Thoughts on the Side

Walked into the range on Saturday, looking forward to trying out my new v-bars. Behind the counter, I saw a couple of short Doinkers, and figured they must be the new side rods I ordered. They seemed pretty heavy for v-bars, though. A little down the counter, however, there was a box with a "sold" tag and my name on it. Inside, was a Shibuya bracket (in silver) and a package of Doinker v-bars. Much lighter than what in truth was a pair of short stabilizers (for compound bows), this was actually my new equipment. Spent some time getting the bracket straight on the bow and the side rods set to a down angle to maximize stability. Anthony brought out a blue Shibuya bracket to show me, but I decided to stick with the silver one. In another case of caring about colors more than I'm used to, the blue just was not quite right with my bow, and the silver both provides a contrast to the handle and matches my sight.

Took the bow out to the range, and took a pair of warm up ends totaling seven arrows. Felt pretty good about my setup, so even with a slightly fatigued shoulder, I decided to dive right in.

First five ends:

End #	End Score	Running Total	Compared to 25 Pace
1	28	28	+3
2	28	56	+6
3	24	80	+5
4	22	102	+2
5	24	126	+1

Opening a little better than a 23, I would say. Shoulder shaking a little, but that's just fatigue. No pain to speak of, and things are looking pretty good. That's when the wheels fell off the wagon.

6	15	141	-9
7	24	165	-10
8	26	191	-9
9	23	214	-11
10	24	238	-12

Sixth end just absolutely killed me. No idea what happened. The end itself didn't feel particularly different from all the others. All three arrows just landed in the outer rings.

If you throw out the low, I averaged 24.78 points per end. Essentially, I gave away 10 points in the sixth end. If I were to get those 10 points back, all I have to do is find two more points over the other 9 ends and I'll be back over 250. Might even be able to do it this weekend.

Because of how my shoulder felt all throughout last week, I didn't shoot any extra arrows on Saturday. Shot my full round and stopped. Probably the plan this weekend, too. Don't want to overwork my shoulder and end up back where I was in July and August and into the fall. Much better to back it off a little bit now, and take it just a little easier than I might otherwise like to.

Couple more weekends at the range, then I'll head back out west. I'd like to get my second 250 before I leave. All I can do, though, is take care of myself and try my best.

Closing January the Right Way

Ordered v-bars Saturday. Shibuya Ultima bracket (with quick releases) and Doinker bars (to match my stabilizer). Hopefully will show up by this weekend.

Anthony then let me borrow a bracket and bars so I could see what shooting with v-bars was like. And let me tell you, it is incredible. Tight groups, consistent placement. I didn't try scoring at all, since I had never used the bars before, but I'm hoping that this weekend lives up to my introduction.

Did have one moment of panic, though. I was the only one on the line, and I set up an arrow to shoot. After I released, a terrible sound echoed throughout the range. Everyone turned to look at me to see what had happened. I had a feeling that I knew what the problem was, but I still went through every piece of my bow to make sure nothing was loose or broken. All pieces appeared to be in order, though. When I went down to collect my arrow, my suspicions were confirmed. We had all heard the sound an arrow makes when a vane is being ripped apart. And down to eight usable arrows I go.

At the end of the second party of the day, I had the chance to take the cross-range shot. Loaded with the v-bars, I got set, aimed, and fired. First show success, as the balloon popped and the kids cheered. What a great feeling to have that kind of success on one try.

After the range closed, Anthony had a private lesson. I was meeting people in Dedham around 8, so I had to find a way to kill a couple of hours. Anthony was kind enough to let me keep shooting during his private lesson, so I spent an extra hour and a half pumping arrows five at a time into the wall. This was the most I've shot since the summer, and I was shooting really well. Did not have any pain on Saturday, just some very serious shoulder fatigue. Not unexpected considering the number of arrows I shot. A little bit of extended soreness in the days since, but nothing too bad, and nothing that a few pain killers won't take care of.

Saturday was January 31st. January was not a great month. A lot of things happened, my mind wasn't always in a great place, and my shooting was not up to a level that I would like to, and know that I can, achieve. To finish the month spending all day pumping arrows into the wall in tight groups was exactly what I needed.