My First Tour

This tour really deserves it own entry, so here it is. Oh, I have also included some photos of the places we stop on the tours and brief descriptions. These are NOT very good photos, and were mostly taken on the fly on the bike, but it will give you an initial idea. More to come...

So the first tour on which I was asked to go was called a day Segway tour. Now, if you don't know, Segways are a kind of two wheel motorized vehicle that require a certain amount of training and balance. In fact, the tour always starts with about 45 minutes of training for the guests who are going to be touring that day.

That being said, the shop only has 18 usable Segways at the moment - enough for two tours of eight and two guides. So, in this case, I was the ninth and was therefore given a bike to ride for the tour. That was no problem for me because I didn't want to spend the time learning anyway.

So the tour started and we got underway. It's a great tour as you can see by the pictures, and the guide, Ryan, was a lot of fun to listen to and hang out with. But it wasn't until the end that it got really interesting.

Quick lesson. The Segways have really big tires, but they aren't made to jump curbs, large rocks, small cars, etc. In fact, if you happen to rub the side of a tire up against a curb, pole, or other fixed object, you are probably going to meet the pavement in an abrupt fashion. Case and point...

One of the groups on the tour was a family of four who came because the parents wanted to do something that the kids would really enjoy and think was 'cool'. So the kids were about 14 and 16 and were all about the Segways. After the first hour or so, they were moving at full speed, felt comfortable turning and stopping on a dime. The poor girl just got too comfortable. Right in front of Les Invalides on the way back, she rubbed up against a curb and went sprawling, face first, onto the pavement. She split her chin (ended up with six stitches) and hit here head pretty hard. So, as is policy, Ryan called an ambulance. The ambulance came, took the girl and her mother away, and the Dad and brother followed in a taxi. If you are counting, that's four Segways without riders.

So the shop was called, Ryan continued the tour pulling one Segway behind him, Saul from the shop made two trips to get two of the Segways, and I got to pull one behind my bike. But the best part was waiting for Saul both times.

The word spread on the police frequencies that there were a couple of these Segways sitting unused by Les Invalides. So, in the half hour that I was there by myself watching over the machines, 11 policemen stopped and tried to chat. Actually, it was funny. They all tried to seem like they were taking a statement, or filling out paperwork, or doing a job, but, it turned out, all they really wanted to do was ride the Segways. As soon as I let the first one try it out, there was a line!! It was great. I became an instant celebrity and have actually seen a couple of those cops since. Good stuff.

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