Roller Derby : Thrill-Seekers Go Up and Down From Coast to Coast

The life of an international roller coaster addict has its ups and its downs, Nick Bralesford acknowledges.

One of the highs came the other day when the Derbyshire, England, clergyman and his wife traveled 8,000 miles and met up with three of their countrymen so they could all ride the newest roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia.

One of the lows came when the group discovered that the thrill ride they had come halfway around the world for was shut down. Bralesford, 36, wasn’t thrilled. But he was philosophical.

“The Viper is the world’s largest looping coaster,” he shrugged. “They wouldn’t close it unless it was necessary. You can’t do anything about unforeseen problems. Perhaps they’ll reopen it.”

So the group--which constituted exactly half of the British membership of ACE, the American Coaster Enthusiasts club--rode the Ninja, the Colossus, the Revolution, the Gold Rusher and the Colossus again while they waited for workmen to climb off the $8-million, 4-month-old Viper.

The club’s 3,000 members come from 15 countries. They spare no expense to seek out and ride the 204 roller coasters in amusement parks scattered across the United States and hundreds of others elsewhere.

Bralesford and his wife, Louise, 24, plan to ride about 50 coasters at 19 parks during their 3 1/2 weeks in the United States. Their three friends have scheduled 83 coaster rides at 24 parks during a three-week stay.

The low point of every park visit is the long lines outside roller coasters in the summertime, the visitors agreed. But as they waited 30 minutes for a three-minute ride on Colossus, the Britons talked of the highlights of their hobby.

Bralesford said the best of the 260 coasters he has ridden is the Timber Wolf in Kansas City, Mo. “Everything about it is perfect. It’s nonstop from beginning to end,” he said.

“The Screaming Eagle in St. Louis is my favorite,” said John Simpson, 46, a music teacher from Birmingham, England, who is making his 10th trip to America to ride coasters.

Richard Kenyon, 19, a customs officer from Knutsford, England, praised the Comet at Crystal Beach in Canada. He described the 120-foot-tall coaster as even paced, despite its steep drops.

Gary Millar, 21, a computer operator from Manchester, England, voted for the Grizzly at the King’s Dominion park in Virginia. “When you ride it at night you feel totally out of control. It’s total terror,” he said.

Los Angeles has become a hub for coaster fans, said ACE President Randy Geisler, a governmental claims representative from St. Paul, Minn., who has ridden 330 coasters. Thrill-seekers find the rides intense at Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm, while Disneyland offers “magnificently themed” speciality coasters, he said.

About 300 ACE members are expected for the club’s fall conference Oct. 12 and 13 at Magic Mountain, he said.

Park spokeswoman Courtney Simmons said operators will open the rides early for club members and serve them breakfast beneath the $9-million Colossus--described as the world’s largest dual-track wooden roller coaster. Afterward, the conference will adjourn to San Diego, where club members will ride the newly restored 65-year-old Giant Dipper coaster.

Al Solomon, a Culver City electrical switch manufacturer who is the club’s Southern California regional representative, escorted the Britons on their Magic Mountain visit.

He listened with a grin as the visitors ticked off Colossus statistics: speeds of 62 m.p.h., a 115-foot single drop, a maximum gravity force of 3.23 and nearly a mile of track that is held up by 1.2 million feet of lumber. They discussed the merits of coaster cars made of wood versus those of plastic like the Colossus uses.

“It’s a good, good coaster. But it hasn’t got very good trains,” Bralesford said. “I’d like to see them use Philadelphia Toboggan Co. trains. They’re the best.”

Said Simpson: “I think the Colossus is running a bit slow today. Coasters do have their moods.”

The group was preparing to leave when Solomon noticed that the workmen had come down from the Viper and an empty train was making a test run through its three vertical loops, its corkscrew and its boomerang turn. When the car made an eye-catching 70-m.p.h. drop of 188 feet, the visitors rushed to get in line at the ride’s entrance.

Afterward, they pronounced it the best looping steel roller coaster they’d ever ridden.

Everyone except Louise Bralesford, that is. She rode out the ride by relaxing at a nearby game arcade.

The Viper couldn’t possibly compare with the Grand National coaster in Blackpool, England, for sheer surprise, she said.

That’s where Nick Bralesford proposed to her in 1988. And that’s where she decided to take the plunge.