Two-wheeled variety

Probably it has something to do with the fact that my body and that ingenious contraption the bicycle just don't seem to combine for much speed. Although my mileage has increased every year for the last few years, my speed on two wheels remains about the same: pretty slow. Now, that's not altogether a bad thing. One of the perks of being a natural slowpoke is that messing around with things that would slow fast riders way down barely registers on my speed-o-meter. Riding road bikes off-road up mountains? Sure! With two gears I shift by hand? Now you're talking! Covering 50 miles on a Dutch bike (more soon) over hill and dale? Hey, why not? The truth is, such apparent foolishness tends to knock a mile or two per hour off my average racing-bike-on-the-flats pace. Might as well have fun and see some stuff, right?

[A dapper guy in traffic on a kickbike, courtesy of this site]

Enter kickbikes. I guess they're technically scooters and not bikes, but they look more like bikes than those noisy little kid movers that prowl the sidewalks. They sound like a lot of fun, mostly, and they are two-wheeled, human-powered machines. People have actually ridden them all over the place--like across the US. Apparently, these things can be propelled to pretty much bicycling speeds by kicking off the ground with one leg--no drivetrain or saddle. I also found out that Portland has a dealer, which means it's only a matter of time before I test ride one! Then I can start my new blog Kicker's Life. If anyone beats me to the test ride, let me know what you think.

So many fun ways to move around, so little time.