Ice? Then it's time to race motorcycles.
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2007
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Washingtonians go out of their way to avoid driving on ice. Not here in Sweden. Instead they hold events called 'Isracing' which involve racing motorcycles on a rink of ice at incredibly high speeds. Well, the speeds seemed high to me as a member of the audience about 15 feet from the ice with a portable fence and barrels of hay between me and the motorcycles. 'Oh they are hardly accidents, it´s a very safe sport´ I was told. Hmm, in the hour and 45 minutes I watched, one guy went into a turn, got a flat tire, crashed through the hay (it didn't stop him!) and through the fence. Then there were the two guys that crashed coming out of the turns. But all got up and walked away, probably thanks to the bullet proof outfits and steel plated gloves. So how do motorcycles race on ice? Well first, these are special motorcycles. They have some traction for the tires (about 3 inch steel spikes) which enable the drivers cut the turns quite close, there is a once inch clearance between the drivers left handlebar and the ice on the turns. I had no idea they were going to take the turns like that. I thought they´d race on the corners maybe leaning in a bit, but not very much, after all it is ice. I think my heart stopped when I saw then take the first corner. I thought they were all going to crash. My jaw dropped open and stayed open while they took the four laps to complete the heat. Now heat there wasn´t much of as the course is outside and it´s in Sweden in the middle of March. But I was well bundled up and I think I´m now in love with wool long underwear. It doesn´t itch! The isracing was great, but I know it´s something I would never want to actually try. However, the next time there's an ice storm in D.C. I just might try riding my bike.
