Jumping Journal: January 24, 2006

Day 26.  Now to begin the second half of the winter, as I know it.  Finally it is looking a little more like late January as compared to the mid March feel of the past several weeks.  3-6 inches of snow yesterday and another 1-3 inches is forecast for tonight into tomorrow.

 

I decided that I was going to try an experiment tonight, for the second time in two years.  Last year wasn't planned, it just happened thanks to my big mouth.  This year was planned.  I did remember a little bit of what to expect when I tried the experiment, but not nearly as much as I should have remembered.  It's only been about a year since I first tried it.

 

To explain things a little better, my boots have seen there better days, a very long time ago.  The sides, ankle stitching area,  are completely shot on both boots and the toe on the right boot has seen its share of duct tape for ages now.  With size 13 feet, boots just aren't laying around much of anywhere that fit my feet.  I live with what I have to use.  I know, thanks to last year, that with the sides being blown out, right across the ankle stitching, that I have to forceably cock my ankles if I want to even see the ski tips start to come up.  Otherwise the ski tips just hang in the air about level with the flat ground underneath.  I also know that a good pair of boots will send the tips right up without even having to cock the ankles, the boots take care of that for you.  Admittedly, if you are laying right out over the skis than you better have your ankles cocked no matter what.

 

I tried looking around the jump inn at Storrs Hill trying to find a decent pair of boots that might come close to fitting, both my feet and my telemark bindings.  Everything that will fit my feet are Silveretta style boots and are way too long for the bindings that I have on my skis.  All the boots that will fit my binding are size 11 and under, plus they are tight on the sides as well.  I can put them on my feet but they are definitely quite tight.  It is not fun trying to stop at the end of the outrun with them as I found out tonight.

 

I decided to go for a pair that would fit the bindings tonight.  I decided to try a few jumps on the 25 and see how it would go.  You could say I was refreshing my memory.  I had planned on trying it on the 50 but after two jumps on the 25 I had to get the boots off.  I knew it wasn't going to happen on the 50.  The first jump off the 25 was definitely one of the more interesting jumps I had in quite a long while.  I don't think I have ever seen the ski tips come up like that before.  Instant tips.

 

I did crash the first jump on the 25.  I was wearing the jump suit at the time.  Supposedly I had jumper ealy but that just doesn't sound quite right.  The ski tips should have dropped at the takeoff if I jumped early.  Instead they came up the quickest I have ever seen ski tips come up.  I lost the tips about halfway through the flight simply due to being unprepared.  I forgot how easy it is to get the tips to come up when you have a decent pair of boots on.

 

After a 30+ minute break it was on to jumping with the regular boots on the 50.  I changed over to the bibs as well..  I didn't feel all that enthusiastic.  I still managed to end up taking seven more jumps with none of them being spectacular by any means. 

 

I did try out a little trick once again tonight while jumping on the 50.  I tried it a little last late in the winter last season and it brought about some pleasant surprised.  Tonight I was mostly trying it out of boredom more than anything else.  It did seem to help somewhat.  Granted, I know to get the trick to really work I have to take care of first things first which I haven't even attempted yet.  Once I take care of the big stuff the small fluff will take care of itself.

 

I will be sharing much more details about this trick when I debunk myth #3 during the Winter Olympics.

 

Crash