For once fortune had smiled upon me. Instead of merely making my own luck, today's activity had been gifted to me thanks to an online competition by Reading 107. All you had to do was fill in your details and type in the squiggly code at the bottom of the page. Weirdly enough I thought I'd failed in doing this as each time it came up with an error message for me. I gave up but weeks later received an email saying I'd won 4 tickets to the Go Ape in Bracknell where I would be Segwaying with 3 of whoever I would choose to join me.
Or so I thought. Despite texting my friend Abi requesting her son's vital statistics, it turned out he was a stone too light to be allowed to ride a segway. We were left with the choice of us all waiting a few hours to do the actual Go Ape thing in the trees or Sean, Abi's son, would be left disappointed. Not liking the sound of either of those I came up with a compromise. Me and my wingman Craig would go segwaying and the other two would Go Ape, but with a less scarier wait of 2 hours as the 2:00 group had just enough space for them.
Segwaying ended up moving me in the same way Jet Skiing did which Craig introduced me to, only this activity would be much harder to get
to grips with early on. With just a basic knowledge of physics, the Segway looked completely daunting to me. Had Newton been standing next to me he'd have wagered me falling off after a second and would have been baffled upon losing the bet. The Segway is controlled by the movable handle you hold onto. Moving forward and backwards is as difficult and as easy as tilting forwards and backwards and the turns are performed by tilting, not turning the handle to either direction. The first 10 minutes feel very weird I must say. The training ground is an oval course with a short cut through the middle with a couple of humps, well worth going over as you'll be facing bigger tests later on. It doesn't matter what speed you're going, you will always make it over the hill, the Segway's are amazing things. No idea how they work but i'll leave that knowledge to the guy that created them.
After the training and the brief form our surfer looking dude we were allowed to go on the course proper with 3 different paths and a cheeky little skills section with some awkward turns and bumps. After a few laps of the easier tracks you can't wait to do the longer and more exciting one. The things can really shift, especially when your surfer dude trainer turns up the speed using the controller you have around your neck at all times. It looks like a stopwatch and works like a remote key for your car and I want one! Me and Craig were tempted to hijack a couple of the Segways to get home, I'd recommend anyone giving it a go. As long as you're heavy enough that is...
Grounded after the disappoint they wouldn't be riding, underweight Sean and mum Abi would soon be flying, if only temporarily via zip wire and red and blue carabiners. Part of the reason I was happy with the compromise made earlier is that I'm not the best with heights and would happily leave the Go Ape entry of the Purple Book for another day, especially now I know I could probably manage it after watching the others. After the briefing, and Sean's impeccable display of how NOT to connect safely at each point it was up in the trees they went. 5 sections, each with a rope ladder to climb at the start, a couple of obstacles in between and a zip wire finale. Sean managed to land safe enough each time but it was Abi who was providing me with ample material for you've been framed with some comedy slides and dismounts. Funniest moment had to be the swing to the net where Abi somehow managed to bounce off it and left hanging!
In some way I'll be breaking my own rules in the fact I'll be going back to Go Ape, sooner rather than later. I hope to do the actual Go Ape bit myself soon but I'll actually be doing the Segway again with Mum and anyone else who is interested. Days like today and a few weeks ago when I got my cousin Carol to book something she really fancied doing and just needed a little push to do so reminded me of one of the reasons the Purple Book has changed my life for the better. In doing all these random things and actively looking for new things to do, I am encouraging people to do the same. Instead of spending another weekend looking for things to do, my cousin would be stain glass windowing, my friend Abi and her son would be swinging and sliding through the trees and I would be racing around a forest floor with my mate Craig on another fantastic discovery - The Segway, May's entry into the one cool thing a month year of 2011 and a worthy entry into the good book.
Rossifer x
