Friday, April 21, 2006

Two Incidents

First, a guy in a white moving truck yells "how much are those" as he drives by. All I have time to say is "27" meaning $2700.

Then right behind him, two college age hotties drive by and the passenger yells "Hey Sexy !!!" out her window.

Obviously, not thinking I'm REALLY sexy, just messing with the Nerdy Segway Dude.

Sometimes I feel like I need a can of "Nerd-B-Gone" to spray on myself after riding the Segway.

But, it's all for the sake of saving gas and thus the Earf, so it's all good.

Tomorrow, a long ride to Snottsdale for the "Snottsdale Culinary Festival Picnic" thing. Gonna taste some mighty good food, I hope.
Uninterruptible Power Supply an option for mid-tip charging during long-ish Segway Rides? Feasible?

I'm trying something tomorrow on my nearly 22 mile Segway ride. I'm going to bring along a 375VA UPS which will have a fully charged battery. When I stop at my destination, halfway point of my glide, and park the Segway, I'm going to turn on the UPS and plug a computer power cord from the Segway to the UPS. It should charge the Segway battery at LEAST a few minutes before all the battery juice in the UPS is completely drained. I wonder how much power it will actually transfer before the UPS battery is exhausted? I'm going to find out, and I'll report the findings back here as soon as I have them.
Nearly A Crash

Thursday on the way back to the kids' school I had a near-wipeout on the Segway.

I was coming up to a small side street green light which was about to change to red for me and I knew it. I rushed up to the intersection at full speed. As I hit the wheelchair ramp the light was yellow, so I was going to JUST make it.

At the bottom of the wheelchair ramp, where the concrete meets the asphalt, there is usually a 1-inch to 4-inch "bump" of asphalt. There was a small one here, but I was going 12.5 miles per hour. When my left tire hit the bump, the Segway "bounced" quite a bit, in part because my briefcase was in the right side cargo pocket, making the right side heavier. So when it HOPPED, it HOPPED HARD. I was bounced off to the right side, and kept my feet under me, and held on to the handlebar guard with my right hand the whole time. The Segway continued bouncing left to right a little bit for about 8-10 more feet, slowing when my hand on the handlebar guard actually pulled back a little bit. I was holding on for dear life with that right hand, because that was my sole connection and control point to the Segway now, and I did not want it to roll across the street and crash into the curb. I got full control and stopped it about half way across the small street, and re-mounted and headed on. There were no cars waiting for me, thank gosh.

From that I was reminded to be safer: SLOW DOWN a the wheelchair ramps, and don't try to beat every light EVERY time !!!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

First Hottie

Well, the Segway is NOT A BABE MAGNET by any stretch, but yesterday I did get my first "noticable Hottie response."

I was at Priest and Rio Salado waiting for the light to go south, and a very VERY cute girl/lady was turning left at the light. As she was making the turn, I noticed she had a really cute little dog sitting in her passenger seat, and I looked at her then. We made eye contact and she smiled really big (nice perfect straight white teeth) and she then gave a little hand wave too. I smiled bigger and waved back.

Maybe it was just her way of responding to me looking at her doggie, or maybe it was the first time she had seen a Segway in the real, or maybe she thought I was cute, or maybe a combination of those things. Regardless of the reason, anytime a Hottie waves and smiles at me, "it's all good."

Just hit day 32 today since I last filled my gas tank in my hybrid. Thanks Segway !!!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tighter Side Cargo Support

My side cargo bag on the Segway usually has heavy stuff in it. My briefcase, or a gallon of milk, or today's lunch. So it wiggles a bit from side to side when I go over bumps, more if the bumps are larger. To help it stay secure, I put a metal cable clamp on the section at the bottom which connects to the bracket. This made it more stable, and now I can be more confident about carrying heavier weights in the bag.

I'm also shopping for a front handlebar bag, for times when I need MORE cargo capability.

'Nuff fer now..........

Monday, April 17, 2006

Segway up to almost 300 miles now.....

I'm keeping a "rough" mileage track on the Segway, and now we are at about 285 miles of gliding. Kids biked and I Segwayed on Friday the 14th to school and work. Getting really proficient at controlling it, and figuring out that it can be fun at speeds other than "max" also.

This past Saturday, the kids biked and I Segwayed to the Mall for lunch and a movie. We just locked the bikes/Segway together at the bike rack outside the movie entrance and went inside. I took the Segway cargo bag with me.

On the way home, we stopped for a bathroom break at Wendy's and this older gentleman with a cane came out and asked me a lot of questions about the Segway. He thought it was pretty cool. He did a double-take at the price, however. Anyway, lotsa fun still going on.

Also, I figured out that Stevie can ride the Segway to school when he becomes a freshman at Tempe High, also, which solves his transportation problem. Hopefully it will be "cool enough" for that at that time in his life !!!