Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 6.17 19 THE BIT SHIFT Ride Inspector By Anne Marshall Illustration by Kendall Regan The nuts and bolts of Kentucky Kingdom's Thunder Run. Long before bodies are strapped in, whirl about and embrace a day of dizzy wobble, Kentucky Kingdom is quiet. No hissing soda fountains or summer anthems blaring from speakers or wild shrieks. At 7 in the morning, it's just the maintenance crew making sure all rides are behaving. For John Roth, that means a daily walk along Thunder Run, the park's 27-year-old wooden roller coaster. The fit, middle-aged master carpenter with speckles of gray in his trim mustache slowly marches alongside the roller coast- er's track. Thin wood strips, or "cleats," every foot or so help make the hike to the coaster's highest point — 84 feet, above the tree line — a little easier. This walkway doubles as the evacuation route for riders should something go awry with the coast- er. But Roth is here to avoid such a thing. While steel roller coasters expand and contract with ease, their wooden brethren tremble as the train cars climb, fall and bunny-hop along the track at 50 miles per hour. So it's fairly common for bolts and screws to wiggle loose. "Every foot (of track) probably has about 43 nails and bolts," Roth explains. Hypothetically, if the track went unchecked for a few months, bolts and wood could come loose causing the ride to suddenly slam to a stop. That's never happened. Roth has a guardrail to hold onto as he inspects the 2,800 feet of wooden track each day, a process that can take two hours or more, depending on if repairs are needed. Occasionally, he'll hammer something back in, replace a bolt or strip of wood. From the planes on final descent to the neighboring airport, he must look like a brave little doll mountaineering on toothpicks. Roth and other maintenance workers also use binoculars to survey the lattice of wooden beams that prop up the ride. When it's time to inspect Thunder Run's steep downslope, Roth pivots from walking forward to backward and descends like he's going down a ladder. No, heights aren't a problem for him. Yes, he occasionally wears a harness if he has to fix something on the other side of the guardrail. When Roth finishes his inspection, he unlocks the ride's electrical panel and alerts the park that it is "all clear." Operators then perform their own series of tests before as many as 2,500 guests take their spin on Thunder Run, a roughly 90-second hurrah that relies on one man's daily two-hour walk. Do you know this location? Send us an email (editorial@loumag.com, subject: Where Am I?). We'll publish the correct answer next month. Non-Kentucky breweries pouring their beer at the inaugural Kentucky Cra[ Bash, June 24 at Waterfront Park ($50 for general admission and four hours of tastings). That means all 30 breweries are from the Bluegrass, including several we've never tried — White Squirrel Brewery in Bowling Green, Rooster Brewing in Paris, Jarfly Brewing in Somerset, the list goes on. Might as well start calling Kentucky the Brewgrass. 0 Last month: Many readers identified the oversized Adirondack chairs at Joe Creason Park near the zoo. But only Lisa Welch and her granddaughter CayLeigh sent a photo of themselves in one of the chairs. WHERE AM I?