HURTLE

Yes I know, we've all got into heading downhill as fast as we can. Being from WA, I've not had a lot of chance to do snow sports, but they're on my list. Gravity sports, however, are all about roads on hills. Yes it's true, most of us have that piece of hill where we still fondly remember riding the treadly down until we just lost control, and then lost a bunch of skin.

I've tended to believe that some people don't know when enough is enough, and through the magic of youtube, I have to confess that I've changed my mind. Enough isn't anywhere near enough. While some of us have been pretending to be grown ups, there is a small but dedicated band who have taken the use of gravity to induce speed to a ridiculous extreme, and they've been generating competition in street luge, classic luge, gravity bike, downhill skateboard, and inline skate.

The joy of running Hurtle is that when something like this becomes apparent, I have to track it down and tell you guys all about it, so I've spent a little time ferreting out details of the sports in question. I'm kind of anal usually and would make you go back to the start, but today I've had some red cordial and want to skip striaght to where I say there's a 2011 national series organised and publicity has started. More on that soon.

You should also know that gravity bikes are gravity powered only and in one day's research I found this image, and can say that the bike has been clocked at 136km/h. Yep, 136 on 20” bike wheels.

I can also point out a police charge made against three guys practicing for this year's Newton's Nation who got clocked on their skateboards at 90km/h on the freeway in Adelaide. (Boys and girls, you must understand that this publication is run by adults and we'd never encourage or condone such behaviour).

So basically, a bunch of people have always rolled downhill as fast as they could. Back in the 1990s a few of them got together and agreed some rules so they could compete. It's a pretty simple idea, and it was fueled by the cable TV revolution, where backing was coming for just about anything that showed the kind of excitement that could keep people in front of a screen. With backing and organisation came people with that winning glint. Guys who not only wanted to go fast, they wanted to go faster than other guys. That's fueled development of equipment and upped the top speeds. What's still fun is the youth of the sport, where you see builds like this. Jaded 1 sent www.gravitybike.com.au a photo of his first gravity bike build, undertaken a week after he discovered the sport. For pretty low dollars he can prepare something like this and stands a chance of being competitive at national level. He'll get a chance to grid up against a world champion as soon as “Bomb the Snowies” in New South Wales. In October next year if he's still developing, Newton's Nation in Bathurst will give him the chance to undertake a round of the world championship.

I've been a bit fixed on bikes, it's true, but to quickly introduce other gravity sports.... Street Luge seems to be the first custom developed Gravity Road Sport. Evolving as early as the 1970's from downhill skaters, some found that they could sit or lie on their boards and get less wind drag. Lying on a custom, lengthened board, these guys are pushing 160 km/h.

Downhill skateboard is the pure pursuit of speed that we've all had a go at. Downhillers are using what we'd see as longboards and are kitting up to handle extreme speeds. Curves that seemed pretty gentle at the 25 km/h that seems reasonable to most of us become G force monsters at 100 km/h. For those whose preparation is to just keep trying and pushing aside the thought of how hard a hay bale is at the open road speed limit – we salute you.

Inline Skate is the development of what we knew of as roller blades. Like the other sports, participants are riding or wearing the top of the line standard gear, and pushing it to significant extremes. I've seen claims in the last couple of days of 120 km/h.

Classic Luge seems to be the chase for purity. Sometimes called butt boarding, it's developed as the street luge has got very focused on outright downhill speed, to try and recapture that original, sit or lie on your longboard ethic. Who said adrenaline heads aren't romantics.

That's a bit of an intro to Gravity Sports. It's a quick one and it's really not exhaustive, but I hope I've captured some of the wonder that's turned up from a very quick exposure for me.... We'll be bringing you more as we get to see it all going off.

Links – Check out www.gravitybike.com.au for some input from a guy who's been at the top of his sport for a while now.

Gravity Sports Events is a company that have formed to run, promote, and sanction enough events to get an national series happening. Website on it's way but here's a facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116639511733267

IGSA is the international controlling body for the sport and the website seems to be kept up to date pretty well, they'll let you see what's going on. http://www.igsaworldcup.com/

Photos - Thanks to Brett Phillips for the photo of his outrageous gravity bike.  Thanks also to Jaded1 whose name I don't know, but whose bike I found on www.gravitybike.com.au.  Other photos sourced from the web.