Welcome Jonathan Kelley back with a new post called, “Compulsive seniors on Scooters” by Jonathan Kelley
So you’re one of the seniors on scooters?
How long are your rides? Is that important? Do you care?
Countless apps available for your iPhone will track your route, with great accuracy, giving you an ongoing dynamic map of where you’re going, your top speed, your rest breaks, the elevations at each moment of the ride, and more.
The app I use, after trying out maybe half a dozen, is “Ride with GPS,” because I like the map it creates, and it’s easy to share with friends.
On a ride, do you pay attention to how much ground you cover from moment to moment as you scoot along?
My compulsive side has created a system that works well, to do exactly this.
“By the way”, not a one of my small handful of scooter riding buddies ever speaks of any such system, so I’d be interested to hear what if anything you others in the world of kick scooter people do. Or if I’m a nut case OCD guy for trying to figure out each moment how far I’ve scooted.
When I ride, I usually do twenty scoots on one foot, then twenty scoots on the other foot. I call this one unit. I count the units. When I have ten units, same number as my fingers or toes, with four hundred scoots, I call that a set. It’s easy to keep count of the sets. Two sets and change is a nice ride for me. Water after each set is good. Over three sets deserves a rest stop and some energy food.
Under perfect conditions, no wind, no change in elevation, and perfect pavement, I travel almost three miles in a set.
In real life, conditions are never perfect, so sometimes a set is more like two miles. Still, if I’m riding, say, on the San Gabriel River trail from Ramona Boulevard to Thienes Avenue, in El Monte, CA, which is 3.3 miles each way, with some nice downward dips on the way down, but with four or five slow-down underpasses, it’s usually about a set and a half for the 3.3 miles down, and maybe two units, or eighty extra scoots to get back, depending on the wind.
It’s a good system for understanding that you’re maybe more than half way to where you’re going, or maybe just a unit or two, forty or eighty scoots, to get back to the starting point.
My longest ride ever, about 20 miles, from City of Hope in Arcadia to the Norwalk Green Line Station, was seven sets and change, a little more than three hours.
Alright my scooter nut friends, please share with me what you do to track the distance you’re covering.
Don’t forget to check out Jonathan’s website at JonathanKelley.net.