Adrenalin junkies... walk this way!  (That'll be forty floors up on a very thin wire then). If your past-time of choice is high-risk; if your buzz-word is danger then you'll love the idea of extreme sports and everything else Bedfordshire and nearby areas have to offer.

Adrenalin junkie JAMES CUNLIFFE takes on the extreme sport challenge in Bedford

The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to seek out the most thrillingest, most pant-soilingest day out on your doorstep.Should any of you get scared or wimp out like a little girl then your friends will surely disavow any knowledge of your actions.

OK, OK. This review will self-destruct in five seconds if I don't get to the point, so here it is - right here on your doorstep are some of the most outrageously pulse-raising activities you're likely to find in the country. Indoor skydiving, monster truck driving, high performance driving and wakeboarding - how's that for the adrenalin junkie in you that you never knew existed?

Once upon a time, jumping off tall buildings and getting dragged along by a rope used to mean your life was about to flash before your eyes. These days people do it for kicks.

But as a purveyor of all the traditional British sports my only experience of 'extreme' has been when I've forgot my shinpads for football. Thankfully I'm far from the age when excitement is a nine letter word in Countdown or a nicely pressed trouser - but extreme sports... me?

Surely that's more for our Antipodean or Californian friends? The sort of chaps who might, without a hint of tongue-in-cheekiness, use the words gnarly, bodacious or bitchin' as an adjective.

Lets just keep a stiff upper lip and call Bodyflight Bedford absolutely brilliant.

The world's largest indoor skydiving facility is a vertical wind tunnel that creates gusts of up to 70mph to simulate falling through the air. That means, for those whose hands get clammy at the sight of a 747, you don't have to worry about:

 a) throwing yourself out of a plane

 b) a parachute failing to open and

 c) a rather speedy introduction to the ground.

And if you need any qualification of its licence to thrill status then Daniel Craig trained for three months at Bodyflight for the aerial scenes in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

Driving on the other hand rarely shakes or stirs me. For me it's duller than the shipping forecast. Everyday the same old route. Same old traffic lights. Same old mums in Chelsea tractors, and worst of all, the same old jams.

What joy it would be then to have a monster truck. The only vehicle that could make the M25 at rush hour seem like miles and miles of open road. You've not driven until you've destroyed a couple of Ford Capris.

That was until I'd been to the Bedford Autodrome. I've put my life on the line once before for Bedfordshire on Sunday at Silverstone, but PalmerSport takes that experience, times it by five and waves the chequered flag at its Northamptonshire neighbour.

At Silverstone I drove very fast for less than an hour. Former F1 world champion Jonathan Palmer's vision on the other hand is a full day, once in a lifetime driving indulgence.

Guests get to drive seven high performance cars that, for the Lewis Hamilton in you, range from a Porsche 911 JP3 to a Formula Jaguar. In fact the British Formula 1 hero used to be an instructor at the autodrome, which tells you all you need to know about PalmerSport's professional dedication to your day.

But if you've conquered the air and the ground then you've not completed the extreme challenge until you've mastered the water.

Wakeboarding and I have a history. A long two-hour history where muggins was introduced, at speed, face first, with alarming frequency to Box End Park lake last summer. This time, a year on, and now as a fully-fledged adrenalin junkie, I managed yet another lung full of water later. But then, EUREKA! I managed to wakeboard.... for about ten seconds.

But let me tell you, those ten seconds were totally gnarly dude.

• For more information on extreme sports and other more serene activities in Bedfordshire visit www.experiencebedfordshire.com