February 25th 2007:
On this day I had the once in a life time opportunity to try skeleton, which is like luge only you go head first down the 1.5 km ice track. Skeleton Canada is looking to recruit athletes and through the track coach at the University of Calgary I heard about this free session to get athletes interested. Normally in skeleton you can reach speeds up to 130 km/h but that’s going from the top, and you need a special drivers license to legally go from there. So we started at turn 5 of 14. First we walked to the top and listened to the president of skeleton Canada talk about the sport and some interesting parts of the ice track. Apparently, if you’re going to flip over, it’ll be at turn 8, in which case we were told to flip back onto the sled. So the 20 of us strapped on helmets and elbow pads and waited for our turn. When I was called up I picked up the steel sled that we were supposed to “just flip back onto” and the thing weighed at least 50 lbs. I think I’d have a better chance setting a record then of getting this sled off of me while I’m hitting turns at 90 km/h. So I promised myself that I wouldn’t flip, got on the sled and was a kilometer farther down after 44 seconds of fairly smooth sailing. Definitely the experience of a lifetime, and for the rate I was paying, you can imagine how happy I was. 4 other new skeleton lovers and I jumped into the back of a truck and we were driven back to the top, with a beautiful view of north west Calgary, for our second attempt down the chute. I had finished the first round with the second fastest time and was feeling pretty confident about my ability to tame the beast until I was given a push for the second time and my helmet slipped down over my eyes. With my arms at my sides and with no idea how close I was to a wall I kept my arms where they were and went down blind. Not having done this sport let alone this course more than once before, I was relying solely on “the force”. I hurtled in and out of turns, came out of turn 8 alive and was clocked at 88km/h as I hit the walls of the straightaway a couple times each before straightening out just in time for the 270 degree, turn 9. In this turn athletes can feel up to 4.5 G’s. So in an instant your neck, head and helmet which overhang the sled feel 4 times heavier. Managing to just keep my helmet off the ice I continued down the chute, half wishing that the next turn would be my last but also loving every second of it. As I finally came to a stop and picked up the sled (with the help of a volunteer) I discovered that my embarrassing run had set the best time yet.
Confused, but not about to argue, I excitedly ran up to the straightaway between turns 8 and 9 to watch the remaining runs. It was amazing to see how fast people flew by and how hard some hit the walls. Occasionally you would even see sparks flying from the sled when a runner hit a piece of the track where the ice had worn down. I also heard a strange noise when some people went into the turn 9. Turns out it was the sound of their helmets scraping against the ice because they couldn’t, or chose not to, keep their head above the ice. At the end of the afternoon we returned to the ice house (the only indoor bobsleigh training facility in the world) where the coordinator shared some final thoughts. I met someone there who had shifted over accidentally on his way down his second run, his sled and shoulder went in to a wall and the friction was enough too put a hole through his winter jacket, his long sleeve shirt and left a mark on his arm. Which gives me even more of a reason to wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt wherever I go; if I ever end up going down an ice chute and get a hole in my clothes, I can always afford to replace them.
Confused, but not about to argue, I excitedly ran up to the straightaway between turns 8 and 9 to watch the remaining runs. It was amazing to see how fast people flew by and how hard some hit the walls. Occasionally you would even see sparks flying from the sled when a runner hit a piece of the track where the ice had worn down. I also heard a strange noise when some people went into the turn 9. Turns out it was the sound of their helmets scraping against the ice because they couldn’t, or chose not to, keep their head above the ice. At the end of the afternoon we returned to the ice house (the only indoor bobsleigh training facility in the world) where the coordinator shared some final thoughts. I met someone there who had shifted over accidentally on his way down his second run, his sled and shoulder went in to a wall and the friction was enough too put a hole through his winter jacket, his long sleeve shirt and left a mark on his arm. Which gives me even more of a reason to wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt wherever I go; if I ever end up going down an ice chute and get a hole in my clothes, I can always afford to replace them.
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