FIRST POSTED TO FACEBOOK ON 24TH JUNE 2021
Hello everyone! I was pretty much off Facebook, but this group was recommended by a new archer at my club, so here I am. This is my first FB post in a veeeery long time, so please. Be gentle.
OK, (as I like to talk) a recap on my archer ‘career’ so far… Long post incoming…
I did my beginner’s course in Sep/Oct 2019 at the Bowmen of Harrow. After buying my first bow (Kinetic Arios 2, 70″ 28#, with field rest, beginners sight, Jazz arrows etc) I joined the club where I did the course in November.
On my 5th probation session on 3/12/2019 the club was rammed (unusually) and I was told it was club competition night, and if I wanted to shoot I would have to join the Portsmouth round. Not afraid of a little bit of competition I joined in and scored 480/600. I had no idea if that was good or not (it was pretty good for a 5th session/first competition), but crucially I now had a performance metric I could compare myself to, and I was away.
From then I shot Portsmouth rounds pretty regularly and my scores crept up. On the final session of 2019 I broke my first big target (500) and got my first (and only) Robin Hood! (506/600-30/12/2019) Again, I didn’t really know the significance of the shot (as I was moaning I broke an arrow) but I was told to take pics and maybe keep the arrows as they were so I did, and they’re displayed in my office now.
In the new year I continued to improve my PB (up to 530/600-28/1/2020) and in February shot the Middlesex County (504/600-1/2/2020) which I was a bit disappointed in as I didn’t get anywhere near my PB. Soon after I bought a Shibuya plunger (and new arrow rest) and after I’d settled with the new gear watched my score creep up (543/600-16/2/2020). After someone had brought in airsoft targets to shoot at I started the habit of practising on custom targets printed on A4. This definitely seemed to help me because on the last club Portsmouth of the season, I scored a PB (546/600-3/3/2020) and I knew my next big target (breaking 550) couldn’t be very far away…
But then of course Coronavirus happened which threw everything out the window. Just before Lockdown I bought a 60cm foam target and shot from my driveway into my garage (giving me the grand distance of 6.6m!) Making my own targets was great because I was just shooting at dots. I kept up shooting (3 times a week or so), reversal training and limb exchanges through Lockdown 1 and 2 (turns out I was underbowed at 70″ so I changed to 66″ etc), but I also continued to add more bits to my bow setup and tune it in the garage.
When Lockdown 2 ended I went back to the range and shot another portsmouth to see what the damage was to my score, luckily Lockdown hadn’t affected it that badly (545/600-4/4/2020). But breaking 550 (a target I’d made over a year ago) was still elusive. I think it had been so long I made myself a mental barrier on a 60cm target because shooting other rounds (Worcester 272/300-21/5/2021 and Frostbite 311/360-23/5/2021) my performance ‘would’ have translated to 550 but I just couldn’t actually do it in a Portsmouth round.
HOWEVER.
Last session I broke 550. (559/600-22/6/2021). HALLELUJAH. Only took 15 months… although having said that, of the 20 months since I started shooting 6 months was spent in Lockdown!
And here we are. My current setup is the same Kinetic Arios 2 riser, 66″ 36# Core Prelude limbs (38# on my fingers), but with a nicer sight, plunger/arrow rest, stabs etc. But because I want to move up to my final draw weight of around 40# (it’s a Chinese thing, internet no points for anyone who can tell me why) and as a reward for FINALLY breaking 550 I bought myself a new set of Fivics Vellator 66″ 38# wood core/carbon limbs.
‘Perfect for the intermediate archer’ it says, which is what I am I suppose. Now watch my scores go for a wobble until I get used to the bow again.
Anyway bring on the Short Metrics! I haven’t had a proper outdoor season yet!
TLDR; I wrote a very long, very boring post.