I received a lot of blank stares when I told people I was visiting Latvia. It’s one of those places that few people have heard about and even fewer have visited.
That said, it won’t be that way for much longer.
And for good reason!
Riga, it’s capital, is in the midst of taking off as a heralded party city as well as a cultural highlight in Eastern Europe.
To add to Latvia’s growing prosperity is that Riga is serviced by Ryanair. That means cheap, cheap, cheap flights.
I flew across the entire of Europe with Ryanair for $40 U.S. dollars. In England, $40 bought me a 2 hour bus journey. Go figure!
Riga looks to offer a huge array of party themed options. That, combined with cheap flights getting there, and it’s a winning combination of getting tourists from all over the world to flock to your city.
However, I was in Latvia in December.
Things were fairly quiet and the party themed activities were all mostly shut down for the season. But there were still 2 activities worth mentioning: firing large fully automatic weapons and bobsledding.
Now, I’m all for having fun shooting guns, but I was brought up with them. I take my passengers to shoot a wide array of guns every time I’m in Vegas. It doesn’t have the same appeal to me as it does to a Brit or Aussie who has never laid eyes upon such a thing. Needless to say, I passed.
However, I couldn’t pass up getting a chance to ride in a bobsled just like the Jamaicans in “Cool Runnings.”
Apparently, Riga is 1 of 4 places in the world where the public is allowed to ride in a bobsled.
There are a total of 16 tracks throughout the world, but only 4 allow the public due to insurance and safety reasons. Sounds like my cup of tea!
And the chances of me getting this opportunity again were minimal.
You only live life once, right?
So after signing my life away, a brilliant idea came through my head.
In preparation for the freezing temperatures of Europe in December (which never happened) I packed full spandex as a base layer for those cold temperatures. And what do professional bobsledders wear? You guessed it, spandex!
So I rocked full spandex on my way to bobsledding with complete strangers. I was told I was the first person to do such a thing. The important thing was that I looked the part and like somebody who was serious about bobsledding. Screw it if the guy next to me was wearing jeans and flannel!
Just like the Jamaicans!
Another great thing about bobsledding in Latvia is that the Latvians won Olympic Gold in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. That made me feel a little bit better about our odds of turning into a tangled mess of metal and dismembered body parts.
How it worked was that the Olympic Gold Medalist was your driver, and then he took 3 eager tourists with him down the track making it a four person squad.
You really got to know your neighbor quick as you got into the metal bullet with ice skates. With your legs fully forward, arms at your knees, and face in the back of the person in front of you, it was close quarters.
An Australian and myself were the last to go in our group of 8 and I felt sorry for the poor English lady who showed up with her group, but was quickly ushered into our bobsled. She didn’t even have a chance to think as she arrived, was given a helmet immediately, told to sit in front of me, and off we went down the track. I don’t think she even got a chance to say goodbye to her friends that she arrived with.
The only thing that was going through my head was quotes from Cool Runnings like “Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, its bobsled time! COOL RUNNINGS!”
At that moment, I’ve never felt more Jamaican in all my life. And again, I looked the part too.
Seconds before racing down the track
We cheated a bit as we didn’t have a running start and all hop in the bobsled one at a time like in the movies. Rather, a lady gave us a push start and we slowly started our descent down the track. I don’t think we broke any speed records.
However, we quickly gained speed and as we wormed our way down the track, we hit top speeds of 120 mph and 3-4 G’s. They say it’s the closest thing you can get to flying a fighter jet on land.
And 48.39 seconds later, we reached the finish line in one piece!
I don’t think the English woman in front of me appreciated it as I screamed like I was on a roller coaster at every turn. She giggled nervously and I think was hoping for the ride to be over.
Personally, I thought the bobsled was an incredible thrill. I didn’t think it was too scary. No more thrilling than some of the roller coaster rides in American Theme Parks. Granted, the bobsled jostled your neck and back a bit, but that’s why you do these things when your young!
I felt sorry for the 50+ year old guy who came after us. After getting out of the bobsled, all he could do was grimace and squeeze his lower back. Probably not the best candidate for a ride in a bobsled if you have back problems.
The one downside is that it’s not cheap to ride in a bobsled. About a 100 US dollars for a 45 second thrill. But again, where else are you going to have the opportunity to do such a thing?
So if you ever find yourself in Europe, hop on a cheap Ryanair flight, get to Riga, Latvia, and speed down an ice track in a death box on skates! It’s something you won’t soon forget.
