Recently I went to Six Flags/St.Louis with a friend and her two sons. Maybe I’m just getting old, but it seems to me that the roller coasters are downright unhealthy these days. I went on the “Ninja” and damn near got my head bashed in. Those so-called “padded” restraints are positioned exactly right to bang my head against every time the cars turn or twist, and the overall ride was so rough I felt like somebody threw me into a clothes dryer at the laundromat. I sure as hell don’t remember roller coasters being so painful! Anybody got any feedback on why this should be?
Lor - how tall are you?
I’m shortish, and most amusement park restraints appear to be designed for people 5’8" and up (sorry, can’t convert that to meters for those of you who need the adjustment :)); which means those of us who don’t :ahem: measure up end up getting our heads battered.
Of course, I’ve been working on strengthening the old neck muscles, since I’m a rollercoaster fanatic. Once drove five hours to State Line (NV) just to ride that 'coaster at Wild Bills.
Well, I’m actually 5’7", about average for a woman. I can’t see how anyone of any height could avoid head-bashing, unless they had a giraffe neck. But, strengthen the neck muscles, eh? That could be the problem. My neck muscles probably are flabby, compared to when I was a kid. But I swear, I used to ride the American Eagle, now known as the Screamin’ Eagle, four or five times when I went to Six Flags with my buds as a teenager, and felt nary a bash. I think it has to do with the new kind of restraints, personally. In the old days, we had seat belts, or bars across our laps.
I went on the Outer Limits ride at King’s Dominion in OH. I seriously thought I was going to get whiplash from that ride. It’s the one that accelerates from 0-60 in a few seconds. Short ride, but terribly rough.
I rode it six times…
Jeez, there was just a report on one of the network evening news programs (CBS I think) a few days ago that said that the new modern rollercoasters are pulling so many Gs that people are getting brain hemorrhages. They showed a doctor who said he’s treating two patients who had subdural hematomas just from riding on a high-G rollercoaster. I suspect that these people had a predisposition to blowing a vein in their brain, but he cautioned people in general. He said that if you have to ride a coaster, do NOT ride it more than once, and avoid coasters entirely if you have high blood pressure.
You know, sooner or later these “official” people will determine that EVERYTHING is bad for us. I just wish they’d hurry up and tell us that “official reports” and doctor’s warnings were bad for us!
On the rides that have the pads on either side of your head, I’ve found that if you watch the track up ahead, and intentionally push your head into the pad that each turn would normally throw your head into, the ride will be much more pleasant. I do know what you mean by them being painful at times. Those pads are about as soft as a brick.