The Modern State of Archery
03 Feb '06 - 15:41 by benrA couple blocks from my house is an interesting place called Archery Only... you can kinda guess what they do. I'd stopped in a couple of times to check it out and was really impressed, they've got a full shop full of archery and hunting gear, as well as an in-door archery range right there in the shop. In fact, if you've watched MythBusters you've probly seen the range before.. they've tested several archery and crossbow related myths there. Anyway, it seemed like learning something about archery would be fun, since I don't really know more about archery than whats obvious, and it turns out that Monday nights they have a lessons night, which is thankfully two 1 hour periods. So about 3 weeks ago I went to the 7pm-8pm slot, and then Tamarah and I swapped the kids so that she could do the 8pm-9pm slot. We both had a blast and really got into it. We got to use both recurve and compound bows. Whats more, I now know what a recurve bow actually is. :)
When I got home I had to learn everything about archery that I could and became amazed by how much development there has been in the field. The bow above is the Archery Research AR-32, and its one scary mother. I've always considered myself a rifle man, personally, I enjoy marksmanship and being out on the range, but nothing quite feels more manly that holding a compound bow at full draw.
The guys at Archery Only are really kool and easy going. The guys that frequent the range are really helpful and like new folks, so its an ideal enviroment in which to learn. Tamarah and I both keep trying to find time to go back but life is busy and the place closes when the kids go to bed, making it hard to get over there. In contrast, its easier for me to go karting because the track is open till midnight, allow me to put the kids down, spend some time with Tamarah while its quiet and then slip over to the track for a couple laps.
Anyway, we here in the Silicon Valley are really lucky to have some really fun things to do. If you live here and are looking for something fun, exciting, and inexpensive to do here are some ideas:
- Archery Only: Spend some time with fun people and hone your archery skills, or just visit a MythBusters landmark.
- LeMans Indoor Karting: For only $25 you can be putting on your driving suit and helmet and buzzing around a track at 30mps only an inch off the ground. Every Sunday night they run "Sunday Night Heats", where as many as 40 drivers meet up to go head to head for the night.
- Driving the back roads: I love my Volvo S70 T5 and I love driving backroads at night, especially on one of California's warm summer nights. Niles Canyon and beyond it, Calevarous Rd which runs behind Mission Peak in Fremont, provides a wonderful mix of well maintained backroads that are almost completely empty at night, have no pedestrian traffic, are beautiful, and are rarely patrolled by police after about 10pm. The southern stretch of Calevarous Rd is highly technical and fun to drive, although tight and dangerous, featuring WRC like tarmac for those who have AWD rally grade cars.
- And like, lots more that I can't think of atm....
Hi you have a nice homepage
carlo (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 00:33
Your pictures are great.julio (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 02:30
Hi you have a nice homepagebrooke (Email) (URL) - 13 June '06 - 21:48
Hey man…sorry I missed the party.