Houston
Another VWR Try Out, come and gone. It’s now even a few weeks gone… Where does the time go? I am feeling better and better about getting ready for the record each camp. Will I ever feel ready for the 200way until I’m actually in the sky with 200+ bodies? Probably not. But I’m doing everything I can to prepare. Even though my wallet hates bleeding cash to go to these events, I’m feeling reaffirmed in my decision to go to all the camps, even though I have an invite. I want to do everything I can to be ready for the 200way; Going to all the camps stacks the deck in my favor.
Short summary of the camp:
Skydive Spaceland was excellent! My first visit impressed me very much on a lot of levels, however, the women’s bathrooms dazzled. The receive an A+ for cleanliness and niceness; most DZs bathrooms only get a grade of C. The toilet paper was a topic of conversation. The dropzone overall was lovely as well. The wind didn’t cooperate with us much, but the jumps we did have went fairly well. We managed 2 jumps Friday, the first load of the day and a load near sunset. Saturday we fit in 6, but Sunday, most people changed their flights to get out of town before the jumping even started because the winds were forecasted to be raging. I’m pretty pleased with my flying.
Other Bigway Thoughts
Getting into Shape
I consider myself to be reasonably fit in regards to getting out in the world and doing things. Even when I’m not running regularly, I generally can hoof it though eight and a half minute miles for a 5k without being in too much pain. I feel pretty good about a vigorous hike, the occasional trip to the climbing gym, or what have you. I can do a couple chin-ups if I put my mind to it. But when I come to these camps, I’m always wishing I do more focused strength training.
Bigways are hard work in a lot of ways, but today I’m going to whine about how they are hard in a specific way: upper body strength and grip strength. I am woefully lacking in the strength department. I was in the base this weekend and I found that out the hard way. After fighting a hard fight, my fingers just couldn’t hold on to the tiger grip between me and Gerry. (I prefer to think of them as cinnamon roll grips. 1. Because a tiger doesn’t take grips 2. That grip in no way looks like a tiger paw, but it does look like a cinnamon roll. Plus, who doesn’t like a cinnamon roll?) The base broke up and I honestly felt bad about it. My job was to fly fast and strong, and hold on for dear life. I wasn’t able to manage that. The next few jumps, he just had to hold my wrist. So, that’s a reason to work on my grip strength.
Also, I almost fell off the plane. I’d like to make excuses about people bumping me and all that, but really, it was no different than any other bigway exit. I just gotta be stronger. So, I gotta work on my grip strength. I have cooked up a regular work-out routine to start with my chin-up bar in hopes of strengthening my hands and my forearms; I’ll keep you updated. Thus far, I’ve just managed to make my chest really sore doing it a couple times this week
I’m Glad for Belly Bigways
Every time I do one of these camps, I am so glad I did a few belly big ways before I even considered doing freefly bigways. I look at people who are experiencing all the nuances of bigways for the first time, the chaos of multiple planes, high altitude and oxygen, lots and lots of parachutes in the sky. I can imagine wading through all those complications while also having to fly on your head, on level, and dock on a formation flying at mach Jesus speeds towards the ground. That has got to be the most intimidating way to get into bigways. Honestly, I can’t be more glad I sorted out some of those other factors while doing a less challenging type of skydiving. Plus, if you think being in the air with 60 other canopies is scary, try it with 60 belly dogs. That’ll teach you to keep your head on a swivel.
Angles and Bananas
Finally, I have noticed that big way is helping my angles and angles are helping my big way. Up until recently, I would have said I’m a dreadful angle flyer. However, I’ve been flying more angles lately and I can actually stay with a group! Before, I would have immediately been dusted, watching my friends turn into specks on the horizon. But all the floating exits in big ways have been helping me practice my movement. Also, vice versa! Doing more angles is giving me the opportunity to practice movement for an entire skydive! I’m finally getting better at executing my least favorite, the least helpful piece of angle advice I’ve ever gotten: Don’t Be a Banana. Having a whole jump to just play with body position helps. What are my arms doing? What are my legs doing? If I try locking out my heels, or tightening my core, or some other body position tweak, what happens? It’s good practice! (Even if it’s different; the challenge of moving at a bigway lies in estimating how the base will speed up by the time you get to it. Angles just keep moving the whole time.) I hate to say it, but I’m finding angle jumps to be really useful for my vertical movement and sight picture.
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