Myth #1(Mother Nature killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked

Myth #2(NCAA killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Myth #3(The US doesn't have the talent) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Mind Of A Ski Jumper Part 1, 2, 3, 4

The Ultimate Coach - Ski Jump Training Device

Jumping Season Digest: (see bottom of this page)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Jumping Journal: December 23, 2007

Rain, rain stay away, let the jumpers prevail for another day.
 
Okay...so the old saying doesn't go quite like that but at least the new version did pay off today.  Depending on what weather forecast you was listening to made all the difference in the world as to what time the rain was going to begin.  Some forecasts said the rain would begin early in the day while others said the rain wouldn't really start until the afternoon.
 
I got to the hill around 9:30AM with cloudy skies and no signs of rain...yet.  Cannonball said he had pea soup fog at his place down in southern Vermont.  It was obvious southern Vermont must have been seeing a little warmer temperatures than Lebanon.  It was right around the freezing mark in Lebanon when I arrived.
 
Other jumpers started trickling in for the 10AM start time and we managed to finally get out on the hill probably somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30.  Several jumpers were doing some work on their equipment and since the weather was still holding no one was in a real hurry to get jumping.
 
Once we all headed out and I was the first one up the jump as I decided to not bother with riding the landing hill.  As I started to walk up the inrun I noticed some guy and his wife were standing up on top of the inrun.  I knew this was extremely unusual.  I had never seen a spectator standing up there before.  I walked on up and said "Hi" as I passed by.  I started putting on my skis as Cannonball came up.  I heard Cannonball talking with the gentleman and I thought I heard him say "Dion" at one point.  The man starts talking and asks Cannonball what the angle is now, referring to the takeoff angle on the inrun.  I figured the guy must be a former ski jumper, no one else would know to even ask a question like that.  I was quickly wondering if it was maybe one of the Dion kids that used to jump in Lebanon many years back.
 
I took my first jump and in the same fashion as last year I started pretty much where I left off the day before.  Things definitely seemed to be going better today.  Granted, not sticking going down the inrun did help out quite nicely.  I was probably in the 25 meter range.  The landing hill was still seeming shaky like yesterday though.
 
As I walk back up top I ask the guy what his name is and he said "Ron Dion".  I guess I was right.  It was the first time I had met any of the Dion family.  I believe two of the Dion's currently hold the hill record on the K25.  They both had decided to come back after not having jumped in a few years and they let loose and broke the hill record that no one has been able to match ever since.
 
After some story telling I headed down for my second jump.  I was spending most of the day just trying to get myself to jump more aggressively at the takeoff and to not throw everything out the back.  The second jump felt better than the first.  It was a little further down the hill but not all that much.
 
The third jump was once again slight better and the landing hill was slightly worse.  It was giving me the feeling that I was going to end up losing it in the next jump or two and end up crashing.  The ride down the landing hill wasn't at all smooth like I'm use to it being by mid season...then again, it isn't mid season, LOL!
 
I put my focus for the next jump or two on the landing hill and I just worked on making myself absorb more of the landing hill instead of fighting it.  The rest of the day I didn't notice the problem as much as I had been on the first three jumps or like I was yesterday.
 
Each jump continued to get better with only my timing at the takeoff being the real problem.  It seemed like my seventh jump was the best of the day.  It was starting to feel the most natural of any of the jumps I've had thus far this winter.  It still wasn't making it all that far down the hill but at least the feeling was starting to return.  Strangely the seventh jump was also a late jump and I did notice that the chest seemed to come up in the air as well.  After talking with Cannonball it did start to make more sense what probably had happened.
 
All in all I finished the day with eight jumps and as all of us was finishing up a real light drizzle started falling.  After taking a break for lunch we came back and put plastic on the inrun to try to protect it from the rain that was in the forecast for later on in the day.
 
After running some errands with more drizzle falling I made my way home and by the time I got home it had pretty much stopped drizzling and th temperature was up to just below 40 degrees.  Starting around 6-7PM the temperature made a nice jump into the mid 40s and by 8PM the rain had started to fall.  The high temperature I have seen thus far for today came around 9PM at 48 degrees.  It has rained quite a bit here this evening.  Thankfully we did cover the inrun.  Hopefully this rain won't do much damage to inrun or the outrun, since the outrun is also natural snow.
 
Now for the short two day Christmas break and than back for some more jumping action.
 
Keep the ski tips up,
Crash
Winter 2010
DateLeb 25Plymouth 25Leb 50And 38
Dec 121
Jan 056
Jan 063
Feb 024
Feb 032
Feb 046
Feb 073
Mar 063
Totals133102