Skeleton

Ok, now I've picked up another sport, sigh, too many now. But I'm also shedding a couple sports, kind of. Summer: climbing is gone to make way for more serious biking. Winter: skiing / snowboarding is taking a backseat so I can focus more on skeleton, not teaching snowboarding this year though I'll miss it.......and anyway, here's the story:

So, Brad went through the Skeleton school last March, and started sliding weekly with the club. Now, he's moved up to the Ice II Development Team, and will be sliding 3-4 days a week, competing in small races, working towards competing more seriously. he is doing awesomely - you should see his running start! Running by the sled then gracefully jumping on, it's pretty cool. He's had a couple PRs in the last week, good times.

This fall / winter, he suggested that I try it out, since I'm competetive and enjoy adrenaline sports and he thought I'd enjoy it (I wouldn't have suggested that I try it, since I didn't want to invade Brad's sport, but I'm glad he suggested it himself! Grin), so I took the weeklong school Nov 29 - Dec 3 (evenings) and got my one mile skeleton license.

Craziness! The first day of class, we slid down the track, on that little sled, headfirst, from the junior start which is about halfway up the track. What a whirlwind of sensations, sensory overload for sure. Whooshing down the track at about 50mph, really not knowing how to steer, okay, having been told how to steer but not reacting quickly enough - the spot where you want to steer comes and you're halfway through the next three turns before you've remembered how to move your body to steer, oops! Too late! Four runs down that first day, a bit sore from hitting the wall at 50mph, but an overall positive day, we left ready for more. My classmates were pretty cool too, a couple middle aged guys getting their speed on, and they did awesomely too, a 13 year old that was really cocky (but he's 13, what do you expect?) and that did really well, and a college freshman who wants to be a pilot to fly dogs for dog shows. Hmm.

Second day of school, we did three runs from Ladies start, about 3/4 of the way up the track. Speeds closer to 60mph, can't remember if we broke 60 or not, that was my worst night. I felt so out of control, too fast, kept steering the wrong directions and ending up slamming into the walls. Hit my right hand so badly the EMTs thought I'd broken my pinkie knuckle - it was black and blue and swollen but ended up being just sprained. Hit my chin into the sled a couple times and bruised it too. It wasn't just me either, apparently Ladies Start Day is the worst for most schools. Out of the five of us, I smashed my hand and banged my chin, one other guy cracked his chin open a bit and also hit his head so hard that he almost flew off his sled and was actually unconscious for the last part of his run! Of course he had a concussion, and a third person hit his chin and split it so badly he should have had five stitches at least instead of just butterflying it like he did. Anyway.....

Third day, I didn't really want to go since I was afraid of hitting my sore hand, but had to go to get my license. Not willing to quit. So I bought a cheap pair of winter gloves and duct taped squares of camping pad (that nice blue foam) to the outside of the gloves, and taped a smaller piece to my chin. Also wore my downhill mtn bike armor, that really beefy stuff, and a mouthguard. I was prepared!

The license required six (6) safe runs from the top of the track....I was worried at first, did "safe" mean I couldn't hit any walls? Nope, I was laughingly informed, it just meant "stay on the sled, and no big blood. Little blood is okay, no big blood. Oh, and stay conscious." So day three, a nervous Kimber pushes her sled and hops on, freaked out about another hand smashing. It ended up okay though, they were telling the truth that Day Two would be the worst. I made three safe runs from the top, 69 mph, didn't hit my hand or anything. It was awesome!

Day four got cancelled due to a blizzard, but day five, final day, I made the three more safe runs I needed. I've got my skeleton license! Ok, that sounds wierd, but whatever, it was awesome.

So, to finish a long story, I've signed up for Ice I, so I'll be sliding 2 - 3 times a week this winter and competing in a couple club races. I've been to three actual training sessions since my class ended, and made 9 runs down, 73.1 mph max speed so far. The downhill armor ended up being WAY too bulky, so I'm now wearing ski racer padding, not really worrying about speedsuits or the like yet, just working on getting runs under my belt. Things supposedly slow down as your brain gets used to the sensory input, and reaction times pick up, so you can actually steer in the turn as it happens, instead of realizing what you needed to do 10 seconds later, grin.

I don't have any pictures yet, but surely will eventually. Suffice it to say, it's a crazy sport but heaps of fun, and I'm glad to be involved. Along with Brad. Check out this slider's blog at Newsliders , it's a pretty good resource for information.

Cheers!