Jumping Journal: January 06, 2007

It's beginning to look, err feel, a lot like winter. Gee, that can't be can it.  Not with this crazy winter.

 

Today was the annual Andover Outing Club jump meet.  Anymore it is the typical kickoff meet for the small hill jumpers here in New England.  In normal fashion, over the past couple of years, Andover brought out several new jumpers, including a new master jumper.  It makes two master jumpers now in Andover.  I love to see Jared having someone else close to his own age to jump with, it makes for a real nice environment.

 

I was the first of the masters class to arrive at the hill this morning.  Everyone else started trickling in behind me.  I knew it was going to be quite a competitive environment and I decided long ahead of time that I wasn't going to compete today.  I would forejump but I didn't need to be marked or judge.  I just needed to be out there jumping to have fun.

 

After suiting up I headed on out for the rope tow and made my way up to the top of the jump.  It was going to be another fun skied in track versus cut track.  I'm still not sure what is going on but I like it.  I haven't seen this many skied in tracks on an inrun since my first year jumping.

 

Last night after writing the blog entry I went back and took a look at some of the posting I made last winter.  I noticed that last winter I didn't have much luck jumping at Andover.  I just couldn't get it right while jumping there.  I remember almost sitting down on the inrun on one of the jumps I took on the K38 last winter.  I won't ever forget that jump.  I was hoping to see something different today.

 

I was a little shaky on the first jump going down the inrun.  I did a bad job of cocking the ankles at the takeoff but the jump still ended up down around 20 meters or so.  I was mostly wandering about the transition and the outrun.  In the past, prior to last year, I have always noticed a rather sharp curve that can catch you off guard if you aren't prepared for it.  I figured it wouldn't be there with all the snow we have had this year and I was right.  The grooming at the hill was in tip top shape.

 

The second jump was better but I couldn't say I was feeling all that comfortable yet.  The third and final jump of the regular practice session was even better and I was feeling way more comfortable.  I was getting down around 22-23 meters.  I pretty much haven't seen anything much lower down the hill than 22-23 meters.

 

After Cannonball finished playing the National Anthem on his harmonica the competition began on the K10 and K18.  Several of us decided to take more practice jumps on the K34 and K38 while the competition was going on on the smaller hills.  I ended up taking three more jumps with each one about the same as the one before it.  It seemed like I was going a good job keeping the butt up on the inrun and setting the shin angle but my timing wasn't the greatest and I wasn't jumping with much power at the takeoff either.  I just wasn't feeling as comfortable on the jump as I do on the K50 in Lebanon.  Granted, most of the jumps I took last several winters was on the K50.  I have managed to get to know the jump quite while and get very comfortable jumping it.

 

The competition began and when the three jumpers had taking there first round jump on the K34 the action moved over to the K38 and being a forejumper I was the first one to jump.  I decided to start two bars down from the top since the first competitor already had her skis on and she was planning to go from the top bar.  I was surprised for a bit how short the jump was...then I remembered I started from two bars down.  I also didn't do the best job cocking my ankles.  As it turns out this was a look at what was to come for the two remaining jumps.  I believe they said I jumped 21.5 meters.

 

I made my way back up top and on the second jump I went from the top.  I ended up jumping down to 22.5 meters.  It still didn't seem like a very good jump.  One of the other competitors, the best on the hill for the day jumped 32 meters from the second bar down on his first jump and jumped 31.5 meters from the top on his second jump.  The temperature was getting into the upper 30s by the time the competition started and the track was getting slower with each passing round.

 

The final jump of the day was both late at the takeoff and I didn't cock my ankles.  The day started and finished the same way, not very good.  Admittedly, I tend to think the competitive environment did me in at the end of the day.

 

The next several days are forecast to be in the 40's or 50's.  Last year from January 4-20 I only jumped three days, January 4th, 13th and 20th.  The weather killed all attempts at ski jumping.  It has been known for quite a while as the January thaw and it sounds like we are going to get a short thaw this week but hopefully we will both be able to jump through it and be able to survive it pretty much unscathed.  I do need to make up a few jumps that I have missed earlier this year and a few days as well.  I guess you could say I'm hoping once again to get at least 50 days on snow this winter and 400 jumps.

 

Time shall tell,

Crash