From the Lions' Den - A freestylers' journey.

LionOfNarnia

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As things are a bit quiet today, here's a comparison pic of the Easton & Chinese points for the A/C/E's, the 1st pic taken on the new tablet.

Points comapred.jpg

Top is Easton 100gr
Bottom is Chinese 150gr

I'm also upgrading the OS of the tab from 'Kit-Kat' to 'JellyBean', another first for me.
 

LionOfNarnia

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I'm sufficiently impressed with Artemis, even after a couple of days (I've entered my last 3 rounds into the database, just for practice) that I've already decided that I'm gonna upgrade to premium on Friday (PIP day).

Is there anything in 'the rules' that says I can't have a different colour nock on every arrow? It'll make analysis so much easier if I can colour-code each arrow (red=1, orange=2, yellow=3 etc) so I can shoot in the same order every time without f'ing about.

- I think that I can carry the tablet in the big quiver pocket too! (I'll find out on Friday - I did get a protective cover for it, just in case)
 

Timid Toad

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Practice yes, comps no. Just number your arrows. You'll have to do that anyway for comps.
 

LionOfNarnia

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Doing it for practice will give me all the data I need, I'll prolly do 20 club sessions to each compo if not more anyway.

- It'll be SO helpful to be able to see what arrow to draw from the quiver without any faffing about. (Richard Of York Gave Battle With B***rds, as I can't see indigo & violet nocks 'locally' & will have to use Black & White ;) )

That'll give me the analysis of the 'best set' to use in a compo, and especially for H2Hs. They're all numbered (& sort-of named) already, with a silver arrow-pen.
 

LionOfNarnia

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I'm now on Artemis Premium.

- But I didn't get to shoot tonight :(

I didn't dare! My wee 207 decided on the way back from Carlisle earlier this afternoon to spend some time being a 3-cylinder interspersed with short periods of being a 2-cylinder :eek:

I managed to limp home, fortunately traffic was heavy & roadspeed rarely above 50mph, with 3 weeks worth of frozen pseudo-food (Phood?) onboard.

Groceries are a small thing, risking my archery gear on a 70 mile round trip is quite another! (takes 2 trips from the car park to the sports hall, no chance marooned on the A69.)

Hoping my car-guy shows up 2moz, otherwise I'm gonna resort to crudities & spray everything under the bonnet with WD-40.
 

LionOfNarnia

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WD-40 did the job (As always ;) )

Jalopy didn't miss a beat to the Toon & back.

Unfortunately my shooting wasn't too good, well down on my previous best (Worcester), arrows seemingly scattered randomly over the face all afternoon. Zero equipment issues to blame this time either, I just wasn't 'on' today :(

- Still, better today than next week in the compo I suppose (He says not actually feeling that confident about it. Need a 'boost' on Friday I think).

Another positive was, the scores guy was there, so I got to hand in 4 cards which should lead to my 475 Portsmouth badge & my "E" indoor classification - and maybe my first official handicap figure at last?
 

LionOfNarnia

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Some might say...

That this is not an archery subject but I'll argue that it is, because I consider that the vehicle that takes me & my gear to the club is every bit as vital as my limbs, riser & string (etc).

Despite the faultless performance from the 207 on Sunday, her future is still 'elsewhere'. More precisely, 'WeBuyAnyHeapOfShitDotCom'!

- A few weeks ago I took her to my local 'budget mechanics' for new brake pads, one of very jobs needed to get her through her March 2020 MOT. Unfortunately, the rear brake drums are locked to the wheel bearing (& the bearing to the stub-axle) & cannot be removed by 'conventional' means. To even start the job means a firm commitment of up to £700 in parts & labour. Including what I paid for it & what I spent getting it through last years' MOT, that is FAR more than the vehicle is worth!

If I unload her now, she's worth a little bit more than she's cost me so far, so financially it's a no-brainer.

SO..... a few days ago a very cheap car came up on the local FB 'for sale' group - an '03 Micra 3-door. MOT til the end of January, little to do for it, maybe a couple of tyres. I got my 'car guy' to come out & have a shufti, he gave it a thumbs-up, so I've paid a deposit (£50) to hold it until UC day, a week today. As soon as I can tax the Micra & change my insurance, it's bye-bye Pug.

Which is still sad, I had no issues with the 207, it's a perfectly nice & perfectly suitable wee car.

The Micra is 4 years older, has ~4k more on the clock & is deffo showing her age - but should still 'do the job' & probably with better MPG, leaving me with more to spend on archery over the next year.

That's the current plan anyway ;)
 

LionOfNarnia

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A satisfying Friday night 'final practice' for the big compo :)

No scores recorded, but the sights are spot-on & I've identified the current most-inconsistent part of my shot-cycle...

- The Hook.

Concentrating on making sure the third finger was at the joint really paid off during the 2nd part of practice, vertical spread reduced to mere centimeters (azimuth was pretty good from the start) & I started putting in solid 27's and above.

Having a clean face helped, by the end of the night the gold-count was above 30, though I didn't (quite) hit any maximums.

So with 19 hours until departure I'm happy & confident with my equipment & form, all that remains to do is polish my shafts (oh er missus!) & make a couple of sarnies.

If I don't shoot a 500 Portsmouth & a 200 Worcester I'll be about as happy as I was 3 hours ago, when England hardly turned up against Sth Africa from the kick-off to the bitter end :(
 

chuffalump

Well-known member
Yeah, enjoy it. You're probably nearly finished now. I was going to enter myself but vacillated too much about which day to go for. One of my clubmates was shooting I think.
 

LionOfNarnia

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Tomorrow I'll talk about form, scoring & everything else.

Tonight I'm kicking back with F1GP & NFL, a beer or two ;) from the pack I won in the raffle & enjoying the feeling from having this....

Medal 1 1.jpg


Medal 1 2.jpg

Yeah, I know it's only a 'fun prize' kinda thang but it's my first archery medal and it feels GOOD :D :D :D
 

LionOfNarnia

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First the scores, then the post-mortem ;)

Killingworth 4Nov19.jpg

The good bits... - ZERO misses. - Enjoyed the hell out of it. - Electronic timekeeping is ACE! - SO looking forward to the next one. - Won a 6-pack of continental long-necks (Now gone!) - Got my first medal 🥳

The 'needs work'... My Pompey was nowhere NEAR good enough! (Even as a 451, I cost myself 2 points by calling 10, 7, 6 in the 3rd end when it was actually 10, 8, 7 & I'd already pulled my boss-mates' 4 when the scorers called for a judge. Totally my fault for rushing, lesson learned.)

It started badly, I had to bail out of my first sighter end without shooting an arrow when I realised the pin-shaft was about 15* above horizontal :(
- I'd mounted the pin-holder skewiffy to the bar block somehow o_O (In hindsight, because my 'assembly area' wasn't as I'd 'rehearsed' & I couldn't stand where I normally would to fit the pin.)

No biggie, you'd think. The 2nd end of sighters was a beautiful 2" group in the red at 2 o'clock. Quick tweak of the sights & I'll be fine, I thought. WRONG! First end was my worst end of the entire day. I did pick it up through the middle ends but only rarely hit the standards I thought I should have achieved. Happy with the sights, my kit, the venue (etc) but KNOWING that it was something in ME that was causing such inconsistency. I do give myself brownie points for not getting frustrated & flustered though, my 'mental state' stayed on-point for the entire event, definitely a plus, especially when my boss-mate was having a totally disastrous day & indeed pulled himself from the compo by about end 16. He stayed to continue scoring though, his wife was shooting compound a few lanes up from us. also, it definitely helped that I didn't have a clue what my scores actually were until I looked at the photo after I'd got home. I had a decent idea of 'how badly I was doing' but no way to risk getting 'scorecard panic', so less stressful all round ;)

Still, 449 is a big disappointment, when my PB is 493.

~~~~~~

I should be quite satisfied with my Worcester, above my 200 'target' for the event, only 12 down on my PB & 25 up on my final practice, but I'm NOT! There wasn't a 'clean' 5 in the whole damned round, the six I did get were all barely line-cutters :mad:

- My 'centre of group' was bang on the spider, but round after round I was 'surrounding' the white without penetrating it. Equally on all sides, wish I had pix of the ends. Basically the same shit as during the Pompey but without the satisfaction of putting the odd one bang in the middle.

I'd started the day concentrating on getting a slightly deeper hook with the 3rd finger, an issue I'd identified as causing much of my vertical drift, but (again with wonderful 20/20 hindsight) feel I'd begun neglecting getting exactly the right anchor-point spot every time with my 'chin fin'.

Side issues... I had a good chat with the 'scrutineering' judges about 'long fibre' sights. They said ideally the fibre should bend in the horizontal plane only but that my 'spiral' solution was acceptable. Where the free end of the fibre ends up is unimportant as long as it isn't on the 'sight' side of the riser, it doesn't count as a 'second mark' if it's on the 'outside' of the riser. I can't remember where this was originally discussed but that's the latest skinny, as far as DNAA are interpreting it anyway ;)

Conclusion... More Practice & more Coaching. Rinse & repeat.

I 'm comfortable that I'm a genuine intermediate now, that I have the basics of good form pretty much figured out, that 99% of what is needed to reach the 'next level' is just a bit of a fine polish from a decent coach & lots'n'lots of high-quality repetition.

- The other 1%? Hell, if I knew that I'd be getting paid to tell Brady Ellison what to do next! ;)

So, I'm here & I'm staying...

... Here for a good time and a long time 🦁
 

Emmadragon

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I had much the same experience in all my indoor tournaments last year - shot considerably below what I KNOW I can do. I'm jealous of the medal, though, well done.
You asked for a picture of the new bow...it's not a very good pic, and it was taken after I took the long rod off, because I almost forgot completely, but it gives you a bit of an idea.
1573060261246.png
No shooting for us for 3 weeks - the kiddies have got exams, and they seem to get offended if we shoot the desks...but I do have a tournament on Sunday.
 

Emmadragon

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No, that's the stupidly expensive Smartriser Xm1 plus - it's absolutely lovely to shoot, huge improvement on my old riser. Hubbie has the Arios 2 - I'll see if I can get a pic on Sunday, if you like.
 

LionOfNarnia

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I wish there was a pic of my reaction when I saw what the Xm1 cost!

- No way I'd EVER spend that much on a mere handle, even as a (lottery) millionaire. (I don't play lotteries, nor any other form of gambling)

Yes, I'd still like more info & bowporn on the Arios 2, can you post it on my Arios thread, please?
 

Emmadragon

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A lot of people are having that reaction...
I did get it for a bargainous half price on ebay (ex-demo, one small scratch easily covered up with permanent marker), but I did still blanch quite a lot when it came up in paypal. My reasoning went like this; I definitely needed a new riser, mine was slightly off straight, and I wanted to get one that would last me hopefully the rest of my shooting life. So I was looking at £400-600 Hoyt types (prices as new). I went into ebay looking for one of those with some money off and found the Xm1. I thought well, I could spend £600 on a brand new riser, or I could spend £600 on a £1200 one. When I read the reviews, and particularly the specs, I was sold. I was looking for a particularly light riser - I struggle with anything over 1200g, and all the mid-range risers seemed to be starting at around 1300-1600g, so when I saw that this was less than 1kg, that seemed logical (sort of). And then ebay sent that 10% off voucher, so it was £540 in the end.
I will see about getting some pics for you and post them in the Arios thread.
 

LionOfNarnia

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LOL I can't argue with your reasoning (glad I'm not your hubby, though ;) ) but I doubt I'll ever spend that much on even limbs!

Does that also explain why I'm taking so much time to make a decision on a ~ £150 riser?

Sometimes I still yearn for the 'simpler life' of shooting target blowpipes - The best 'pipe you can buy (but not in the UK :mad: ) is under £40 & darts cost less than nocks if you make them yourself.



 

LionOfNarnia

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(Still laffin' at that 😹 )

Well, don't things move quickly sometimes?

Not only did I part with 200 smackers earlier, to pick up my 'new' (2003) Micra, but less than an hour ago I got timelined a 'for sale' riser from one of the FB archery bitz groups.

As the football was quite boring at the time, I did a quick DuckDuckGo (I NEVER use 'the G word'!) and found it was a probable absolute bargain.

Here's the blurb, they're over £300 new, this one, in black-and-silver (How could a lifelong Raiders fan resist?) for a mere £100 (+p&p).

Kinetic Fury.jpg

This is the actual one I've just 'bought'...

FURY!.jpg

I say "bought" because after the Micra, I'm 'a bit squeezed' so I'm very happy that the seller has accepted my offer of a £50 deposit now & the rest on 22nd.

Nothing else had better break for the next month! It's beanz-on-toast as it is :(
 
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