Segway through Anchorage

Leslie, July 2, 2010
Mountain View RV Park, Palmer, AK

I can’t remember when I have had so much fun!  My friends know that photographing wild animals is my passion, but today we took part in another adventure that almost eclipsed that adventure. 
For several years I have wanted to learn to ride a Segway.  Segways are two wheeled battery operated devices that are considered “personal people movers”.  A Segway will run for 24 miles on a single charge.  It can run up to 12 miles per hour.  The rider controls the Segway by making slight shifts in balance, forward and backward, to move forward and reverse.  To turn, on the Segway One that we were riding, the rider twists a handle on the left handle bar.



The owner of Segway Anchorage is a school teacher (Alan) on summer break.  The arrangement is a half hour group lesson followed by a 2 hour tour on Segway of downtown Anchorage.  Since I was the instigator, I was the first guinea pig.  I started our lesson.

Alan explained to me how to get on the Segway, move it forward and backward, and turn.  In slightly more than 3 minutes, I was off on my own to practice!  (Alan asked if any of us had prior Segway experience and I replied, “only on the WII”.  He laughed but I actually think it helped.)  I found controlling the Segway very easy and really, the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

Connie was the next brave candidate.



Moving forward isn’t too difficult.  Dodging flower beds, pedestrians, and stuffed bears is more of a challenge.

Stan was next.



Being first at the lesson was actually a smart plan.  I noticed that when Robert got his lesson it was more of, “go fwd, go back, turn, okay let’s go”.  He did fine.



After Alan was confident that we could all go forward and more importantly STOP, we took off single file for our tour of Anchorage.  Every block or so we stopped so Alan could tell of of the history of the place.













We stopped in the city park for photo ops.

Notice that we’re waving without our hands on the handlebars.  Hands matter only for turning.  We’re holding the Segway up by balancing our bodies.   As I lean towards Robert for the photo, I also have to move enough of my weight to the opposite side to keep the Segway in balance. Hips are useful :-)




We’re all showing off!  But seriously, we’re having a wonderful time.



After an hour of travel we came to an extremely steep hill.  Alan explained that we would be going down the hill.  From your experience riding a bicycle, you know that gravity will cause you to go faster.  Oh NO!  How will we control Segway?  Our instructions thus far were: lean forward to go forward, lean backward to go in reverse, toggle your body to stop.  After a few gulps, we started down.  It turns out that gravity has very little impact on Segway.  The rider still leans forward to move forward; even though you naturally want to pull back, it isn’t necessary.  We all made it to the bottom of the steep hill.

At the bottom of the hill we turned and rode along a flat path along the water.  Unfortunately there were low hanging tree branches.  I ducked to miss a tree branch and instinctively turned my left hand right-ward, turning the Segway sharply right.  I crashed off the path onto the road.  I mean to say that I turned the wheels of the Segway off the path to the right, we jumped the curb, the Segway crashed onto the road, I fell over the Segway and together we crashed onto the asphalt head first.  I had my very expensive camera around my neck. (How else could I have gotten these great pics?)  OUCH!!!!

Alan heard me yelp and came back to pick up me and the Segway.  Neither of us were severely injured.  The helmet did its job.  (Most importantly, my camera wasn’t damaged either.)  Alan restarted my Segway and we were off again.

Alan stopped us three times during the tour to increase the maximum speed of our Segways.  Here I am after a run at the maximum speed, having a wonderful time.



I had read on www.TripAdvisor.com that Segway Anchorage was the most fun thing to do in Anchorage – I agree.  We all agreed that we would take a Segway again (heck, I want to own one) and that Alan and the Segway gave us a great experience in Anchorage.

(Regardless of your activity (ski, bicycle, alpine slide, skate, etc.), please wear a helmet! My helmet was dented from the impact – it could have been my head. TBI is a lifelong affliction. Protect your brain.)