Nicaragua — Peering down from atop the Cerro Negro volcano, it’s easy to see how a daredevil on a bicycle earned a land speed record gliding down its cinder cone slope.

The drop is a stomach-churning 41-degree angle, for nearly 2,000 feet.

Tourists do it for fun.

The instructor laid out the drill. He would give each of our simple sleds a push, and we would hurtle down the slope as fast as we could, a weird bobsled run through hell.

“Most of the people, when they get down to the bottom of the volcano, are always wishing they went faster,” Anthony Alcalde said by way of encouragement.

Not me. I was just hoping to survive. . .