Pucker Factor
 

Growing up in New Orleans, LA, you become accustomed to a flat and featureless landscape. There are no hills, canyons, or fun mountain roads to explore. At best, there are some winding country roads to be had if you are willing to drive a little ways out. While a great way to hone your driving skills, you pay the price by having your car mauled by every known species of flying insect, particularly at night, when I enjoy driving the most. But to my point, the lack of elevation changes might have contributed to some of my acrophobia.

Now fast forward and I’m living in West Hollywood, CA, on the Sunset Strip right up against the Hollywood hills. The topography of southern CA presents some challenging roads to drive, particularly for those that don’t enjoy their car being 24 inches away from the side of a cliff. But damn it’s beautiful.

I rehearse with my band in Orange County, CA on Wednesdays and Saturdays and decided to take an adventurous route last Wednesday. As I drove through the hills of Rancho Santa Margarita and the surrounding areas, I found myself lost. I just went with it, as the weather was a perfect 75 degrees under a cloudless and sunny sky. The top was down.

I drove along this one road until signs of civilization diminished and the scent of horse poop appeared. The road led me through a really fun area with nice sweeping turns and elevation changes. As you climbed and hit the apex of some of these curves, the canyons in the background rolled into sight and I found myself cornering at 60+ MPH around severely steep drop-offs with only a foot or two of shoulder before the edge of the canyon and no guard rail. Pucker factor.

My hands were sweating and heart was pounding as I ripped along the road, knowing that if I made an error in judgment, I’d be careening down the gorge like a cheesy 70’s cop movie. The last time I had this feeling was when I made another attempt to challenge my fear by climbing Mt Dundus with my band and a group of soldiers in Greenland. I decided to stop halfway up and turn and look down. Big mistake!

Who else gets the telltale tingle under these conditions? I’ve done everything short of skydiving and bungee jumping to conquer my fear, but I won’t quit challenging myself until I am out from underneath this.

I prefer to avoid that tingle....it's your brain telling you that your actions are reckless. Some people love to have that tightness in their stomach and that twitching in their balls when they are inches from death...no thank you.

I live for that feeling. Infact I've often said my infatuation with driving fast is more the infatuation of flirting with death. Cruising is fun don't get me wrong, but when you're doing that dance with death, and flirting with disaster... something else comes out. It's the closest thing I can come to the feeling of meditation; while actually doing something. Which may sound a bit awry, but that state of driving... it becomes instinctual, it becomes almost spiritual. At that point, when every input can be the difference between life or death, I for a small glimpse of universal time become ok with not existing, much like meditation. My hands may sweat, my heart may race, but there's no fear... only trust in oneself completely. Infact driving in that style seems less contemplative that just driving spiritedly; where you're not attached enough to lose oneself, you're still thinking, perhaps over thinking. But when you go past that, you no longer think, you just do.

I get that feeling driving on the Dragon :clap:

LMAO!

I wasn't being wreckless. I was probably pushing the car at 3/10 of what it can do. In fact, I get that same feeling when I'm on my balcony near the railing.

Pretty interesting and deeply philosphical perspective, my man.

I love that feeling. I feel that I become depressed If I don't experience it often enough.

I've never had that feeling, but in similar circumstances I have felt a oneness with the car. The way first the front then the back goes light, & looses a bit of grip, as you crest a rise at the apex of a curve, & the way the car feels heavy, & grippy, as you bottom a dip at an apex.

Its as if you can feel the road directly, as the tyres do, & the huge pleasure of getting every apex just right.

I feel sorry for those who have not had some of these feelings in their life.

I couldn't agree more... I drove my car harder and harder until I was flirting with the limit of my own driving capability and that of the S2000's.. I put a few thousand (probably dangerous) miles on the car in the first couple months after purchasing it. Lately I haven't gone on drives other than to work and back. Last night I was feeling a little down, bad day, bad week, just alexithymiatic I suppose.. I decided to take the S for a spin towards Mt.Rainier.. I reached some back winding roads and began to push the vehicle harder and harder and eventually felt what I was so used to feeling when I first purchased the car, exactly what whiteflash described in his post.. Just totally zoned out, almost like you're body is on autopilot, your brain is directly connected to the ECU of the vehicle and is controlling everything, your body is just a middleman that does what it's told and has no input. I often find myself pushing the vehicle to a near-dangerous point, then realize how calm I am, how fast i'm going and how i've been driving for the past couple minutes. It's quite an eerie feeling. But needless to say, after the drive I felt like I was back to my old self =]

Is it just a fear of heights then?

I've been rock climbing on some pretty long routes, and that definitely makes the adrenaline flow. Maybe you should give a gym rock wall a try sometime? ;)