Ridler Follows Dreams, Helps U.S. To Title
by Tim O’Brien, The Beverly Review
Standing on the championship podium with his Team USA teammates, Joe Ridler soaked it all in.
He and teammates Alexey Galda and Chris Geiler had just won the 2021 World Parachuting Championships in Russia on Aug. 19 in the Wingsuit Performance Flying championship division.
Ridler, 41, is a Mt. Greenwood resident.
“We all got to share that, and it was a really awesome experience,” Ridler said. “Alexey stood at my wedding! So, to be one of three teammates to represent the U.S., to stand on the podium and hear the national anthem, that was truly special. That’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”
The U.S. parachute team defeated Russia, Poland, Denmark and Finland in the team standings. Ridler finished fifth overall in the individual standings.
The sport of wingsuit flying features competitors flying through the air at extreme speeds wearing a wingsuit that adds surface area to the human body to enable a significant increase in lift.
The suit creates a larger surface area with fabric between the legs and under the arms.
Ridler started competing in wingsuit flying in 2014 and hasn’t stopped working to improve his skills.
Ridler, a Minnesota native, began his interest in flight at a young age.
He grew up watching movies like “The Neverending Story” and “Flight of the Navigator” and then later as a teenager, he fell in love with “Top Gun.”
Whether as a fighter pilot or a commercial pilot, he wanted to fly, but he later learned when he was a teenager that he was colorblind and wouldn’t be qualified to fly.
“That dream of flight being taken away, I was crushed. You try to forget about it. I’d been hellbent on that path,” Ridler said. “Fast forward about 10 years, and I’m watching YouTube with my brother. He says, ‘Whoa, check it out!’ We’re watching guys in squirrel wingsuits flying, and I thought, ‘Yes! That’s what I want to do!’ I started to research how to do this.”
Ridler learned to skydive and base jump (jumping from a fixed object and using a parachute to descend safely), all the while taking in the science of the sport and all the little technicalities to improve his performance.
He eventually made the transition to flying exclusively with wingsuits.
However, as Ridler is quick to point out, the sport isn’t just a pure adrenaline rush. It’s an extremely data-driven sport, not just thrill seekers jumping out of a plane.
“The goal is obviously not to die and stay in flight,” Ridler said. “You’re trying to make that perfect run. Stay alive, maximize your performance, avoid penalties and navigate. It’s no small task. It’s a great challenge.”
Ridler previously held the Guinness World Record for fastest horizontal speed in a wingsuit (239.73 miles per hour), which he set in October 2016.
Ridler said his base heart rate is around 60 beats per minute. In a competition, it slowly starts to rise as he puts on his suit, gets on the plane, takes off in the plane and then finally, jumps out of the plane, going up to 155 to 175 beats per minute.
As for his descent flight, it’s just as wild as it sounds.
“It’s such a crazy feeling. There are few things in life where you can literally hold your life in your hands,” Ridler said. “The adrenaline is firing on every cylinder you’ve got. It’s indescribable, just a one-of-a-kind feeling. You’re hooked when you do it and have that passion to do it again.”
In competitions, athletes are measured in terms of distance, speed and time.
The competitors jump out of a plane from a certain height and then are judged in a competition window, typically at an elevation of 2,500-to-1,500 meters.
The flyers get three jumps per measurement for a total of 9 jumps with their scores averaged.
Competing in Russia, Ridler finished fourth in speed and fifth in both distance and time on the way to his fifth-place finish (281.3). Geiler finished first (299.1) individually in a field of 35 competitors, and Galda (285.9) took third place as the U.S. parachute team took top honors.
Always working on improving as a wingsuit flyer, sometimes by the smallest of percentages in terms of speed, time and distance, Ridler will next compete in the United States Parachute Association (USPA) National Championships in October in Eloy, Ariz.
To compete against the best in the country in a tight-knit wingsuit community, Ridler can’t wait to get back at it in Arizona.
“It’s the only time you can sit down and talk with these guys in depth. There are some nerdy conversations talking about what we’re doing,” Ridler said. “All these guys are unique characters who come from all walks of life. It’s been a long journey with a lot of hard work.
“I’ve never been the best in the world at something. It was emotional, a little bit overwhelming.”