling his heavyweight body and be wrestled by him. Then it was good that another heavy guy, Berlinfunfighter, could show up instead and make sure that I would shed some sweat, which was nice after the many months without wrestling. I did manage to win over him, but when doing so I have to apologize to him, as I was doing some moves on him which are illegal in wrestling.

On my last day in Berlin another wrestler showed up, a guy I had never met or even heard of before. Hevelli was his profile name and he was both smaller and lighter than me, but also younger than me and thus would be expected to be more agile than me. He had had a shoulder surgery just a few months ealier so with my knee surgeries we would have quite similar stats. So that we could make our own 'paralympic games'.

Still I wanted to be easy on him as I was heavier than him and didn't want to send him back to the hospital, so I was in a defensive attitude, leaving it to him to decide how intense we could fight. But as the minutes went by it showed that I did not have to be particular easy on him as he had a quite good power in his body - so I had to put up more defenses than I had expected to keep him under control.

Thus it was a good time I had wrestling Hevelli, but after a while and several rounds we were running out of power and decided to call it a day. But we were not all finished yet as I had not used my legs so much. So Hevelli offered that I could test my legscissors on his body. Which was good, as it is much better having a body between my legs to squeeze than the ball I had in my gym. So I could put him in the right position between my thighs and with locked ankles slowly increase the pressure until he tapped out. And I happily noticed that he always did so before I reached full power.

After our good and long wrestle we could relax with him sitting between my spread legs so I could gently give his shoulders a massage, hoping that they were still all right after our wrestle and we would meet again next time I was in Berlin. For I could only imagine wrestling him once our surgery wounds had completely healed. For then he surely would be a much harder opponent.

As I wrote in my most recent blog I had planned it so that while I was unable to do anything about the corona pandemic I could just as well make something useful with the months I would be forced to inactivity: my gym would be closed and I would be unable to wrestle because of the travel restrictions.

In the meantime I have had both my knee surgeries, this way solving the problems with my knock-knees, problems which have followed me for several years because of many years as a long-distance runner and even more years as a high-altitude mountaineer. I had the surgeries in October 2019 and March 2021 and was able to finish the rehabilitation four months later in the first case, the rehabilitation after the second surgery only three months later.

Obviously I also made sure that I got my vaccine jabs in time and was given my first jab of Pfizer-BioNTech on May 22nd and the second jab on June 26th. So I was fully vaccinated now, and this way my mandatory rehabilitation from the hospital have proceeded much faster than I had expected. Also my gym opened in time so I was able to go straight from my rehabilitation to my gym, which the pandemic had prevented me from doing after the first surgery.

Thus it seems that my plan worked well, as I principally could be able to wrestle already this July as my doctors okay'd my rehabilitation and I also have been vaccinated so I am allowed to travel abroad again as the only guys I have wrestled here in Copenhagen are persons coming here as tourists on vacation - and in these pandemic days no tourists were coming. So now I am allowed to travel I finally can begin working off the load of wrestlers I have had a good contact with and a positive impression of.

It was no surprise that I would be going to Berlin for my first wrestle in more than a year, as I knew that my usual wrestling partners knew me, so hopefully they would be a bit reticent on my, now as I had returned from the rehabilitation. In any case they would make me sweat, which was all right as I know that wrestling was the best workout for wrestling. But I had for a long time been looking forward to return to the mat again.

So tomorrow I will be taking the train to Berlin where I will be connecting with kleiner kerl who has his own set of mats. I will stay there the rest of the week, so I hope that there might come other wrestlers passing by to give me a nice sweaty match.