Saturday, May 06, 2006

Cruising "Sweet Spot" Located

Good drivers over 35 yrs of age will recongnize this scenario. Say you have a car which does not have cruise control. When you first get the car, it's difficult to "hold the perfect cruising speed" at highway speeds because your foot has not learned the perfect pedal position yet, and your leg has not memorized the perfect position to hold your leg and foot so that locating that sweet spot is possible. But after a few weeks, your muscle memory takes hold and you know EXACTLY where to hold your foot, how much pressure to apply, etc., in order to HOLD that perfect cruising speed.

I hit that moment on my Segway last night.

I found that there are at least three components to holding the Segway at top cruising speed, which I estimate to be somewhere between 11.8 and 12.2 MPH.
1. Position of my feet on the platform. They need to be centered and not angled.
2. Position of the handlebar in regard to how close I have it to my stomach. Too close is bad, too far is bad, about 1-2 inches seems to be perfect.
3. The most important one: The sound of the pitch and whine of the little electric motors. I can tell by the sound that the motors have reached the peak position where if I go any faster, the accelerometer is going to forcibly slow the Segway down. If I can use my ears and keep the whine about the same place all the time, I stand a better chance of maintaining that perfect "top speed" without being forced to slow down.

This is going to make for faster commutes over time, as I perfect the method of recognizing and maintaining that sweet spot speed.

Also from yesterday: I forgot to mention that my dentist also took a huge interest in the Segway. He came outside with me to see me ride it and asked many questions about it. He seemed genuinely interested. I love the social aspect of the Segway more and more as time goes by.

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