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Image via likecool

If you are one of those people who get sweaty palms just thinking about roller coasters, stop right here and by all means don’t read any further! We’ve found five extreme uses for roller coasters that’ll make the hearts of true adrenaline junkies leap. We’re not going to say much more, just that they involve bikes and skates…

5. Roller Coaster Motorbiking

Image: Joe Schwartz

Oh, if only! Motorcycle fans would flock from everywhere to ride their bikes over a specially designed roller coaster track. After all, wouldn’t that be the ultimate test of stamina and guts?

Well, those wishing to come a bit closer to the dream can board the MotoCoaster, a unique roller coaster model where the usual roller coaster seats are swapped with individual ones that riders straddle like a motorbike.

Riding a motorcycle down the roller coaster:

Image via ultimaterollercoaster

Notice that there are no seat belts, and especially no overhead protection, so riders cannot do loops.

MotoCoaster track in Darien Lakes Amusement Park near Buffalo, NY:

Image: Michael Greiner

Darien Lakes were really smart and entered into a sponsorship agreement with Orange County Choppers, making the most of the motorcycle craze to promote their new ride. This ride opened in 2008 but there are many similar ones around the world.

4. Roller Coaster Mountain Biking

Image via coolhunting

Now here’s the bike and roller coaster idea taken a step further: the mountain bike roller coaster! Swedish artist and designer Anders Jakobsen created this bicycle roller coaster for “The Dutch Bicycle” exhibition in Eindhoven last October.

Though the installation might simply look like a huge “8” from the top, it is quite impressive on the ground – with hairy bank turns and a highest peak of nearly two meters. The narrow installation was “open to anyone willing to risk life and limb for a thrill ride” but apparently not many daredevils were able to even complete one circuit.

A daredevil in Eindhoven:

Image via coolhunting

Time to hit a bike skills park like the Colonnade in Seattle, WA for practice:

Image: Jason van Horn

3. Extreme Roller Coaster Cycling

Image via mistere9

The image above is a favourite on the Internet and no doubt Photoshopped – much to the relief of parents the world over. We simply love it, training wheels and all, because it encapsulates our thirst for adventure that no doubt is even bigger at an early age. “What if I could go down a roller coaster on my bike?” the little girl may be thinking. Or the image might be a clever ad for wearing a bicycle helmet, always. We’ll never know.

2. Tandem Roller Coaster Cycling

Image: John Griffiths

The Skycycle is the Japanese version of those tandem cycles one can rent for getting around – only that this one is on a roller coaster track high above the city of Okayama in Washuzan Highland Park. Scenic with the Shimotsui-Seto Bridge in the background and green because it’s pedal-powered – but definitely not for those with a queasy stomach.

The tandem cycle with simple seat belts and pink basket for picnic supplies:

Image: John Griffiths

Off you go, pink or blue cycle?

Image: John Griffiths

Wow, this is high up! Step on the brakes and no overtaking please:

Image: John Griffiths

1.Extreme Roller Coaster Skating

Image via likecool

Adrenaline junkie Dirk Auer took in-line skating to new heights – literally – when skating down an 860m wooden roller coaster at Stuttgart fun park Tripsdrill in just a minute. In his custom-made skate, he reached speeds of up to 86 km/h.

Dirk Auer while going down:

Image via likecool

“The roller coaster is wooden and so unlike rides made from iron and steel there was always a chance of the odd nail or screw that would not be entirely flat. If the skates were to catch a stray nail then I could have fallen and I would almost certainly have died.”

Well, we do hope he didn’t approach his world record quite so casually. We’re sure the engineering student devoted some of the two months of planning and 110 hours of work to checking for stray nails.

The young German was already well-known for his in-line skate stunt in 1997, when he reached a speed of 307 km/h clinging on to a Porsche GT II:

Image: Joerg Wiessmann

A few years later, he was in the news again for skating continuously for 24 hours – 512 km from Frankfurt to Munich. Afterwards, his body and mind were so tired that he forgot words and couldn’t speak at all for some time. It took six weeks for his muscles and brain to recuperate. Maybe he should’ve just taken the train like everyone else?

His current goal? Being the first human on in-line skates to break the sound barrier. Good luck Dirk!

Last but not least, a stomach-churning video of Auer going down:

Inspired? Well, there are do-it-yourself roller coaster kits for the backyard out there. Or, you could simply visit your nearest amusement park.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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