The recreation style of today's youth and some adults includes a variety of outdoor activities, such as wake boarding, extreme bicycle sports, skateboarding and wave boarding.
Each sport enhances its appeal to the participant by offering a driving edge, a challenge and overall consuming wash of euphoria when a competition is won.
Few know the thrill of extreme sports like off-road and road-extreme biker Chris Kinson of Winter Haven.
"(In Polk County) there is every degree of biking you want," Kinson says. "I have been cycling all my life and been in and out of competitive cycling for a long time. At 48, I still do stuff like the 12-hour solo mountain bike races and the 24-hour solo bike races more than 250 miles at one time. This race was performed in 25 mph sustained winds and it rained all night.
"It is hard to ride depending on the conditions, (and) it is dangerous to ride on the roads because of the cars."
Kinson has been biking all his life and started out by deciding to "go hit some trails on a mountain bike." He found it to be challenging and fun. "Then I decided I wanted to see how I would fair in a race, to see how I would rank against other people."
Kinson ranks second overall in the state in his category in the Florida Championship series. Even though he likes the sport, the says the pressure of racing, hotels and expenses and the mechanical problems when racing alone wore him down.
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Winter Haven resident and extreme biker Chris Kinson blazes a trail on an off-road biking trail in Fort Meade.
Paul Crate / News Chief |
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"Then when you break down, you put pressure on yourself and you feel bad," Kinson says. "I have a really great core group of (biking) friends, and we challenge each other in different ways. It is just fun and challenging with them.
"It is not necessarily safer off road, for there are a lot of injuries for people riding above their means," Kinson says. "The Fort Meade trails are far and away the worst. The hills on which bikers have broken a bone on the trails there are named for them. If you take it to the extreme, you can get a lot of injuries. All the trails are marked for details and difficulty.
"Most people don't do both road and trails," Kinson says. "I belong to a group of mountain bikers and a group of road cyclists."
Kinson says that when mountain biking, riders should wear a helmet, because it can save your life. He also recommends wearing elbow and knee pads, being familiar with the trails and keeping your equipment in shape.
"It is common sense to know what is down the road, so don't get aggressive your first time on the trail," Kinson says. "If there is a sharp descend, you could go right over the handlebars if you are going too fast.
Kinson recommends belonging to a bike club. The Winter Haven Bike Shop sponsors several bike clubs. One group gathers and takes rides to breakfast. Members of the Road Ridge Riders usually like to go for a medium day or a high-end workout day.
"The more you ride, the healthier you are going to get," Kinson says. "When you get on your bike, you get the impact of running. When you are beginning, it is easy to overdo it. If not sized for your bike correctly, you can hyperextend legs and get knee pain or have your palms too stretched out and they get numb. If your feet are not right on the foot hold, you get numbness. If it (biking) is painful, you are not going to do it."
Kinson reminds riders to stay hydrated, especially in the summer. And with cycling, the helmet "is the absolute biggest thing."
With all of East Polk County's lakes, it's no wonder wake boarding is the favored extreme water sport in the region.
"Wake boarding is similar to board surfing, snowboarding and skating," says Zane Schwenk, a professional wake boarder who has competed internationally and still competes nationally. "It is really standing sideways on a large fiberglass board and cutting into the wake. You can do multiple spins and flips and it can put you 10-plus feet in the air."
When wake boarders compete, each boarder makes two passes that are 30 seconds long, Schwenk says. "There are floating rails in the courses, some that are 55 feet long and float as high as 12 feet out of the water."
Schwenk began wake boarding as a performer at Cypress Gardens and in his hometown of Sarasota. Then he started to compete on a world tour.
"I just got back from competing in Kentucky and have competed in Seattle, Knoxville and Atlanta," says Schwenk, who also is a sales representative for boat and wake boarders that have been sponsoring him for years. "I travel this month to Arkansas to compete. We go all over the place and some of the guys locally travel internationally - Brazil, Australia and the Philippines.
Shannon Starling rode wake boards professionally for about 15 years and began boarding on a knee board. He is one of the original founders of the World Wake Board Association, a group currently in its 21st year.
His son, Andrew, 10, is a professional wake boarder and began his career at age 3. He is constantly competing somewhere.
"There are a lot of local people on the (wake board) riding scene," Starling says. "At any given time, there are 10 different professionals that live here in Polk County. There are four in Winter Haven, and Auburndale has six to eight living there."
Starling and Schwenk count safety as number one and take it very seriously.
Wake boarding is performed behind a boat and "everybody needs a boating education class to operate a boat," Starling says. "When towing wake boarders, you need to pay attention to the line lengths, speed and don't drive too close and cut people off. Everyone needs a life jacket.
"Make sure the boat driver has a boating education," Starling says. "Have a full safety kit. Make sure the boat is mechanically up to snuff, that there are life jackets for everyone in the boat. Florida law requires children ages 6 and under must wear a life jacket when in a boat.
"The boat driver must always be aware of what is going on around him and maintain a safe speed for the wake board rider," Starling says. "If you are going too fast, you could injure the wake boarder."
Wake boarders need to pay special attention to use the special wake board lines and to have a good operating handle. The wake board needs to be inspected often for tight bindings that are not worn. Starling warns that wake boarders must stay up on equipment and check that the bindings are tight and secure on the board.
Another extreme sport gaining popularity among East Polk County youth is wave boarding. It joins skateboarding as a popular pastime of local youth.
With skate parks in Winter Haven at Rotary Park at 350 Sixth St. N.E., and in Auburndale at Rams Gate Road near the Lake Ariana City Beach, a variety of skateboarding and wave boarding tricks can be seen on a regular basis.
A wave board or hi-tide is similar to a skateboard but built on a riding system called a caster board. The board rides on two independently pivoting platforms, each with a one-wheel caster. Thus, each wheel is able to rotate a full 360 degrees. The platforms are connected by a torsion bar that allows them to pivot about the X-axis. On some models, the torsion bar spins independently of the two platforms and allows the rider to grind across surfaces. To operate the board, one must put the front foot on the front plate and push with the back foot. After momentum is gained, one can start moving the feet in an "S" formation.
Wave is the original design for the in-line action board and is manufactured by the company Street Surfing. The Wave also features interchangeable deck plates and an assortment of wheel colors for customization.
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