Taking a ride in the real “bubble shield”

Last weekend I had the priveledge of trying out a relatively new “extreme” activity that is making its debut in the United States. It’s called “Zorb” and prior to just a few weeks ago you would probably have to travel overseas to experience it. (Ten of the tweleve Zorb locations are in the Eastern Hemisphere.) So, what the heck is “Zorb” anyway?

A zorb is a large inflated sphere made of clear rubber, perhaps 10 feet in diameter, and inside of it is a smaller sphere, about 6 feet diameter, that is suspended in the larger one by bungie cords. There is a tunnel from the inside sphere to the outside which allows a rider to climb into the zorb. You know what, perhaps I should just put up a picture of this thing, because it is kinda hard to describe without seeing it…

There, that’s better. As you can clearly see, this thing looks a lot like the bubble shield from Halo 3. And actually, since zorbing was around before Halo 3, perhaps it is the bubble shield that looks like a zorb. Regardless, the purpose of the zorb is to protect your body from harm as you roll down a hill inside of it. There are two ways to take the ride, Hydro Zorb and Zorbonaut. For the Hydro Zorb (which is what I did) they put a few inches of water inside the sphere and you just climb in and roll down the hill. This makes for a pretty wild combination of roller coaster and water slide type thrills. For the Zorbonaut ride you are actually strapped into a harness that is attached to the inside of the zorb, so as the ball rolls down the hill you go round and round and round and then you puke your friggin’ toenails up. At least I would assume that is what would happen. I didn’t see anybody do the Zorbonaut when I was there and I didn’t even consider it myself.

Zorbing was invented in New Zealand (where bungie jumping was also created) and for a while that was the only place you could go to experience it. I had seen it on television several years ago, but figured I wouldn’t ever have the chance to try it out. Fortunately for me, my former college roommate got married last weekend in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is the location of the world’s newest Zorb site, and is the only place in the United States where you can experience this wild ride. In fact, the chapel he got married in is probably only about one quarter of a mile from it. So before I left Pigeon Forge to drive home I made sure to take advantage of my opportunity to try out something truly unique.

The first thing you should know about my zorbing experience is that this is not something I would normally seek out on my own. I’m not a thrill junkie by any means. I’ve never been skydiving or bungie jumping, and while I have ridden a few roller coasters in my day, I’m not willing to drive for hours and then wait in line for hours more just to ride the newest, biggest, baddest one. The bottom line is that I would not have driven all the way to Pigeon Forge just to ride the zorb. I didn’t even know that they had one before I drove by it last Friday night. I generally make a point of avoiding risk whenever possible and certainly would never seek out a reckless activity. So how did I wind up careening down a hill, sloshing around inside of an inflated ball?

Well, for one thing the zorb experience had already been tried out by my friend and his fiance before I got there, and they both really liked it. In fact they wouldn’t stop raving about it and insisted that I try it before I left. I kinda wanted to do it anyway, because as I said I had seen it on TV and thought it looked cool, but without their ringing endorsement I probably would have given it a pass.

Another thing that hooked me in was that they were offering a buy-one-get-one free on the zorb rides to celebrate the openning of the new location. I am a downright SUCKER for a bargain (which is how I wound up with two Microsoft Zunes…more on that in another blog) and a BOGO will suck money out of my wallet faster than Nicole Richie can snort spilled coke off the floor of a truckstop bathroom.

But there were two more obstacles that threatened to keep me from experiencing the zorb. The first is that I hadn’t brought the appropriate clothes to wear. I was only planning on being in Pigeon Forge for about 24 hours, so clothing-wise I just had some jeans, a couple shirts, and my dress clothes for the wedding. None of these outfits would be very good for getting wet in and I wouldn’t have any dry clothes to ride home in. The second issue was that it was kinda chilly outside and I didn’t relish the thought of getting wet in 45 degree weather. But the good folks at Zorb have their stuff together and they have solutions for both of these problems.

If you don’t have appropriate duds for your ride, they sell what they call a “zorb pack”, which is a nylon bag that contains a towel, a pair of gym shorts, and a soccer-style shirt. The towel, shirt and shorts are all blue, and everything has the zorb logo on it. At just $22 these things make for pretty good souveniers of your zorb ride, so if you ever wind up going zorbing, I would recommend getting a zorb pack even if you have your own water-worthy gear available. The clothing items are of pretty good quality and would serve you well in other athletic activities like running, soccer, biking, working out, etc. The towel is a bit small and thin, but that wasn’t a problem for me since I’m short and bald. Basically, I don’t soak up much water and could probably dry myself off adequately with a decent sized washcloth. If you have long hair or sponge-like skin you may need another towel to get yourself completely dry. The folks at the zorb place were really nice though, and I’m sure they would let you borrow another towel or two to get dried out after your ride. The other smart thing that they do is to heat up the water before they put it in the zorb when the weather is chilly. In the summer they do the opposite and use cool water. Brilliant!

And so it was that I found myself at about 4:30pm on Saturday, October 27th in the year 2007, standing at the bottom of a hill in rather brisk temperatures, wearing my new zorb outfit and a pair of socks, watching other intrepid adventure seekers roll toward me in giant rubber balls, and awaiting my own turn. The first person that I saw come down was a young girl who was probably only 10 years old, and when she popped out of the zorb after her ride she had a huge grin on her face. So right away I felt pretty safe about the whole thing. It sounds a little crazy when you hear it described, but once you see it in action and really think about it, there isn’t a whole lot that could really go “wrong” with the ride. It certainly doesn’t look any more dangerous than sled riding, and is actually probably quite a bit safer. After all, I did break my arm while sled riding in Pennsylvania when I was a kid. Anyway, I was all suited up and had just watched a 10 year old survive the ride, so there was no way I was going to chicken out.

There are two different tracks to choose from: a straight run and one that had a lot of banks and curves at the top. My former roommate had already told me that the curvey road was the one to take. If you do the straight one it is kinda like just going down a really long water slide, but if you do the curved one you go flying up these huge burms with wooden walls on the top that slosh you all around. Certainly the more “extreme” option.

You can also put more than one person in a zorb at one time, but if you do that you have to take the straight path. My wife was not at all interested in riding the zorb, so I was going to get to use both of the rides myself, but there was a married couple in front of me in line that did the tandem ride. The lady seemed to enjoy it, but I think her husband just tolerated it. He said that she kicked him about half a dozen times on the ride down.

Then it was my turn to experience the zorb. There is nothing “dignified” about the experience of zorbing. In order to get into the ball you take a running jump and dive about halfway through the tunnel. Then you crawl, wiggle and squirm the rest of the way in, sloshing headfirst in the water. Once you get inside and sprawled out, they zip up the hatch, slap three times on the outside and give you the thumbs up. If you give a thumbs up back at them then they open the cattle gate that is holding you back and you are on your way.

One of the things I liked about the zorb ride is that it builds speed gradually. It isn’t like a roller coaster where you have your biggest hill at the start, and it doesn’t give you that feeling of your stomach dropping out like you would get with a bungie jump. At first I stayed sprawled out on my back and was doing a decent job of keeping my feet headed down hill. I navigated the first couple of turns just fine and could feel that I was starting to go a bit faster. Once you make a couple of revolutions the water is really flying everywhere and makes a hell of a racket. I’ve been river rafting once before and it definitely reminded me of going through a rapids section. I was enjoying it immensely, but didn’t think it would be that wild, until I hit the first big wall and turn. On the video you can see just how high up that first wall sends you. The bottom of the zorb is completely off the ground and when you come back down you get seriously tumbled. It isn’t a jarring sensation, but you certainly don’t feel in control anymore. You can try to fight the wildness of it and keep your feet downhill, but I don’t think you’d be successful in the rest of the twisty section. I fought it on my first ride, but just let it go on the second. No matter what you do you are never going to be “in control” of the ride, so just go with it. Once you hit the straight section the ride changes from sloshing you side-to-side to gently bouncing you up and down. You run over a series of bumps both large and small that keep you disoriented the entire time. Just before you hit the bottom of the hill there is a pretty large bump that gets you airborne inside the ball for one final thrill. Then you gradually slow down as you roll up a slope in the runout area.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/oln7_ex4vCo&rel=1[/youtube]

Whew, I felt like I had just taken a ride in a washing machine that was strapped to a roller coaster. I had hooted and hollered all the way down the hill and my wife said she could plainly here me from where she was standing. I think you might be able to make out some of it on the video. The best part was that I knew I was going to get to take a second ride and would know what to expect. The second trip was just as wild as the first, but not identical. Because you aren’t strapped in a chair like in a roller coaster, every ride will be a bit different and I think that could help the zorb retain some lasting appeal. I don’t think riding the zorb could ever get “old” because you would never be able to fully anticipate what is going to happen next.

My zorb experience cost me about $65 with taxes and included two rides plus the zorb pack that I got to keep. I think that the fun I had was more than worth the cost, and I am a notorious cheapskate. I don’t know that I would make a special trip to Pigeon Forge just to zorb, but I do know that if I am ever in that area again I won’t pass up the chance to take another ride. I’ll already have my zorb pack with me and ready to go. When you consider that this ride is the closest that any of us could ever get to using a bubble shield, I think it is certainly worth doing and I would highly recommend it to just about anybody.

Zorb FTW!!!!

** Update **

This new zorb site was actually featured on Good Morning America today. When we were there last week the people running the Zorb site said that GMA was coming, but they said it wouldn't be until November 9th. Oh well, guess they decided to do it earlier. So maybe some of you saw that coverage this morning.

** Update 2 **

Dammit. I can't get my youtube video of me coming down the slope to work. I've done this before but it is twarting me now. Are there any youtube embedding experts out there with some suggestions?