That impossibly slow and steady tick echoes in your eardrums, your stomach swishes, and those sweaty palms can’t grip your seat quite tight enough as you near the starting 135-feet drop on the longest wooden roller coaster in the world.

Thundering through Cincinnati’s Kings Island for the first time in 1979, the Beast remains one of the most iconic coasters in the world—just ask one of the 45+ million riders that have taken in the whiplashing views of the Queen City. What makes the coaster still legendary in an age of absurdist steel contraptions? How ‘bout a tunneled double helix finale. Up your heartbeat and dare to tangle with Cincy’s main scare. After you do, grab this classic so you can officially say, “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.”