Ken and Janet’s News

While we were in San Diego I rented a Segway for an hour to see what it was like. I have wanted to do this for a long time and decided to take the opportunity to experience it first hand. This is a collection of my thoughts and experiences. For first time Segway riders, after signing your life away in paperwork, you are required to take 15 minutes of training. It involves a few minutes of verbal instruction and then 10 minutes of practice where you demonstrate to the instructor that you have learned and understand what you have been told and you have to maneuver around a course set up with cones that shows how well you can steer and control the Segway. The biggest thing they wanted to teach you was that the Segway is wider than your shoulders and they want you to understand that so you won’t catch the Segway on an obstacle (like fire hydrant) and cause you to fall. The orange cones behind me in the picture were part of my “training course”.

Starting up and getting on the Segway was more complex than I expected but in retrospect it all makes sense. Each Segway has a remote control that gives you a lot of information that isn’t on the Segway itself. The remote turns the Segway on and off, locks it so someone else can’t take it, turns on and off training (turtle) mode, and tells you how much charge is left on the battery (or alternately how many miles you have left/have used). When you turn the Segway on some lights turn on in the middle of the platform where you stand. You need to hang onto the Segway when you are turning it on so it doesn’t fall over. The lights on the platform tell you if the Segway is tilted correctly, if too far forward a red light turns on in the front, if too far back a red light turns on in the back and if correct a green light is on in the middle. With the light green, you raise your right foot and gently tap the platform on the right side where your right foot will be placed. If everything is ok a cluster of green lights turn on around the single green balance light telling you that the Segway is ready for you to get on. While continuing to hold onto the Segway (if you let
go it will move forward on its own), you now step onto the platform between the wheels and balance so you don’t go forward or backwards.

The Segway goes forward and backwards when you lean in the direction you want to go. To turn you move the handlebars to the left or right. It is possible to turn in place by not moving forward or backwards and just turning the handlebars. When you are learning the Segway is placed in “Training” mode (shown by a turtle) on the remote. After you have used the Segway for 30 minutes you can switch to “Normal” mode. In training mode the maximum speed is 6 mph and normal is 10 mph. Once you get the hang of the controls it is pretty easy but you need to be very aware that the wheels are wider than you are and to not go over a curb or other obstruction more than one inch high I was off and spent an hour wheeling around Mission Bay. One thing that is hard to describe is how the Segway reacts when you reach the maximum speed – it pushes back at you! When you experience it you will understand.

One of the first things I noticed was how tall I felt. I looked down on
everything, walkers, bikers, skaters, runners. It gives you a feeling of power and “can do no wrong” probably not a good thing at 10 mph. It also means there are obstacles (like trees) that you normally wouldn’t have to deal with. Good thing I had a helmet. Some other interesting things happened. While in training mode, a group of runners got on the path just ahead of me and I knew they were very consistently running 6 mph since we maintained our distance apart for quite a while. Then another runner came up beside me – matched my pace and asked “How fast are we going?” – I immediately replied 6 mph since I was going as fast as I could in training mode. He then moved on ahead. The Segway isn’t completely quiet – there is a whine from the electric motors. I think it is actually more noticeable in training mode than normal mode – at least to the rider. But then if you completely stop – it is completely silent. I stopped several times when there was congestion on the path. As I went by one of the many parks on the Bay there was a person practicing on a Bagpipe. It seemed a very appropriate place to do that and I enjoyed the music as a wheeled by.

So I had a wonderful experience with my first Segway ride and I highly recommend it. But be sure to pay attention to the training. Taking a spill from one would not be fun. Not sure what the rental rates are in other places but here they charge $45 for the first hour and $30 for each added hour. The added $15 for the first hour covers the training time. I know in lots of cities they have tours that are Segway based so you can see more things in the same amount of time. There was another rental place that I found later that offers tours also.

So – if you get a chance – ride a Segway!

Start of the last day

Originally uploaded by kws1111

Today was our last ride day from Baraboo to Muscoda. Due to logistics and time in getting back to Omaha after the ride we made an executive decision to have 2 people drive from the hotel to Muscoda (end of the ride) to pick up our other car and come back along the route to meet the rest of the riders – pack up and leave for Omaha. Everything worked out pretty well and other than one flat tire just after the ferry ride things went well. We met the riders around 10:00am and got on the road a little after 10:30am. We ended up skipping the showers at Muscoda and drove on to Dubuque where we found a YMCA and Dick got us in on his pass and lickety split everyone was ready to go. By then people where hungry (1:30pm) so we found a Panera Bread for lunch. We got into our Motel near the Omaha Airport around 7:30pm, unpcaked and went out for dinner in a very popular section of Omaha. Several people were disappointed in the route around Devil’s Head Lake this year (went to the other shore) but they were not disappointed in the hills.
All in All – it was a very good ride and the time went quickly.
kws

water stop

Originally uploaded by kws1111

No rain today. We did our normal 7:00 am start. It was a niice temperature when we started and gradually got warmer but it wasn’t too hot when you created a breeze while riding until the last few miles. We made good time and by my odometer we did 54 miles today. We normally come through the Dells, but today the route tooks us through Reedsburg and then to Baraboo.We had a nice stop for ice cream at a store along the route. It was a nice cooling break. The route today was much more hilly than before and there were a few pretty steep ones that tested our abilities. When we got to the edge of Baraboo we figured out that our motel was on a Monroe street and when we got on it there was a very nice bike lane. About a mile towards our destination the bike lane disappeared, traffic density increased and there seemed to be no parallel streets that we could ride on – and then we came to an intersection with an Interstate that we had to cross. It was not fun. Shortly later we noticed the bike route crossed the highway we were on and so we turned off to go on the bike route. It added some more miles to our trip but the safer roads were worth it.
Tonight we had dinner in a nice Italian restaurant in Baraboo and enjoyed it very much. (note more pictures of eating!)
We have not had any flats while riding, but we have had 3 flats in Hotel rooms after the days ride. Not sure if that counts or not.
Tomorrow is our last ride day from Baraboo to Muscoda. For various logistical reasons we are going to cut the ride short and shuttle people back to Muscoda from an intermediate point that we think will take about 3 hours of riding to get to. Then we will shower in Muscoda and driver back to Omaha where we will stay overnight, leave Martha to catch her flight back to Annapolis and we will drive back to Boulder on Sunday. Not sure if I will be able to blog tomorrow or not.
Will try.
kws

Riders on a Log in Wisconsin Rapids

Originally uploaded by kws1111

Today we tried our experiment of leaving at 6:30 (instead of 7:00) and eating on the road. We had identified a restaurant in Nekoosa to try but we switched to another one based on a locals recommendation. Unfortunately they were overwhelmed with the number of customers they had and it took us about an hour and a half to get breakfast. Then when we got back on the road the skies looked threatening and sure enough a few minutes later it started to rain. Most of us didn’t have our raingear with us so we flagged down our SAG car and got our raingear and started riding in the rain. It started raining at the 10 mile mark and didn’t stop until we got to 40 miles – 30 miles of riding in the rain. At least it wasn’t hot! Shortly before lunch time the weather cleared and were once again riding the the sun with scattered clouds. We stopped for lunch and debated on whether to make our lunch from our SAG wagon or purchase brats at the lunch stop. We chose to fix our food at a nearby park but the mosquitoes had other ideas and made us change our minds. The roads were pretty flat the rest of the way to Mauston so we made good time completing the 70 miles for the day. I didn’t get any pictures of us in the rain. At one point the rain got a little heavier and we decided to seek shelter – we were riding by a warehouse with 4 semi-trailers parked by it and so we parked our bikes under the trailers and sat under the trailers ourselves to stay out of the rain. Robin got a picture – but I don’t have it yet to upload it – but will eventually.
We ate dinner at the restaurant attached to our motel and enjoyed the food (especially the ribs).
Tomorrow we have a shorter day (55 miles) and plan to enjoy it. Hopefully it will be cooler and not rain!
kws