These are also most
efficacious when
ridden lying on your
stomach. This allows you to steer using
body weight and the
steering bar with your hands; the lower
center of gravity makes it harder to fall off, and the jarring
SLAMs of the
sled hitting the ground after bouncing over
ruts, bumps and
gullies will knock the breath out of you, making for a helluva ride.
Plus, the snow and ice will pour over your face, requiring you to squint and/or wear goggles, increasing the coolness factor.
Finally, in the grand tradition of luge, there is no velocity which does not become more exciting if one places oneself nose-on to it at low altitude - which describes the front-down position on a Flexible Flyer precisely, and puts you one up on those wussy lugers who go feet-first.
gee, Bitter_Engineer, one would almost think those were bad things! Heck, what's sledding without risk? :-)