overdue
another long overdue update.
probably the most exciting thing that happened is about 2 weeks ago i went skydiving! i went with karen's brother michael. karen was not too pleased at having to worry about me and her brother, but everything went smoothly. it was an amazing experience. looking back on it now it seems almost like it didn't happen, but i definitely remember the huge amount of wind noise, the wide-openness of it all. i wasn't worried at all at any point of it. it went down something like this:
all jumps are done in tandem, the instructor is on your back and control the jumping, chute opening, and chute control.
the plane was a little sketchy looking. whatever, we've got chutes.
the plane ride to altitude (9000 ft!) took forever.
our instructors attach themselves to us. (carabiner type things at four points)
someone yelled 'door open!' and the door flew open and the wind rushed in and was loud!
then, michael and his instructor are gone, holy crap.
my instructor tells me to scoot up to the door (we are on our knees in this tiny plane)
he puts his foot on this step outside the door and tell me to put my foot there too.
he is pretty much leaning me over and then we are out!
the wind gets louder and it seems like we settle at some speed (about 100-120 or so mph)
the first few seconds i can barely think.
we stabilize and the guy taps me on the shoulder to tell me to put my arms out.
about 30 seconds of freefall. amazing! we can see the jersey shore from here, but i pretty much look down. it's cool seeing everything so small. and the openness of everything is indescribable. at one point the instructor did a 360 type thing very quickly, that was cool!
chute opens. i thought it has going to be a hard jerk, but it was not, it was just a gradual slowing down.
i can now talk to my instructor again and tell him that was fucking awesome.
we have about 3 minutes of chute time. looking everywhere is awesome. i can also see michaels chute a .bit further down. i get to try out the chute controls, it is remarkably maneuverable. requires more arm strength then i really have though, i need to work out a bit on that. biking lets the arms desintegrate.
as we slowly approach the ground you can make out more details, like tiny cars, buildings, and the airport!
hey, there's the field we are supposed to land in.
at this point the ground is rising faster than it looked before, that could hurt.
initially, they tell us we are going to land with our legs held straight out and slide on our asses. at the last second my instructor tells me to put my feet down. i do so, and i am now standing up on the ground, no jolt, no stumbling, just standing up, cool!
most people ask if i'd do it again. i wouldn't go on my own (too expensive mostly), but if a friend wanted to go, and it dodn't interfere with my schedule, i probably would do it again.
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a few weeks back i did a 50 mile road ride. that's 10 more than the new york thing. the last 5 or so killed me, i was going half as fast as the rest of the ride. i pretty much ran out of energy food and water. energy food consists of clif shots blocks. little cubes of energy, from the future! a good ride though. i mostly stick to the trails though. but with all this rain lately, i'll probably try to hit the road one of these days. i tried the wednesday night ride at chimney rock last week ( a faster version of tuesday rides ) and it was rough. almost wiped out a few times, on really steep stuff. close to going over the bars type steep stuff. yikes. i will soon go biking in nyc again with my brother and some biking pals of his, traffic included this time!
so far i've done 410 miles this season (since early april)
that's about it, but thought i should update people who i may not talk to much.
probably the most exciting thing that happened is about 2 weeks ago i went skydiving! i went with karen's brother michael. karen was not too pleased at having to worry about me and her brother, but everything went smoothly. it was an amazing experience. looking back on it now it seems almost like it didn't happen, but i definitely remember the huge amount of wind noise, the wide-openness of it all. i wasn't worried at all at any point of it. it went down something like this:
all jumps are done in tandem, the instructor is on your back and control the jumping, chute opening, and chute control.
the plane was a little sketchy looking. whatever, we've got chutes.
the plane ride to altitude (9000 ft!) took forever.
our instructors attach themselves to us. (carabiner type things at four points)
someone yelled 'door open!' and the door flew open and the wind rushed in and was loud!
then, michael and his instructor are gone, holy crap.
my instructor tells me to scoot up to the door (we are on our knees in this tiny plane)
he puts his foot on this step outside the door and tell me to put my foot there too.
he is pretty much leaning me over and then we are out!
the wind gets louder and it seems like we settle at some speed (about 100-120 or so mph)
the first few seconds i can barely think.
we stabilize and the guy taps me on the shoulder to tell me to put my arms out.
about 30 seconds of freefall. amazing! we can see the jersey shore from here, but i pretty much look down. it's cool seeing everything so small. and the openness of everything is indescribable. at one point the instructor did a 360 type thing very quickly, that was cool!
chute opens. i thought it has going to be a hard jerk, but it was not, it was just a gradual slowing down.
i can now talk to my instructor again and tell him that was fucking awesome.
we have about 3 minutes of chute time. looking everywhere is awesome. i can also see michaels chute a .bit further down. i get to try out the chute controls, it is remarkably maneuverable. requires more arm strength then i really have though, i need to work out a bit on that. biking lets the arms desintegrate.
as we slowly approach the ground you can make out more details, like tiny cars, buildings, and the airport!
hey, there's the field we are supposed to land in.
at this point the ground is rising faster than it looked before, that could hurt.
initially, they tell us we are going to land with our legs held straight out and slide on our asses. at the last second my instructor tells me to put my feet down. i do so, and i am now standing up on the ground, no jolt, no stumbling, just standing up, cool!
most people ask if i'd do it again. i wouldn't go on my own (too expensive mostly), but if a friend wanted to go, and it dodn't interfere with my schedule, i probably would do it again.
--------------
a few weeks back i did a 50 mile road ride. that's 10 more than the new york thing. the last 5 or so killed me, i was going half as fast as the rest of the ride. i pretty much ran out of energy food and water. energy food consists of clif shots blocks. little cubes of energy, from the future! a good ride though. i mostly stick to the trails though. but with all this rain lately, i'll probably try to hit the road one of these days. i tried the wednesday night ride at chimney rock last week ( a faster version of tuesday rides ) and it was rough. almost wiped out a few times, on really steep stuff. close to going over the bars type steep stuff. yikes. i will soon go biking in nyc again with my brother and some biking pals of his, traffic included this time!
so far i've done 410 miles this season (since early april)
that's about it, but thought i should update people who i may not talk to much.