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Street Luge World Championships
Street Luging
Article by: © Michael J. Rosen 2012
"...For the Love of...Racing Down a Hill...We've Had Everything From Rocket Scientists... Bums, Drunks, Stock Brokers, Microsoft Programmers, and Horse Dentists Doing This, But We All Come Together in Peace and Harmony."
Taking something to the street can be quite interesting: Community parades; neighbors sharing dishes at block parties; escaped zoo animals or convicts. Even poor old English, put out on the street, gets a whole lot of "fo' shizzle, my nizzle."
Street luge is no different: Long-haired, tatted-up, leather-suited playboys lying face-up on customized skateboards, zoom up to 80 miles per hour, and not on an expertly engineered course as in the Olympics, but, rather, on your average, time-for-the-daily-commute road. Potholes, soft shoulders, bacon,* by-standers-they're all part of the sport's standard thoroughfare.
Street luge is a descendant of "butt boarding" (or, to the overprotective parent, "tushy sledding") and has evolved from a pilot riding an elongated skateboard to a specifically-designed board, equipped with a headrest, foot pegs, and a cup-holder for a two-liter bottle of sugar-free chutzpah. Riders often access these reserves, as a Kevlar suit and motorcycle helmet don't change the fact that they maneuver tight turns by simply leaning a little to one side or the other and literally burn rubber-the soles of their shoes-to brake.
Debate on luge's origins continues to rage, particularly in California and Switzerland. (Oddly, credit for encouraging a person to consume half a pound of melted cheese at a single sitting didn't satisfy the Swiss ego.) All do concede, however, that the first organized street-luge event took place in Signal Hill, California. That 1978 race ended quickly with injuries to both competitors and spectators. After street luge's national debut at the inaugural X Games in 1995, and its appearance in ad campaigns from McDonald's and Mountain Dew, street luge looked to become the new face of fast food and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Today, the International Gravity Sports Association (IGSA) holds a World Championship, along with events in Canada, South Africa, and several European nations. And while the last six winners of the World Cup Series have represented five different countries, the undisputed champion every time-with the incredible speed of 9.8 m/s2-is gravity itself.
Smart? Probably not. Street smart? Definitely.
Englishman Joel "The Gravity King" King once traveled 112.7 miles per hour on a luge he equipped with a jetpack. Want to try for lucky 113? Visit www.igsaworldcup.com.
Street (Luge) Slang
Just a few bits of luging lingo to impress any friends who would even know (or care) what you're talking about.
*bacon: a rough, uneven, or otherwise hazardous stretch of road.
banana: a rider whose luge frequently slips out from under him.
chucking bale: crashing into the hay bales-used as barriers along the track-with enough force to move them out of place.
drop a hill: to ride a luge course, preferably a closed one.
flame: when a street luge's wheels catch on fire. (Another reason street luge kicks ice luge's ass.)
flesh wing: when a pilot extends an arm for balance during a difficult part of the course.
puke a wheel: losing a wheel as a result of flames or melting.
rafting: when a pilot is forced to regain speed by propelling himself with his hands after an unplanned stop or loss of momentum.
road rash: scrapes and skin burns after falling off luge or after a collision.
scrambled eggs: a rough stretch of road, but to a lesser extent (and with less impact on your "good" cholesterol) than bacon.
wad: a multi-luge collision.
wobbs: the shaking or wobbling of the luge when reaching very high speeds.
No Dribbling the Squid
The above article is just one of a collection of off-beat articles on 2camels from Michael J. Rosen's wonderful No Dribbling the Squid - your front-row seat to 70 of the world's most mind-blowing feats of strength, endurance, and eccentricity.
For more info check out the No Dribbling the Squid website, Facebook fan page or Michael's very own website.
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Purchase No Dribbling the Squid now from Amazon.co.uk
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