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InFront:: TRAI N LIKE AN OLYMPIAN Bobsleds, built like souped-up Flexible Flyers, are bullet-shaped sleds that reach speeds up to 90 miles per hour (although you ' ll be kept to 45). They glide on twin pairs of steel runners, the rear fixed, the front pair hooked to steering rings. After a flat-out sprint, you jump in and duck down, steering by moving the driving rings from side to side. The whole thing is over in 55 hyperventilating seconds. lied with curling for least-known winter sport, skele- ton is a stripped down frame of a bobsled. It is a blistering face-first ride, with no brakes and little control. Imagine a 70- pound steel/fiberglass plate with twin steel runners under- neath. You steer by driving in one shoulder and the opposite knee, warping the board and with it the runners. The sled is so stiff it's unsteerable until you're traveling at least 45 miles per hour. In May, aerial freestyle ski jump camps begin. You In preparation for the 2002 Winter Games, the Olympic training facilities in Park City, Utah, are opening their doors, holding train- ing camps to let tl:1e public try three relatively unknown, adrenaline- filled sports: bobsled, skeleton and aerial freestyle ski jumping. These camps aren't just tourist attractions. Once you walk through a gate that reads "Athletes Only" you're treated like any other Olympian. You train with the coaches and team, with their gear, on a regulation course. "This is the only way people will ever be able to try these sports," says Bob Bills, Youth Sports Director for the 2002 Games. He's not kidding. The Winter Sports Park is the only place in the world where these kinds of facilities are open to the pUblic. The first thing you do upon arrival is check out the course. Then, after some training and instruction, the coaches turn you loose. I 30 . start by practicing on bungee-assisted trampolines, learning your body's dynamics in space, before moving on to a series of higher jumps and the ramp. You rocket down a 40-degree slope before flying off a 12-foot kicker. Launched as much as 20 feet into the air, you can try cranking back-flips and more, before landing in a 750,000-gallon pool. Impact is broken by high-powered air jets, which turn the water into (relatively) soft foam. Bob Bills, a former ski jumper and bike racer, dreamed up these camps as a way to expose people to these obscure sports, and to perhaps spot new talent. Bills knows a little something about uncovering ability: 10 years ago, as head of recruiting for the US cycling team, he hired on a young unknown kid out of Texas who showed promise. His name? Lance Armstrong, two-time Tour de France champion and bronze medalist in the Sydney Olympics.-Tom Price For more information, call 435-658-4200 (bobsled and skeleton), 801- 212·2562 (aerial) or visit www.saltlake2002.com. <.0 Z :I: Q ~ Z u '3 .,; Z Vl :I: Q ~ Z u -' o ex: o Vl :::; « z w -' .,; z :I: Q ~ Z u '3 a: ;e Vl :>: o U o u IE ~ w Vl [3 -' Vl :I: Q.