"Remember when marathons were something only a few extraordinary athletes did? Now your neighbour's done one. In a rhino costume. The same is happening across the board of sport as people of all ages realise that paragliding, white water rafting, abseiling, ultra running, wakeboarding and the rest are all entirely possible (and enormous fun) for us mere mortals. Increasingly fringe sports are being sought out not just by thrill seekers, but by those who may have never felt comfortable in traditional sports. Or just those who have never felt comfortable being stereotyped. There is almost no limit to the variety on offer or the different degrees of thrills and risks. This book takes a look at the vast range of adventure sports now on offer and how you can master them while turning up the adrenaline volume in the process." Steve Shipside. This is a book for anyone who: may have tried bungy jumping - but never SCAD dived; loves scuba but has never Nitroxed; likes white water rafting, but doesn't know about wildwater racing; thinks kite surfing looks cool, but doesn't know where to start; knows that sandboarding, kloofing, and windsurfing are available on holidays but would like to know more about what's involved; is curious to hear more about Zorbing, rap jumping, BASE jumping, sky surfing ...and wife carrying. With the "52 Brilliant Ideas" series readers can enhance their existing skills with negligible investment of time or money and will substantially improve their performance over the course of a year. Each of the 52 chapters tackles a single aspect of the subject in an entertaining and lively way. At the end of each chapter is a "how did it go?" feature which allows readers to reflect on the lesson in a classical experiential learning pattern. The tone of each book is personal and informal; readers will feel as thought they are having a one-to-one with their favourite coach.
| ISBN | 1904902529 | | Pages | 256 | | ISBN13 | 9781904902522
(What's this?) | | Published in | Durrington | | Publisher | Infinite Ideas Limited | | Series title | 52 Brilliant Ideas | | Imprint | Infinite Ideas Limited | | Height (mm) | 210 | | Format | Paperback | | Width (mm) | 171 | | Publication date | 28 Feb 2006 | | Spine width (mm) | 17 | | DEWEY | 796.046 | | Academic level | General | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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Introduction 1. Twenty inches of pure joy. There are two types of people in this world. The ones who can't say 'BMX' without getting a gleam in their eyes, and the ones who say 'why are your wheels so small?'. 2. Heroes of Telemark . Imagine downhill skis that can also handle rough terrain, uphill and touring. Telemark skiing manages all of those - provided you've got thighs like Arnie, naturally. 3. Solid sky - ice diving. Slipping into icy water where your breath bubbles up against a gleaming ice ceiling is all part of the appeal in the eerily beautiful, chillingly dangerous world of ice diving. 4. A leg at each corner - horse trekking. Trekking through foreign lands is a fabulous way to get close up to the wilderness but why not let someone else do all the legwork? 5. Lighter than air Ballooning is more like a state of mind than a means of getting airborne. 6. Street luge. Imagine hurtling down a hill feet first, just centimetres from the road surface. 7. A taste for adventure Once it was the marathon that captured the public imagination, then triathlon took the limelight. Now adventure racing is fast becoming the aspirational adventure sport of the millennium. 8. Cave diving Descending through crystal-clear water past freakish rock formations in flooded caves is not for everyone. But it may be the closest you can get to the experience of exploring another planet. 9. Surfing on snow For reasons probably best known to marketing people, snowboarding is probably the 'coolest' sport outside of surfing in Hawaii. Don't let that put you off. 10. An elephant can do it Gleaming motorboats, smiles, suntans and the rush of skis swishing over the water effortlessly carving elegant semi-circles in their wake... 11. This is a raid! The Raid World Championship, Eco Challenge and Coast to Coast represent the extreme of adventure racing. 12. Catching waves First the good news: you don't have to have tribal tattoos, a washboard stomach and blond highlights to become a surfer... 13. Back to basics - BASE jumping Jumping off something, with only a few seconds freefall between yourself and a landing spot that could be cluttered with trees, cars or cattle, isn't an activity you'll find on your next adventure holiday. 14. Getting the hang of it Soaring suspended beneath a thin rigid wing is the stuff of dreams. Paragliding may have brought silent flight to the masses, but for pure performance hang gliders still have the edge. 15. Swimming up solid water - ice climbing Climbing ice is like nothing else on earth. 16. Bailing out Throwing yourself out of an aeroplane is normally considered a last option rather than a first choice, but the demand for parachuting courses amounts to a positive freefall frenzy. 17. Just for the heli of it - heli skiing Anyone who's ever been dazzled by the pristine glister of fresh snow can appreciate the beauty of skiing a virgin run, far from the madding crowd. 18. Taking the plunge The long climb up to the highboard or the rocky outcrop. That stomach-turning moment of self-doubt just before the dive, the rush of air, the shock of water - then the elation and raging endorphin rush. 19. Big bore action Bore surfing is right out there at the very extreme end of an already extreme sport. 20. Geronimo! - coasteering, kloofing and canyoning Remember that moment in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they find themselves teetering on the edge of a raging river canyon with a pursuing posse of gunmen at their backs? 21. Tip top - sport climbing Rock climbing is somewhere in between a three-dimensional chess game and an unusually slow choreographed dance. So-called 'sport' climbing makes that dance available to just about anyone. 22. Boing - bungee jumping without tears Being tied to an oversized rubber band and shoved off something tall is one of the most truly sphincter-tightening sports our deranged imaginations have come up with to date. 23. Messing about in boats Whether you
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