Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington

TacticalJack writes "Rob Owen, a retired clown, and two other riders surged up Mount Washington at 12.5 mph, the AP reports. It took the Segway riders two and half hours to complete the 7.6 mile endurance test. The team used six batteries, fought off 50 mph winds and battled bitter cold to reach the 6,288-foot mountain summit. All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?"

*gasps*

[Exiler]

He asked why. On a segway article. I'm at a loss for words.

What happened to the standard geek, 'How?'

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[account_deleted]

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Begging the question

[LadyLucky]

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Another example of...

[Arae]

... People with too much money AND time.

Re:Hah

[Exiler]

For how much they cost they should make pancakes, serve them to you in bed, have an included coffee maker, come with several gigs of mad lesbian pr0n, and have a small kitchen sink in-dash

Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington

[Lord_Dweomer]

"Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington"

Personally, I think a slightly more literal interpretation of this headline would be a lot more hilarious/interesting than the real story.

Stoned Segway Rider: "Whoah man....like, I lean and it moves and I don't fall over.....I wish I could do that on my own....."

New Segway target

[TACD]

Hey, if they're not going to redesign cities around the Segway, maybe now they'll redesign mountains around them...

Re:Retired Clown == John Howard

[CurlyG]

Ah, if only that damn clown would retire... One can but hope, I guess.

Re:*gasps*

[euxneks]

Yes, to you or I, walking is no big problem. But we're not talking about the _average_ computer user geek here are we? =P

Imagine a huge guy who stays on his computer for days on end.. Or even the malnourished walking stick variety. Is he going to want to actually walk around when he can get some computerized device to do it for him?

I didn't think so either. =D

Dotcom Era Fads...

[B747SP]

Oh yeah, Segway, that's the other now dead fad that was missing from yesterday's Dotcom Era Fads [slashdot.org] story on Slashdot :-)

Re:Begging the question

[Dr. Evil]

Oh the irony.

Not the question I had in mind...

[Guppy06]

"All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?"

No, it begs the question "What the heck is this doing on the front page?" I can see how the Segway was at one point an interesting piece of technology when it first came out, but that was a long time ago. It's less "technology" and more "silly fad." I would sooner expect an article about who is going to win such-and-such "reality TV" show than this on Slashdot. What next, world's larget pet rock collection?

Heck, if anything the Segway is a shining example on exactly why the bottom fell out of the 90's IT economy. And the fact that mention of it still makes headlines in Slashdot demonstrates that people in the 21st century are still just as gullible and short-sighted as they were ten years ago.

I don't know about you

[appleLaserWriter]

I want mine lowered first.

Re:I was thinking more like...

[secolactico]

Because only a clown would ride the segway without being snickered at.

Would he have done better time in a monocycle? Or a tiny VW with other twenty seven clowns? Now *those* questions should be answered!

Note: I like clowns. A great deal better than I like mimes, at least.

Re:12.5MPH, 7.6 Miles, 2.5 hours?

[localghost]

7.6 miles at 12.5 MPH would take ~37 minutes. Are you suggesting they spent 4 times as much time lunching, resting, pissing, and falling over as they did riding?

And another thing, what would they possibly need rest from? All that strenuous leaning forward?

Re:Meanwhile ...

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing more pathetic than a clown is a clown riding up Mount Washington on a Segway.

Or maybe a clown hoping his post on slashdot will impress a girl.

simple solution to math problem

[meekg]

they were 3 people.
their combined speed was 12.5 MPH.
Hence about 4.2MPH each.

2.5 hours, but at least 5*10=50 minutes changing batteries, so 1.6 hours

so 4.2MPH * 1.6Hrs = 6.7 miles.

So why 7.6 miles? someone switched the digits!

Re:Segway hacking?

[KiwiEngineer]

You could always take the simple road and get yourself the "go-faster" speed stripes favoured by drivers of preludes, or alternately paint it red, because red cars go faster.

Geeks, already used to chipping their playstations will take with glee to the project of modding segways for speed.
Wait for the segway case mods to come into vogue at lan parties

Linux port for segway

[lars_boegild_thomsen]

Speaking of this - anybody working on porting Linux to the segway? Would enable all kinds of neat stuff - like wireless networking, built-in VoIP soft phone and IM client.

$5,000...

[DavittJPotter]

Wow. For $5,000 you could buy:

38 pairs of fairly nice (~$130) hiking boots

a decent used car and the tank of gas

Or.......

A nice used motorcycle that can go way faster than 12.5 mph! [cycletrader.com]

Nope, don't know the guy, just getting an example... :)

Coming soon..

[Channard]

The world's first Segway tractor pull. Possibly. Though I can't help but feel that any Segway could be decimated by even the weediest competitor off Robot Wars.

Re:6288 feet.. whoopidedodah

[zakezuke]

What you call foothills the people on the east cost call mountains. I noticed this perspective diffrence between the east and west cost a long time ago. Not that the east cost doesn't have a mountain range, they are NOT the Rockies.

But hey, since you live in a place with much more in the way of impressive peaks, why don't *you* get your own segway and test to see how well it works in your enviroment.

They did it because....

[vudufixit]

.... "it's there?"

Re:Why? Ya ain't from around here, are ya?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great point fellow New Englander, but you forgot to point out one other fact. Mt. Washington holds the hishest wind speed record at 231 mph with common speeds of around 75+ mph. I know what your thinking, and yes, "it's wicked fast."

Jason.
Wolfeboro NH

http://www.greenscreen.org/newsletter/archive/Ex tr emes.html