one day when Eddie Reategui started
shredding, and I was so stoked. I had to stop
and tell him how stoked I was, and he
seemed kind of surprised. He thought he had
to give me some stuff.
Has being in the Olympics changed the
way people deal with you?
Yeah, a little bit. Luge isn't like skating,
though we don't have luge groupies
hanging out at the track-but I've been
confronted by kids who want autographs and
things like that. It's different, though,
because usually the people who ask me for
autographs aren't lugers. They've just seen
me on TV or something. Luge is almost like
a family. All the lugers know each other, and.
we don't go around asking each other for
autographs. But skating is big and that's what
kids do I guess. I think kids should have
more respect for the pros. It's a job for them.
That's what they do. It's like me with luging;
that's what I do. I went to a demo in Daytona
and kids were screaming for high airs, but
Nolder was doing some really cool lip tricks,
and the crowd was dead silent. A lot of people
don't appreciate what they're watching.
Has skating helped your luge riding?
Well, I think it helps agility-wise and with
coordination. Skating to me is an aggressive
release. Learning to be aggressive with
skating has helped me with sliding. I try and
use that attitude toward sliding now, but
sliding is more limited. There's only so much
you can work with when the luge is going 90
miles an hour down a track. You can think
of it and get real burly and crank around
corners, but you really can't work with it as
much as you can with skating. Luge is an
artifical track sport. You can only slide on that
track at certain times and do a limited amount
of runs. With skating, even if you live in the
middle of the country, if you've got a little
patch of pavement and you want to skate
badly enough, you're going to use it.
What's the skate scene like in Lake Placid?
We've had some problems with harassment.
Actually, it can be narrowed down to just one
officer, who's a real psycho jerk. There's a
new youth center here run by a police officer
and he's working with me on finding a place
to move our ramp. I met with a guy who owns
a barn and we might move it there.
We want to put up a mini-ramp next to it and
maybe some street stuff. There's a town
about an hour from here that has some good
banks, so I either go there or I drive down
to Boston. That's about a five hour drive. For
a couple months I drove to Boston every
weekend to skate.
Will you enter any skateboard contests?
I don't really agree with contests, but that's
all there is right now, so we sort have to live
with it. Maybe I'll enter a few for the fun of
it, but I'm not going to put myself in the
position that I have with luge. I really worked
my ass off to become the best at luge, and
I don't want skating to become like that
because then there's always the chance of
burning out. But if I'm still having fun with
skating and I happen to start learning a lot
of tricks and get really good, I might start
competing. I'm not going to set any goals.
I'm just going to keep having fun with it and
see where it takes me.
Does skating help keep you
from burning out on
luging?
Definitely. That's one of the
reasons I was so stoked on
it. In the summertime I try not
to go around thinking about
sleds everyday. Skating is a
way to get away from that.
Do luge riders burn out as
easily as athletes in other
sports?
Well, it depends on how hard
you go. Believe it or not, I
have burned out before.
When I was little I was so
gung-ho on sliding, it was all
I did. In '85 or '86 I just totally
burned out. I didn't want to
look at a sled. I was crashing
a lot and I wasn't sliding well.
I wasn't having any fun with
it, and the only reason I slide
is to have fun. That's the only
reason anyone should do
anything. I don't care if
they're good at it or not. If
some kid just likes going out
on his board and he can't
ollie or do anything but cruise
around, that's great. If that's
what he likes, let him do it.
Opposite Page: Off the ground,
but back under the speed limit,
Duncan lofts a backside air.
When kids enjoy skating and they really try
at it and other kids just give them a hard time
at it, it really bugs me. I saw that a lot at Del
Mar. I'd never been exposed to that. Kids
have to relax and worry about themselves.
Skating is an expression and everyone ex-
presses himself differently.
Anything else you want to say about the
sport of luge?
I think everyone should try it, especially
skaters. It's a real rush. It's great. It's just like
skating.
How can they try it?
They can get ahold of the U.S. Luge Associa-
tion and tell them where they live and find
out if there's a program near them. There are
luge clubs all over the country; there's even
an Arizona luge club. There are a couple peo-
ple in California who slide quite a bit. The
first time you try it you'll probably start on
wheels, but it gives you an idea of what it's
like. If you really get into it, come to Lake
Placid or Markhead, Michigan, or Fairbanks,
Alaska, and you can try it on ice. We're look-
ing for juniors. We need a good, strong junior
program.
Are skaters ideal candidates for luge?
I think so because there are a couple of
juniors coming up now who skate and they
seem to pick up the feel faster. We just don't
have enough juniors right now. That's where
to begin. We can't start with older people;
junior racing is the way to go. We've got to
start kicking some European ass, too. We
had a junior doubles team who got second
place in the Junior World Championships,
which has never been done. But they're quit-
ting, so we need more riders.
How much does it cost to get into luge?
It depends on how close you live to a track.
If you're near a track, it's not that expensive.
There's a club fee, which is usually about $15,
they give you a sled and a helmet to use and
that's how you start out. It's the same as
skating; if you're really into it, you start mow-
ing a lot of lawns and making money, you buy
a used sled and just keep sliding. That's how
I did it.
Any closing comments?
Hello to the Hawk residence. I'm interested
in doing anything related to skateboarding.
It's a great sport and I want to see it grow.
I've worked with wood and some composite
materials, laminating luge runners and
things, so I could do some manufacturing.
Can you see skating as an Olympic sport?
I'm not sure. I hear a lot of different input
about how some people would hate it and
others would love it. I think-and this isn't
necessarily what I'd like to have happen-
but I think it might someday. To tell you the
truth, I think snowboarding is going first,
because the Winter Olympics are so small.
But I think skateboarding will become an
Olympic sport, whether the people like it or
not. It is extremely organized and it is con-
sidered a real sport in a lot of sectors. Maybe
it's too esoteric for the general public, since
it's such an individual expression. Whatever
happens, though, I'll keep skating.
For more information on luge racing, write: U.S.
Luge Association, Box 651, Lake Placid, NY 12946
89