Monday, May 08, 2006
EAT YOUR HEART OUT, VALENTINO ROSSI!
Having seen a TV feature on this place, I dragged my best friend over to Talisay Funland to try out the sport Pocket Bikes.
The inherent difficulty of boarding such a tiny machine hit us the moment the attendants pulled out a couple of these pocket monsters for us to try. Pictures of clowns riding those tiny bicycles at the circus danced in my head. Since my friend grew up on motorcyles, I let him have first go. He got about 3 feet with his legs up in the air before he decided that wouldn't be a great way to go round the circuit.
Excitedly (can I even say that?), I grabbed the orange "Ninja" (hah!) and tried to ride it using the standard motorcycle posture. Needless to say, I couldn't get both feet on the footrests. You can forget the "easy rider" position as well.
So the attendant instructs me to keep my legs as wide apart as possible, and voila! I proceeded to enthrall anyone who cared with the spectacle of a grown man riding a motorcycle a quarter of his size!
After the usual "familiarization lap" at a new circuit, I cranked the accelerator up for a hot lap. I wish I could have pushed the bike to its limit, but the high curbs of the circuit looked like major trouble in case of a wipeout. No Max-X star do I wish to be. Besides, I didn't have the necessary kneepads to take the corners and there was this rather dangerous chicane with a downward slope that made the bike go faster even with my hand off the accelerator.
Having taken a too-long respite from racing go karts, I told the owner that the bikes would be great to race, but that the circuit wasn't ideal for that. She told me that they don't allow racing and that their circuit was purely for fun. Heck! Someone should tell her that racing IS fun!
Anyway, I'd like to take one of those babies to a circuit like Kartzone, where I'm not likely to break my ribs on a curb. But even if I don't get to do that, riding a pocket bike anywhere is still pretty enjoyable.
Would I do it again? Sure! I'd like to give Valentino Rossi something to worry about. :-D
The inherent difficulty of boarding such a tiny machine hit us the moment the attendants pulled out a couple of these pocket monsters for us to try. Pictures of clowns riding those tiny bicycles at the circus danced in my head. Since my friend grew up on motorcyles, I let him have first go. He got about 3 feet with his legs up in the air before he decided that wouldn't be a great way to go round the circuit.
Excitedly (can I even say that?), I grabbed the orange "Ninja" (hah!) and tried to ride it using the standard motorcycle posture. Needless to say, I couldn't get both feet on the footrests. You can forget the "easy rider" position as well.
So the attendant instructs me to keep my legs as wide apart as possible, and voila! I proceeded to enthrall anyone who cared with the spectacle of a grown man riding a motorcycle a quarter of his size!
After the usual "familiarization lap" at a new circuit, I cranked the accelerator up for a hot lap. I wish I could have pushed the bike to its limit, but the high curbs of the circuit looked like major trouble in case of a wipeout. No Max-X star do I wish to be. Besides, I didn't have the necessary kneepads to take the corners and there was this rather dangerous chicane with a downward slope that made the bike go faster even with my hand off the accelerator.
Having taken a too-long respite from racing go karts, I told the owner that the bikes would be great to race, but that the circuit wasn't ideal for that. She told me that they don't allow racing and that their circuit was purely for fun. Heck! Someone should tell her that racing IS fun!
Anyway, I'd like to take one of those babies to a circuit like Kartzone, where I'm not likely to break my ribs on a curb. But even if I don't get to do that, riding a pocket bike anywhere is still pretty enjoyable.
Would I do it again? Sure! I'd like to give Valentino Rossi something to worry about. :-D
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