When Wayne and Barbara Perry traveled to Glenwood Springs in November to get married and spend their honeymoon, the newlyweds took a Segway tour around the town.
“The guide took us and another elderly couple around town for an hour and it was a blast,” Perry recalled. “Fast forward to about three weeks ago and Barb and I were down at the Riverwalk at the Boats, Bands and BBQ, and Barb says, ‘Wouldn't the Segways be neat here?’
“Well, I thought about it all night and decided it would be a great idea for Downtown Pueblo,” he said.
The Perrys will start offering tours Thursday evening after he gets off work from his day job as a part-time security guard at the Pueblo City Schools administration building.
Perry has purchased three of the $6,000 units so his initial target market is couples or individuals who’d like to spend a half hour or more rolling down Union Avenue and Main Street.
The Segway was invented about a decade ago by wealthy engineer Dean Kamen, who used some of the gyroscopic technology he’d already developed for an all-terrain wheelchair.
The Segway is not an all-terrain vehicle (nor does it float, which is why authorities turned down Perry’s request to give tours along the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo).
The vehicle has only two wheels but, unlike a bicycle, it balances itself. The rider moves forward and backward by simply leaning in the direction they want to go, and a set of handlebars will turn it right or left when moved from side to side.
While it takes a bit to get used to the idea something on a single axle isn’t going to flip, people adjust quickly and Perry doesn’t expect to spend much time getting his customers trained. The most important skill is braking, which involves leaning backward and getting over the fear of smacking the back of your head on the pavement
He had all three units at the school district building Thursday to give fellow employees rides on his lunch hour and the ones willing to try caught on quickly, zipping around the parking lot with no mishaps.
The hardest part is getting on and off, which has to be done fast since the machinery reacts to the pressure of a single leg.
Perry has run a flooring business in Denver and has been commuting for two years after moving to Pueblo. “We hope to stay here in Pueblo and keep this our home,” he said, explaining why he and his wife started the new business.
He’s already cleared the plan with city officials he said, explaining, “We basically have permission to cross over sidewalks and ride the shoulder and bike lanes. Sidewalks will be no problem as long as we do not become a nuisance to pedestrians.
“Everyone is required to wear head gear and a safety vest. We will also have lights and reflectors on the units.”
The vehicles will be set up on the upper Riverwalk sidewalk near Wireworks from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends.
Cost is $45 per person for 30-minute tours and $75 for an hour, not counting training time.
Reservations can be made by calling 543-6095.