7/18/08: I kind of slacked off today and spent all day hanging out with friends, which left me with no time to dry fire.
However, what we ended up doing was probably more valuable than my usual hour of dry fire... we went go kart racing. Now I'm not talking about kiddie go karts, but the European-style karts that go like 40 mph. I like racing because like USPSA, it's less head-to-head than say, tennis, and everyone can have fun going at their own pace. Tennis isn't really fun if you're significantly better/worse than your opponent.
Anyway, during the first race we did, I came up behind one of my friends who was driving slower than I was... but being the nice guy that I am, I held back, waiting for a good opportunity to make a nice leisurely pass. Unfortunately, before I could do so, another friend came up on us and passed us both. I set off in hot pursuit, and started driving with the sole focus of returning the favor. What did this result in? Me pushing too hard and spinning the kart. I was so focused on making the pass that I failed to execute the fundamentals of driving and sent myself into such a nasty spin that no amount of countersteering could fix it. I'm happy to report that we were racing for fastest lap, and I WON. The second race had no self-induced spins, and I got 2nd of 7, losing to a regular member who was there on a weekly basis. I beat all of my friends both times
Overall, I think skipping a day of dry fire to go racing was worth it because the game we play is also a race (to score points). To do well in racing, you have to constantly be driving the car to its limits... accelerating, braking, and cornering as hard as the engine/tires will allow. But if you push too hard, the tires lose grip and bad things happen. Racing with a gun is very similar... you have to go as fast as you can
while staying in control. Otherwise, you end up zeroing a 32 round stage as I may or may not have done in the past.
The other lesson I was reminded of is that you have to keep trying even if you spin/shoot a Mike... my big spin was on lap 3, yet I bounced back to win. I need to let Mikes/No-shoots bother me less when I get them.
7/19/08: 45 min. dry fire - bumped 0.1s off draw
7/20/08: WVPPS match
Our squad started on a speed shoot, which just had 4 mini poppers and 1 paper. Start with unloaded gun holstered. I used to be pretty terrible at shooting steel (I think it was a mental thing where I
expected to miss when I saw it), but I seem to be over it now. No misses, 2 C's on the paper, finished 2nd in Production here.
Next up was the classifier, El Strong & Weak Prez. I didn't really have any difficulty with the S/W hand parts, but I nailed the no-shoot a couple of times shooting freestyle.
The next stage had 2 poppers, one of which activated a drop turner. I went activator, other popper, then DT. The thing that surprised me here was that I actually had to
wait for the drop turner... I've gotten so much faster that I don't even know my own abilities. Before June, I never would have even dreamed of shooting anything between an activator and whatever target it activated, and now it seems so easy. I shot on the move a bit here, and correctly called a miss and made it up. Another 2nd place finish.
Next up... Stage 3. I timed a swinger incorrectly and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity for it. I seem to enjoy running and gunning and shooting on the move more than standing and shooting... I had a blast on this stage and my heart was still pounding about 3 shooters after me. As we were scoring, someone who had gun trouble and was relegated to working the clipboard came up to me and said, "Chun-Yu, that was AWESOME!"
Stage win!
Stage: 3 Around the Bend
Place Name No. Class Division Pts Pen Time Hit Fact Stg Pts Stg %
1 Shei, Chun-Yu 27 U Production 103 0 19.99 5.1526 125.0000 100.00%
The final stage was a straightforward 32 round stage that had a bunch of no-shoots. I knew I had 3 solid runs behind me, and I have to admit that the thought of winning the match crossed my mind as we got here. I ended up nailing a bunch of no-shoots and getting a slow time, which definitely didn't help. I seem to have a weakness for no-shoots that are directly below and halfway covering the A-zone of scoring targets... this is what got me on both the classifier and here. I'll need to hit the range and figure this out.
I ended up in 4th out of 16 overall. If you would have told me 2 months ago that I'd be where I am now, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Now that I've proven to myself that I can win stages, it's time to stop worrying about winning the individual battles and focus on winning the war. I'm glad the
Winning Stages Sucks thread has recently been revived, and that my
With Winning In Mind book arrived last week. As I learned while karting last week, I know that a match win won't come from
trying to win, but from
executing and pushing to the limits of control (and no further). Consistency is your friend.
7/21/08: 1 hour dry fire - I wasn't totally comfortable shooting S/W hand at yesterday's match, and I hadn't been practicing it in dry fire, but I am now!
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I'm looking forward to really making a lot more use of this excellent tool in the future.
