The Think Tank

I was supposed to be shooting in the OBH State Field Championships this weekend, but I’ve been having so many troubles recently that I decided it was a better use of my time to work on my bows instead.

I think I may have discovered a few things this weekend.  The biggest was that the bows do not seem to shoot well when the wheels not properly rotated, even if they are in time.  I also found some additional timing marks printed in the backside of the wheels, which I didn’t know about.  The bow seems to shoot best when the cables are on those marks (or very close).

The other major change that I made was to put the cam adjustments back into the A slot, so that it matches the draw stops.   I had previously had the stops in A, and the cams in B.

I worked on the cables a lot, and after all of it, I think I have everything where is belongs, although the strings and cables both are very twisted down.  On the blue bow the top stop is very slightly advanced, but even half a twist moves the wheels a lot, so this as good as it gets I guess.  The bottom wheel is about 1 paper width behind.

I messed around with several things today: I switched the launcher blade several times, from .008 to .012, and eventually settled back on the .010; I added and removed again 1oz from the front bar; and I moved the rest down in increments, eventually ending getting as far down as 1.5 lines. In the end I put it all back where I started. The last thing I did was to move the peep back to 16mm from the nicked arrow.

That seemed to make a big difference. The unexplained up and down arrows I’ve been seeing all year seemed to go away. I know shot about 40 arrows, so I have to wait and see how it goes, but so far it feels good.

I also noticed that the peep was moving. I set it to 16mm, shot a few ends, and the sights were sagging out the bottom. When I checked the peep
It was back to 15.75mm, so I moved it back to 16mm and tied it in.

Mom and I bailed out of town just ahead of the snowstorm that has dumped several inches on the Portland area, and headed to Las Vegas for the annual World Archery Festival.

Friday was sort if rough for me. Last week I traded my 2012 dominator for Matt Anderson’s 2013 dominator, and it had been shooting so well the last few days that I decided to shoot it for the first day of the tournament. Unfortunately it’s mojo seems to have worn off: I shot a 297/19x (with an 8 no less). Given that I have been shooting 299-300 with 22-24 x’s pretty consistently this year, the ’97 was disappointing. That was good enough for 90th place, out if about 850+ archers. Also disappointing.

I switched back to the blue bow and practiced for about an hour last night, then mom and I spent the afternoon with our friends Craig and Karen who live just outside Vegas in Henderson.

Today went a little better. I tried to pay special attention to my bow arm today as I was letting my shoulder sag some yesterday, and that proved highly beneficial (as it always does). I dropped my first arrow, which sucked, although I really thought it was a pretty well performed shot, so I couldn’t get too upset about it. After that I rattled off 22 straight X’s, which I think might be a record for me. I got a little nervous and my shoulder was hurting pretty bad the last couple ends, and I dropped three more X’s, but the shots were pretty well executed, so I’m good with that.

I ended the day with with a 299/26x. The X’s were pretty good although the ’99 was a little disappointing. However, as I said, I felt I shot 30 good arrows today, which was what I was aiming for and something I haven’t been able to say for a while. Many of those 30 were about perfect.

Unfortunately being down four points isn’t going to do me any good from a placement perspective and my overall goal of shooting my average score for the weekend is now unattainable. However, there are still some positives to be had:

1. 299/26x is a personal one-day best at Vegas.
2. 22 X’s in a row is a tournament best for me, and may be a personal all-time record.
3. 30 consecutive arrows without an ill-performed shot in a big event is a big step. It’s tempered by the miss as well as the fact that I was effectively out of contention yesterday, but still, it was a goal achieved.
4. Even though I was very disappointed about my shooting on Friday and about the 9 today, I recovered very well and just kept doing my thing. I never got upset or made a fuss or anything. That has been a bugaboo of mine in the past, and both days I handled adversity well.

More to come to Tomorrow.

Last night was our annual holiday party.  Getting everything ready was a bigger challenge this year than normal because we took some time out to go to Montana for Thanksgiving this year.  It was a great time, but it did cut into the decorating time quite a bit.

The party was a lovely evening and I am very grateful to everyone who came.  It was an odd party both in terms of who came, and who didn’t:  Stephanie was noticeably absent, only the second party she has missed in the last 35 or so years; and on the other hand, Chuck & Jon Reali came for the first time in almost twenty years, and Lorene and Lorielle  Ludeman came for the first time in many many years as well! And Donna Thurlow was here after a year long absence do to cancer treatments and surgeries.

The only bummer of the evening was that the Blazers fooled around enough to let Dallas beat them.

We finished up our pumpkin carving tonight, with a grand total of 27 jack o’lanterns.  I think they turned out excellent!  Thanks to everyone who came and helped: Joel & Sarah; Jim, Jamie & Camden; Alan; Marcie & Brett; Miranda & Kyle; and then of course Mom, Maure and Shannon.  Here is a peak at this years crop, and I’m sure there will be more to come after the big night tomorrow!