The most incredible thing I’ve ever done was NOT on a bike.

That’s right, I’m leaving myself wide open for ridicule and derision at work and at home with a bold statement like that. Those at the office live and breathe bikes and for me to have the most incredible experience of my life NOT on 2 wheels borders on travesty. Similarly at home, after marriage and the birth of our child, having these two things take a back seat to jumping out of a perfectly good airplane could put me in hot water. That’s ok. I think I’m still delirious from the jump.

We did the quick and easy tandem jump, where basically the student is strapped on to the chest of the instructor. There is very little training involved with this kind of jump and within an hour we were suited up and ready to go.

We jumped from 13,500 feet and freefell for about 50 seconds. Leaving the plane, you accelerate towards the ground reaching 120mph almost instantly.

Then my instructor opened the chute and we rode it down to the ground for about 10 minutes.

So what was so great about it? A few choice words come to mind like exhilarating, peaceful, cleansing, and transcendent. But that doesn’t scratch the surface. The sensation of skydiving is something that is indescribable. Since doing it I keep trying to tell everyone I know what it was like, but it really is beyond description. The exhilaration of the freefall accompanied by the beautiful, quiet tranquility of the parachute ride down to the ground is a sublime mixture of emotions and sensory overload. It is something I feel that absolutely everyone must try.

Photos courtesy of Skydive Pennsylvania.