Expect the unexpected!
 

Anyone remember the 2004 promo shot of a guy leaning hard around a corner on a then new i170? I can't seem to find it right now. Anyway... I like to think I'm that guy at a particularly good corner for leaning full whack at. Especially on the i2. I know it very well, and it is edged by a hedge about two feet tall. So I can see all the way around it.

This corner is on a housing estate and so I know there is the possibility of a little child being about, but normally if they were that small, a parent would be near by so that would give a clue. There's always the possibility of a dog or some debris/rubbish or something, so I always take it wide and not quite at full speed, but I get a good lean on and imagine I am that guy from the promo (minus the helmet).

When coming back from the gym recently, I got quite a shock and laughed out loud. As I went around the corner, there was a fully grown man, backpack, bobble hat et al, sat on the floor studying a map. He was completely hidden by the hedge and boy was I glad I took it wide.

Anyway, I thought, you'd never expect that to happen - and I kept on gliding. The best part was, because he was looking at his map, he didn't even seem to notice me.

Kept me smiling all the way home!

Expect the unexpected folks!!!!

This is why I always approach a blind corner imagining that just coming around it might by a small child happily running ahead of his or her parents, as small children are known to do. This sort of caution has helped out on many ocassions.

Always a good lesson...
 

... and a point to be reiterated, both for new and for seasoned gliders.

Always be aware of your surroundings and potential hazards.

Thanks for sharing, Gareth.

-Sal

This is especially true when you round the corner and get whacked in the head by the tree branch that was now quite a few inches lower than it used to be.

Oh, and it really pays to send the taller guy up ahead 'cause when his head gets whacked (and he yells in pain) you know to slow down :D

I learned a valuable tip when I first joined this board. I carry small pruning shears with me where ever I go and if the tree (small) or bougainvillea (aka Mimosa) with all its thorns is hanging in my glide path...snip, snip, snip.

Steven

Hmmm a good idea...
 

A couple of years ago, I thought I'd be smart and take a shortcut through a field to a concert site... well, little did I know my forehead would bear the brute force of a tree branch who wanted revenge for some reason... (by the way, always look where you're going, even if you don't have time to react LOL)

Pruning sheers... I may have my revenge yet!

-Sal

Here's a bit of that picture I was trying to find:

http://www.segway.com/images/v/main_sega.jpg

Whilst searching, I found another old favourite:

(Shaggy out of Scooby Do with his p133)

http://www.segway.com/images/v/main_connb.jpg

Unexpected does happen
 

I was surprised I haven't found a thread sharing daily experiences from commuters. I was gliding home last Thursday and saw a toddler coming down a side walk towards the street with a man in hot pursuit, I slowed down trying to avoid headlines of "Segway Kills Toddler", about the time the man grabbed the toddler there was an explosion in the street. As I came up on glass shars and brown paper bag I went to the other side of the street breathing in what seemed to be the smells of hard liquor. As I passed I was surprised not to hear any swearing.

I don't know who designed Phoenix, AZ, and her suburbs, but whoever did seemed to have a great fondness for that major contributor to urban blight, the strip mall!

Yes, there's seemingly two at every major interstection; here at 67th and Peoria Avenues, there's actually FOUR - one on each corner. Of course, all four of them are half-vacant, but each still has its "lock-down" tenant. At one, it's Blockbuster, at another, Leslie's (though Leslie's did just go out of business; I'd say that strip doesn't last much longer). Across the street, there's Wal-Mart Grocery and the soon-to-be-opened Starbucks, and across from that, there's Safeway And Pied Piper Pizza.

Safeway and Wal-Mart have automatic doors; the other stores I may frequent at those strip malls don't. It hasn't been difficult to learn how to pull open a door and glide in... but it has made me very, very aware of people who don't look before opening a door, that opens out onto a public walkway.

This reminded me of an event that occured in training for the Army (Basic Training) back in 1978. In those days, digital watches were very new, and one of the variations on that theme was a backit LCD numeral on a green field. The watch I had glowed green all the time, instead of needing to push the button, which was considered at the time a great improvement.

We were on a very long march, thru the dead of night, keeping 3 or 4 meters between us, in full black out. It was cloudy that night, and with no lights, it was really very dark...

I attached my watch to the backpack of the guy in front of me, about 10 or 15 feet forward, and I could just barely see the green glow. Any further away, and it was too dim...

I would watch and follow it, and he would bob along... Every so often, it would disappear, as he fell in a hole, or got hit with some branch, and that missing green dot would be accented by his expressive four letter expression of choice...

I fared well on that particular hike, with the assistance, although unwitting, of the person in front of me...

Well, back to segways, and road trips in general, this technique does indeed work, and is the very reason for the new center brake lights on American cars, to use the example of the reaction of the driver in front of you to assist you to know when a dangerous situation is comming...

Point man in any military outing, or a hike in the woods is a valuable, yet more exposed position. While gliding with others, it does make sense to pay particular attention to the glider in front of you, as it gives you a moment or two to react before you see the object of your reaction...

Snip, Snip , Snip
 

.[QUOTEI learned a valuable tip when I first joined this board. I carry small pruning shears with me where ever I go and if the tree (small) or bougainvillea (aka Mimosa) with all its thorns is hanging in my glide path...snip, snip, snip.
][/QUOTE]
Has anyone said anything about you snipping branches? I have thought about taking clippers but asking permission especially on a residence that the branches block everything about a foot above the handlebars. Other single branches I wasn't so worried about that belong to the city or in front of residences