1 Street Luge:Fast,Fun,...Dangerous!

In Street luge, riders lie on their backs on an extra-long skateboard, like this one, and speed feetfirst down city streets. Broken bones and scraped skin are an unavoidable part of this sport.

Going really fast is easy. Anytop street luge racer can hit 60 miles per hour or more. The tricky part is slowing down. If you do it well, you can smile and race again. If not, that cracking sound you hear will be your bones!

Street luge racing is becoming more and more popular in the United States. It's a great test of speed and skill. But it's also very dangerous. The idea is to race down a hill while lying on a skateboard. The skateboard is extra long, but it has no padding. And believe it or not, it has no brakes.

To race, street lugers lie down on the skateboards. They lie on their backs with their feet in front. That puts them just a few inches off the road. They steer by leaning to the left or the right. They have to know exactly how to position their bodies when heading into a curve. Turning too much or too little will send a skateboard flying off the course. It's no wonder street lugers are sometimes called pilots!

Street luge is not done on a special track. Instead, racers use regular streets. Although they wait until these streets have been closed to traffic, many hazards remain. Sidewalks, street signs, and telephone poles all pose threats to the racers. And that's not all. Some race courses have 90-degree turns in the middle. Any racer who fails to make the turn is bound to crash into something hard.

Stopping without brakes can be a real challenge. Racers must use their feet as brakes. They drag them hard on the asphalt. Often they dig in with such force that they leave skid marks. They send smoke and the smell of burning rubber into the air.

Racers need some kind of protection for their bodies. They wear helmets, elbow pads, and leather clothing. Still, sooner or later anyone who races will get hurt. Bob Pereyra is a top street luger. He broke both ankles in one crash. In another accident, he broke three ribs. And in a bad practice run in 1995, he fractured a heel in three places. Roger Hickey is also a top racer. Over his career, he has broken more than 50 bones. He says he has also left enough skin on the road “to make a mannequin.”

If the pros get this banged up, what happens to rookies? Darren Lott, author of Street Luge Survival Guide, writes about one young daredevil named Zac Bernstein. At the age of 21, Zac knew no fear. He took to street luge quickly. He wanted to go faster and faster on every run. On one steep hill, he took a turn a bit wide. He went bouncing into a field and hit a storm drain. He smashed right into the concrete wall on the far side of the drain.

Without his helmet, Zac would have died. Even with it, he broke lots of bones and slit open his throat. Zac spent weeks in the hospital recovering. But just one month after the accident, he was back racing again. He had pins in his hip and leg and walked with a cane. But he was not ready to give up the sport he loved.

Street luge has been around for years. No one person “invented”it. Instead, the sport caught on in several places more or less at the same time. Darren Lott writes, “In the 1970s we were constantly running into little groups that thought they were the only ones in the world doing it.” That has changed. Today street luge is getting lots of attention. It has even shown up on TV sports shows. Still, as long as there are people like Zac Bernstein around, street luge will remain a truly extreme sport.