The Experience
-- by Curt Tomasevicz
Although the recent success of the national team has certainly helped, I realize the popularity of the sport (especially in the un-mountainous region of
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I’ve been asked a number of times, “What’s it like going down the track?” I’ve tried to describe the 'trips' in a variety of ways such as a violent roller coaster, a car ride on the freeway, or sometimes a nightmare on ice! But, truthfully, none of these can truly give you full appreciation of a trip. It’s something that must be experienced firsthand to be understood.
There is a certain beauty to the sport that I’ve come to see through my hundreds of bobsled trips. One of the great things about the sport is its purity. Although the science and technology behind the sleds, the tracks, and the athletes is incredibly detailed, it’s basically a simple sport. There is no motor or external force other than straight man-power and gravity. The team that can go the fastest and get from the top of the hill to the bottom in the shortest time wins the race. There are no short cuts or easy ways to go fast.
The driver’s contribution to the trip may seem trivial, but in fact, there couldn’t be a more wrong answer. From the spectator’s viewpoint, the sled goes by at blazing speeds with the driver doing 
very little. But underneath the cowling (as shown in the picture), the driver is guiding the sled down with the slightest of hand movements on the D-rings (the green vertical loops). The D-rings are connected by ropes to the front axle. Controlling a bobsled is not an easy task. It’s having steady enough hands to make gentle half-inch movements while teetering on the edge of out-of-control at incredible speeds. Drivers don’t necessarily steer only by what they are seeing, but more by what they are feeling. Traveling at 80 plus miles per hour, the curves (both small and big) bring pressures and G-forces that ‘tell’ a driver how to manipulate the sled.
Another beauty of the sport is the fact that it’s on ice. Four-man sleds weigh nearly 1400 pounds on steel runners that allow for minimal friction. Driving is an attempt at controlling something that isn’t meant to be controlled. The sled may not react immediately, if at all, as a driver pulls on the D-rings. He must feel the pressure in the curve and understand the best way to enter and exit each turn.
The trip itself, for either a driver or a push athlete, is an incredible adrenaline rush. Four man sleds have reached speeds of over 90 miles per hour and have gone through 3+ seconds of curve with five times the force of gravity pulling on the team. Furthermore, for brief moments, a brakeman can feel up to seven G’s as the sled exits a curve. People have asked me what I think about when I’m going done the ice. I have to respond simply with, “Nothing goes through my mind, but the ride.” I'm so focused on the trip that no matter what I was thinking five minutes before, it’s now completely forgotten. I’m a huge fan of Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder is able to write many lyrics that could easily be turned into poems. While talking with Laird Hamilton, an extreme adventure surfer (and brief bobsledder), Eddie talked about the serenity of surfing and I think that the same can be applied to sledding. 
“Once you’re on the wave, there’s no thinking that takes place outside the wave. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not allowed to think about anything other than what’s happening right in the moment.”
Each bobsled trip lasts about a minute, plus or minus depending on the track. For that minute, you are completely absorbed in the moment; the speed, the pressures, and the feel of the "wave".
