It’s not the leg that you’re lifting and lowering

that gets tired, it’s the one that is holding all of

your weight. Muscles like to contract and then

release, like springs. If you tense up a muscle

and hold it there, then you need to supply it

with energy for it to carry on doing its job. We

know from the previous chapters that your

blood carries oxygen to your muscles to fuel

them, and tensed-up muscles are asking for lots

of oxygen. That’s why you can get out of breath

doing ‘the bridge’ or standing on one leg, and

that’s why I was panting like a St Bernard when

I came off the Cresta Run.

Lord Wrottesley would surely not have had

the same problem. He would stay far more

relaxed on the run. You need to be relaxed if

you are to use your muscles properly, not tight

as a drum. Staying relaxed was something that

I would have to concentrate on when I took

to the snow on my supersled. ‘Staying chilled’

was how I was going to put it, but that sounds

a bit daft when you’re up a mountain in the

Alps, standing on a snow field, doesn’t it? Also,

I would have to remember to breathe. I barely

took a breath coming down the Cresta Run,

and that’s not the best way to keep your

muscles relaxed.

On my second run I was struggling to make

the bucket go where I wanted it to. I held back

on the raking on the upper part of the course

and before I knew it I was hurtling towards the

infamous Shuttlecock. I knew it was coming.

I could see it. I leaned and I raked but the

bucket shot straight up the banking and out

over the top, with me clinging on. ‘Get rid of

the thing,’ had been Lord Wrottesley’s advice

if I was going to crash. ‘Push it out in front of

Left: Crashing out into

the straw at Shuttlecock.

riding the cresta run    225