On Saturday, June 15, as part of my “I Love Brooklyn” video series on Facebook, I put up a mini-tribute to Coney Island, which included a couple of slides of the Cyclone. Some folks asked me if I’d ever gone on that ride. So, here’s a little story for you.
I never had even the remotest interest in boarding that classic wooden rollercoaster. I went sixty-two-and-a-half years without so much as even thinking about going on that ride. “What kind of a Brooklynite are you if you won’t go on the Cyclone?” some would ask. “Never!” was my perennial response. As many of you know, I’ve had lifelong GI issues, and that was one ride that, I was convinced, would have turned my insides out!
Built in 1927, this rollercoaster is not the highest, fastest or longest in the country, but it reaches a maximum speed of 60 mph, a maximum height of 85 feet, and has a total track length of 2,640 feet, with six jarring fan turns and twelve nightmarish drops. In fact, its first drop, at a descent angle of 58.6 degrees, is one of the steepest drops of any rollercoaster in the world. For those who are interested in additional stats, its G-force is 3.7. And while it has a steel structure, please understand that the tracks are made of wood. You got that? Rickety. Wooden. Tracks.
Alas, on August 31, 2022, I clearly lost my mind, bit the bullet, and went on the Cyclone for the first time. The ride is (allegedly) brief. It was, however, the longest and most horrifying one minute and fifty seconds of my entire life. I have NEVER been so shaken AND stirred, thrown about like a rag doll, at the mercy of the most terrifying twists and turns I’ve ever experienced.
Amazingly (stupidly?), after that experience, I eventually made my way to the non-stationary (as in “moving”) cars of the 150-foot Wonder Wheel, something that I also swore I’d never do. Though I felt as if the cars on that ride would detach and that I’d go crashing into the Riegelmann Boardwalk, it was still tame by comparison to the Cyclone.
We’re not allowed to take photos or videos on the Cyclone (though a POV video of the ride can be found on YouTube). Nevertheless, I have no shame! Despite how unflattering the “After” portrait is, these vintage photos provide evidence of the effects of that ride. Despite my apprehensiveness, “Before” getting on the Cyclone, I was all smiles. “After,” I looked and felt sick as a dog!
I am comforted by the fact that the name “Cyclone” has the letters O-N-E in it, which, for me, translates into “ONE and dONE.” Asked if I’d ever go on that ride again, all this Brooklynite can say is: Fuhgedaboudit!
Postscript: Check out the fun discussion on Facebook.
Notablog 