We'd all do this, wouldn't we? Given the chance?

[BrumJim]

Safe but I had to count my fillings at the end!

I only did the bob raft at La Plagne. Did the full-on olympic bobsleigh with top driver at Cesana (Turin games). That was brutal. You have an Italian bobsleigh team pilot up the front, and three burly blokes push you off (they don't trust ameteurs to jump in and tuck in at the right time), and finish up completing the course only a few seconds slower than competition times. By the end the corners are coming at you almost one a second, and your head gets battered against the side of the bob at the beginning and end of every turn. Plus pulling several G through each bend. Don't know what it is like being pushed out of a car at 40 mile/h, but can't be that different.

There comes a point when you give something a go that looks easy on TV when watching world-class competitors doing it. Riding a bobsleigh seems like just a simple case of pushing hard, then tucking up behind the guy in front. The brakeman just has to wait for the end, and the pilot is helped by having a course shaped to take them down the run anyway. By the end I could barely believe that it was possible. Respect to those who have done it, and maximum respect to those that have won medals doing it.

 

[DCBassman]

Hell. No.

Damn straight...

 

[PK99]

I only did the bob raft at La Plagne. Did the full-on olympic bobsleigh with top driver at Cesana (Turin games). That was brutal. You have an Italian bobsleigh team pilot up the front, and three burly blokes push you off (they don't trust ameteurs to jump in and tuck in at the right time), and finish up completing the course only a few seconds slower than competition times. By the end the corners are coming at you almost one a second, and your head gets battered against the side of the bob at the beginning and end of every turn. Plus pulling several G through each bend. Don't know what it is like being pushed out of a car at 40 mile/h, but can't be that different.

There comes a point when you give something a go that looks easy on TV when watching world-class competitors doing it. Riding a bobsleigh seems like just a simple case of pushing hard, then tucking up behind the guy in front. The brakeman just has to wait for the end, and the pilot is helped by having a course shaped to take them down the run anyway. By the end I could barely believe that it was possible. Respect to those who have done it, and maximum respect to those that have won medals doing it.

I'd have been interested in doing it several times - had not the cost of a single ride been more than an annual ticket at Thorpe Park

 

[mustang1]

Count me OUT!

 

[captain nemo1701]

Once while hitching around Norway, my ride into Oslo pointed out the Olympic ski jump and mentioned his youngest son - then 14 - had jumped from it. It was summer (1985) so on my visit to the Olympic park, I had a quick gander down the slope...... Not what I'd do at 14.

 

[Alex321]

Once while hitching around Norway, my ride into Oslo pointed out the Olympic ski jump and mentioned his youngest son - then 14 - had jumped from it. It was summer (1985) so on my visit to the Olympic park, I had a quick gander down the slope...... Not what I'd do at 14.

At 14 you think you are invincible

 

[ColinJ]

At 14 you think you are invincible

One of my nutty pals climbed up the inside of a huge tree at that age and stuck his head out of the foliage at the top. It freaked me out completely. I knew very well that he was NOT invincible.

I mentioned it to another friend about 30 years later and he said that one of his young friends did the same thing. Unfortunately, that lad did NOT survive... (He fell out of the tree when the branch he was standing on broke.)

As I posted before...

The way I look at it - cowardice exists for a reason!