Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Twenty inches of pure joy. There are two types of people in this world. The ones who can't say 'BMX' without getting a gleam in their eyes, and the ones who say 'why are your wheels so small?'. 2. Heroes of Telemark . Imagine downhill skis that can also handle rough terrain, uphill and touring. Telemark skiing manages all of those - provided you've got thighs like Arnie, naturally. 3. Solid sky - ice diving. Slipping into icy water where your breath bubbles up against a gleaming ice ceiling is all part of the appeal in the eerily beautiful, chillingly dangerous world of ice diving. 4. A leg at each corner - horse trekking. Trekking through foreign lands is a fabulous way to get close up to the wilderness but why not let someone else do all the legwork? 5. Lighter than air Ballooning is more like a state of mind than a means of getting airborne. 6. Street luge. Imagine hurtling down a hill feet first, just centimetres from the road surface. 7. A taste for adventure Once it was the marathon that captured the public imagination, then triathlon took the limelight. Now adventure racing is fast becoming the aspirational adventure sport of the millennium. 8. Cave diving Descending through crystal-clear water past freakish rock formations in flooded caves is not for everyone. But it may be the closest you can get to the experience of exploring another planet. 9. Surfing on snow For reasons probably best known to marketing people, snowboarding is probably the 'coolest' sport outside of surfing in Hawaii. Don't let that put you off. 10. An elephant can do it Gleaming motorboats, smiles, suntans and the rush of skis swishing over the water effortlessly carving elegant semi-circles in their wake... 11. This is a raid! The Raid World Championship, Eco Challenge and Coast to Coast represent the extreme of adventure racing. 12. Catching waves First the good news: you don't have to have tribal tattoos, a washboard stomach and blond highlights to become a surfer... 13. Back to basics - BASE jumping Jumping off something, with only a few seconds freefall between yourself and a landing spot that could be cluttered with trees, cars or cattle, isn't an activity you'll find on your next adventure holiday. 14. Getting the hang of it Soaring suspended beneath a thin rigid wing is the stuff of dreams. Paragliding may have brought silent flight to the masses, but for pure performance hang gliders still have the edge. 15. Swimming up solid water - ice climbing Climbing ice is like nothing else on earth. 16. Bailing out Throwing yourself out of an aeroplane is normally considered a last option rather than a first choice, but the demand for parachuting courses amounts to a positive freefall frenzy. 17. Just for the heli of it - heli skiing Anyone who's ever been dazzled by the pristine glister of fresh snow can appreciate the beauty of skiing a virgin run, far from the madding crowd. 18. Taking the plunge The long climb up to the highboard or the rocky outcrop. That stomach-turning moment of self-doubt just before the dive, the rush of air, the shock of water - then the elation and raging endorphin rush. 19. Big bore action Bore surfing is right out there at the very extreme end of an already extreme sport. 20. Geronimo! - coasteering, kloofing and canyoning Remember that moment in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they find themselves teetering on the edge of a raging river canyon with a pursuing posse of gunmen at their backs? 21. Tip top - sport climbing Rock climbing is somewhere in between a three-dimensional chess game and an unusually slow choreographed dance. So-called 'sport' climbing makes that dance available to just about anyone. 22. Boing - bungee jumping without tears Being tied to an oversized rubber band and shoved off something tall is one of the most truly sphincter-tightening sports our deranged imaginations have come up with to date. 23. Messing about in boats Whether you are looking for serene sailing or want to hang off the edge of the boat on atrapeze, dinghies can provide the precise level of adventure for anyone at any age. 24. Tour de force Cycle touring is fast shaking off its image as the holiday of choice for stamp collectors... 25. The big blue Some people have always wanted to fly like birds, others have dreamed of delving the depths like loose-limbed dolphins. For them freediving is the purest experience of the water. 26. Mountain biking. You never forget how to ride a bike, right? Try telling yourself that through your gritted teeth as you white-knuckle it down a gravelly hill face while trying to bunny-hop the fallen trees. 27. Trekking Journeying by foot across the world's wild places is almost irresistible for anyone who has ever watched a natural history programme on TV. 28. Catching air . Kite surfing (sometimes called kiteboarding) is an inspired combination of elements of wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing and paragliding all brought together in one fast, furious, low-level flight through the wave crests. 29. Paddle your own canoe Canoes, or river kayaks, are all things to all paddlers. They can be transport, a fast track to fitness, race machines - or platforms for photography, fishing or family outings. 30. Triple fun - triathlon Triathlon is a very recent sport, having only surfaced in the 70s, but it has spread far and wide as people have been seduced by the particular pleasures of multi-sport. 31. Circles in the sand - sandboarding . Carving arcs in the sand is an obvious alternative to snowboarding for those times when the temperature is above zero or you happen to want some board action on the beach. 32. Paragliding. The purest form of flight? An aeroplane in a backpack? Or the art of dangling on strings from an oversized handkerchief? You decide. 33. Underground movements Brits call it 'potholing', most enthusiasts call it 'caving' and kids call it 'spelunking' (then giggle a lot) but whatever name you give it caving will always exert a fascination over the select few. 34. Abseiling and rap jumping Absolutely the preferred method of getting down from tall buildings, cliffs and helicopters. As recommended by ninjas, special forces and self-respecting super-spies worldwide. 35. Rad tradding 'Tradding' is climbing from the bottom up without having first inspected the route from above and without the use of pre-fixed anchor points or top ropes... 36. Up, up and away Parasailing/parascending is a short but sweet taster of soaring with no skill or experience required to 'solo'. 37. Eat my wake . Wakeboarding is to waterskiing what snowboarding is to Alpine skiing, with the emphasis very much on carving cool curves and snapping out new tricks. 38. Reach for the sky Hang gliding and paragliding may have revolutionised the sport, but those with a taste for performance, not to mention total silence, will always prefer to do their soaring in sailplanes. 39. White-water rafting Bucking and bouncing down roaring water in an inflatable raft is like a fairground ride with knobs on. 40. Extreme ironing - ironing in the soul The appeal of Extreme Ironing is simple - all the excitement of extreme sports combined with the undeniable satisfaction of an impeccably pressed shirt. 41. Scare yourself witless with SCAD What could be more buttock-clenching than bungee? Bungee without the rope, that's what, and that's basically what SCAD (supposedly from Suspended Catch Air Device) diving is all about. 42. Wild-water and white-water slalom. If a downhill ski race was run in and out of boulders it would be called madness... 43. Freefall fandango Take a team of synchronised swimmers and drop them out of a plane 4000 metres up. You know you want to. 44. Sea kayaking Slicing gently through the waves with no sound other than the gentle slap of paddle sliding into water... 45. Windsurfing Take the pure pleasure of harnessing the wind for power, add a bucketful of surfing chic, a bit of freestyle cool borrowed from skateboarding and you have windsurfing. 46. Get the in-lines on In-line skating is smooth, fluid and fun. It's easy to get into, as hard as you like to get really good at and can be the starting point for fitness, street style or flat-out speed training. 47. Simply scuba Immersed in an alien element, breathing and movement slowed, weightless as an astronaut - scuba diving offers a unique chance to explore the 'inner space' that covers seven-tenths of the planet. 48. World Wide Weird . Bog snorkelling, wife carrying, zorbing; this idea looks at the loonier limits of adventure sports. One person's extreme is another's mainstream, and the quest for adventure sports around the globe has led to some activities that suggest that any participating 'athletes' would have to be insane. Here is a selection... 49. Land yachting 'Three wheels, no brakes and God's foot on the accelerator!' 50. Sk8 - skateboarding for dudes, dudettes and duds For those of us who live in streets, rather than by the ocean, sand dunes or snow-capped mountains, skateboarding is often the only board sport available. 51. Xterra Xcitement Triathlon can be a great way of working out without overdoing it on any one discipline. Or it can be a flat-out flurry of feet and pedals against the clock - introducing triathlon for people who don't 'do' roads. 52. Going ultra - beyond the marathon Time was when it was thought that the marathon was reserved for extraordinary athletes. Now, with a bit of dedication, the next door neighbour can manage it. In a rhino costume. The End

About the Author

Steve Shipside is a qualified diving and fitness instructor, an ultrarunner, and an IronMan triathlete. His own tastes in sport have seen him paragliding over the Andes, abseiling off Table Mountain, sea kayaking amongst Namibian fur seals, and running a 250 km foot race across the Kalahari with a rucksack on his back. He has fallen off more things than he can remember. As a writer he has made his living from magazines and newspapers since 1990 and is the author of Win at the gym and Power-up Pilates, both available in the 52 Brilliant Ideas series from Infinite Ideas.