500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [192]
When to Go: First weekend of Sept.
Brisbane or the small airfield in Birdsville.
Camper vans, cars, tents. The only hotel in town is closed to the public during the races. Many people sleep out in the open.
354
White Air Extreme Sports Festival
Catching Some Air
England
You love skateboarding, but hate to give up kitesurfing. High-diving is a blast, but you’ve always wanted to try the Brazilian martial art known as capoeira. A rollicking outdoor concert is just your thing, but not if it means you can’t spend all day on a jet ski. How is an intrepid adrenaline adventurer supposed to choose? At the White Air Extreme Sports Festival, you don’t have to. The only problem you’re likely to have is deciding which adventure to have first.
The White Air Extreme Sports Festival is as much fun for spectators as it is for participants.
The 3-day festival is held each year in early autumn on the scenic shores of England’s southern coast. Past festivals have taken place on the Isle of Wight and at Brighton Beach; check the website for the next festival’s dates and locations.
If you’re at all into outdoor sports with a guaranteed rush of excitement, you’ll be in your element at White Air. Roughly 40 different activities are represented at the event. Some such as mountain biking and surfing are well known; for others, such as bocking, parkour (see ), and slackline, you might need an extreme-sports glossary. (Bocking, also known as powerbocking or powerizing, is running with large curved stilts that act as springs. Parkour involves running, jumping, and clambering across a landscape riddled with obstacles. Slacklining is a balance sport using a thin, flat nylon web; it’s similar to tightrope walking except the line stretches, allowing for bouncing and other gymnastic moves.)
As you might expect at an extreme sports event, the crowd skews young, and there’s a palpable sense of carefree fun in the air. Most of the sports at White Air allow newbies to try the activity through the festival’s Have a Go program; just sign up for a free lesson through the website. And don’t miss out on the rest of the fun—each year, high-energy bands from the U.K. and beyond perform at the festival. —ML
White Air Extreme Sports Festival (www.whiteair.co.uk).
When to Go: Sept/Oct. Check website for exact dates and location.
355
The Rickshaw Run
The Three Wheel Trip
India & Nepal
The Indian Auto Rickshaw is a beautiful machine. This three-wheel urban workhorse weighs 272kg (600 lb.) and has a top speed of 55kmph (34 mph). Its 150cc, 2-stroke single cylinder engine powers a seating bench on wheels so small they would not look amiss on a wheelbarrow. It has no suspension worth noting and lacks a fuel gauge so riders know when it has run out only when it sputters to a halt. Run on a toxic mixture of oil and gas, it ferries people to and fro in the sprawling mega cities of the India subcontinent. It is the last vehicle you would choose to do a 4,830km (3,000-mile) cross-country race from India to Nepal. In the marathon adventure known as the Rickshaw Run, it is the only vehicle you can choose.
Dirt tracks, tropical jungles, and Himalayan peaks are just some of the obstacles encountered on this mad cap chase that attracts up to 60 teams for an event so popular it is now held three times a year. Perhaps more formidable are the everyday mundanities thrown up by this colorful continent, such as wandering elephants, aggressive water buffalo, and lake-size potholes. Certainly most terrifying are the mammoth buses and trucks that dwarf the rickshaws on the chaotic highways. Organizers advise participants to keep to minor roads as the main thoroughfares are rickshaw deathtraps, as can be seen from the frequent crumpled