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Saturday, 4 October 2003

Rollercoasters ::

I took my kids to Darien Lake this afternoon. It rained for most of the drive, but the rain stopped shortly before we arrived, and didn’t return. It was windy, around 50 degrees, with only a bit of sun, so the park wasn’t at all crowded—no long lines for rides. Last time I’d been on a rollercoaster was when I was about 10, Sarah’s age. We’d gotten stuck, having somehow lost the momentum needed to get up an incline. So I was amused that as soon as we got in line (the slightly longer lines for the front cars), on the first trip, the cars got stuck just short of the platform. The operator had to call in some technicians who did who-knows-what to return the cars to the platform. The technicians stayed around for one more ride until they saw that the cars did not get stuck again. Then it was our turn.

I don’t know what I was thinking when Timmy suggested we go on the Superman rollercoaster first, and sit in the front. It’s 205 feet high.

Thursday, we had visited Taughannock Falls (214 feet high), where we watched some fearless hikers take seats right on the lip of the dropoff. I studied a recently-installed sign, with pictures of how the shape of the falls has changed over time as chunks of rock have succumbed to erosion and taken the plunge. There was a picture taken after a recent major rockfall. The sign suggested that I try to identify what has changed since the picture was taken. I noticed that the hikers were perched on a bit of rock whose immediate downstairs neighbor had recently fallen, and decided I’d looked at the falls long enough.

As the car slowly made its way up the initial ascent, I said to the kids, “wait, I forgot, I’m scared of rollercoasters! Too late now!” A few seconds later, we were hurtling almost straight downward at 75 mph. I’d driven faster than that on the way there, but on relatively flat smooth surfaces without sharp corners, thanks to the geeks who designed the New York State Thruway. The geeks who designed this thing had very different ideas about the most comfortable and safe ways to travel at 75 mph. I held on for dear life and screamed at the top of my lungs. It felt good. The photo taken at the bottom caught my “I’m having way too much fun” look. The last photo of me I’ve seen like that was on my 40th birthday, when I was intoxicated and in a hot tub.

Later, Timmy and I rode the Viper, which sends you twisting upside down several times. I shut my eyes during the first inversion, wanting to see just what it felt like. OK, not bad. I am not going to vomit, though my body does seem to find this very surprising. I opened my eyes. I guess I was getting used to roller coasters. I didn’t scream.

We went on the Superman coaster one more time before leaving. It crossed my mind, I wonder what this would be like if I were completely unafraid? I took a couple deep breaths and closed my eyes for a few moments during the ascent. Sarah clutched my hand. We reached the top and began hurtling downward. The wind on my face was cold. My eyes watered a bit. We were weightless for a few seconds. The car clutched its rails perfectly as we rolled through the bottom and hurtled upward again. No, I couldn’t fall out of this thing even if I wanted to. I kept reminding myself, no fear, like on those baseball caps. The wind kept rushing in my face, my internal gyroscope got quite a workout, and part of my brain was just marvelling, wondering when we would run out of momentum.

I’m remembering hearing Five for Fighting’s Superman at a friend’s a few days ago and talking about how we liked the lyrics—"I can’t stand to fly / I’m not that naive.”

A little girl on the Maid of the Mist boat at Niagara Falls once screamed, as the boat approached the base of the falls, “We’re all going to die!!!” It became a family joke—it was true! but most likely, most of us are not going to die today. So why fear something that is inevitable in the long run, and yet quite improbable at any given moment?

References:
LA, David Arnay ( 4 June 2004)

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2003 > October

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