Lomography

The Cyclone
written by tommynorth on August 28th, 2009 , 8 comments (4 votes)

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The Cyclone is one of the landmarks of Coney Island and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1927 to rival two other (now demolished roller coasters). Here are some facts about it:
Maximum speed: 60mph
Drop:85ft
Length: 2,640ft
Cost: $8
Deaths:1 (several vertebrae broken)

OK that’s all for the facts and stuff but if you want to read more about it here are some links on the ancient beauty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island_Cyclone
http://www.coneyislandcyclone.com/

When my girlfriend and I went there it was a glorious day in April with barely a cloud in the sky, perfect weather for riding a rollercoaster. I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS! My girlfriend Jillian hates them, she hates anything even remotely like that and has never been on the Cyclone despite living in New York all her life.
I took this as a challenge and set about convincing her that riding it would be an enjoyable experience. MWUHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!

Luckily for me there was not a line so before she knew it she was on the ride the bar was down and we were off. As the cars started clunking up the old steel track a slight whimper came from Jillian “Don’t worry baby its not going to be fast or scary” (both massive lies as I knew she was about to have the fear of god put in to her)

I held her tight as we plummeted down the drop at 60mph, I have to say that this was, for such an old rollercoaster, a lot of fun and surprised me. I assumed that as it was built the same year as my granny was born it would be as slow as her. The rest of the ride was ok; it consisted of several up, downs, lefts and rights, with a soundtrack of whimpering from Jillian. Compared to the modern big dippers that places like Sig Flags or Thorpe Park can offer it is not as good but, I would definitely do it again as its like riding a piece of history. Jillian described it as “A death ride” that she will never do again. Now if that isn’t a two thumbs up then I don’t know what is.

I have also included the ride picture if anyone wants to know what fear looks like