NGC - Fun on no wheels

[ohiorider]

The Toboggan run in Mill Stream Run Reservation, Strongsville, Ohio.

Never done this, but might have to give it a try this winter.

Tickets:  $13.00, which I think lets you ride as many times as you wish.  Kids $11.00.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK3XoqRqW3o

Bob

[Markcarovilli]

I don’t know Bob - its a long climb to the top- just may be self limiting as for number of runs….

Mark

[SSGG Geezer]

My issue is with the concrete walls that are not coated with ice.  stick out an arm accidentally and road rash is free!

[ohiorider]

I don’t know Bob - its a long climb to the top- just may be self limiting as for number of runs….

Mark

Mark, I think the Park may have installed some sort of lift system.  Maybe we ought to run out and see this setup sometime before they shut down in late winter.

Bob

[normzone]

My issue is with the concrete walls that are not coated with ice.  stick out an arm accidentally and road rash is free!

You are probably confusing road rash with wall rash, a common enough error.

And did you know the words "wall rash" were originally pronounced as "walrus", because of the large cold water coastal animals that still to this day ride down ice-filled gullies in glaciers?  They do so in an effort to impress potential mates.

[steven c]

 A couple of the local Ski areas here in NE used to have the Alpine slide. My brother in law went all the time and always had some road rash on him. I had a guy stop for some reason in front of me and rear ended him pretty hard. Looks like some areas still have them.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US9mll_cOaA

[cliffrod]

The big deep winter fun in VT was to get out the travois so you and 6-12 equally logic-compromised associates could argue over who was going to sit in the front or between the , um.., larger participants.  The bigger the travois, the better.  Usually had to do it later in the season because the snow wasn't deep or frozen enough by Christmas.  Better yet is an unsanded icy dirt road that ran downhill  for a mile or more.

I guess if you buy tickets to do it on a closed course, your vehicles of anarchy won't be confiscated by the local constable because they're not supposed to be "operated" on town roads.   Probably no barbed wire fences to hit either.  My face is still scarred from that Christmas sliding party in 1973 when I went higher up the hill than anyone else, lots of blood and stitches.  My cousin there had/still has a small country ski slope with a rope tow that was awesome for sliding.

Man, it was fun being a kid in VT.

edit- thought I would look for a pic or video of a real travois (pronounced Travis by yankees) for sliding on the interweb and cant find anything by name.  This is a proper travois. Only flatlanders, tourists and clueless antique dealers call such a thing a sled or a toboggan.  This one is 142" (almost 12') of homemade death-defying winter technology.





How many of your WG friends would you sit with on one of these things, flying towards the bottom of the hill at -2F?



 

[Moparnut72]

I grew up in Mystic Ct. Every winter one street, I think Clift St, would be blocked off for sledding. It was too steep for cars on the ice and snow. We would drive by once in awhile with my mom. I remember looking at it thinking you gotta be nutz to go down that,  crazy steep. I don't know how you would stop before you got to the cross street which was open to traffic. I am sure they don't do it nowadays.
kk

[blackcat]

I grew up in Seven Hills which isn't too far from that toboggan run and I remember going there back in the early 70's. We were lucky that we had a toboggan run close to where I lived, basically a hollowed out run on a pretty high hill which a lot of us would work on to get it fairly safe to use a sled or a regular toboggan. It's still used to this day by the kids in that neighborhood. 

[ohiorider]

Growing up in Charleston WV, we had a golf course on the West Side that we used every year for sledding.  We lugged our Flexible Flyer sleds up the steep hills just to get to the golf course.  Once there, especially if we gave others the chance to get things going, there was a warm fire fueled with a couple of worn out truck tires. 

The course, between the trees, had jumps that had been worn into it by years of sled riders.  Many sleds made a few runs, then broke up under the strain of the jumps. If they were badly broken, they were used to feed the fire.

Good times!

Bob

[Moparnut72]

We kept a hammer at our hill to beat our sleds back into some kind of shape.
kk

[normzone]

a real travois (pronounced Travis by yankees) for sliding on the interweb and cant find anything by name.  This is a proper travois. Only flatlanders, tourists and clueless antique dealers call such a thing a sled or a toboggan.  This one is 142" (almost 12') of homemade death-defying winter technology.





How many of your WG friends would you sit with on one of these things, flying towards the bottom of the hill at -2F?

WOW! That looks like a hella good time - I did road luge for a few years, and have thought about doing it again, but I don't know anybody crazy enough to go with me. It's tough getting older.

Perhaps we ought to organize a road luge event at this year's Guzzi non-rally in San Diego?