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)

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Jumping Journal: February 03, 2009

T minus 2 and counting.  A first in many years.  Can it get any worse...don't answer that!  PLEASE don't answer that!
 
The worst winter since I started ski jumping seems to keep on getting worse by the day.  If it isn't one thing to stop me dead in my tracks than its another.
 
Last Monday on the short hop, skip and jump to Newport to jump I had a rather fun(YEAH RIGHT) experience.  I lost the power steering in my car.  It was the first time I've ever driven without power steering.  Talk about a new experience.
 
Tuesday I dropped the car off to get it looked at and got the call later in the day that it was the power steering pump and they was going to have to order it and it may come in on Wednesday depending on if the truck was able to make it in from the Boston area since the whole area was suppose to get 12-18 inches of snow starting early Wednesday.  Wednesday morning I wake up and the snow had already started falling.  I figured with as light as it in the early part of the day that the truck probably had made it in.  I was right.  I got the call later on in the afternoon that they got pump and got it put in only to find that the pulley in the steering unit had three cracks in it as well.  I decided to have them replace it instead of hoping for the best.  The pulley wasn't going to come in until Thursday, as long as the truck could make it in.  The high school meet in North Conway had been cancelled(actually postponed but I didn't find out about that until tonight) on Wednesday thanks to the snow storm that dumped 9.5 inches at my house.  Thursday the pulley managed to come in and I got the call late in the afternoon that the car was ready.  I was pretty much dead thanks to all the shoveling I spent the day doing.  I decided to wait until Friday to pick up the car.  That canned any possibility of jumping or working on jumps Thursday.  Friday through the weekend everyone was up in Lake Placid for the jump meet I had long before decided I wasn't going to go to.
 
Sunday morning I did get an email from Dan asking if I wanted to jump the 50 sometime on Sunday.  I had already made other plans that I was really looking forward to and decided with the rest of this crappy winter to stick with my other plans.  I spent the day/night and first part of the day Monday out doing some winter backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.  A nice refreshing change of pace to say the least.
 
Monday after getting home I sent Dan an email to see if there was any plans of jumping the 50 in the evening.  It sounded like the hill should pretty much be in shape and be ready to jump.  It sounded like we was going to have three or four of us there to jump.  I headed on up to Lebanon to find out that landing hill still needed grooming work done to it and we figured by the time it got done it would probably be too late to jump.  Yet another strike.  Gee, unless I have been injured this now put me at the longest stretch I've seen during the winter months without jumping in the nine winters I've been jumping.
 
Today was looking like it might finally happen.  The plan was to jump at Newport.  I knew the hill was ready other than cutting a track on the inrun.  I arrived at the hill shortly before 6PM to find Ron and one of his students in the jump inn.  Turns out things were even more prepped than I thought.  Ron was just going to have us be real ski jumpers and ski the track in instead of cutting a new track.  I loved the sound of that.  I would much rather ski a track in than jump with a cut track.
 
Turns out their was going to be five of us jumping tonight.  3 high school kids, one junior and myself.  I suited up with the other kids and then headed on out and headed up the jump.  I was third jumper to go and the two kids before me, both first year jumpers did a nice job setting a straight track.  I was a bit surprised and quite pleased with what I saw.
 
My first jump wasn't the best.  I managed once again to have the same problem as last week of having one ski tip want to come up hard.  I'm not sure why that has been happening recently.  I was surprised by how soft and smooth the landing hill was.  I'm not use to seeing that anywhere yet alone at Newport.  It was well packed but still nice and soft not hard hitting like I have always come use to seeing at Newport.
 
I found more rhythm on the second jump and managed to make it further down the hill.  It still wasn't anything like last week but it was better than the first jump.  The third was better than jump two but still was lacking the distance and something just didn't seem right with the jump but I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what it was.  As I got back up to the knoll Ron made mention of me almost finishing the jump but I would end by throwing the knees out the back.  The more I thought about the more it made sense that this is what I was seeing.
 
The fourth jump I managed to start getting myself to jumping correctly.  It was feeling more like the jumps I have been having this winter rather than the first three jumps tonight did.  I did get further down the hill, around 24-25 meters but it still wasn't down where I was jumping last Monday.  This continued for the next several jumps.
 
Before the eighth jump Ron mentioned something I kinda new already.  I was being a pussy and not really jumping at the takeoff, just going through the motion with nothing behind it.  It has seemed like this whole winter has pretty much been that way.  Then again, why shouldn't it be.  I came down and had a jump nice at the takeoff and ended up with the best jump of the evening.  I was down around 26-27 meters and had the best move I've had in a while, then again it has been over a week since I last jumped.
 
I walked back up for the final jump of the evening and in usual fashion I manage to make the next to last jump of the evening be the best jump of the evening.  I ended up not giving as much at the takeoff and only made it down around 25 meters.
 
Not a bad session even with a nice snow shower going on during the second half of the practice session.  Fortunately/strangely I think I should be jumping each of the next couple of days.  At least that is the way things look right now.  Admittedly, this is the winter of 2009.
 
Expected the unexpected.
 
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