That said, I’ve done a lot of thinking about it, and the lessons you learn in the tunnel are actually quite easily translatable…let’s start at the beginning.

In January Rick and I took at trip to Raeford for our first tunnel camp with Mickey Nuttall (Body Pilots, look ‘em up, can’t recommend him more). Anyway, given that I’d never been in a tunnel before, I wanted to get my feet wet before diving into a freefly camp, so a few days prior we each did 15 minutes of coached time. It was very beneficial to say the least. It’s definitely a different experience than flying in the sky.

For one thing, you are limited on your range of motion. You’re working in this 16 foot (or 12 depending on the tunnel) tube rather than having the open skies to work with. It comes in handy though, as you work to perfect your skills in a static location – after all, that’s what you want to do in sky so you’re not chasing others, or they’re not chasing you, around the sky.

For another thing, when you’re jumping from airplanes, you really are falling through the air. I know this seems like an obvious statement, but sometimes you’re fighting the winds so much that it doesn’t always feel like it. But, for me anyway, I became acutely aware of this fact during tunnel time, because in the tunnel you really are working to stay up off the net – something that just doesn’t happen in free fall.

But, even though I’ve heard people say it hundreds of times, I was still surprised at how humbling your first time in the wind tunnel is. Essentially, it’s like starting over. Okay, so not really, but you have to take some steps back, break the bad habits you learned in the sky, before you can step forward. First, you gotta get good (or at least competent) on your belly. Surprisingly, belly was the easiest part for me. I spent maybe three rotations there before flipping over to my back. As someone who doesn’t do much RW work, I wasn’t expecting to have so much control. It gave me a boost of confidence in my skills.

Which was good, because as soon as I flipped to my back all hell broke loose.

So for those who are not freeflyers – those who are will probably appreciate this tidbit – but most of us who joined the dark side via the sky didn’t learn to backfly first, we went straight to sit. For me, I stuck my sit on my first try, so when people kept telling me that the tunnel would humble me, I didn’t fully understand the extent to which this was true until it was time to flip over on my back.

Needless to say, a good portion on my first hour was spent perfecting my backfly skills, figuring out steering, direction and being capable and comfortable on my back. Come to find out, this is the go-to rest position when you either cork out or are just thoroughly exhausted from hours in the tunnel.

Moving on to sitfly was incredibly rewarding, I was not only doing things I could do in the sky, but was surpassing them. I thought about where I wanted to go, and went. By the end of the first hour I was working on transitions that I see are going to come in handy with getting to and staying on my head. It makes me so excited to get back there in a couple weeks!

So aside from the humbling aspect, what lessons do you learn in the tunnel? Well, let me tell you, you learn to trust yourself for one. Especially with freeflying, one misplaced input and your ass is hitting that wall, and it’s not comfortable. But, if you don’t trust yourself to do it you’ll never progress and get comfortable with those transitions that will make your progress soar.

You also learn to overcome your fear. Why is the top of the tunnel so scary? It’s really not, it’s just you’re more comfortable closer to the net when you first start out. But, once you come crashing down you realize it’s not so bad.

So how on Earth does any of this translate to “real life?” Well, I’m glad you asked!

It comes down to personal growth. The wind tunnel is known to be one of those skydiver training tools that helps jumpers progress in their discipline faster than they would in the sky. It gives us the opportunity to communicate with the coach “in freefall” and to have more time to hone skills. A 60 minute block of time is the equivalent of 60 skydives, without all the packing, waiting to get on a load, and weather holds.

There are times in life where you are presented opportunities for accelerated personal growth. Often they come in the form of a challenge, so it’s up to you whether you’re willing to dive in and give it your all or not. Sometimes, you don’t even know when these challenges will offer that type of personal growth, you just have to trust your gut. Don’t be surprised when you are completely humbled by the situation, even when you go in balls to the wall, guns ablazin’ and all those other metaphors for giving it your all. Your confidence might wane, but unless you keep plugging along to reach your goals, you may never know how much you’re truly capable of accomplishing.

Have your experiences in the tunnel been similar to mine?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Early last week at physical therapy I was officially cleared to skydive. The caveat was that I had to feel really good to make a jump. Needless to say when I woke up on Friday and my shoulder was feeling a bit “crunchy,” I was concerned that my return would have to be postponed yet again. Luckily come Saturday morning the only pains I awoke with were the painful cravings to sky jump.

As I arrived at The Farm (which is my new home dropzone after moving to The South) the winds were not playing as nice as I’d hoped. The swoop competitors who were in town for the FLCPA swoop meet were grounded due to gusty winds, so that was my indication to keep my feet firmly plated on the ground.

So, I took the time to plan my first jump back, do some dirt diving, and even network a bit for Jump for Diabetes (more to come on that later). Once the winds stated behaving I got on the first load that would take me – an hour and 1/2 later. Lucky for me it ended up being the sunset load. Simple two way freefly, knee lock into sit, where I got to test out all those skills I refined in the tunnel over the winter. One foot dock and lots of smiles later it was time to pull. Thankfully, I decided to pull high as my deployment included a number of line twists that required some deep breathing and lots of kicking. All was good in the end.

The sky was wonderful and peaceful, it was the cleanse that I needed. It’s amazing how much lighter I feel after a good skydive. All my cares and worries are left in the door of that airplane and nothing else matters but the moment – it’s like a cleansing of the soul.

The rest of the weekend didn’t play nice wind wise, but lots of time was spent outside…I’ve got the sunburn and mosquito bites to prove it. All in all it was a great couple days and I can’t wait to do it again next weekend.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

p.s. It’s been a while since you’ve seen one of these on my blog, but here’s a look at my first flight back!

During that time, I got to see an x-ray of my spine – I have more permanent problems than just the hip injury I was there to fix – and therefore continued with my chiro appointments on a monthly basis as a way to maintain my health.

After moving I was a bit lazy in finding a new chiropractor, but I did my research and found a guy. He’s good. He took x-rays to asses my latest shoulder injury (that I was REALLY hoping could be fixed by chiropractic and rehab rather than the proposed cortisone shots and potential surgery that traditional medicine was tossing my way), and I have to admit that I was absolutely stunned to see what my spine looked like, compared with a year ago.

Aside from the scary sight that was my shoulder, my spine looked almost normal. Last year at this time, it looked like someone’s fist had impacted my spine, the scoliosis was so severe in my lower/mid back. This year, it looks like a minor ripple in my spine. I’ll take a minor ripple here people!

Chiropractic is amazing stuff. For people who think it’s a bunch of quacky shit, well, sometimes it is. You have to do your research, find the right guy. Growing up I went to a family friend who was an MD first, then pursued his chiropractic certification. He was very good. My chiro in Chicago was amazing. He was in an office where they did massage therapy (not the frilly kind, but the kind where you’d be in complete pain the whole time but would walk out feeling like a million bucks) and his wife was the physical therapist on staff. Very much rehab focused.

Same with my new doc. No quack talk, just down to business. I do wish he had massage therapists on staff, but I get electro stim on my shoulder and lower back along with a weekly adjustment. I’ve only been twice, but so far so good. I can already tell a difference.

So this blog post about injuries turned out to be more of a promotion for chiropractic, which totally wasn’t my point.

What the hell was my point? It’s this…

Being injured and grounded totally sucks. The blue skies and warm southern weather have been calling my name, and I’ve yet to have the chance since moving over a month ago to get out and make even a single jump, but keeping my fingers crossed that the opportunity will come soon. In the meantime, I’m trying to remind myself that being on the ground is for the best, and finding other activities I love like yoga, hiking and my bocce ball league are keeping me busy and sane. But that doesn’t make my cravings for freefall any weaker, I must admit.

With time off comes improvement in health. I’m a firm believer in the RICE treatment, I’ve got the rest, ice and compression down, now it’s just time to get a little elevation to make my experience that much better.

Blue skies my friends!

Ashley

Now, I’m not going to lie, those statements are bold, and truth be told, I’m writing this more as a reminder to myself than anyone else.

Of course, this does not mean that you should live your life with blatant disregard for others, nor does it mean that you shouldn’t go out of your way to help others – hell, I’m a big believer in helping others to make your life even more fulfilling (ahem, Jump for Diabetes)- but, to ignore your own desire and dreams to please others is a waste.

No matter what you believe, if there is or isn’t something bigger and better waiting for us on the other side, it’s important to live in the here and now, as if this is all we’ve got. And, making the most of life is about following your dreams, living your passions, knowing when to say no, following that gut feeling that, if you’re truly honest with yourself, is usually right. Sometimes, this means letting go of one thing to let in another.

Only you can make your dreams come true. Only you can look out for your best interests all the time. Only you hold the key to living the life you believe in, that life you envision for yourself.

I’ve come to find, in my life anyway, that sometimes fear gets in the way of your dreams – sometimes that fear is simply letting someone down, sometimes it’s bigger, like losing an important aspect of your life. But the truth is, you have to trust in your gut. This is something that, as skydivers, we know all too well.

Jumping out of an airplane goes against everything your body is telling you is right. Falling is not comfortable for the human brain. Think about it, how many times have you woke from a dream with a start because of a vision of falling? Can you even count? I can’t.

It’s not natural. But, those of us who choose this path know in our gut that it’s the right thing for us, even when our bodies shoot out all kinds of signals that tell us to stop, this isn’t safe, it’s not natural.

A leap of faith, some would say, knowing that our training, our skills and those around us who we choose to jump with will keep us safe.

So why then, are there moments where simply disappointing someone in our lives can be such a scary thought that we’re willing to put our own dreams, our own wants, on the back burner in order to appease those close to us? Why is it that some decisions seem so difficult even though, deep down, we know exactly what path we want to take?

Tell me I’m not alone in this – I can’t be the only person out there who struggles with the balance between following my own dreams, living out the dreams others have for me and helping to make the dreams of those in my life come true.

It’s baby steps, I guess, to making the right decisions. It may not always be exactly what I want, or exactly what those in my life want, but it’s got to be for the greater good. Following gut feelings may disappoint others from time to time, but isn’t not following them an even greater disappointment to yourself?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

p.s. I think this song really captures some of these sentiments:

So far my skydiving season has started out a bit on the rough side. Between having the nice weather fall on days I’m hunkered down at the office and this hip/back injury that has me couch surfing for a few weeks, I’ve really only had one solid weekend of skydiving.

That said, I’m struggling a bit. With the type of injury I’m enduring (since, I can really only speak from experience here) I have good days and bad. Some days I wake up feeling amazing and then I’ll push myself and then come 6pm I’m laid up on the couch with this burning, tingling sensation all down my left leg. Other days I wake up with pain, rest a while, take some Advil then I’m good to go around lunch time. Still others, are just plain bad.

(Unfortunately, since the diagnosis, I’ve yet to have a completely good day…)

In a situation like this, the better days are tempting – especially when the weather is nice. I mean, I’ve had minimal opportunity to jump this season, so why wouldn’t I just risk it on days where I feel better to get in a little freefall?

Luckily, so far, I’ve been strong enough to remind myself that if I stick with PT for a few weeks and stay out of the sky I’ll have a much better chance of continuing my skydiving career for years to come than if I take one risk and one wrong step on landing to put me 4 giant steps back, or worse.

As someone who tries to be practical, that’s the best advice I can give to anyone who might have a minor injury this season, or in seasons to come. Take a deep breath, enjoy the time with your fellow jumpers (or even off the dropzone) on the ground, knowing that recovery is your first priority so that in seasons to come, jumping can be priority 1 again.

Talk to me again in a few weeks to see if my tune has changed…but for now, that’s the best advice I can give myself, or anyone like me.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

What I mean by that is, figuring out what kind of skydiver you are and coming to grips with that. As the weather warms and many of my friends are out at the dropzone during the week (and tweeting about it, rubbing my sad little face in the fact that I’m stuck in my office on a day where it’s 69 degrees and sunny) this is the most difficult time of the year for those of us who can only be weekend warriors due to prior commitments.

Last year around this time I took a look at a few different types of skydivers and how you can learn to embrace that to enjoy life to it’s fullest – after all, isn’t that what skydiving teaches us to do?

So, the question remains, how do you come to grips with being purely a weekend (or occasional) skydiver?

Suck it up, that’s how!

In all seriousness though, you have to make a conscious decision about how skydiving fits into your life. For some, they just can’t stand not having skydiving play a significant role in their lives, so they take risks, make adjustments, and find a way to make the sport a greater part of their lies. Others, like myself, have a such passion for what we do on a daily basis and, though we wish we could be out there on the nicest days of the year jumping with our friends, we know our other responsibilities help round out our life.

Of course, there are other variations of this – if you didn’t read my post from last April, be sure to do so, I don’t intend to repeat myself and bore y’all…clicky clicky.

Anywhoosits, the point here is this: make a decision about your life, when it comes to skydiving, career, family, and how all those pieces fit together, at embrace it. There’s nothing saying you can go down one path and make a change later on as your needs and preferences change, but there’s also no point in stewing over the fact that the other parts of your life are taking away from your passions (skydiver or not).

So, if you’re a weekend warrior like me, don’t waste your energy on envy when your fellow jumpers are out at the dropzone on a sunny Wednesday afternoon while you’re “stuck at the office” or wherever you are. Instead, dedicate yourself to your commitments, to your passions, and know that come Saturday morning, you can wake up to the smell of Jet A with a smile on your face, knowing that the weekend is yours to play amongst the clouds.

(Note: yep, that’s a bit of a pep talk for myself as well, even the preacher needs a friendly reminder every not and again.)

If you’re lucky enough to be heading out on a lovely weekend for your freefall fix, be sure to enjoy it a little bit more for the rest of us who are with you in spirit.

Blue Ones Kiddies!

Ashley

This is definitely a positive. However, I’m also a believer in looking toward the future a bit. Planning every now and again.

Here’s a scenario to help paint this picture for you a bit better.

A couple conversations with fellow female skydivers last summer got us to discussing relationships in the skydiving community; specifically romantic relationships. I’m a huge advocate for finding the person you’re supposed to be with simply by taking part in activities you love. Having a shared interest that you both have a passion for, especially one as unique as skydiving, helps the relationship flourish. (It worked very well for me!) Naturally, this has lead me to advise my single lady skydiver friends to take a look at the men around them at the dropzone for companionship. But, from what some of these ladies have told me, their male skydiver counterparts live too much for the moment and they want someone with an ability to also look toward the future, as they don’t want to just be the lady of the moment.

Touche.

Sometimes, these activities that have us living in the moment and craving the here and now, can be a hindrance when it comes to thinking long-term.

One of the lessons that spending quality time at dropzones has taught me is that there’s a need for balance. It’s not infrequent to find adrenaline junkies who are unable to comprehend, let alone practice, a balanced life. But with my other passions like yoga, photography and writing, I find that balance helps me keep my sanity in the otherwise nutty world of skydiving (you know, the whole being surrounded by type A personalities where half of them are walking around on ego trips all day).

Thankfully, having a husband (oh did I forget to mention we got married…) who lives a life just as full of passion as I do helps to keep me motivated in all aspects of my life. Lately, I’ve been spending more time getting excited about the future. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that I haven’t had freefall in my life for a couple months so I’m jonesing for a jump, but I think it goes beyond that.

By nature I’m a planner and a list maker, whether or not I end up sticking to these is a different story. Recently I’ve found that these plans are highly flexible, something that tended to be rather rigid in the first 20ish years of my life. You’d think that in your 20s it’d become priority to “settle in” a bit, into a career, a location, a family, and grow some roots so to speak. But I think anyone with an addictive personally – espeically those who channel that in a productive way – can attest to the fact that there are endless possibilities for the future, even things you likely don’t see yet.

So maybe I’m not as ready to grow us as I thought I’d be in my mid 20s – but why does there have to be anything wrong with that?

Sports like skydiving keep you young at heart. We’re all a bunch of big kids out there and the sky is our playground. Growing up seems a bit overrated when you look at it – but that’s certainly not going to stop me from taking a look at what the future has to bring. There’s oh so much out there to explore, both in the sky and on the ground.

Love and Blue Skies!

-Ashley

Over the holidays I lived vicariously through my friends who traveled to Florida and other exotic places (yes, when you live in Chicago, Florida is considered exotic) for skydiving, which I worked long hours to fill in for my colleagues who were also gone on vacation.

Last year at this time I was ramping up for 10 days in Florida for the Everglades boogie. That seems like ages ago now. This year we have nothing planned – though we did just talk about taking a trip the other day, whether it’s a quick road trip somewhere a little warmer or even just a weekend at a local dropzone that’d be willing to throw us out of an airplane. I’d take hop ‘n pops at this point.

Anyone know of any dropzones within driving distance of Chicago that fly on sunny winter days?

Until then, I’m continuing to live through those of you who were able to get out and skydive this Christmas. Any stories you have to share are welcome.

Blue ones!

Ashley

I’m a big believer in the idea that the most important relationship you have on this planet is the one that you have with yourself. My reasoning for this is a whole different story in itself, if you’re curious, we can chat later . That said, there are some things you just need to do for yourself to keep that relationship healthy. Over the last year, skydiving has become that “thing” for me.

Skydiving has always been something I’ve done for myself. It’s my stress relief. It’s my zen minute. It’s my own personal challenge, and a pursuit I continue for me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, having Rick right there with me, passionate traveler, willing to hit it hard with me anywhere, anytime is huge – I love that this is something we can share together – but in the end, it’s a passion I pursue for me.

Something I’ve never fully understood is the constant need to prove oneself to others in this world we live in. We’re all out there with a common interest, shouldn’t we be supporting each other rather than trying to one-up our fellow jumpers?

Sure, I’m all for healthy competition and pushing each other to improve, ribbing one another when we cork out or just can’t manage to stick that sit – after all, that’s what friends do – but above that, shouldn’t the skydive be for yourself?

It’s so freeing, so enlightening. The last thing I want is to get back on the ground and feel as if I’m not good enough because someone else is criticizing, or worse, making someone else feel as if they are not a good enough skydiver. (Editors note: this goes beyond helping others improve in the sky. We all know the difference between talking out a jump and working on fundamentals with your fellow jumpers, and being the asshole who is condescending and talking down to other jumpers as if they’re not worthy).

We’ve all got something to prove in this life, but who is your target audience? Yourself, or everyone else.

As my mother used to preach to me growing up, you can’t please everyone. So, I don’t try to. Maybe I’m different in that respect, but things like traveling and wingsuiting and even this blog, all those things are fulfilling a passion of mine – and no matter what happens with the other aspects of my life, I can know that these experiences were for me, and be proud of myself for these accomplishments.

So to all those jumpers out there stressing about which point to prove next (like how many jumps you have or how great a skydiver someone told you that you are) ask yourself this: are you really in this sport for yourself or is it to prove that you’re this awesome, cool skydiver to everyone else? And in the end, does it really matter what everyone else thinks?

Food for thought.

Blue skies!

Ashley

Let me tell you how…with an interview from my freefly partner! He’s also a former BASE jumper so it ties in .

*Photo by Ashley Mead

Y’all have heard so much about Rick in the past 9 months or so, it’s only fitting that you have a chance to hear the facts straight from him. Some of you may have read the article in the Jan/Feb issue of Blue Skies Mag that discusses diabetes in the world of adrenaline sports – this interview is nothing like that. We’re keeping the topics on the lighter side today.

I struggled with these questions, Rick, as the regular readers pretty much know the basics about your current skydiving career – aside from those days you sneak off to jump without me

That aside, I think I’ve come up with some compelling questions to get your wheels turning and keep the readers entertained. So, here goes nothing!

SDC: Let’s start with the standard question – how did you get your start in skydiving?

RS: To make a very long story short, from day one on this planet I’ve been the epitome of spontaneity and this was one of those last minute choices .  I told myself I was going to go skydiving. So I did a static line jump for my 18th birthday.

SDC: Obviously we know your favorite discipline is freefly, but tell us why.

RS: I guess because I’m the black sheep.

SDC: Ah, “dark side” – black sheep. Makes sense. Regular readers know that we travel a lot, tell us about your favorite trip, dropzone, experience – whatever.

RS: Here comes the cheese….I will have to say that my first date with Beans (aka SkydiveChick, aka Ashley) is my most memorable skydiving trip. We went to the Work Stinks boogie last September. Too much fun! All beer has already been drunk! Our first 2-way head-down, first Heli-jump, Ashley’s first sit-fly, my first otter and our first boogie.

SDC: Aw, that’s sweet! Y’all remember this picture I assume!

*Photo by Norman Kent

SDC: You were once a regular BASE jumper. What triggered the switch to skydiving?

RS: I wanted the dirt to look smaller.

SDC: Alright, now I’m really going to put you on the spot…what’s your favorite part about being my freefly partner? (yep, I’m making this one about me…I know you can respect that )

RS: Reverse cowgirl.. LOL! I love when you ride me out the door!!

SDC: Hahaha! For those who are unaware of what he’s talking about, see the video below!

SDC: We’ve had a lot of great opportunities over the past year, what are some of the things you’re looking forward / hoping to accomplish to this season?

RS: My 500th, D license, coach and pro-rating

SDC: Jump for Diabetes is fast approaching! Tell us a little about where the idea came from and how you made it work last year.

RS: The idea came from another fundraiser that was held at a DZ in Omro,Wi while was still a student. It involved jumping out of planes, raising funds and promoting awareness for Lupus. It was fun for all and it was a good cause. I told myself, when I’m able to stay on my feet when landing, I will coordinate an event like that one and try to do the same as them. And I gave it a shot…WTF, ya know?

I’m really looking forward to this years event. I’m very lucky to have Beans and Apt3 Studios on the Jump for Diabetes team. This years event would not be happening if you guys didn’t step up.. PROPS!!

SDC: What is your most memorable skydiving experience so far?

RS: Probably sit’n relative with you.

SDC: So as one of those freeflyers who falls into that oh-so-subjective “intermediate” category, and the person who taught me how to sitfly, let’s hear your advice to all those aspiring freeflyers out there.

RS: Challenge yourself and don’t give up. When you think you’ve done everything you can to get it.. and don’t, push yourself to keep going and achieve your goal. Once you get it, you get it.

SDC: Anything you’d like to add?

RS: It’s been 3 days and I’m jones’n for some ff (freefall).

Thanks, Rick. This was fun.

For anyone who was curious about something and didn’t find out in this interview, feel free to send questions my way. After all, we do live under the same roof.

Blue skies!

Ashley