Friday, February 26, 2010



Feb 25th 1-ish

The second line didn’t look as bad as the first one and since all of us had made it, a lot of the nerves had turned into triumphant jubilation. We’d done it. All of our group.

No one had fallen, no one had gotten stuck in the middle, no one had killed their handler by crashing into them a full speed (though I think I came close). The two guys talking crap had not gone upside down and kept their hands very firmly on the line to make sure that they didn’t get going too fast. One guy, however, had gone balls out. His wife had barely made it to the platform because she had been so afraid, but this guy, no fear at all, not on his face, not in his actions.

“Shit, man, you are fucking fearless,” I said to him as we waited for the next line. He had a shaved head like Gord and bullet shaped sunglasses. Like Gord, he was wide but not fat. He had the calm fearlessnes of someone who fought fires for a living or taught kindergarten.
“Nothing to be afraid of,” he said.
“Lot’s to be afraid of,” I said, “Getting stuck in the middle, not stopping in time, getting bugs in your mouth...”
His girlfriend laughed. She said, for her, the fear was speed. She wasn’t used to going so fast. He had no sympathy. I told her I understood. Joe-the-comforter.

The next line the fearless guy did without placing his hand behind him and gripped the line only at the last moment. Has he done this before, I asked his girlfriend. She shook her head but didn’t speak as the operator hooked her up and shot her off. Next up, me. Up on the step, rollers hooked up, safety line attached, lean back, all ok? Go!

This time, I leaned back and didn’t touch the damn line at all until the end. Unlike the fearless guy, my hand stayed near the line hissing on the flap protecting the palm. Wheeeeeeeeee. Then, as I got closer, I tightened my grip. Hard. And slowed, landing perfectly like a little angel on the platform. I beamed at the operator who said, better that time. I pointed out that the flap on my glove, the one that protected my palm, had come lose (or had been loose, not sure). He looked at it, shook his head. It will be fine, amigo. It may get a bit hot but no problem.

A bit hot?

Great.

The third one was the longest, extending as far as I could see, so far that the earth itself curved before the line ended. Ok, a bit of an exaggeration but it did look like a long way down. It started out above the trees then sank towards a hill on the other side.

Now make sure you do not grip the line, the operator, his name was Jonathon, said. If you do, you will not make it.

Anita, the fearless guy’s girlfriend, paled and looked around and shuffled back and forth on her feet. Her boyfriend leapt off the platform and roared down. She followed but, somewhere, her fear took over and she stopped about ¾ of the way. The operators on the end, came out and got her. Poor thing.

I had no problem and even managed to stabilize my spinning without really slowing down too much. As well, I nailed the landing, as they say. A 10. 8 from the Russian judge.

Feeling pretty confident now. Lines 4 and 5, no problem, good speed, good balance and good landings. Then came #6. The fastest one. A huge drop right through a tunnel of trees. Not a long run but an impressive one.

Fearless guy went balls out. His girlfriend did well and made it all the way. The 2 goofballs, despite a constant banter of one-upmanship, had yet to come close to the fearless guy. The 3 indo Canadian girls looked like they would have rather being doing pretty much anything else and their companion, flawless in his zipping.

Me, I came in hard and fast. I tried to stop too late again and my glove went furnace hot as I yanked down and tried to stop. The photographer leapt out of the way. The operator braced for impact. Wham! I hit the stopping foam on the line at nearly full speed. Feet went over my head, my helmet scraped on the platform but I had made it. I righted myself, laughed for some stupid reason and the operator shook his head again.

Amigo. Less speed.

I pointed at my glove and said, “not much protection,” but the truth was, I needed to slow down earlier not at the last possible moment. Also the truth, I really liked the speed. My only concern was if I began to spin but I thought I had that under control.

I went on the next one.

7 and 8 were fine, neither too steep nor too long. I had no problems as I slowed down a bit before landing. Judges said, 8’s on the landings. On the 8th run, the goofballs had finally leaned all the way back so they were nearly horizontal. Not quite upside down like our Jonathon the operator did but way more than I felt comfortable doing. The fearless guy looked bored but his girlfriend glowed with the satisfaction of overcoming one’s fears.

The last one was one of the best, not because of the zip line but because it began in a tree and ended in a tree. For the first time, it made sense we were tethered to a safety line as one misstep and we fell 30 feet to the ground, maybe more.
We all got to the last tree, the end of the line, without any problems but then came perhaps the hardest trick of all.

(picture is of me at the end of line #6. Not sure how the photographer got this one as he had lept off the platform screaming like a little girl when I came hurtling in. Oh and for the record, you can see the flap of my glove that should have been more attached to my glove.)

2 comments:

  1. pip! pip for Joe! good job on the zip lines. sounds like it was really cool!

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  2. In this pic you look....smug. Its a good look.

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