lisa morgan

Last weekend was a long weekend meaning some friends had more time to play than usual, so a group of 6 of us headed south in to NY state for a camping/riding trip at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid.  The area hosted the 1932 and 1980 winter olympics and when looking for things to do in the area one of the first things I found and quickly became fixated on was riding in a bobsled on the 1932 track.

We all headed down on the Friday night and a couple of hours after my usual interrorgation at the border had set up camp and were keeping warm by the fire on what was a decidedly cold night after temps of 30-40 degrees for weeks.

On Saturday morning Tifenn, Seb and Tim loaded up to drive the 2km to Whiteface (downhillers...) where they were attempting the 10 run challenge - meaning if you got 10 runs in in a single day you got a free day pass.  With the lift open only 9-3:30 and these guys being prone to more mechanicals than... anything ever!... it would be a worthy challenge.  Laura and Ros enjoyed a sleep in before sightseeing and shopping.  I packed my back and rolled out of the campground, destination: Bobsled!

The 17km rolling, winding road to Lake Placid was nice to ride, at times with a shoulder wider than both lanes, past people fishing, rock climbing spots, water falls and hiking/riding trails.  It was a further 10km out to the sliding park where I purchased my Passport (entry and discounts to lots of things in the area) and bobsled ticket.

I've wanted to ride a bobsled since first seeing Cool Runnings way back when and finally I had a chance!  Not quite the same being summer so on wheels rather than rails, but riding up those curve walls hitting 90 degrees I think I got the idea!  The track for the experience is the half mile track but still included 3 corners that had us right up there.  They send you down with a driver, 2 paying passengers and brake man.  Travelling at 55mph feels pretty damn quick when your helmet gets forced down over your face with the g's in the turns.

The track is in the pic below - the blue squiggle on the right and the half mile start is just after the sweeping curve at the top far right.

Not the bobsled we rode in, but they used to use these!

We were just under 42 seconds for our ride (most I saw while I were there were over 42 - no I haven't been eating pies!) and I wore my batshit-crazy-grin from start to finish.  It was INTENSE and super awesome :o.  Still want to do luge and skeleton...

After my ride I waited in the sun for the next tour ride which took us up the new combined track (meaning it is used for bobsled, luge and skeleton) explaining what the different start points were for.  The main bits I remember were a series of curves called death valley, and that the 2-man competition can't start at the top because if they did the g's generated by the end of the track would cause the top guy to crush the bottom guy because they lie pretty much on top of each other - that's fast!

Death Valley

Finally, when we got to the top we were told we were able to walk down inside the track - none of us knew about that so it was a nice surprise and man, those curve walls are crazy high.  Also, we were told that in winter you can do luge rides - solo!  Our tour guide said 'we give you a luge, a roll cage and a helmet - and trust me, you'll make it to the bottom'.  I HAVE to come back here in the winter!

After all that excitement I headed back to the jumping area where I caught the very end of the daily freestyle competition off the 90m ramp - in summer they land in a pool.  The ski jumps were imposing from every angle and distance I saw them, and you can see them from a loooong way off.  I took the chairlift and elevator up and am not afraid to say I got that giddy feeling in my tummy looking down the ramp - you can't even see the landing!!!

From the road

Bottom of the ramp and drop off to landing (the other green is the landing of the next jump over)

I have nothing but respect and awe for the athletes who can do this sport.

On Sunday I left the camera behind and headed for the XC trails.  I was given a trail map for Bear Den Mountain which is right next to Whiteface but after about 2 miles it stopped making any sense at all.  The first intersection I got to was a 3-way when on the map it was 5-way, so I was following my nose, which took me a few miles further to a reservoir over some of the most technical stuff I've ever ridden to the point where I was thinking it was more like a walking trail than riding!  Strangely enough when I turned to go back the same way I saw a little trail marker that said 'foot trail'.  Weird, as I hadn't seen any in the other direction, but I thought I'd better be good and find a multi use trail to get back, but everything I took finished in a dead end so I ended up going back the same way anyway - it was getting pretty challenging by this stage as I'd been out in the heat for a couple of hours and was running out of liquid.  The riding was awesome though - I love that technical stuff.

After finding my way back to Whiteface I stopped for a bite to eat and caught up with Tifenn, Tim, Seb, Laura and Ros and a couple we had met the day before who were also riding the mountain for the weekend.  While I was eating Seb showed me a different map which had XC trails on Whiteface itself so after a break and some hydration and filling my bottle I headed off to check them out.  They were awesome - mostly descending because the trails in the park are generally accessed by lift, but these were low enough down to get to all of them via the VERY steep and VERY loose access road.  Like Karapoti, but steeper, and looser, and I'd already been riding 3 hours!  Fortunately it didn't take too long to ride them all and I could take my weary self back to the campground for a well deserved rest and night of hotdogs and smores.

Besides the bobsled there had been one other thing that had stood out to me and my passport included the fee ($5 for bikes).  There is an 8 mile Veterans Memorial Highway that goes almost to the summit of Whiteface.  All I knew was the distance - I hadn't checked out the gradient at all.  8 miles with an average of 8% (max 11) - I was very pleased I only had the mountie with me because I would have been cursing the standard crankset on the roadie I'm sure!  Including stops for photos (yeah, that's it, photos) and to admire a little snake (!) I took 1:26 to reach the top.

Toll booth at 3 miles

He was just a little fulla

The sign says 'participants should be in good physical condition' - wasn't totally sure I qualified after riding up!

At the summit (about 1.1km higher than the start - at times I felt like I was riding to the moon!) there is a walking trail to the very summit, but in the 1930's Roosevelt was President and being in a wheelchair couldn't access it this way so had an elevator built in to the mountain so everyone could get to the top.  The tunnel to the elevator is set at a year round 7/8 degrees C which believe me, feels VERY cold when you've climbed to the top at 31 degrees on a bike!

Unfortunately, after all the effort to get there I wasn't treated to much of a view!

But I still had the descent to look forward to!  I'd met some guys who'd done it on road bikes the day before (1:22 up not including stops) and they'd taken about 20 minutes to descend because the road was so rough and I could see why - it was horrendous for the first 5 miles for a road bike - mtb definitely the order of the day I can promise you that.  It was a brake-free, 12 minute, let it loose downhill - even the cars were good enough to wave me past - absolutely the fastest way down.  I peaked at 66.9kph - not bad on a 26" mountie with knobblies.

After all that effort I headed back to Whiteface for lunch but I hit the wall hard just a couple of km away - I haven't had that happen in many years but I guess the combination of climbing in the heat and my empty bottle told the story... so I stopped off for a great lunch when I got there.

Pulled pork sandwich, strawberry yoghurt and a rootbeer - just the ticket

Finally, my passport also included a ride up the Whiteface Gondola so I filled in my remaining time doing that.

Gondola goes up on the left

The summit I'd just come from and ski runs