Who knew there’d be so much interest in my wheels?
It is a Xootr. I love it. It is better than a Razor because the board is nice and wide, so you can actually stand with both feet next to each other on the board and steer by leaning ever-so-slightly to one side. It is also a fair bit pricier than a Razor, I think. It has a hand break, and I’m pretty sure the Razor does not. But way cheaper than a car. It folds down small enough to fit in my closet at school. It does not fold as small as the Razor. The music teacher, the man I shamelessly copied in his scooterdom, actually scoots to school with his seven-year-old daughter standing in front of him. Though it says to only ride with one person in the directions, I plan to have the same foolhardy reckless commute with my son when he (hopefully, don’t get me started) commutes to my school with me.
I don’t know if it is good on hills, because I’ve only ridden it back and forth to school. I should try it around the park circle!
It has shaved down my commute. It now takes me 2 less minutes to get to school. That may seem insubstantial, but when one’s commute is only 7 minutes long, 2 minutes is huge. Also consider the average teacher prep period of 45 minutes. That day I had to run home and back, I had those four minutes of my prep. A teacher worth her salt can get oodles done alone in her classroom in four minutes. I think it is actually faster if there is a tail wind and slower against the wind.
I should remember to always wear gloves if scooting in 20 degree weather. This morning my hands were almost frozen into handlebar semi-fists.
What else? No, I don’t get tired. I get pumped. It is fun, so by the time I get to school, I have a little rush going on. It is less work than walking. This does make me think I’m missing some important exercise I used to get. But I don’t much care.
I ride on the streets. I don’t know if you’ve seen the sidewalks in Brooklyn, but one would need a 4X4 scooter to manage them without breaking one’s neck. There is only one busy block, but it has a bike path. The rest of the way is smooth sailing on not-much-traffic residential streets.
PS Lyn, WTF? I don’t see any reason why you can’t ride a bike while TTC. Anyone? Anyone? Co? Cali? What say you?
4 Comments
January 15, 2009 at January 15, 2009
You’re SO cool! (Even if your hands are frozen purple).
January 15, 2009 at January 15, 2009
Again, it’s a great visual to think about!
As for your friend Lyn not being able to ride a bike…nothing I’ve heard of unless she has a high risk pregnancy. I mean…ever go to Denmark or Holland…loads of pregnant women on bikes!
January 15, 2009 at January 15, 2009
Ok, so I want one now.
January 16, 2009 at January 16, 2009
Oh! Thanks for the scooter details! If you had met my acupuncturist, you would understand why I couldn’t bike while TTC. She is very fierce (usually in a good way) and swore up and down that I should not bike while TTC, something about too much jiggling for implantation, my uterus already being in a not-so-great position, and also some business about certain points in my legs that would get messed up if I biked. It is always hard to tell if such things are hogwash, but considering she took me from mostly anovulatory with hideous irregular painful cycles, to semi-regular, ovulatory and not in much pain (and then to pregnant), it seemed reasonable to listen to her, however reluctantly.
This is not to say I didn’t put up a bit of a fight. I put her off for a couple cycles, then talked her down to only avoiding the bike during the TWW. I also snuck in a 40 mile ride to the Cape during an off-cycle that we just won’t mention.