BEFORE WE GET STARTED- coincidentally, Bert Hinkley, today’s featured poet, had feedback on Robin Outwood’s story from yesterday. From Bert:
In high school I skied the 40 meter hill at Pico that is pictured in the current Story . The slalom and GS were over on the T-bar hill and the xc through the woods near the base of the mountain. We skied other jumps at Latchis Hill in Brattleboro, a 25 meter at Suicide Six in Woodstock, a maybe 30 meter in Springfield, a 30 meter at the Lydon Outing Club in Lyndonville, a 25 meter in Putney and the 30 meter we built in East Dorset for the Burr & Burton Academy ski team. We also had a jump out along Rt 30 west of Manchester that was probably 10 – 15 meter. It was closer to school for practice.
Bert (L) is the father of Jed (C), USANS’s Sport Director… so he knows a thing or two about Nordic combined… shown with mother, Dani (R).
BERT HINKLEY
Proctor Academy
Bend OR
bert@proctornet.com
THE RHYME OF THE NORDIC COMBINED
Bert Hinkley
You’ve made up your mind. You’re one of a kind.
You ski through the woods and you jump.
You climb old wooden stairs then go for some air,
And hurl your bod off the bump.
The way to get high is to sail through the sky,
With the grace and the style of a bird.
Unlike those in the crowd, who shout your name loud,
You are making a break from the herd.
There are plenty of times when the uphills are steep
And the loogies swing from your chin.
When you wonder just why you ski this event,
Just what do you get if you win?
What makes you hang on, when your lungs scream for air,
When your skis feel as fast as a stone?
When the jump track is icy, more like a steep rink
And tailwinds swirl like a cyclone.
It must be for those times when your take-off is strong.
When your shin angle’s locked in a vise.
A long move round the knee sends you up on the breeze.
Like an eagle your body takes flight.
When the landing’s emerging, your adrenaline surging,
Between you and the K point is air.
You land and don’t crash, falls don’t pay the cash.
And you thank the Kahuna you’re spared.
And down in the woods when the wax is just right,
When your legs feel like tempered steel springs.
You’re sprinting the up hills and flashing the downs,
Driven on by the chance of a win.
And when the day’s done, whether win, place or show,
You can search the whole world and you’ll find
That there aren’t many folks who have the big heart
And the guts that it takes for combined.
You climb up the stairs so to sail through the air,
You know you are one of a kind.
And alone in the trees you skate on skinny skis.
Your event is the Nordic combined.
Jed on course…
… and in flight.
More Hinkley talent in the pipeline!
