5 AWESOME Things About Me...Part 3

More stuff about me to make you want to be me!

3.  I have Bobbed with the Latvian National 4 Man Team.

This is not as rude as you think, it is just as painful as you imagined. 

While  away in Latvia I had the opportunity to travel around the country a little, and what a beautiful country it is. From the open wild coastline of Jurmala with its old Russian timber summer houses to the Gothic wonders of Riga on to the stunning forests and mountains of Sigulda where the Latvian national Bob-sleigh Team trains. The town of Sigulda is well known for its ski-ing (if you come from Sigulda that is) and for its amazing forests, inhabited by wolves and bears and other animals that will eat/kill you as soon as look at you. Talking of bears the Bob-sleigh team consists of three huge wild (very drunk) Vikings and a little chap at the back who works the breaks.

Hey guys, wait for me!!

 After a mamoth drinking session in a local bar one evening with "the guys", they persuade me to have a go down the run with them in the morning as they are supposed to be in training for the Olympics. Having tried to impress them with talk of my sporting prowess I couldnt really get out of their "invitation", so with the worst hangover of many years I find myself stood at the top of a frozen mountain, temp somewhere past -15 and wearing nothing but a spray on Lycra suit(strangely exactly the same purple colour of my frozen skin) that leaves NOTHING to the many onlookers imaginations. Braving the whistles and taunts and the odd cow bell I huddled with the guys and was told "after 3 run as fast as you can and when we have all jumped in make sure you get yourself in at the back" I nodded and they shouted some kind of "BooYah" or the Latvian equivalent and then I was slapped hard on the ass and told not to once in the Bob not to lift my head above the guy in front and try not to butt him because it really hacks him off. I then realised that this was the sum total of training and in less than 5 seconds I was going to experience the scariest on the job training ever!

 "Viens...Divi...Tris" and we were running, I for my life. I saw them pop into the Bob ahead of me and tried to match my stride to make the leap myself, not quite getting the pattern right I had to take two extra strides that meant I could feel the Bob getting away from me. I put all those fast twitch muscle bundles to extra work just praying that last nights alcohol hadn't destroyed them and made an extremely ungainly leap into the back of the Bob. Unfortunately for the guy in  front of me I managed to kick him in his kidney and rip his suit with the spikes on the bottom of my shoe, being the polite British boy I tried to apologise and promptly head butted him in the back. Now the art of Bob-sleighing is to know the course, become one with the course, caress each bend and turn and feel your way down the course. I on the other hand rattled around like a bean in a tin can. after turn three I opened my eyes, BIG MISTAKE. There was just a white and green and blue blur as sky and trees and ice merged, what I thought was up was down and what was down was up. All I could hear was the clatter and chatter of the ice( it could have been my bones) and a feeble whimper that echoed inside my helmet. At one point I did manage to get my bearings and contrary to all my training(15 seconds) I lifted my head to take in my surroundings. This was the most stupid thing to do EVER!!! We were travelling at 90mph on a sledge in a frozen tube going round corners at over 90 degrees to the ground what was I thinking....I tell you what "DEAR GOD SAVE ME PLEASE"!!! My neck snapped back and was only stopped by the back of my helmet burying itself into my shoulders! There was no way I could get my head forwards, "luckily" for me this was remedied by a small devious little bump about 2/3 the way down which throws you up 6 inches off the Bob-sleigh and you are weightless for a few seconds "pulling negative g's" (oh get me, all technical) only to be smashed forwards once again back to the relentless plummeting. Needless to say I once again head butted the poor guy in front of me who let out a little yelp(unless that's how Latvian's swear?). The longest 1minute and 45seconds of my life later all I could hear was screams of "PULL PULL PULL PULL DAMN IT!!" and I realised they were shouting at me to pull the brake and my career as a Latvian Olympic Bob-sleigh Team member had come to a slippery slithery end. It took quite a few seconds to come round once the Bob had stopped and the others had piled out shouting and "Boo-Yahing" and slapping each other on the butt, I on the other hand could not move, my back was in complete spasm and my legs were jelly. They dragged me out the back of the Bob and I lay on the ice curled up in the foetal position for what seamed ages as they all looked over me laughing, the guy in positioned in front of me examined his now torn and bleeding back and I swear there was a chip out the back of his helmet where I had kept hitting him, but he took it all in good spirits by yanking me to my feet and giving my the biggest bear hug of my life, cracking my mixed up vertibre back into some sort of order. The team captain said we had set the best time in days and that I must be fearless because the regular breakman applies the breaks 5 or 6 times down a run and he hadn't felt them once.....What!! Now he tells me!

This is the the actual track, you start top centre and ....well you follow it round.

If you come off the track and arn't killed then there are bears in them woods! 

 This is not the team or the track but it kind of give the feel of what you go through....minus the screams, bone cracking and Latvian Swearing!

Part 4 to follow....