Bobsled living

Steve Mesler: Life in the fast lane?

“It feels like someone lit a fuse of dynamite. You are thinking, this can’t be right. Something must have gone terribly, terribly wrong. What have I done to myself? Then your guts begin to feel as if they are really trying their hardest to make it out of your body.”

Not everyone’s idea of fun, you might think. But that’s how bobsledding world champion Steve Mesler, the USA's 2009 gold medalist at the sport’s international championships describes a run in a bobsled.

“Bobsledding is the fastest sport on ice,” he continues, eyes gleaming. “The thrill is ridiculous! Hitting 150kph while pulling 5Gs inside a tube of steel and fibreglass is something that you just can’t find anywhere else.”

A late starter

It’s not a sport one develops as a childhood hobby. Like many bobsledders, the Olympian made a late start. After an elbow injury that wrote off a promising career as a decathlete, Mesler felt he still had more to offer the sporting world.

“I emailed the US Olympic Committee and told them how big, fast, strong I was and the next day they emailed me back and said I was just what they were looking for. I made my first Olympic team three months of elbow surgery rehab later!” Whilst the record speeds attracted Mesler to the sport, he admits they bring a danger too, with sudden stops a frightening prospect. “There’s nothing scarier than crashing in a bobsled. Each time I crash it is the scariest moment of my life. So the last time I crashed was scary, but even that will be second to the next time!”

He particularly remembers – or more accurately, fails to remember – one standout incident: “I was in my first year driving, going about 120kph and I crashed out. I don’t remember anything from breakfast that day until the CAT scan machine in the mid-afternoon.”  He admits it’s hardly a job perk, but hasn’t yet been put off. “Sliding on your head going 150kph with 600kg on top of you doesn’t sound good, and it’s not! No one likes to crash, but you accept it as part of your job.”

Joining the jet-set

A part of the job that’s rather easier to accept is the worldwide jet-setting. “We go to so many great places on our World Cup Tour,” says Steve. “My top five places are in Europe, with my favourite one probably being Igls, Austria, a little ski town. I’ve learnt a decent level of German over the years so I enjoy being able to take off on my own. Innsbruck also has a casino which feeds my poker bug - everyone assumes I don’t speak any German, and I don’t let on until they have talked about me at least a few times!”

The team find the reception over the pond a good one. “In Europe we get some great crowds and that really makes it a lot of fun. The Europeans have a much greater appreciation for a sport that we’re really trying to hook the Americans with.” Whilst Mesler’s US team are world no. 1, he speaks highly of the UK side. “You Brits have really been stepping it up, especially on the women’s side. Nic Manichello just won the World Championships in 2-Woman Bobsled in Lake Placid at the end of the 2008-9 season, the same race we won the 4-man.” As for the male side, Mesler says “Lee Johnston is always strong and his 4-man team has high hopes for this year’s Olympic Games.” Aside from the competition, Steve says the British side provides the entertainment on tour – “I have a hilarious video of Lee on my Facebook from the Torino Olympics doing his now infamous spoon trick!”

Team Night Train

Touring to sporting hotspots with great company, Mesler paints an appealing picture of life in ‘Team Night Train’. “I was a track athlete before. It can get pretty lonely out there for a two-day period. You have the camaraderie of the guys going from event to event together but you are in the end going against each other. Four-man bobsled is, to me, the ultimate team sport. We each have our own jobs, but they all lean on each other.” As for tensions, he insists they are few. “OK, every now and then we run into some issues. But there is no need, within a championship team pushing toward the goal of an Olympic Gold to squabble amongst themselves for very long.” No alpha male fighting? Steve jokes: “You have 4 big, powerful guys that hold no ego whatsoever...!”

Another crucial task is to maintain the big, powerful physiques that Mesler speaks of. And it seems it doesn’t get easier with experience. “I used to just go and work out, head home, and go about my day. These days I go from training six days a week, twice on two of those days; to my chiropractor twice a week; massage once a week, and therapy with my coach once a week. Being an Olympic Year I have really stepped up – making sure I’m dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s.” But it’s a lifestyle he doesn’t resent: “I think the thing I’ll miss the most about Olympic sport is the training: the day, in, day out punishment of the body and pushing of the mind. Everything you do you are making yourself a better athlete, a better Olympian. Everything you put in your body and everything you do is either making you better or worse.”

The importance of being focused

For Steve, he’ll take away more lessons from Olympic level bobsledding than the ultimate training schedule, or the intricacies of manoeuvring a fibreglass bobsled. He explains that his experiences in the sport have taught him the importance of focus: “I don’t have to be feeling great, things don’t have to be going great, for me to perform. It’s OK to say you’re a bit scared, to say you’re tired... but none of it matters when it is game time. All that is expected of you is to perform and get your job done.”

Are there any more extreme sports he sees these lessons being applied to in the future? “Right now I think I’m good to go!” he laughs, although he admits to making time for his less high-speed hobbies: fly fishing and poker. Bobsledding at 150kmh hasn’t jaded Steve’s appreciation of these tamer pleasures, it seems.

“Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of sitting at a live cash poker game or hooking into a 25-inch Bull trout!” Nothing? “Maybe outside of bobsled”, he decides.

Follow the US Bobsled team here http://bobsled.teamusa.org

Find out about the UK team www.bobteamgb.org