Sarah vs. Goliath

Last Friday evening was Georgia Tech day at Six Flags over Georgia. Now I generally think of this park as "ghetto" from all the reported violence from that area. However, if you put a bunch of college kids from a reputable campus there, it cleans up fairly nice.

I am not a hop on all the rides kind of person. A co-worker of mine had mentioned some for me to look out for that might be more up my alley. Well the gang, Rob, Mike, Amanda, and I all head into the park. Mike is set on full speed ahead to Goliath! I follow suit. For those of you who are unaware of what Goliath is, you can read about it in detail here. It basically states that it's a 200 foot tall steel juggernaut with a top speed of 70mph. ... So not a ride I would get on.

So I wait in line with the gang and think about if I want to get on or not. About half way through the hour long wait I decide I am going to go for it. Mostly to try and get over that fear I had the last time I faced this kind of ride. The Ride of Steel at Darien lake looked a lot worse in my memory than Goliath. I waited in that line for almost 2 hours for that ride and was in tears and close to hysterics before I got to the cars and just walked through. I honestly thought Goliath wasn't as bad as the Ride of Steel until I got home and looked up that stats and found them to be the same in height and speed.

So when the time to load up came, I climbed in with heart pumping, but with the "I can do this!" attitude. So we begin our 200 foot ascension and close to the top I say, "Holy crap, I am really really scared" which is pretty much pointless at that point because its not like they stop the ride and let you out there. So away I went! I thought I was going to die. If there had been cameras on that first drop and not the last, I would have had the sheer look of terror on my face. It was only when Rob said, "Ok I am done now" at about half way through the ride that I started to ease up and have fun. Well that lasted for all of a minute. The ride stopped and I tried to stand up but only to find myself rather dizzy. Then I started to walk down the exit ramp slowly saying, "Uh oh... I don't think I am going to make it." Needless to say, I tossed my cookies over the railing before ever exiting the attraction. We have been in the park a whopping hour and thirty minutes. I spent the rest of the evening sitting very still and sipping coke while they got on other rides.

Mike told me I should have phrased it like, "Goliath was so much fun I knew no other ride was going to top it, so I stopped at the best", but I thought that was too obvious. I will never get on that ride again, but at least I can say I did it. He also was curious if it was going to be the negative G's that make you feel like you are coming out of the chair or the drop that would scare me more. It's still the drop. The good news is that all other coasters will feel tame next to the Big G. Sarah rode Goliath and Goliath won. Doh!