Slomo explains why the StreetStrider is so fun

Yesterday I discovered the tale of a marvelous 69-year-old guy who traded his medical career as a neurologist to become a nearly full-time inline skater on the San Diego oceanside boardwalk-

I wrote about him on my other blog in Slomo's simple philosophy of life: "Do what you want to."  I shared a link to a New York Times story about this intriguing man, who used to go by the name of John Kitchin.

Now he's known as Slomo on the boardwalk. A 16-minute documentary about him can be viewed on the NY Times site. Well worth watching. Just wait for the ad to finish.

Today I went StreetStriding at Minto Brown Island Park here in Salem, Oregon. I'm totally addicted to this outdoor elliptical bike, which I got about three and half months ago. If I'm not able to do my StreetStrider thing for five to seven miles three days a week, I get bummed out.

This afternoon's ride was done in sunny 60-degree'ish weather. Delightful, after a March that was the second wettest on record in northwest Oregon. More people than usual were out and about on the Minto Brown paved trails.

Two groups of women asked me questions about the StreetStrider. This happens often -- people wanting to know what the heck this weird-looking yellow "bike" I'm riding is all about. 

After explaining the basics, I always get around to extolling how much fun it is to ride the StreetStrider. I show how, by shifting weight from one leg to the other, the bike naturally zigs and zags from side to side, the amount of zigging and zagging controllable by the rider.

I like a lot, most of the time.

An exception is when I approach some people coming the other way on one of the park's narrow trails. Then I shift to a nearly straight-ahead riding style, to show them that this old guy on a bizarre bike isn't going to run them off their side of the trail.

One of my usual lines when someone asks me about the bike is, "The StreetStrider has been described as skiing on land. It does have that feel of carving back and forth. Same basic feeling as moving from side to side on a longboard/skateboard or surfing."

In the documentary about Slomo, there's a part at about the eight-minute mark where Kitchin talks about his theory of lateral acceleration making us feel good. Below is the transcript that I made.

It's better to watch the film, of course. This part of the documentary has diagrams, illustrations, and footage of longboarders and surfers carving back and forth much like Slomo does on his skates.

And I do on my Streetstrider. Slomo says: 

I was always trying to perfect this technique, skating in slow motion. I realized that there was an aspect to lateral acceleration which made many of us feel good. I studied this, and there is a neurological explanation for this thing.

Acceleration stimulates a set of receptors which are in the inner ear, that connects us with the center of the Earth, by gravity. A piece of calcium sits on a membrane so that any change in the relative position of gravity will make this stone roll, and therefore there will be some indication that the body is moving relative to the center of the Earth.

When I skate, the whole idea is to keep a continuous feeling of acceleration, even though it's very small. And if you keep it constant, the feeling of expansion continues to build. Anything where you can get this angle of acceleration feeling, you can use that for meditation, because it puts you in the zone. 

Interesting. Slomo could be on to something here. Might help explain why I've become so addicted to the StreetStrider, after a stint of being addicted to longboard land paddling. 

Lateral acceleration, telling my brain how I'm moving relative to the center of the Earth. Cosmic, man.

I haven't made a video yet of me StreetStriding. But you'll enjoy watching the women demonstrating the StreetStrider in this promotional video below more than me, for sure.

It will give you a feel for how the bike moves from side to side; some of the demonstrators have a more aggressive riding style than others, which makes the lateral acceleration greater.

 

Comments

[Zachary]

Great set of articles!
Ive been Striding for 3 1/4 years and I like the way you described about letting the Strider "do its thing" and not fighting it.
I am 61 and enjoy my jaunts in Davis, CA, mostly flat.
I wonder if SS would have "taken off" better in sales if they had a short "how to Stride " video.
Most of the promo videos show the models trying to spin to fast.
I also agree with your side to side rather than pushing forwards on the ski pans, and I find that when I go slow and keep the leg on the bottom stroke straight it helps to not tire the leg as much...and enjoy Striding longer /further.
I agree its like a sport unto itself and takes practice to get better at it.
i akin it Sculling, Ive been at that for 20 years and at times feel like a newbie especially when I forget to relax on the oar and follow the boat and not try to "push" it.
Please update your Striding...I enjoy seeing how others are doing!

[Dallas Snell]

Hi - I'm very interested in buying a streetstrider. Based on your series of articles, as well as my experience with biking 20 to 30 miles through the Texas Hill Country around Austin, having more gears is usually better than fewer gears. You recommended the 8-gear StreetStrider, however, they don't seem to make that model any more. I can only find one model, the 3i, on the StreetStrider.com website, and there doesn't seem to be any way to upgrade to more gears.

Have any suggestions?

[Brian Hines]

Dallas, hopefully the 8r is just out of stock briefly. Brookstone indicates out of stock:
http://www.brookstone.com/streetstrider-summit-8r/929519p.html

Have you phoned Streetstrider and asked about the 8r? If you do, leave a comment here about what you learn. I just sent the Streetstrider folks a message through their web site, asking about 8r availability.

My fantasy, which is probably just that, is that a new and improved 8r is in the works. I have a Bike Friday folding bike with a carbon fiber belt and a continuous shifter (no discrete gears) and like it a lot.

[Brian Hines]

Dallas, I just got this email message from a Streetstrider guy. Sounds like good news.

"Hi Brian, we will be introducing our new 7i in about 1-2 weeks, 7 gears, only missing gear 1 of the 8 speed, it will have quick release folding and disc brake on all 3 wheels.
Hang in there,
Dave"

[Dallas Snell]

Hey Brian,

That is awesome news about the new 7i! I came very close to ordering a 3i last week, but felt I better do a little exploration first. Glad I did!

I've mainly been a runner since my teens, with biking a secondary activity. I'm now 56 years old and running is becoming to painful in my hips and knees. Biking is okay, but it has never felt as good or rewarding as running has. I enjoy the movement of indoor ellipticals with upper body levers, but I find working out indoors to be tediously boring. TV's and music don't help.

My favorite sport is snow skiing, and I tried skateboarding during my late 40's, but the falls were becoming too painful, no matter how many pads I put on. When I saw the videos of the StreetStrider recently I knew it had great potential to be both a great workout, and almost as much fun as skiing and skateboarding!

I can't wait to get one to try it out!

Thanks for taking the time and effort to research available (or soon to be available) StreetStrider models! Very much appreciated!