And that would be that. 6 videos over six weeks for Youtube's Invade London initiative. They had been aiming for 25 million hits and apparently achieved 40 million. I don't know realistically how successful it was, but folks saw archery videos and that was the goal for me. Thank god that's over. A video a week is harder than it sounds.
'Invade London' was a focus group initiated by youtube to show themed content over the duration of the Olympics. And my channel was chosen as archery is an Olympic sport. A number of the archers featured were at the Olympics, including the Aussie lass in the final vid and the Mexican girls in the first two vids.
My videos featured people/friends we all know from the World Cup circuit. Martin and Reo for example are huge names in target Compound. The Canadian team are big characters on the field and great archers etc I was trying to give a little feel for the people that make up our world. It's not easy to explain to people that this is our whole world, our friends and our family. The announcer on the first two vids is George Tekmichov, designer of the x10 arrow and voice of international archery...we always miss that voice when he's not there.
Fascinating stuff seeing how other creators approach youtube and their respective audiences. And what goes viral and what totally tanks. Even seeing it is sometimes still totally mystifying.Big thanks to Youtube for the project and big thanks to the folks who helped out. Martin, Sherry, Duncan and everyone who stood in front of the camera (not as easy as it looks) :)Those of us with real jobs find it very hard to train enough as is without extra projects on the side. It's been a long, sleep deprived 6 weeks and my treadmill has been much neglected as a result of too much travel and too much youtube stuff. So last night I settled in on the treadmill with Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles on the iPAD and hopefully life will be a little quieter from now on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_c7ZGCThYs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXYzLvOao8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-ncrYWDsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9SWS8dF0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0g9V2fdFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNOaQJgN0uE
And tonight we'll see if the draw length adjustment is a true fix or just beginners luck again :)
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The mysterious paper tear...
Now I would generally caution compounders about paper tuning. Too many archers think it will show arrow spine/rest issues, but don't realise it will also show nasty bow hand habits which can obscure results. And a bad paper tear can still come from a bow that groups. So not the be all and end all of tuning.
But in HD video we could see a really nasty arrow flight that we couldn't tune out of the bow. So took it inside and shot through paper to see what we could see. Tuned for bullet holes... Had it down to a 2cm tear, but could see a bit of variation in nock position... ie left, right and or high with no consistency. And every few arrows a 3inch horizontal, nock right tear that neither myself or Martin could repeat on purpose even massively torquing the bow in either direction.
We filed half the cable guard out (don't do this at home folks, I am not recommending it as it is messing with factory spec and there's a high risk of breaking something or your self) and managed to improve the arrow flight and lessen the weird tear, but it was still at least 2 inches.
So we put it down to archer error and I started putting a lot of arrows through paper to see if we could tune me instead of the bow and get some consistency. 600 arrows (over a week) later and no improvement and no real idea where the shot came from. On Monday night I was feeling a little cramped in the draw and more than a little pissed off with the whole thing. So lengthened the D-loop a little in sheer desperation and low and behold...bullet holes. 36 arrows and not a single bad shot.
So lesson learned. Paper tune is not totally useless... it can show you a thing or two... and total wow I never realised just how much bad draw length can queer the shot. And I gotta start listening to myself when I'm not comfy!
So Mr Damsbo has gone home :( and now we start planning for either Berlin or the F2F... not sure which yet. But the bow is at least tuned for paper and I'm slowly getting arrow count up again. Now maybe we can start worrying about score again :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9SWS8dF0w
Now I would generally caution compounders about paper tuning. Too many archers think it will show arrow spine/rest issues, but don't realise it will also show nasty bow hand habits which can obscure results. And a bad paper tear can still come from a bow that groups. So not the be all and end all of tuning.
But in HD video we could see a really nasty arrow flight that we couldn't tune out of the bow. So took it inside and shot through paper to see what we could see. Tuned for bullet holes... Had it down to a 2cm tear, but could see a bit of variation in nock position... ie left, right and or high with no consistency. And every few arrows a 3inch horizontal, nock right tear that neither myself or Martin could repeat on purpose even massively torquing the bow in either direction.
We filed half the cable guard out (don't do this at home folks, I am not recommending it as it is messing with factory spec and there's a high risk of breaking something or your self) and managed to improve the arrow flight and lessen the weird tear, but it was still at least 2 inches.
So we put it down to archer error and I started putting a lot of arrows through paper to see if we could tune me instead of the bow and get some consistency. 600 arrows (over a week) later and no improvement and no real idea where the shot came from. On Monday night I was feeling a little cramped in the draw and more than a little pissed off with the whole thing. So lengthened the D-loop a little in sheer desperation and low and behold...bullet holes. 36 arrows and not a single bad shot.
So lesson learned. Paper tune is not totally useless... it can show you a thing or two... and total wow I never realised just how much bad draw length can queer the shot. And I gotta start listening to myself when I'm not comfy!
So Mr Damsbo has gone home :( and now we start planning for either Berlin or the F2F... not sure which yet. But the bow is at least tuned for paper and I'm slowly getting arrow count up again. Now maybe we can start worrying about score again :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9SWS8dF0w
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Beginners luck?...
So forever and a day my elbow has been high and I've fought with getting comfortable on draw length. So spat the dummy this week and made a big change in draw to see if I can just make it work. Added half an inch in total and am currently feeling really good with the new draw length and anchor. All the lines look much improved and my bow shoulder isn't hitching and I'm not catching my arm every shot. So now everyone cross fingers that it's not just beginners luck (that luck that makes every new piece of kit awesome for a week) and that i never need to have this conversation with my bow or body again :D
Also just ordered a treadmill for home. My broken body prevents running and winter makes long walks somewhat uncomfortable... so bring on the tready! Need to get my cardio back up, I'm going stir crazy. So Erika is a happy camper this week. And feeling super positive about the world.
Mr Martin Damsbo arrives in 16 days for his first visit to Australia.... not that we're counting... So I can run all the changes past the expert when he gets here :) and of course introduce another Danish boy to Australia. Looking at the current flirts on the international archery line, we're all following in Mary's footsteps :)
Also just ordered a treadmill for home. My broken body prevents running and winter makes long walks somewhat uncomfortable... so bring on the tready! Need to get my cardio back up, I'm going stir crazy. So Erika is a happy camper this week. And feeling super positive about the world.
Mr Martin Damsbo arrives in 16 days for his first visit to Australia.... not that we're counting... So I can run all the changes past the expert when he gets here :) and of course introduce another Danish boy to Australia. Looking at the current flirts on the international archery line, we're all following in Mary's footsteps :)
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
You might be thinking that an archer would be totally buff and awesome at pushups.... but reality is archery uses more back muscle and not so much arm... so me and push ups are not friends. But now after 6 weeks of Barre and pushups every class I can do a whole 20 push ups instead of just half of one :) yay me :)
I've been adjusting my draw length bit by bit for some weeks. So new vids are all me looking at draw length. I've been adding a twist every week to the cables. Feeling less cramped, but the draw weight has been edging up with the draw so had to take a turn off the limbs. So aim is floating a bit and feeling like a retarded toaster on crack.... but all the push ups and sit ups I've been doing on my Saturdays are making my abs and arms sore as on Sundays and I think that's as much an issue as anything...but loving Barre class...and the accuracy is settling again. Now I just need to be home long enough to practice... life would be simpler if hotels didn't freak about shooting in their hallways.
The indoor nationals is coming up so really want to drag out my recurve. It's tradition don't ya know :) Lets see if I can tune her up and look somewhat competent with no practice :D
My brains have officially rotted with my nephew's discovery of Thomas the tank engine... I can hear it ringing in my ears... Until now blissfully ignorant... I'm now know about Thomas, Gordon, Den, Salty, Annie, Clarabelle, Rheneas, the isle of Sodor..... and a host of others my two yr old nephew insists on telling me all about. One desperately hopes he discovers archery ASAP and the impending child is a niece so I never need to hear the Thomas theme song again.
The indoor nationals is coming up so really want to drag out my recurve. It's tradition don't ya know :) Lets see if I can tune her up and look somewhat competent with no practice :D
My brains have officially rotted with my nephew's discovery of Thomas the tank engine... I can hear it ringing in my ears... Until now blissfully ignorant... I'm now know about Thomas, Gordon, Den, Salty, Annie, Clarabelle, Rheneas, the isle of Sodor..... and a host of others my two yr old nephew insists on telling me all about. One desperately hopes he discovers archery ASAP and the impending child is a niece so I never need to hear the Thomas theme song again.
Been chatting with a fellow youtuber about hits and content. He thinks I should talk about things other than archery on my vids. Is it nerdy to admit outside of work there isn't much besides archery? My boyfriend is an archer, his ex is an archer, my ex is an archer, his mum is an archer, my parents are archers, our friends are archers.... We do kind of live and breathe it.
But open to ideas folks :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFucvp2SuBc
But open to ideas folks :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFucvp2SuBc
Thursday, May 24, 2012
You take the damn insulin and eat the stupid jelly bean!
Oh the evils of 7am fitness. So went hypo today walking in the door of my 7am barre class. And had to run out and find something to eat and some juice to see me through. It's such a minor thing and so simple to fix. But I cried anyway. I hate this useless shell that fights me every step and makes a joke of every ounce of effort I put in. Could really use that teaspoon of cement today... a bit of back bone and gumption would seriously go a long way. Some days are just too hard. Screw you world, my body is broken. I'm allowed to sook about it.
New videos to be release on Sunday. We're trying some new things and I hope the response is positive. Have also been invited to do some collaboration videos from some of the local talent. So could be some fun in future. :) people more tech savvy than me want to make movies :)
I've been getting contact too low on the bow hand so am working on fixing that. turning the hand to get a better 45deg angle on the knuckles and it seems to turn more in the shoulder too. giving a very solid feel to the bow shoulder. Feel like a total space cadet, but give it a week or two :)
And you'll notice talking... I'm ever astounded by the compliments on my accent... I shudder to hear it. But many folk have expressed a wish to hear it more.... so I'm punishing you all with my dulcet (if somewhat occa) tones :D no complaints. you asked for it :P
And...shock horror. I show a target. I'm never understanding the appeal of seeing a target. So many people think that seeing one target with arrows on youtube does some how a champion make. It really doesn't. It's one end out of thousands. And shows nothing more than the arrows shot for that one end (assuming you can even prove you shot them). But people ask so there you go.
It's a target. It has arrows. :)
Ooooh and recurve. I am feeling the bug. Really need to be home long enough to actually set my Helix up properly again....preferably before my dad decides i really don't need a recurve anymore and runs off with it. I see those covetous eyes!! I'm thinking I need to buy one of us a new curve..and soon.
On another note, my man is making me all proud in Amsterdam this week. He'll shoot the gold medal match for the European Championships on Saturday. And the beautiful Miss B finished 5th.
So proud of my fav peeps :) Miss you both a heap!
New videos to be release on Sunday. We're trying some new things and I hope the response is positive. Have also been invited to do some collaboration videos from some of the local talent. So could be some fun in future. :) people more tech savvy than me want to make movies :)
I've been getting contact too low on the bow hand so am working on fixing that. turning the hand to get a better 45deg angle on the knuckles and it seems to turn more in the shoulder too. giving a very solid feel to the bow shoulder. Feel like a total space cadet, but give it a week or two :)
And you'll notice talking... I'm ever astounded by the compliments on my accent... I shudder to hear it. But many folk have expressed a wish to hear it more.... so I'm punishing you all with my dulcet (if somewhat occa) tones :D no complaints. you asked for it :P
And...shock horror. I show a target. I'm never understanding the appeal of seeing a target. So many people think that seeing one target with arrows on youtube does some how a champion make. It really doesn't. It's one end out of thousands. And shows nothing more than the arrows shot for that one end (assuming you can even prove you shot them). But people ask so there you go.
It's a target. It has arrows. :)
Ooooh and recurve. I am feeling the bug. Really need to be home long enough to actually set my Helix up properly again....preferably before my dad decides i really don't need a recurve anymore and runs off with it. I see those covetous eyes!! I'm thinking I need to buy one of us a new curve..and soon.
On another note, my man is making me all proud in Amsterdam this week. He'll shoot the gold medal match for the European Championships on Saturday. And the beautiful Miss B finished 5th.
So proud of my fav peeps :) Miss you both a heap!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Go team Denmark :)
So recall I said Danish team captain. This is really Danish for fetch and carry, but it comes with a uniform and responsibilities (and when I say team I mean Martin Damsbo and Louise Laursen). I attended the team captain meeting and checked the team in tray and accompanied the team to practice and competition and wrote the report after each day. And confused everyone used to seeing me in green and gold :)
And no Easter in China... only chocolate eggs we saw were the ones were brought ourselves. Miss B gave us hand painted ceramic eggs from Croatia and marzipan for the Danes and I brought Easter Bilbies (of course). There was also a Hagen Daz across the road from the hotel and a coffee establishment of some description so there were frequent coffee/ice cream dates after shooting was done. And of course the must see bargaining at Xiang Yang the underground market. However cheap you got your bargain, it was always cheaper the next store over.
First day on the field (unofficial practice) and we almost lost our recurver due to locking her room key in and missing the first bus. Good thing they have more than one bus... I locked my key in the room first day too :) And general consensus was that the Supreme Towers Hotel was much better for food, plumbing and location than the main hotel the Minya.
Ranking for my honorary team was rough all round. Martin shot a dodgy first round with a 342 and then changed stabilisers in the break for a 353 (went with a short stab for the wind) which dragged him up from 25th to 15th. Louise was perhaps tired from an already long trip away from home having shot the Coup des miss and a training camp in Korea before she arrived and her ranking round was not pretty, placing her in 81st and well below expected. Conditions were tricky for the week with the flags showing the wind in one direction and arrow flight suggesting the opposite.
Matchplay was shot in similar conditions. Louise had a rough start and rallied at the end but not enough to beat the girl from Ukraine 6-2 set points.
Martin cruised through the first 3 matches (including a bye) including a rematch against Aussie Mike Brosnan who gave him a tough match in Shanghai last year. Martin lost to Titscher in the 1/8 in a close match 146-145. And then as we say everyone was officially a tourist..so back to the training field.
And no Easter in China... only chocolate eggs we saw were the ones were brought ourselves. Miss B gave us hand painted ceramic eggs from Croatia and marzipan for the Danes and I brought Easter Bilbies (of course). There was also a Hagen Daz across the road from the hotel and a coffee establishment of some description so there were frequent coffee/ice cream dates after shooting was done. And of course the must see bargaining at Xiang Yang the underground market. However cheap you got your bargain, it was always cheaper the next store over.
First day on the field (unofficial practice) and we almost lost our recurver due to locking her room key in and missing the first bus. Good thing they have more than one bus... I locked my key in the room first day too :) And general consensus was that the Supreme Towers Hotel was much better for food, plumbing and location than the main hotel the Minya.
Ranking for my honorary team was rough all round. Martin shot a dodgy first round with a 342 and then changed stabilisers in the break for a 353 (went with a short stab for the wind) which dragged him up from 25th to 15th. Louise was perhaps tired from an already long trip away from home having shot the Coup des miss and a training camp in Korea before she arrived and her ranking round was not pretty, placing her in 81st and well below expected. Conditions were tricky for the week with the flags showing the wind in one direction and arrow flight suggesting the opposite.
Matchplay was shot in similar conditions. Louise had a rough start and rallied at the end but not enough to beat the girl from Ukraine 6-2 set points.
Martin cruised through the first 3 matches (including a bye) including a rematch against Aussie Mike Brosnan who gave him a tough match in Shanghai last year. Martin lost to Titscher in the 1/8 in a close match 146-145. And then as we say everyone was officially a tourist..so back to the training field.
In and around scheduled training times we managed some time for me to shoot. Martin brought me some new strings and cables in BCY 8190 to try and also some new wraps for my bow limbs and arrows. I think we're trying for the ultimate in colour matching... :)
Because my bow is 60lb and I've been shooting it at 50lb, there's a 1/2 inch difference in draw (due to the limbs being wound out massively) which I had compensated for by adjusting string and cable twists as needed. So the initial set up with the new strings was out by a half inch right off the bat and took a little tweaking to get right. And then we did a re-tune with the help of Pagni's high speed camera...I need me one of those!! And got the bow shooting pretty for the remainder of the week. And put a half turn on the limbs which while being slightly heavier, improved the tune/feel immensely.
Finally home again if only for a few days and missing my 'team'. Shot 210 arrows today with a 674 for the last 72 arrows... not great unless you realise by this stage my shoulder was burning and fingers were aching. So progress in the making with my new set up all pimped in pink and my new vocab - how to say 'damn cold' in Danish :)
Monday, March 26, 2012
Danish team captain...lol
So heading to Shanghai in two weeks. Not shooting, just playing support staff to the Danish and Croatian team...and anyone else they volunteer me for :) But officially for Denmark :D Uniform and official letter of invitation all arranged. How cute! :D
Shooting is going really well. People ask a lot about accuracy (yes I can show you a target with arrows in it...not much point when it's how you shoot in competition that counts) and right now it's not where I want it, but I'm crawling back slowly. I changed the grip on the release just after Vegas and so far I think we're on a winner. Waaaaay back in the day when I was still a poor starving lab rat... I learned how to shoot my first compound with a two finger Stanislowski CNC release... yes we do mean in the days when releases had loops on them and D-loops where a new fangled fancy idea and people still thought shooting compound with a bent arm made sense.... way back in those days. But the thing about the CNC was that it was an interesting beasty. I just wasn't strong enough to shoot it off the mid section of my fingers so I gripped it much deeper in the hand. And well just never really looked back.
But changing to the triggers has been a learning curve...I had amazing beginners luck. Shot a 1400 in practice in something like a month of shooting with my first trigger (gotta hate beginners luck!).... then comes the 3 Ds (doctorate, divorce and diabetes) to majorly interrupt my line of thought and the scores have suffered greatly... and now we've come full circle and we're addressing every annoying habit I've picked up over the last couple years and fixing them one by one. And I think changing my grip on the release was a big one :) Everything just sits in a better line. And even that stupid bow shoulder is in a better position.
Archery can be like herding kittens sometimes...super entertaining, but not always getting anywhere fast :D
Shooting is going really well. People ask a lot about accuracy (yes I can show you a target with arrows in it...not much point when it's how you shoot in competition that counts) and right now it's not where I want it, but I'm crawling back slowly. I changed the grip on the release just after Vegas and so far I think we're on a winner. Waaaaay back in the day when I was still a poor starving lab rat... I learned how to shoot my first compound with a two finger Stanislowski CNC release... yes we do mean in the days when releases had loops on them and D-loops where a new fangled fancy idea and people still thought shooting compound with a bent arm made sense.... way back in those days. But the thing about the CNC was that it was an interesting beasty. I just wasn't strong enough to shoot it off the mid section of my fingers so I gripped it much deeper in the hand. And well just never really looked back.
But changing to the triggers has been a learning curve...I had amazing beginners luck. Shot a 1400 in practice in something like a month of shooting with my first trigger (gotta hate beginners luck!).... then comes the 3 Ds (doctorate, divorce and diabetes) to majorly interrupt my line of thought and the scores have suffered greatly... and now we've come full circle and we're addressing every annoying habit I've picked up over the last couple years and fixing them one by one. And I think changing my grip on the release was a big one :) Everything just sits in a better line. And even that stupid bow shoulder is in a better position.
Archery can be like herding kittens sometimes...super entertaining, but not always getting anywhere fast :D
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