New owner in San Anselmo, Marin County, CA

[abowker]

Hello Everyone;

I am a new I2 owner in central Marin County, CA. Have been wondering the streets and bike trails from San Anselmo, San Rafael down to Mill Valley and Tiburon.

I want to try the bike trails on Mt. Tamalpais, (Shaver and Eldridge Grade.) I called the Marin Municipal Water District and they said no motorized vehicles. It would be a great place to glide if they would let me.

Also hope to meet new gliders at Seg Fest in Indianapolis.

Alan B.
San Anselmo

[bentbiker]

I called the Marin Municipal Water District and they said no motorized vehicles. It would be a great place to glide if they would let me.Alan,

Welcome. From your wording, it sounds as if you believe this affects you. But, by state law, you (on your Seg) are a pedestrian. That may not be good enough, but if it is public property, I think it is a good start. Your Segway is an EPAMD, not a vehicle. This is a giant distinction.

[Bob.Kerns]

I've done a little poking around a few of their trails and found them not well-suited to an I2. An X2 would do better, but I've never ridden one, so I couldn't say how much better.

(I didn't ask; I figured the ADA would apply in my case.)

The issues are ground clearance & ruts, and loose gravel/sand/dust on steep slopes. Got dumped on my rear twice (the ONLY times that's happened). Though I was being very cautious, and expecting the spills, it's still surprising how suddenly the Segway can get out of control when you no longer have two wheels with traction.

With my legs (and other issues) there's no way I could do even the good stretches on my own two feet; I was exploring to see how much I could do on trails. Of course, the MMWD has LOTS of trails; there may be lots that would be just fine.

My conclusion is that for an I2, you really want to stick to pretty tame, well-groomed, not-too-steep trails -- at least by my non-Segway standards.

Or pavement -- the i2 is happy enough with the steepest pavement I've found in Marin, though sometimes it wants you to slow down to 4 MPH in the *really* steep places.

Of course, if you're able bodied, you could haul it up over the rough spots, but that'll get old if there's too many.

Probably I'm stating the obvious, though. If you find good trails, let me know!

One nice little ride on pavement (roads, not much traffic) is to go up Madrone in Larkspur (across from the Lark Creek Inn) up to the water tank on Wilson Way (Madrone, Redwood, Oak, Wilson). Keep your speed down, or it'll go into wimp mode to force you to do so, and it's no fun riding in wimp mode...

The Bay Trail around Richardson Bay in Mill Valley is flat, smooth sailing, paved non-road. I've parked by the Mill Valley Public Safety building, and ridden into Sausalito, but it should actually be in range from my house in Corte Madera.