June 4, 2003

Riding in Style

Last week, I discovered a place in Vancouver that will rent a Segway to anyone with a credit card and enough balance to stand up.

I went last Saturday at around noon, just as things were starting to get busy. Within a few minutes of my arrival, 5 people showed up.

The training is quite basic, consisting of a 15 minute video on the "Things Not To Do", and about 10 minutes of learning to stop, start, go forward & backward and how to turn.

Learning to ride is easy, with the only difficult part actually getting on and off for the first time. Because you use your balance to move the Segway forward or back, sometimes it can skitter toward you a little as you try to get on. The key is to keep the handlebars in exactly the same position as you get on.

Once you have that simple skill down, you're pretty much set to go.

There's a few photos of me zipping around the Seawall if you're interested. And I already realize I look kinda silly, but I was like a kid on Christmas.