Low Speed Mayhem in a Foot Cast:: On the Road with Pop

Dad smashed up his ankle pulling an over-cocky down a double black diamond trail. He got what looks like a rack and pinion steering system installed in his new bionic foot. Too cool for crutches, Dad elected to rent a knee-scooter. He's getting his money's worth:

"I just got back from a 3.5 miler on the scooter. I went with my friend Owen from down the street.

"Owen is a party to my scootering."

"I clocked myself at 14:46 minutes per mile. I was moving. Yesterday, I'd thought I hit my plateau at 15:04 minutes a mile. And that was a full 45 seconds faster than my previous personal record, which was the 15:49s I did last week. Owen was surprised. He had to break into a run two times to keep up with me. According to the GPS, I topped out at 7.05 mph. Going down the hill by the high school."

"Grade and road surface are key when speed is your top priority."

"I took the scooter out into my shop and adjusted all the settings. I lowered the handlebars for comfort and aerodynamics. I tightened up all the wing nuts and I sprayed Teflon on the wheel axles and the handlebar joists."

"I would wear my bike gloves and maybe my helmet, but really, what would the StyleGuy snicker about that? Street fashion concerns me. I might get one of those orange flags so I can take the scooter down Royal Road. There's a lot of traffic."

"I've scootered 28.2 miles so far. I don't track my speed when I'm scootering on errands, but I do count it toward lifetime total distance. Like today I went to the bank, the post office and the library for a total of 2 round-trip miles. But I didn't check my mph at any point."

"I don't know if the scooter was really built for distance riding. It seems to be holding up fine. Except for the tires."