I'm new to this tribe, so I figure this was a good post to reply to. I've ridden motorcycles of all types most of my life, crashed a lot, but amazingly enough, never broke a single bone. Rollerblades- same deal, I've been hang gliding for 27 years, and enjoy the cross country aspect of the sport. Just as in motorcycles, there are different types of doing what you love. Some people just want to skim the dunes at the coast, seeing how close they can come without making contact. Others are into aerobatics, and doing flat spins and consecutive loops are what they enjoy. For me, running down a steep slope until you reach flying speed, searching for lift and coring it 'til you get cold, touring a mountain range, and landing a hundred miles away gives me a reason for living. You need to use everything you learn over the years to stay up in challenging conditions. Most of my friends have been in a situation where they made a miscalculation and find themselves in sink, far from any road, and nowhere to land. You pray for help, and just when you resign yourself to a tree landing, you see a pair of red tailed hawks circling in lift a few hundred feet away. You make a beeline for them and the three of you climb a few thousand feet together, sharing the air, until they pull their wings in and head off. This is a sport where you can have a blast just getting your feet off the ground as you glide down a cow pie covered hill. But the first time you get above launch, the first time you get high enough to see the golden gate bridge to the west and snow on the sierras to the east, or the first time you leave the safety of your own site and fly downwind to who knows where, is almost indescribable in it's perfection. You may choose to fly in calm conditions, or go searching for huge air, where you'll find enormous altitude gains, followed by drops in elevation that'll leave your stomach somewhere way above you. It's all good. No, it's all GREAT!

like chris, i started with bungee, went to skydiving and am now taking my scuba certification classes. the only explosives i get to be around are your run of the mill fireworks, not a lot of a rush there.

I've recently watched a number of kiteboarding videos- looks like an absolute blast! I have a couple of land powerkites and I'm building a pair of doomwheels (google it). Cheap, fast, and wind-powered. Kiteboarding is huge in England, and I see it a lot on the bay.