Jumping Journal: May 21, 2008

Just a little chilly for this time of the year.

 

After a rather warm start to April by the end of the months things had returned to normal if not below normal.  I guess you could say April as a whole was about normal for temperatures and it seemed like it was WAY below for precipitation.  May has continued where April left off in terms of precipitation.  Earlier in the month the temperature was near normal but all of this week so far has been WAY below normal.  Normally the overnight low is 46.  The high on Tuesday was 49.  At least this weekend things are sounding like they should return to normal.  At least the cooler weather does make for some real nice jumping weather.  I don't have to worry about sweating my butt off to get five jumps in for the evening.  Instead I can push myself just like it was mid winter and stay nice and cool.  At least that's the way it worked this evening.

 

I arrived at the hill this evening under cloudy skies with a  few sprinkles falling on  the windshield on the way going up.  Cannonball was there working on a new idea they came up with to help the beginner jumpers get use to the idea of skiing on plastic.  I guess you could almost say it's a concept that would make ski jumping very portable.  You only need to have some vertical ground to work with to make the idea work.  Naturally at Storrs Hill there's plenty of the vertical ground.

 

After helping out some with the little kids on immos we all suited up and headed for our respective areas.  The kids headed over to the new 'play area' and I headed on up the K25.  Just like last time I was the only one jumping on the K25 tonight.

 

Upon getting up top the inrun I noticed there was no soap so I figured it was going to be a slow evening of jumping.  It didn't bother me any I knew I was mostly going to see if I could get myself to do one thing I heard about recently from a former ski jumper turned coach.  I had never heard the idea mentioned before by anyone so I figured I would see if I could do it or not and if I would notice any effect from it.  To be honest I'm not sure if I did end up getting what I wanted or not.  I know right before the takeoff I was achieving the goal but I'm not sure if I was completing the concept at the takeoff or if I reverting doing things the same old way.  Trying to get the feeling programmed in the head may take a few sessions.  As the old saying goes, everything blurs together at the takeoff.

 

The first jump wasn't too bad...at least until I landed.  The water hadn't completely emptied out of the line before Cannonball gave me the signal.  I ended up getting a bit wet, unexpectedly, right as I landed on through the rest of the landing hill.  The new sawdust on the outrun made for much nicer conditions than I was use to seeing.  It ws mucher smoother than anything I have seen in several summers.

 

The second jump seemed a litte more normal, compared to the first jump, on the inrun.  I did manage to jump late though.

 

The third jump was a bit better before I managed to jump VERY chesty on jump four.

 

One of the kids came on up to ride the landing hill on the K25 by the time I got around to my fifth jump of the evening.  The kid seemed to be a bit hesitant before riding the landing hill.  I haven't seen any of the kids I've watched over the past eight years react quite the way he did tonight.  It makes me wonder if the slow start/magic carpet idea is such a good idea or not.  Time shall tell.

 

I had been jumping almost in a rapid fire style fashion.  It didn't seem like any May/summer jumping I have ever did in the past.  Then again, the weather wasn't quite normal either.  Normally it seems like I always take a bit of a break between jumps, not tonight, no break whatsoever.  I never broke a sweat either.

 

I was starting to get back into the swing of things on the final three jumps of the evening.  Besides what I was working on at the takeoff I was also trying to break myself of the bad habit that I have had for all but the first two years that I have jumped.  As I go through the sawdust I have myself leaning far enough back that I typically end up dragging my hands through the sawdust, both for balance and to help me stop quicker.  Last summer when I did the unthinkable and went up to Lake Placid and jumped on plastic I learnt the concept was a real bad idea.  I need to stay a bit more forward and have more wait on the tips of the skis, at least that it what it seemed like.  Ever since then I have been trying to break myself of the bad habit of sitting so far back.

 

The sixth jump was real nice and as I was riding through the sawdust I was right where I should be, more upright than in the past, and everything was going fine until I got off the sawdust and basically lost my balance and ended up laying it over partially to slide to a stop.  In terms of the jump it was probably the best of the evening.  In terms of riding through the sawdust, probably the best I have ever had.  If I would have just held on.  DARN!

 

I headed up for the seven and final jump of the evening.  It was almost as good at the takeoff as the sixth jump but not quite.  I definitely need to get back in the groove again for jumping the K25.  Everything seems to be off.  It almost seems like my focus on the inrun is totally lost.  I don't ever seem to have the effect on the K50 during the winter but it seems like I have it more often then not on the K25 during the summer months, even the winter months this year I noticed it on the K25.  I guess I have become way too complacent jumping on a small hill like the K25.

 

I hadn't planned on jumping for a couple of weeks but it sounds like those plans might have changed and I'll end up jumping next Tuesday instead.  It may be my last chance to see an old friend for quite some time to come.  I hope not.  I hope he drops in every now and then and says "Hi" to us old boys at Storrs Hill.

 

Time shall tell,

Crash