And, three years ago today, you would have had some evidence in your favor if you did. Because, it was three years ago today that Kellie and I went skydiving.
Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane, you might ask ? (And, believe me, several people did). Well, its hard to say why except that we wanted too. It all started a month earlier during my first visit to Cleveland to see Kellie. We were at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame of all places, near the top of the building looking down into the atrium. I mentioned that I have a slight fear of high places, and then we started talking about going skydiving. By the time of my next visit over July 4th weekend, we had plans to put fate in our hands.
We both went on tandem jumps and, of course, I went first. From 15,000 feet in the air.
Its hard to describe what a free-fall experience is like if you haven’t experienced it. For about a minute and a half, you are falling life a stone, the wind rushing past you and pushing you in all kinds of different directions. Then, the parachute deploys, you are pulled up quickly, and its over. The ride down was pretty amazing too. Slowly, we were drifting over the farms of North-Central Ohio. It was at this point that Thom, my tandem instructor, figured it was a good idea to teach me how to land.
It was a great experience. Would we do it again ? Well, that’s another story.
Photos below the fold.
First Thom and I (Thom is the one on top of course)
And here are two of Kellie and her instructor:
July 6th, 2006 at 11:10 am
I’ve been skydiving only once, but loved it… It’s odd, you only get that “oh my god I’m falling” sensation for a second or two, and then the wind slows your acceleration so quickly that you just feel like you’re in front of a 120mph fan. At 15,000 feet, despite the fact that your falling at like 200 fps, you don’t see the ground getting any larger. Awesome… I swear I had at least a 45-minute adrenaline high after getting back on the ground…
But you want to know what beat skydiving as an adrenaline rush? Taking my motorcycle to a racetrack. It’s like a roller-coaster, except that you’re in complete control of it and if you screw up, you crash. You typically ride 20-30 minute sessions, and I can’t even begin to describe how amazing it is to have that time to be completely focused on just riding to the extent of your limits. If you can convince Kellie to let you buy a motorcycle, I highly recommend it