Kickbiking in Running Times Magazine

The June 2009 issue of Running Times magazine has an article on cross-training and I am happy to see that there is a blurb about kickbikes. You can find the article here on Dave Dunham's blog. A kickbike is an adult-sized scooter (think of mixing a bicycle with a razor scooter). Kickbiking is the most rewarding and fun type of exercise that I do. Yeah, I am a runner, and I enjoy my mountain bike and road bikes, but for the pure "glee" of exercising, nothing beats a kickbike. You can put more effort into your stride, get the heart rate pounding, and work your muscles more than on a run and you don't have to sit on a seat like on a bike. You are free to move and measure your effort. Plus you can zip around corners and fly on the downhills. I always have a smile on my face after kickbiking and depending on the effort or distance, I can work out my muscles more than on any run. Unfortunately, very few people have one and there are no races here in the USA, yet! There are races, marathons, and even a World Championship in Europe.





These pictures are from 2003 after I had ridden my kickbike 127 miles from Nashua, NH to Falmouth, Ma. When I arrived at the end of the day on the Cape, I found out that a boy who had been in my fourth grade class that spring had died the night before when riding a razer scooter at night. He was run over by a car. I decided to ride a 100 mile fundraiser, but I had an accident myself between the pictures being taken for the article and sitting down with the writer. I was riding my kickbike across a bridge in Pepperell, Ma. that had a 2 inch wide and 3 inch deep expansion joint running at an small angle from the direction of the road. My front wheel got caught and I went over the handlebars and broke two ribs. I rode the kickbike 8 miles home, but very gingerly, as I was in a lot of pain. I never got to do the 100 miler, but enough money was raised to help pay for a gravestone for my student's grave.

Look for Concord Monitor article halfway down this page.

Kickbike America website.

Footbike (competing brand) web site.

Elite mountain racer Matt Carpenter uses a kickbike (10 year old article).

Yahoo Kickbike® discussion group (mainly US). To join this group, send an email request to kickbike4fun@yahoo.com or danconia57@yahoo.com and you will be sent an invitation to join. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/kickbikeUSA

Here is a video that came with my Kickbike Millenium Racer. It shows a serious kickbiker in action in Colorado.If any local runners want to try out my kickbike, just let me know. I am glad to see Running Times acknowledging kickbikes and maybe more runners will learn what great fun they can have on a kickbike.



Here is another video that I posted before, but it shows some great kickbikers doing their stuff.