Sunday, April 23, 2023

Sunday Match Day - The Romulus 4 Seasons Match

I went to the USPSA match in Romulus this morning. It was their first outdoor match of the year and it was full, with 96 shooters coming out.

Why do I call it the 4 Seasons Match?

Because we got to experience all 4 of Michigan's seasons in a single match.

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained;

It hailed;

It was sunny and warm;

It went overcast and cold;

It rained again;

It was even more cold, dropping into the 30s.

Did I mention the rain and hail?  There was repeated bouts of rain and hail.

Yep, we got to experience winter, spring, summer, and fall all in one match.

On our second stage, just as I got the standby command, the sky opened up, and I was then shooting in the rain.  It was heavy enough that they paused the match for it blown over - but only after I had done my run.

Kinda sucked as water was covering my the shooting glasses and optic,  and it was coming down in sheets in front of targets so that cranked up the difficulty level just a bit.

Overall, I had a good, if kinda shivery, match.

I actually was able to develop some stage plans and shoot the plans.

I did not skate by a single target this time on any stage, even as some others on my squad did. That was good.

I almost had a miss-free 8 stage match.  

Of course, on the very last stage, after not a single miss the whole day I then did two of them.  One on a fast moving swinger and one miss at a longer distance target.  I could blame my hands being numbed with cold for that.  Lots of people were showing reduced performance by the last stage.

No results yet, but overall, I think I'm improving performance-wise.

Oh, and after the match I got to experience Michigan's 5th Season - Road Construction

Both 696 and 275 are torn up but good, both down to 2 lanes and the traffic is fugly. Took quite awhile to get home.

A great way to spend a Sunday, aside from the being stuck in traffic parts.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

It's not always shooting in perfect weather... Just sayin...

Gromit said...

Funny how the construction goes. Too bad we don't get much interstate highway out here in Colorado. Seems like if you're in the intermountain west, we're too far from DC to get those funds. Too bad one of the two we do have leads to Californians filling the state.

Aaron said...

Old NFO: That's for sure, but experiencing all 4 seasons in a single match is a little much to ask.

Gromit: Yep, the construction here is ridiculous at the moment. It seems designed to cause the greatest inconvenience possible complete with little to no notice about completely closing on-ramps, highway sections etc.