According to rcdb.com aka roller coaster data base, or my online roller coaster bible, there are 3440 roller coasters on planet Earth. Now there may be others on other planets but nobody has been there to verify this. Maybe one day I can be the first. Anyway, out of those 3000+ coasters 663 coasters are located in the United States. You want to take a guess as to how many of those I have ridden? If you have read my first blog post, on this new adventure of blogging I'm on, you would know the answer to that question. I have ridden 156 total roller coasters. As I am typing this I feel sad that I haven't ridden more. I would say that most hardcore coaster enthusiasts have ridden more than 500 of them. I know of a few enthusiasts who have ridden over 1000 of them!
I will give you an example I often get when I attend a coaster enthusiast event and speak with certain enthusiasts about roller coasters. On just my last trip I met a guy who asked me matter of factly as if it was just expected that I had been on this specific roller coaster. He said, "you know that point on Balder where it drops directly out of the station to the left with a slight banking and how great that is?" I nicely replied back, "no, I haven't ridden that coaster yet." The reason I haven't ridden that coaster yet is because it is located in the country of Sweden so of course I haven't ridden it! As of now I can only dream of riding coasters outside of the United States. Heck, it's already a treat enough to get to leave the country let alone spend that little time you have riding roller coasters!
I figured I would write about a few of the milestones I have had on roller coasters. Here are some of the numbers which represent the order in which I rode these. Take note that the first four roller coasters on my coaster count are from the newly re-opened park Kentucky Kingdom and two of those aren't there anymore.
1. Starchaser - My first roller coaster ridden Indoor steel coaster, 1765 ft long, 44 ft drop, 31 mph
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| circa August 1991 |
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| circa 1995 |
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| Me riding in front car |
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| Circa 1995 |
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| My first on ride photo |
circa 1995
100. Phoenix - Wooden 3200 ft long, 72 drop, 42 mph
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| circa 2013 |
My 100th Different Coaster Ridden
150. Intimidator - Steel 5316 ft long, 211 ft drop, 75 mph
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| My 150th Coaster |
circa 2013
155. Lightning Run - Steel 2500 ft long, 100 ft drop, 55 mph
Note: I only threw this one in here because it is awesome and #155 is a cool enough number, oh and it's another coaster at Kentucky Kingdom
156. Banshee - Steel, Inverted, Longest Inverted coaster in the world, Last new coaster I've ridden, 4124 ft long, 150 ft drop, 68 mph
It wasn't until June of 2013 that my coaster count really got to where it is today. At the beginning of June in 2013 I had only ridden 87 total roller coasters. I know right? That's it. I then took a trip up the East coast and rode an additional 63 coasters in a period of 5 days. Now that's what I call some coaster ridding! I had a blast and got to ride some of the greatest coasters in the United States. I have to say that I feel very privileged to have been able to ride 156 different roller coasters. I take every opportunity to ride a new roller coaster as something special because the opportunity doesn't come along very often. I'am usually lucky if I can ride a couple of new coasters every year. Do you know your coaster count?
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