Getting too old

During my trip to CP, my brother and I realized we can't take the spinning and upside down stuff anymore.

I used to ride Raptor, Corkscrew, and Mantis over and over. When I was really young I would ride the Matterhorn over and over with my Mom, I couldn't get enough of it. My brother once rode Corkscrew 35 times in a row.

Anyway on 8/18 we started with MF, the Mantis. After Mantis I needed to take my second Dramamine. We then rode TTD - no problem. We hit Magnum - too rough. We did MF - no problem. Then up front to Raptor - needed to take a break. Looked at MaxHurl and decided no.

The rest of the day we bounced between MF and TTD. We still had some linger nausea, but it never got worse. We decided day 2 we would just bounce between TTD and MF. We also hit Gemini and CCMR. We never felt any effects.

Has anyone else run into this problem? The real problem is in a few years when my sone wants to ride everything.

Yup. When I was 10, I rode Witches Wheel around 15 times in a row, only having to wait a cycle once or twice, and felt wonderful.

Now, Raptor makes me feel a bit light-headed, and when I ride it twice in a short period, I'll feel a tad nauseous. If I ride anything that spins, such as WT, I'll get nauseous. However, I can ride things that don't spin (PT, SH, etc) over and over, with no ill effects (pun intended).

I feel sick and light headed when going up a lift hill then looking down.

If it makes you feel any better at all, I'm 23 and starting to lose my stamina for rides.

I think it really affects different people different ways. I don't really think that age is a factor, as I'm pushing the big "4-0", and love the spinning rides as much or more now than I ever have.

Spinning rides have never really bothered me. I remember my first ride on a Huss Frisbee. It was at Fiesta Texas, near the end of the season, and there was no line. As the riders cheered, the ride op seemed to just pour on the juice and cranked it into overdrive. Ever since then I've absolutely loved that ride.

I still love Raptor and Wicked Twister as well, no problems with nausea there either.

We all know our limits and what we can tolerate. Hopefully things will work out for you when your son is ready to ride. Maybe you'll find a friend that enjoys riding and can accompany him.

I was talking with a guy who is an expert in motor development. He was telling me a theory he has that the reason we have trouble later in life after a youth of free-spiriting riding is that our inner ear (a muscle) weakens with age.

As a kid we are doing summersaults, swinging, hanging upside down, tumbling, etc all the time. As we age we do less and less of that until, like me, you are rarely upside down except for at parks. (Or, if you are REALLY lucky and have a trapeeze in your bedroom.)

The fix? Head to the playground with your kids more often. Like every other muscle you can exercise your inner ear and redevelop it. He insists that he got over his sea-sickness by installing an adult-sized swing in his backyard and getting on it 3-4 times a week for 1/2 or more.

I don't have any reason to doubt him so maybe there is something to it. I know when I worked at the parks and was riding regularly I had no problem with motion. Now that I am in an office 5 days a week and only go to the parks a couple of times a year I have a real problem and have to pace myself.

Old-Age sucks.

That's interesting stuff, Chief. Do you think my boss would let me out for recess? ;)

Well there is a playground right outside my office but I suspect if I went there on my own I would get a visit from the police department.

Just tell them you're taking a break from work. And leave the candy in the office, that might be a little suspicious.

I've never been one for the spin and pukes. I just can't handle them. I can still ride Raptor a bunch in a row without a problem. Eventually I may get a headache.

I can ride Magnum all day long without any adverse effects.

I used to ride the spinny rides all the time back when I hated roller coasters. Ever since my first coaster ride, though, I can only go on them once.

The spin and pukes (and even the upside-down coasters) are starting to affect me more and more as time goes on. I just hope I'll be able to control it over time.

maXair didn't do ANYTHING to me though. I was expecting it to be awful, but I loved it. If I had a choice of a ride to do a marathon on, it'd be maXair. I could totally sleep on that. :)

(So many Muggsy threads so little time.)

I'm 33yrs. and still do pretty good on circulars as long as it's a CP cycle. It's those German Fair cycles that I've learned to avoid.

On Magnum, Mean Streak, Gemini, and Demon Drop I got intense headaches for about 10-15 minutes. They eventually faded away and were not that bad, but I hope this isn't going to develop into something that keeps me from riding. :(