 |
|||||
|
Downhill daredevils head to X Games
by Jason Dietrich
Making it to elite ranks of road luging requires clarity of mind, nerves of steel, a bit of luck and lots and lots of Red Bull.
Lugers down cans of the heavily caffeinated sports drink before slipping on their helmets and sliding down mountain roads at up to 70 mph. Redondo rider Patrick Moody says it helps him concentrate while hooking around curves on a narrow aluminum sled inches from the asphalt.
Hoping to capitalize on the sport’s daredevil image, the drink’s manufacturers sponsor a series of races leading up to the Olympics of extreme sports, the ESPN network’s X Games. The final chance to qualify for the games came late last month at a race in St. George, Utah.
"Everyone in the world knew it was the last chance to make it into the X Games and everybody was out there to win," said the 45-year-old, father-of-two Moody. With his sandy blond hair, surfer’s build and laid back attitude, Moody doesn’t look like a fiercely competitive roadluger.
But Saturday, April 28 he was in St. George with 85 amped up racers, vying for one of the remaining slots for the televised games. With the already intense level of competition turned up a notch the riders, jittery on Red Bull, pushed themselves and each other that much harder.
The track was long and smooth, allowing lugers to build up a good head of steam before a hairpin left turn near the bottom dubbed the "widowmaker."
On his third run Moody was trying to pass fellow racer and skateboarding legend George Orton into the turn. As Orton hit the hay bales around the outside edge, Moody plowed into him at about 55 mph. The impact bent his luge and sent both riders tumbling for 35 feet.
The crash snapped bones in Moody’s hand, putting him in a wrist brace for the rest of the weekend. Orton was sore but didn’t break anything.
While the crash nearly sent him into the spectator’s stands, Moody wasn’t about to watch the rest of the competition from the other side of the hay bales. Despite his injury he continued to race. The brace forced him to change his strategy.
After the starting gun sounds, road lugers help gravity out by "paddling" their boards with both hands to pick up speed. Pushing their luges forward, they jockey for the best line into the first turn.
With his broken hand preventing him from making a strong start, Moody had to be patient.
Starting from the back of the pack, and with no other lugers jostling him for position, he was able to take the fastest route around the first turns. Picking up speed with each curve he was able to gain on the knot of lugers.
"I was always last out of the gate, so I had to be a little crafty. Since I was behind, I could take any line I wanted," Moody said.
Drafting behind the stragglers, he picked up enough momentum to pass them one by one. With the speed he built up early on he was able to work himself far enough up in the pack to continue advancing each round.
After four races he had amassed enough points to squeak into 11th place.
That was enough to score him a coveted X Games slot. At 45-years old, and after only 10 months practicing the sport, the Redondo Beach independent contractor is on his way to Philadelphia for the sport’s premier event this August.
In March he raced in Capetown, South Africa for in the Down Hill Extreme championship, an international competition of inline skaters, skateboarders and street lugers.
The top-placed racers are the ones that manage to keep an aerodynamic tuck through twisty mountain roads and have the technical ability to maneuver past fellow riders trying to pass or bump them out of position. Narrow shoulders, long limbs and a hefty center of gravity help make a road luging champion.
Lugers from Southern California gather each weekend to push each other on closed-off mountain roads. In less than a year Moody has broken a rib, a foot a hand and a finger, mostly in crashes while learning to control his board.
Despite the sport’s reputation as a clique of young speed-obsessed adrenaline junkies, most racers are in their mid to late 30s. The equipment and protective gear can run more than $2,500 and the costs of competition quickly add up, pricing many young racers out of the sport. Moody is currently looking for sponsors to help to defray the cost of racing.
But what keeps the road luging to an older crowd is the mental discipline needed to take twisty curves more sharply than an Italian sports car. Panicking isn’t an option.
"The field is almost all more mature guys because to succeed, you have to be patient. It takes a lot of work to be that patient." ER