Pass out G's

anyone have any tips on G's to keep from blacking out and what coaster have you ridden that had the most G's.

And is it TRUE that a pretzel loop is like the most intence loop for G's

It is true that a pretzel loop is the most intense inversion for G's, but I have never blacked out in one and I have blacked out on less intense coasters.

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-Sean Newman

Thats kinda scary isn't it? I wonder what the medical professionals would say about that. Is it normal or is that a clue that you should not ride??? (Asking for personal reasons!)

The most forceful element I've experienced was Titan's second helix. I've never blacked out on a coaster, but that helix made me come close.
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-Vater
Have you ridden a Toboggan?

The pretzel loop is certainly the strongest g forces I've felt on a B&M, but not the strongest overall....mostly, the *rider orientation* in the pretzel loop makes it FEEL more intense...

Goliath is the strongest overall of the coasters I've ridden...can't even *imagine* what those people got who rode before the MCBR was kicked up....
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Contents sold by humor, not volume. Some settling of contents may occur during translation...

No roller coaster, in any park, has enough Gs to make you black out. That's just a crazy thought! Nothing like that would ever be built, or allowed to run.

Laugh if you must, but having ridden a couple of the aforementioned coasters (S:UF, Goliath, with MCBR) - Laser at Dorney pushes G's that are every bit as forceful in the loops, especially the first one.

I seem to remember many trip reports where people mentioned greying or blacking out when Goliath first opened, am I mistaken?

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park Visits in 2003: 4

On S:UF I sometimes have a hard time seeing when diving into the pretzel loop, especially in the back row. It's not that I black out, but my vision does grey a bit.

Yeah, sorry Pete, it does happen. G's affect everyone differently, and what may be nothing to one person could very well make another black out.

As for how to avoid it, some tips that have been mentioned before are drinking LOTS of water during the day at the park (Dehydration seems to affect your tolerance for Gs), flexing the muscles in your lower body to keep more blood in the top, and personally, I've found screaming to be a big help, as it reduces pressure.

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Maihama, Maihama Desu

Lord Gonchar, while I haven't ridden Laser yet, I'd heard that SFoT's Shockwave provided strong Gs in the loops. While this is true, I didn't come close to greying out. On Titan, however, I greyed out severely in the second helix, with the MCBR trims on in full force--we came to a stop. I'm wondering if it might have had a little to do with the 100+ degree temperatures, though.

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-Vater
Have you ridden a Toboggan?

Vater, I think the difference is the *sustained* forces. The G's in the helix would last for a few moments. The G's on the Schwartzkopf's don't last as long, but I'd still argue that they hit as hard.

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park Visits in 2003: 4

Point taken. On another note, and one that most people don't think of when speaking of extreme G forces, I think Beast has some tremendously intense lateral Gs. Also, I feel KW's Thunderbolt and SFA's Wild One would fall into this category as well, during their respective helices. Obviously, they aren't 'pass-out Gs' per se, but certainly worthy of note, in my opinion.
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-Vater
Have you ridden a Toboggan?

Unless you are very ill, you aren't going to black out on any rollercoaster, but you may grey out. That's the condition when your vision appears grey, often narrows to tunnel vision, and you feel week.

As previously mentioned food and water help. The only time that I ever greyed out, I realized that all I'd had to eat in the last 18 hours was one slice of toast. Other helps are to tense your leg muscles, and tighten your abdomen and grunt. Pilots call it doing the grunt.

Wild One's helix has some pretty significant laterals, but less of the vertical laterals that cause one of my daughters to grey out occasionally on SROS.

The ol' double loop on SFGAm's Shockwave usually caused me to gray out, and one of my friends did actually black out momentarily on the blue monster. Granted, he was 13 years old when that happened.

The turnaround following the third inversion on any Batman inverted usually caused me to gray out, too, until I started employing the lower-body muscle clench. Works like a charm.

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Classically trained to rock your socks off.

Herniated disks can cause blackouts on coasters. My husband was "grounded" from coasters for almost a year and had to go to physical therapy. He didn't get the condition due to coasters, the blackouts were an indication of the problem. He especially had problems on rides like Loch Ness and Alpengeist.

Agreed completely about the effect of the *duration* of forces....haven't ridden Titan, but I was awfully impressed with how LONG the g forces lasted on Goliath....the Antons may have a stronger *push/pull*, and are still AMAZINGLY fun and intense rides...but the big G held me for quite awhile...:)
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You want intense??? The vertical loop on XFlight totally makes me see stars and planets every time i ride it...the forces at the bottom of the loop are absolutely incredible. The only other ride that ever makes me grey out like that is FaceOff at PKI, going into the cobra roll forwards.

rentzy17: The helixes on the SROS are amoung the elements most likely to result in a grey out due to the duration of time that you are in the helix. Remember that it's not only the G force, it's also the duration. The first helix at SFA and DL covers 540 degrees of turning and lasts for around 10 seconds. This is one of the longest sustained high G situations on any coaster.

The most sustained G's that i have ever felt were on Incredible Hulk. That ride just pulls and pulls the whole ride.

The only ride i ever came close to blacking out on was MF. I saw stars for like half the ride, and everything got kinda dark in mid-day.

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G-Forces: The only positive addiction out there!
CoasterCount: 42

As people have said:

1.Don't ride on an empty stomach (or when dehydrated).
2.Flex your muscles (especialy lower boody) when going through intense elements.

And my personal number 3: Avoid stand-ups. I find that standing up tends to heighten grey-outs. I personally don't mind it, but if you want to avoid it at all costs, I wouldn't go on them.

BTW, there's no real harm in it. I mean, just look at all of us here who have greyed out so many times, and we're all still perfectly normal individuals...

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I hear America screaming...