Jumping Journal: February 13, 2007
The day before the big one hit. All across the midwest they are getting hammered with wind and snow as I write this. The clouds moved in later on this afternoon and we are suppose to start getting the snow overnight and by the time it is all over I may end up with a fresh 24+ inches of snow. It sounds like the first major storm in a long time is about to hit.
That would make tonight, the calm before the storm, a perfect night to get some more jumping in on the 50. I arrived at the hill a little later than normal and suited up and several of us headed on up the jump. 2 juniors and 2 masters started the evening but by the time the evening was over another master, one that hasn't seen much time on the hills so far this winter, had joined the crowd. It was real nice to see Tom with the skis on jumping to 50. He looked pretty good for his first day on the 50.
I took the first jump and it went pretty good. I was late as usual but I still made it down to 37-40 meter range. I would spend pretty much all evening.
The second jump was even further and had better timing. I did pull out of the jump. The third jump was pretty much right on time and I had the ankles nicely cocked. I found myself trying to fly like Superman. I put my arms out in front of me and just held them their, didn't rotate them or anything like that. It did seem real strange. It did end up being the longest jump of the evening down into the 42-43 meter range.
On the fourth jump I put in a nice V but the timing was late so it ended up back down into the 38-40 meter range. The fifth jump was again late as well as most of the rest of the jumps of the evening. Each jump tended to get a little shorter than the one before it.
I do wish I could break that psychological fear factor of the K point. It seems like my mind does everything it can to make me stay away from there. On the second or third jump tonight I knew I was way high in the air and was heading down toward 45 at least but I pulled out. It seems like it is only on the long jumps when I pull out anymore. I figure it is my minds way of keeping me from getting down toward the bottom of the hill. I guess when you hear all the stories about landing at and below K it can do all sorts of things to your mind to keep you from getting down that far.
It did seem like I was having an easier time tonight keeping the head up while going through the transition on the landing hill. I'm not sure what made the difference but something caused the change tonight.
I am really noticing the old adage, if the inrun is screwed up the jump will be screwed up. Anytime I change the inrun position, even ever so slightly, I notice a difference in how far down the hill I make it and how smooth the jump goes.
I have put up a nice video clip of a jump that was taken this past weekend down in Salisbury. The amount of time that it takes for the jumper in the video to go from the transition to the takeoff on the inrun gives an idea of just how long the table on the K65 in Salisbury really is.
Crash
posted by Ryan Crawford at 11:39 PM
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