Bobsled

Mission Level
Success!

Beautiful snow

 I got to take a trip with my guy (code name MacGyver) to Lake Placid, New York December 19-23 2012. This adventure in itself actually covers a bunch of things I have never done - like take a non-family vacation.

One of the adventures my guy had found was taking a bobsled ride on Whiteface Mountain. This is right at the Olympic Sports Complex where events from the 1980 Olympics took place. Training still happen there, too, by the way. In 2010, the bobsled track was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It's pretty cool just to be somewhere where history happened. 

Always Thinking

This is a toboggan

While waiting for our bobsled pager to go off in the small museum, I wondered where the term "bobsleding" came from. The vehicle is called a toboggan - why do we call it "bobsledding?" The term comes from the bobbing action riders would do in the toboggan to gain speed. Knowledge bomb!

Back to Whiteface. 

The Setup
I had done some research on what it's like to do a bobsled - and the overwhelming response was that it is like a rollercoaster. I like rollercoasters. You need to be fitted with a helmet.

Hmm. Craziest rollercoaster I've been on.

Because of the time of the year, there were no lines and we only had to wait for one family before us. Other places I checked said you should be at the place early and you will have to wait for hours.

By the way, we did not go down the track on the old-tyme sled.

Waiting for our sled

With helmet on, we waited in the cold watching the bobsled be brought up from the end of the track, the two staff-guys loading the people in front of us in and sometimes you hear screaming. 

The Ride

So, how was it? Pretty damn cool.

It is a rough ride, reminded me of Hercules which is a wooden rollercoaster in Dorney Park I use to ride in the summer - fun and fast and quite bumpy at parts.

Bobsledding on TV looks like a couple people tucked into a sled coasting smoothly down a track.

Sure, things start off tame enough until you hit the first turn, things get real. One of us screamed, I won't say who. Not only are you going really fast, and when you  hit the curves, your butt is facing due east rather than south.

Unlike a rollercoaster, you aren't on a a train-track, you are on a half-pipe of ice, sliding around and zooming down. It only takes a couple turns to realize it wouldn't take a lot to lose total control and fall off a curve. Don't worry, we YouTubed bobsledding crashes after we took the ride.

The only other unexpected this is the noise. It's loud and I can only imagine the effort it takes to keep that sled going Olympic-fast and keeping it balanced. You can't hear too well, so, I imagine the athletes who complete - well, it's really a skill to communicate.

Helmet mics? That would make sense.

The Aftermath

Our sled was actually #49

When we got off, I had this exchange with the the two staff members who guided the sled for us:

Me: Wow, you get to do this all day? Not to bad of a job!
Him: It gets a little painful after a while.
Me: I can see that. 

More respect for those teams that practice for hours. I can see how you can get banged up pretty fast.

And while all this is going on, you are trying to shave off a couple milliseconds. Nifty skills.

But, I think I could manage a couple more trips down. Here is the proof - the dated tickets!

Is that a water tower?

If you are up for an adventure, this is one to try.


Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.