Adrenaline Junkie Seeks Partner For Thrill Ride
It was around the year 2000 (I was quite a bit younger back then) when I made my first goal of attempting the craziness that is the Bungee Cage. I was working not too far away from the Reebok Stadium home of the English Premier League football team Bolton Wanderers, when one day I turned up at work early in the morning to witness a large tall structure being built on the car park of the football stadium.
A family fun weekend was due to start that week, and a fairground was being constructed. All week flyers and posters had been circulating local to the area, on which the contents stated that the star attraction was to be the Bungee Cage. Just the mere sight of the words Bungee Cage had my stomach turning with butterflies, but my curiosity had been already gripped.
I had been being troubled by a few events going on in my life at the time, so decided if I can conquer this scary looking contraption that they called an ‘exhilarating and fun experience’ but looked downright dangerous, then I could conquer whatever fears regarding my problems in life.
I had read that the strange looking thrill ride was going to be the one to take me to the next stage in life, and just go for it. No matter how scared I am of heights, no matter how scared I was of being shot into the air at speed and no matter how much it cost. So it was a massive surprise and a bit of a morale booster to find that it was only going to cost £10.00UK to actually take the experience, which would probably cause me to suffer anxiety all week until I actually did it.
I was right, I was absolutely nervous at the thought of riding the Bungee Cage, well terrified to tell you the truth and thought is this what an adrenalin rush feels like?
During the week word got around between my family and friends that I was going to attempt being flung into the air in a cage only supported by some kind of tough stretchy material. Too which I had many pats on the back of support and a few comments of “are you completely out of your mind?”
The comments actually just spurned me on more, and the back patting really gave me a confidence trip which I really appreciated. It was a few days of this before I realized that there was no backing out now, or I would be having my face rubbed in it for the rest of my life by some of my friends.
It was the night before and I decided to meet the contraption that was going to decide my fate, and so sat beside the Bungee Cage for a good hour. I will admit now I really was contemplating just moving out of my apartment into a different town. My stomach was in knots and I hadn’t even paid to take the experience yet, such was the power being held by this massive metallic beast before me. I decided to call time and get out early in the morning followed by my army of support to face what could quite easily be my demise.
As I got up at 6am the next day after what was an eventful night of turning in my lack of sleep. Threw myself into the shower and got myself ready for the day ahead, deciding on casual attire because I wanted to be comfortable if I was about to meet my maker.
I had noticed the night previous that the Bungee cage was double seated, and thought to myself I really do not want to do this on my own. Although if I had too I would, so in my moment of madness I sent a mobile text message to all my friends; “seeks partner for thrill ride!”
Within seconds my mobile telephone was going crazy with text message after text message, some stating some rather strong language.
I had plenty of messages of support and a lot of messages that stated that they would be interested if they were not so busy. I knew my message would fail, but it was worth the effort.
Still Looking!
9am I decided I would go and purchase my ticket, so let those who had said they would come to the ride to watch know of my plight and to come meet me. So I set off on the journey that normally takes 5 minutes in the car, but today the traffic was hectic and took over an hour to get to my destination at the Reebok Stadium, Middlebrook.
On arrival I was more concerned with the £5.00 parking fee than the Bungee Cage looming over the already massed crowds attending the fairground, but paid for the charge and went off to meet my friends over by the football stadium.
On the way over the Bungee Cage had not yet set anybody into the air but I could see people being strapped into the round cage, that had what looked like roller coaster seats with the protection device that goes over the riders head. Even so my adrenalin was not muted it was pumping like crazy, and so took a massive gulp at the sight of the two riders being shot up and beyond the tall metallic supports.
If I turned back now it was over, I knew that but went ahead and met my friends who were all laughing and joking as I walked up to them. When they noticed me a cheer of “Yeah” went up, they obviously thought I wasn’t going to show despite my texts stating otherwise.
I decided to take the queue and get it over with, as low and behold all of my friends looked on, not even one offer of I will go on the Bungee Cage with you. I have since seen the photographs of my pale looking self in that very queue, not pretty!
I got to talking to a few people who had ridden the same ride over in the coastal resort of Blackpool, and they told me that it was a fantastic experience, scary as hell but nevertheless amazing. This did nothing to help me, but I continued to talk to keep my nerves calm. It was at this point a rider in front of me backed out leaving their partner in the lurch, apparently the other guy felt ill from drinking the night before so decided against riding. What a stroke of luck I thought, and so proceeded to ask the lonely rider if they wanted a partner.
The reply was a stout “yes” and so my stomach relaxed for the first time in about 72 hours. Eventually after about 30 minutes of watching people screaming, crying, laughing and hysterical after being on the said Bungee Cage, and after a brief set of safety questions it was our turn. As the cage door was opened I said to the gentleman strapping people into the seats “now are you sure this is Safe?”
He replied, “well we have never had a fatality yet!”
He closed the cage door and the countdown began, my new found friend was really sympathetic to my cause by muttering a few words for animal faeces. Then without a second thought I felt my whole body being thrown deep into the seat, my stomach felt like it had just hit my feet at 100 mph and as I went to scream absolutely nothing came out. I felt a sudden jerk as I briefly saw the car park then we dropped like a stone being thrown around in circles in the process.
My stomach at this point I was sure had certainly hit the floor and the roof of the cage, then snapped back into place. The overall feeling was phenomenal and for that brief moment I felt like I had just been given my life changing moment, I knew my life had changed.
I have to admit I quickly began to realize that all that worry was about nothing as the worst was over already, and several spins later in which admittedly got me dizzier than being on a pub crawl it was over.
As I got out of the cage I thanked my bungee partner, and walked gingerly off over to my friends who had obviously been absolutely hysterical. They wanted to know if it was me who was screaming, but I told them the truth and that the other rider was almost in tears.
They have never believed me to this day that I did not scream on my First Bungee Cage, until now when here and now while nobody is watching… I screamed like I was a baby!
I have since rode every bungee cage I have seen in the last ten years, the experience is never the same twice. It brought me out of my shell and into other things many people only think about doing one day.
That first Bungee Cage has seen me bungee jump two bridges and take parachute lessons, which I passed and have jumped free-fall from over 20,000 feet recently.
My life certainly changed for the better, my trouble disappeared almost overnight after that first Bungee Cage and like I said brought about many life changing experiences all over the world.
| Tweet |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
