Coasters, Falling, etc..

Back in.. umm.. 1996 or probably `97, I discovered I was no longer deathly afraid of roller coasters anymore. I went to Riverside Amusement Park (which was bought by Six Flags a few years ago and is now called Six Flags New England) and went on the old wooden coasters there. I normally stuck to one called the Thunderbolt that was so old, half the thrill was wondering if it would rattle itself apart while you were on it. That was about the biggest coaster I could muster the courage to ride and certainly not in the front seat.

I also dared to ride the Cyclone which was the biggest, fastest wooden coaster or something. I never dared ride it when I was younger, I waited outside for my brother and father to come out. Well, I was suddenly able to climb into those torturous unpadded cars somewhere near the back of the line. By the end of the ride, I wasn’t the least bit bothered and wondered why the hell I couldn’t do that before. So, I got back in line and this time got right up there in front, and by the end of the ride found myself leaning out over the front of the car in a desperate attempte to intensify it even more. What was once my worst fear was now child’s play.

The next time I returned to the park, a new coaster had been built, the first new tubular steel coaster the park had ever seen. Boasting an 80Mph sixty second ride, I was anxious to try it. But I wasn’t AT ALL interested in waiting in a two hour line for a sixty second ride. As the day wore on, the wait only got longer and I never did get a chance to ride it.

A couple of years ago, I heard about a new coaster over at Cedar Point in Ohio, Millenium Force. The name is cheesy, but I was willing to overlook that and make the leap from rickety old wooden coasters to the tallest (310ft), fastest coaster in the world. Once again, the wait was over 3 hours at best, and, though at the time I thought it was just because we’d gotten there late, I found out that the wait could be one or two hours as soon as they opened the gates to the park.

I later saw on TV that Millenium Force had since lost its title to a new coaster over in Japan. But, Cedar Point is at it again, reclaiming the title with this 420ft., 120Mph monster. I doubt that I’ll get to ride that one either, but maybe it’ll take some attention away from Millenium Force so I can at least stay a step behind.

I did get to try a different coaster at Cedar Point, Gemini, another old wooden one but much bigger than the other two I’d experienced. Honestly, it brought back a bit of the fear in me. If I had just jumped right in on Millenium Force I might not be having second thoughts now, but I am starting to doubt if I could really do it. I really really want to. Just like I really want to sky dive some day.

I fear falling, I have for as long as I could remember, I used to have nightmares about falling off the 8ft balcony in my house as if it I’d die from it. I could speculate that it originated from the time I fell off the back porch (before they had a chance to install a railing) and narrowly missed hitting the cement 7ft. below only through somehow twisting my body around. I probably gave my parents a heart attack, but I just lost my balance. It didn’t really shake me or anything, I was more confused by their reaction. I thought I’d been in control of my fall the whole time.

I can rock climb with no ropes and not worry nearly as much about my safety as my brother does. That may not be a good thing, but I’m really don’t think I’m just being overly confident. Climbing rocks is as easy as climing trees to me. But I absolutely cannot stand with my back to the edge of a cliff. When I’m climbing, I have something in front of me, something to hang on to, but when I’m at the top, my balance gets all wacky and I start feeling all floaty when I’m near the edge. It scares the shit out of me because it could cause me to overcompensate for some imagined force and fall backwards or something.

I’ve never frozen up while climbing, but I do remember freezing up in a hay loft once. I couldn’t get down, I had to be practically carried down, and that was a lot less dangerous than anything else I’ve done. It seems that the younger I am in my memories, the worse the fear was, but for no real reason. Falling down the stairs never particularly scared me, and I don’t think I ever fell out of a bunk bed unless it’s been knocked from my memory.

I don’t know, but my fear of falling has really just made me all the more determined to defy it. I don’t want to “work up” to Millenium Force or sky diving, I want to just do it. I probably fear the big coasters more than sky diving. Probably because I’m strapped in.

Oh well, I’ve been meaning to write about that all week because it’s been on my mind, but I’ve had to work my ass off at work for the last two weeks and the weather has been nice enough to get some work done around the house. 🙂