Jumping Journal: January 06, 2010

It has taken how many years???  I can't believe I actually jumped that.  It's easy to forget a few details when you haven't been around a particular ski jump in four or five years.

 

Well, I went to bed last night still feeling it quite nicely in my left ankle.  The right knee had quieted down to real dull whisper.  The ankle was still trying to let me know that it didn't like the tumble I took on the last jump last night.

 

I woke up and went to the bathroom a couple of times overnight and I was noticing a rather nice drop in the level of the pain/discomfort.  I was pleased but I knew anything could happen between 3AM and 4:30PM.

 

By morning I could walk...for the most part with any kind of real limping/favoritism to the left ankle.  The knee wasn't even present anymore.  Later on in the morning I did a bit of shopping which seemed to help the ankle and I wasn't noticing it much at all.  I was getting a bit more optimistic but I knew I hadn't put the ski boot on and tried to move in the ski boot to see what that might feel like.

 

After I got home I decided to put the ski boot on but first I decided to pull down the sock and see if their was any black and blue or swelling around the ankle.  I was surprised given all the pain last night how nothing had come up.  It seemed so unnatural to have pain that noticeable and to not have any swelling.  When I pulled the sock down I did notice their was a small bit of swelling on the left side of the ankle.  At this juncture I didn't know whether I would be able to get my ski boot on or not or if the swelling would be too much.  It wasn't much swelling but I didn't know.  I pulled the sock back up and went to put the boot on.  No trouble getting it on.  I walked across the kitchen.  I got down in an inrun position and did a bit of a hop to simulate landing a jump.  Nothing.

 

Now I was even in a bit more of quandry.  I knew I was going to take everything with me to the school but I didn't know if I would end up leaving it behind in my car or not.

 

I got to the school and walked/jogged across the street to the local pizza joint to join the other guys who were over there eating before the meet.  I knew by the way it felt during the small jog across the street in snow boots that I was going to take everything with me on the bus.

 

Plymouth has a rather unique jump in its own fashion.  If you don't jump far enough you'll end up getting an extra bunny hop going down the landing hill.  I heard two stories tonight from two different coaches about the reasoning behind it.  One said the knoll is ledge rock and they can't do anything with it and the other was saying he heard it was unstable ground and as a result they could do anything with it.

 

Another interesting feature that it took me until right after my first jump to realize was the transition on the landing hill is also a bit on the sharp side.  It took me a bit to remember that I had seen jumpers have trouble with it in the past.  Tonight was only the third time I've been to Plymouth in the nine years I've been jumping and its the first time I've been there in four or five years.  I think five years, actually.

 

The Sunapee team and I arrived to find we weren't the first team there like we were the last time I was at Plymouth, skiless like a crazy idiot, back four or five years ago.  Kennett, John Stark, Hopkinton and Plymouth were already there.  I think the only jumpers on the hill when we arrived were the Kennett kids.  Everyone else was still trying to get changed and get their skis off the bus.

 

I had suited up mostly on the last bit of the drive there so I was pretty much ready to get off the bus when we parked.  I grabbed my skis and a couple of the other Sunapee jumpers followed me back to the jump.  I took a first look and said WOW!  I didn't remember the trestle standing quite that tall the last time I was there.  I had also forgotten the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the inrun was natural without any trestle.  I definitely didn't forget the takeoff.  The takeoff sits only about 6-10 inches above the knoll.  I figured for sure it would make for a hard time telling where the takeoff was at.  I had problems at Vermont Academy the first time I jumped there, several years back, telling where the takeoff was at.  I jumped late every jump.  Vermont Academy has quite a bit more vertical distance between the takeoff and knoll.  Quite a bit more, but it still was less than normal.

 

After watching one of the Kennett newbie females take her first jump of the evening I walked up the inrun and waited my turn in line.  I got the skis on and stepped over into the track.  I was nervous to say the least.  Thanks to the ankle I didn't know fully what to expect.  I knew I wanted to play it cautiously and try to keep from crashing and maybe doing a lot more harm to the ankle.

 

I got the signal from one of the coaches and headed down the inrun.  It seemed smooth.  Compared to Lebanon last night it was really smooth.  I put in a bit of a jump at the takeoff.  I think I was somewhat late but not as bad as I figured I would be.  I ended up landing on the knoll as the knoll sticks out quite far down the landing hill before the hill drops away.  I rode the landing hill and about the time I got into the transition I lost it.  I found my sliding nicely across the outrun.  I was a bit surprised and even more so relieved at the same time.  I got up and the next jumper came behind me and then the next one.  I noticed the second one bounce quite nicely going through the transition.  That's when I remembered the previous two visits I had made to Plymouth.  I remembered seeing the kids getting worked in the transition and quite often going down as a result.

 

I walked back up and waited my turn in line and got the signal.  This time I started down nice and comfortably.  It was the smoothest feeling ride down the inrun I'd had so far this winter.  I jumped at the takeoff.  I was probably late more than likely but not noticeably late to me unlike Vermont Academy several years back.  I landed and rode the landing hill, transition and outrun nice and smooth.  It was a jump I needed real bad tonight.

 

I walked back up for what I normally end up making the third and final jump before a high school meet.  This time everything seemed fine just like before.  I had better timing and a bit more effort at the takeoff and went a little further.  I still wasn't going much past 11-12 meters.  During the comp most of the kids were either going 8-12 meters or they were going 17-22 meters.  I saw only a handful of the 50-60 jumper during the three rounds of competition land between 12.5 and 16.5 meters.  I rode the landing hill and then got nailed big time by the transition.  I went down with a solid plop right to the left outer butt cheek, right where your wallet would normally sit if you had it in your left rear pocket.  It would be the crash I would feel the rest of the night.

 

I walked back up the stairs rather slowly.  After stopping to talk with one of the parents I met at the Newport Winter Carnival last year I walked on back to the bus and changed clothes before walking on back to the jump to watch the competition.

 

I'm hoping I don't end up with a nice black and blue butt cheek come tomorrow morning but it wouldn't surprise if I did.  I think I'll probably stick around Newport tomorrow and help Ron and the kids get the Newport jump ready to jump come next week.  I guess about the only thing that needs work is the bag snow and take it to the top of the inrun.  I guess the lower 2/3rds of the inrun is okay but above there is bare so we're going to have to put snow into bag and take it up the inrun and pack out the inrun.  Gee, this might end up being the second year in a row of jumping at Newport on all natural snow.

 

Until next time,

Crash