An interesting ebike review

I'm still struggling with the medical issues so here's something else interesting in my reading recently.  An ebike review of a Dutch bicycle that automatically supplements your pedaling to make it easier to bike around town.  I admit, I've generally been dubious about handing over control of the motor to the bike but this review will probably get me to try out this type of bike.  In general, we're going smaller and electric with vehicles at our house so this is in line with that trend.  Now if there were only some rain shield accessory.  The review comes from treehugger (gotta love the name) and is about the Gazelle Medeo.  Check it out here.

Electric assist tricycle with a roof, sign me up!

I love bicycling and I am excited about electric vehicles as an alternative to a second car so this story from Treehuggers caught my eye.  Read their full article here.    I'm glad to see that the list of vendors on http://organictransit.com/ has one in Portland and one in Port Townsend so I can go try one out and see if it will meet my needs.  Since most of my trips in a car by myself are less than 10 miles, this would be almost perfect.    Check out someone test driving it in the video.

Post Knee Replacement Physical Activity

This is going here so I can find it easily.  I had my knee replacement in February of 2011 and my memory about what the surgeon said about physical activity after recovery has grown a little dim.  Probably not helped by having 2 back surgeries in the meantime.  So I googled and found the following recommendations on kneesociety.org.  So, bicycling, swimming, hiking, ballroom dancing, bowling, go for it.  Okay but be careful: scuba diving, skating, skiing.  No way, no how: parachuting, rock climbing.  Darn, those last 2 were on my bucket list.  Oh well....

Recommended Activities

Cycling is an excellent aerobic workout.Calisthenics, swimming, low-resistance rowing, stationary skiing machines, walking, hiking, and low-resistance weight lifting all are excellent ways to maintain fitness without overstressing the implant.

Suitable activities include bowling, croquet, golf, doubles tennis, table tennis, ballroom dancing and square dancing.

Other activities that are suitable but slightly more risky include downhill skiing, scuba diving, in-line skating, ice skating, softball, volleyball, speed walking, horseback riding, hunting and low-impact aerobics.

Discouraged Activities

In general, patients who have undergone total knee replacement should avoid high-impact activities that cause high stress loads on the implant and therefore may increase the risk of early failure.

Activities to avoid include baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, high-impact aerobics, gymnastics, jogging, power lifting , rock climbing, hang gliding, and parachuting.

More electric things to commute with - what fun!

Today's email brought a review from Slate about electric scooters, and by this they mean the ones you stand up on not the ones like a bike.   Actually, they cover various electric vehicles ways to make that last mile or two from the subway/train on your commute.  Including the Solowheel I mentioned last time.  There are spiffy pictures and the reviews give price, convenience, portability and doofus factor ratings so pretty comprehensive reviews, imho.  Read all about it here.  I am now seriously contemplating the EcoReco scooter.  It seems to hit my sweet spot of portability, ease of use and price.

This picture is from the EcoReco website showing their blazing red color combo.

Solowheel - a Seguelike unicycle

My email this morning had this link from Grist about a staffer trying out the Solowheel.  Go see the video here.  This seems fun and compared to an electric bike price, very reasonable in cost.  I'd just want to know how to stop it before I bought one since the staffer seemed to have trouble with that issue.  Jumping off does work but, like on a bike, that's not always the safest way to dismount.

Full link:  http://grist.org/living/watch-us-poorly-ride-the-transportation-of-the-future/

The Solowheel is local to Seattle and there are other, less expensive alternatives.  Here's a second look at one of those, the Airwheel.

http://www.bemmu.com/airwheel-electric-unicycle-review

Guess it's time to sell the electric scooter that has the same range but weighs over 200 lbs...

Biking for birds, an amazing journey

Today's email brought to my attention Dorian Anderson who is doing a sponsored bike ride across the country and keeping a birding list while he does it.  Amazing blog report can be read here.

I particularly like efforts like this that show what impact one person with drive can have.  And I remember my own bike touring with fondness while envying the trip described.