Jumping Journal: February 04, 2006

Day 32.  Definitely was one of the strangest days I've had in quite a while.  Not exactly what I was expecting but better than I thought it was going to turn out.

 

The day started out very slowly, I guess winter has finally arrived here in the Upper Valley.  The temps were in the mid 40s with cloudy skies threatening to rain.  The inrun was in the best shape it has been in all season long.  It's very strange to see the 25 "neglected" the way it has been all winter so far.  With all the kids up to Lake Placid for a very interesting jump meet that left only the adults left in Lebanon to do any jumping.

 

Dr. John and I started jumping on the 25 around 1PM and I had taken around seven jumps before Dan Brown and Cannonball arrived and started jumping with us.  The conditions were spring-like conditions.  The top(house) of the inrun is pretty much down to plastic now, while the rest of the inrun is still all snow.  The track on the inrun has smoothed out and you don't notice the humps/bumps going down the inrun anymore that have been there all winter long.

 

I had very little motivation once I started jumping.  It took everything I had to even want to jump.  I guess the arrival of old man winter kinda does that to a fellow.  I took the first six jumps and was actually pulling off pretty decent hockey stops on the outrun.  Jump number seven came and I went down big time while trying to do a hockey stop.  The soft conditions were catching up with me.  The eighth jump saw the same thing happen.  I decided to stop trying to do a hockey stop the rest of the day and play it safe instead.

 

Once Dan and Cannonball arrived things picked up the pace and the jumping picked up the momentum.  Everything was going much better for the remaining five jumps.  I still wasn't really focused on trying to get technique down or anything like that.

 

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Dan take five or six more jumps on the 50, but I knew I was pretty much out of it and decided not to join him for anymore jumps.  I decided that the 13 jumps on the 25 were enough for me for the day.

 

Tomorrow is already looking like a day of jumping both the 25 and the 50.  Hopefully this rain will continue to track around us and leave us setting in a dry hole.  There is a big mass of it all across New England as I write this on Saturday evening.  All of it is missing the Lebanon area for the time being.  I sure hope it stays that way.

 

Crash