Bobsledding 70 mph at Whistler

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March 4th 2017

Published: June 20th 2017

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GeorgeLondon

Discover Bobsleigh

Bobsleighs at Canada Olympic Park, Calgary

Geo: 50.1183, -122.954

On Saturday, March 4, 2017, I drove to
Whistler, British Columbia to participate in the “Discover
Bobsleigh” activity that was being offered by the Whistler Sliding
Center. During this activity the participants are given basic
instruction on how to pilot a two person bobsleigh and how to operate
the brakes. Then it is off to the Olympic ice track, the fastest in
the world, for two runs down the track from the lower starting point
– one run as the pilot and one run as the brakeman. Here is a
description of the “Discover Bobsleigh” activity (temporarily off line):

http://www.whistlerslidingcentre.com/community-sport/sport-programs-camps/discover-bobsleigh-introductory-clinics-20162017

My interest in bobsleigh goes back to
at least 1987. In November of that year I flew from Oakland, CA,
where I was living at that time, to Calgary, Alberta, to participate
in winter sports at the Canada Olympic Park which was one of venues
of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Although my primary interest was in
the the sport of luge, I spent some time hanging around with the
bobsledders because they had such interesting ice track vehicles. I
decided to pay $100 CAN to take a ride on a sleigh from the Olympic
start. For this ride the pilot and and brakemen were highly
experienced sleigh operators and two of us were paying riders. We
attained a

Discover Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh ride at Canada Olympic Park: skilled pilot and brakemanplus two paying riders

high speed of 60 mph and 4 Gs of force. At times our
sleigh was running 90 degrees to the floor of the track. This was a
really exciting trip which I never forgot. So thirty years later I
jumped with joy when I read of the opportunity to pilot a bobsleigh
on an Olympic ice track at a speed of 70 mph. (0010, 0020)
Our group of seven meet at the guestservices building at the Whistler Sliding Center where we wereinstructed by Helen Upperton on piloting and breaking technique aswell as a description of the layout of the track and how our bodywould react to the G forces as we sped down the course. Ms. Uppertonwon the silver medal in women's bobsleigh at the 2010 Winter OlympicGames at Vancouver/Whistler. Her partner was the daughter ofimmigrants from Jamaica so no more jokes about “Cool Running”,ok? We were told that our vehicle were “plank sleighs” which weremodified to prevent them from climbing really high up the sides ofthe track where they could then flip over resulting in the sleighskidding down the track on its side or upside down. Otherwise thethese sleighs could go as fast as the competitive ones and couldcrash just as easily. (0030, 0040)

We

Discover Bobsleigh

Description of the Olympic ice track by Helen Upperton

walked to the lower starting
location which was situated just above curve 7 of the 16 curve track.
I was paired up with James, a bio mechanical researcher from England
who was visiting Whistler to do some snowboarding and happened to
find out about “Discover Bobsleigh” and signed up. For the first
run I was to be the brakeman. One squeezes down into the space
between the back of the pilot and a small bar that is tended to
prevent someone from being ejected from the rear of the sleigh. One's
knees are pulled back as close to the chest as possible, and feet
almost straddle the shoulders of the pilot. Next to the upper thighs
are two bars that look like joy sticks: one grabs on to these and
hangs on for dear life. When the sleigh has passed the finish line
the brakeman lets go of the joy sticks, reaches between his legs, and
pulls up on the brake. The run-out of the track is uphill which helps
slow down and stop the sleigh. (0050, 0060, 0070, 0080)

It takes about 45 seconds to cover the track from curve 7 to curve 16 and the finish line. The brakeman leans forward to help the aerodynamics of the sleigh, and is moreinclosed in the

Discover Bobsleigh

Helen Upperton tells use how to control the bobsleigh

vehicle in case it flips. I recall gripping the joysticks as hard as possible and feeling the bumps and G forces as wesped down the track. At the end of the run the track hands use hookson poles to grab the sleigh to prevent it from sliding backwards whenI released the brakes to climb out of the vehicle. (0090, 0100, 0110)

Next was my turn as the pilot. This person extends his legs into the forward portion of the sleigh and places the feet onto two pads. One's back is given some support by a small plastic backrest; one's buns are resting on the floor. The steering mechanism consists of a pair if oversize D rings which are connected via pulleys to the front set of runners. One pulls the D ring back an inch or two as one negotiates a curve.

Our sleigh was moved up to the starting
position. Helen gave us some last second directions. The visors of
our helmet was lowered. I was looking down the track and the first
right curve was just a little ways away. Then we are off. It's a
right turn, then a left turn, and then a right turn, and then a left
turn, and then a

Discover Bobsleigh

One of the curves on the ice track

long right turn (my mind is thinking: when does this
curve finish?). Our sleigh climbed the wall at the curves but not so
high that we might flip. It took about 45 seconds to run the course.
My maximum speed was 113.30 km/hour or about 70 mph. This was the
fast time down the course if one excludes the time of the experienced
Whistler Sliding Center employee who was brought in as the partner of
the participant #7. (0120, 0130)

The folks at of the sliding center did
not allow me to use my sports glasses with a built in video camera to
record my run so I am linking to two videos on youtube that depict
runs from where we started (curve 7).

This was great fun. Gotta do it again.

I have now completed the trifecta of Olympic Winter Games sliding sports:

1987: Luge, Calgary, 30 mph

2011: Skeleton Sled, Whistler, 60 mph

2017 2 Person Bobsled, Whistler, 70 mph

Additional photos below

Photos: 13, Displayed: 13

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