KICKBIKING JAPANKickbike, footbike, scooter, Xootr, or Trikke it!

Gary Schmitt's Records Written Up In The IndyStar

Gary Schmitt's kickbiking accomplishments were recently featured an a special IndyStar newspaper and website article. Gary,a 54 year old graphic designer, took up kickbiking a few years ago, and rapidly became top competitor. This past summer he made the trek to Finland, the home of kickbiking. Competing against a field of the best riders (kickers) from all over the world, Gary managed to come away with two gold metals in the over-45 masters division, one in the 1,200 meter race and another in the marathon.

Just as an example of how tough the competition actually was, Gary finished the marathon just 6 seconds ahead of the Matti Pessala, the Finnish champion, covering the whole course in just over 1 hour and 37 minutes.

Worth Checking Out

Dan Wulbert is a record breaking cyclist who also happens to be a mathematician. The University of California, San Diego via UCTV has posted one of Wulbert's lectured entitled "Atoms to X-Rays: The Calculus of Bike Racing" on Google video.

Related link:

Atoms to X-Rays video

Putting Footbiking On The Map

One of the biggest barriers to the active expansion of footbiking, kickbiking, trikking, and other foot/leg driven hpv sports is that the devotees are relative small in number, and are “apparently” physically separated by large distances.

CYCLE MODE international 2005

Stuart, who lives in Osaka, was kind enough to send me a heads-up about the new CYCLE MODE International sporting bicycle trade show that takes place later this month.

Eurocup Footbike Event Report Online

Thijza, on the Yahoo Footbike Group, was thoughtful enough to post a message pointing to the September Swansea Eurocup Footbike event report. In reading through the report, and looking at the photos (of course!), there were several things that really caught my attention.

Exploring: Biking Mount Fuji, Japan

Back in the mid-1980's I took a group of Boy Scouts on a hiking trip to the top of Mount Fuji (12,388 feet.) We wanted to see the sunrise from the summit, so we started climbing in the late afternoon, caught a catnap somewhere around the 8th station, and somehow managed to make it to the top just as the sun was coming up. Of course we weren't the only climbers that particular day - we had plenty of company on the trail including at least one group of seniors well into their seventies. It was pretty embarassing when they climbed right past us without any huffing or puffing. There were also a number of hikers carrying mountain bikes over their shoulders. When I asked what they were up to, their polite answer was that they had biked to the 5th station and wanted to take their bikes to the top for a once in a lifetime photo op.

At the time I was naive enough to believe them at their word. It was only later that I found out that people actually mountain bike down from the summit. Officially the mountain trail to the summit is closed to bicycles during the annual July/August climbing season - which means attempts have to be made either just before or just after the season. As far as I know, no one has attempted the descent on a Kickbike - at least not yet.

A simple Google search turns up several websites documenting bike descents, and a few of them include great photos of the views - both on the long climb up, and the quick, bumpy ride back down again. I've included links to some of the best sites I've found so far-

Biking Mount Fuji, Japan - Mountain Bike Bill: Includes lots of great photos, and a detailed writeup of Bill's two Mount Fuji climbs, one with and one without the bike.

Fuji by Mountain Bike - Randy Biddle: Very good writeup along with suggestions on when to climb and what to bring.

Strong Arm Expeditions - Keegan Reilly: Ascent of Mount Fuji by a paraplegic climber powering a four wheeled 'bicycle' with his arms. Reilly ran into a number of problems, including some bureaucratic fumbling, but managed to overcome all obstacles and made it to the summit. In a newspaper interview after the climb he said, "Limits are often set by society. People are told what they are capable of and told that some things are too dangerous to achieve. But the only limits are those you set for yourself. If you have a dream, you need to chase after it."

Exploring: West of Tokyo Part I - Tamako Cycling Course - Tokyo, Japan

It's hard to believe, but within the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan area there is actually a 13+ kilometer, arrow straight, jogging, cycling, kickbiking course with cherry trees, hydrangeas, azaleas, and even some raccoons. Better yet, the far end of the course terminates at the Lake Tama/Lake Sayama area with easy access to lots of recreational facilities including an amusement park, baseball stadium, year-round indoor snow skiing 'dome', several large parks and picnic areas, golf course, and over 30 kilometers of shoreline around the two lakes.

 

 

The Tamako cycling 'road' extends from NishiTokyo on the north side of the JR Chuo train line in the Mitaka/Musashi-Sakai area all the way to the base of the dam at Lake Tama. The official start of the course marked by a small monument in Nishitokyo City, Shinmachi 3-chome. The slope is very gentle, almost flat, and basically straight for the entire length of the course. Both Lake Sayama and Lake Tama are part of the water system for Tokyo. The water distribution channel is buried beside the cycling road - or more correctly, the road was built on the water channel right-of-way.

Within a few blocks of the course you'll find local restaurants, convenience stores, and even bicycle shops in case your bike needs some unexpected repairs. This map shows some of the local points of interest for the upper half of the course-

Major Landmarks:  1- Yanase river  9- Tama Lake 13- Hachikokuyama Green Preserve 14- Kitayama Park 15- Sayama Park 19- Agriculture & Nature Park 23- Zelkova trees 28- Tamako Cycling Road 29- Higashimurayama Park 30- Karahori River 31- Minamidai Park 32- Sports Park 37- Nobidome irrigation Canal	Train Stations:  2- Shin Akitsu Station  3- Akitsu Station 10- Seibuen Sta. 11- Seibu Yuenchi Station 12- Seibuen Line 17- Musashi-Yamato Station 18- JR Musashino Line 20- Seibu Ikebukuro Line 26- Seibu Tamako Line 27- Seibu Kokubunji Line 33- Seibu Shinjuku Line 34- Hagiyama Station 35- Seibu Haijima Line 38- Higashimurayama Station 40- Kumegawa Station
Temples/Shrines:  4- Baigan Temple  5- Tokuzouji Temple  8- Shofuku Temple 22- Hikawa Shrine 36- Yasaka Shrine	Historical:  6- Shogun Zuka  7- Kumegawa Battlefield 16- Shimo Yakebe Ruin 21- Isseki Roku Jizou Budda 24- Mannen Bridge, Old Zelkova Tree 25- Nobidome Watermill 39- Muto Memorial

A very helpful map showing the English names for all the locations, and some links in English can be found at Higashi Murayama map. This area was also the inspiration for "Totoro" - [In Search of Totoro's Wood].

At the north end of the course you'll find the two lakes, a beautiful park, tennis courts, the Sayama Ski Dome, an amusement part, golf course, and the Seibu Dome - home of the Seibu Lions baseball team.

The Tamako cycling road connects to the lakes area at Musashiyamato Station in the lower right hand corner of the map above. You have to share the lakeside roads with some cars, bicycles and frequently joggers - it's a popular place to run. The inclines are relatively mild. 

Virtual Kickbiking

So, what do you do when a typhoon unexpectedly keeps you indoors for the weekend?

How about a little virtual kickbiking -

Kinematic Comparisions - Part III - Running/Jogging

I wanted to spend more time looking at the kinematics of running and jogging, especially how it compares to kickbiking. In order to eliminate the background, and just focus on the kinematics of the bones, I decided to try some simple Flash animation using Swishmax. I started with a short video clip of an athlete jogging, then did a series of frame grabs at consistent intervals. The first frame was imported into Swishmax and used as a template to construct a matchstick model of the runner. Then, frame by frame, each image was imported and the model was animated to match the runner's kinematics. The result looked like this-

Of course, there were some compromises in the modeling. A single hip joint - for example, since the placement of the opposite hip couldn't be determined. Since the primary focus was on the legs and feet, no attempt was made to model the upper body joints other than the correct placement and motion of the arms, neck, and head.

The next step was to put the model in motion,simulating the actual running process. The geometry and its related animation was grouped as a sprite, and then displaced horizontally. This proved to be a satisfactory approach since the relative velocity of a runner is effectively constant for short periods of time. In order to examine the motion of the major joints over time, their paths were traced and are shown as shaded lines for each joint.

A lot of the literature and studies point out the stress that impacts the knees and ankles as the runner's foot first contacts the ground. The leg seems to act as kind of shock absorber, compensating for the impact, keeping the runners balance, and a pivot until momentum brings the body's center of gravity past the knee. At that point the leg starts to expand assisted by the foot, driving the body upward in an arc. The compression and expansion portions of the cycle are highlighted with vertical bands of red and green respectively.

It may seem obvious, but it wasn't clear to me prior to building this model, how little time the foot actually spends in contact with the ground. It appears that at least 75% of the time is spent in the air - with no physical support. This implies that a tremendous amount of impact pounding takes place, over and over again. In my own case, the hydrostatic pressure would build up in my lower legs to the point that cappilaries would break. After a long jog my ankles would be swollen, and the area just above the ankles would be discolored - bright red at first, turning to brown as the blood clotted.

My doctor's instructions were very clear- "Don't run. Don't hike. Don't exercise." Of course that was untenable. I wasn't about to sit still. So the challenge was to find some way to exercise ecologically - some form of exercise that wouldn't cause damage to my legs. Over the years I tried cycling, kick scooters (Xootr and Kickbike), Nordic Track, and a few others. All of them had very positive aspects, and some negatives. The best solution, at least in my own limited experience, has been regular use of a kickbike. It totally eliminates the impact shock of running, yet allows me to get as much exercise as I can fit into my busy schedule.

 

Cross Training - Dealing With Cycling Knee Pain

Here's a link to a detailed overview of cycling knee pain, the underlying causes, and what you can do to correct it:

"Cycling has grown steadily in popularity over the last 20 years, as sports-active people have gradually come to realise that it represents a fantastic way to improve fitness in a 'joint-friendly' manner (ie, without the repetitive joint-impact forces associated with running). Overall, cycling is considered to be much less injury-producing than running, and indeed many runners substitute cycling for running workouts in order to 'give their legs a break' and recover more completely between running sessions. None the less, regular cycling training is in fact associated with a significant number of 'overuse' injuries (injuries which result when the chosen volume or intensity of training causes damage to tissues which are not adequately repaired during a training cycle), and research indicates that knee pain, and more specifically what is called the patellofemoral syndrome, is the most common cycling injury, accounting for around 25% of all cycling problems."

"Before undertaking serious cycling training, it makes sense to spend time strengthening one's knees, using exercises like leg presses, squats, bench step-ups, bicycle leg swings, knee extensions, hamstring curls, stair climbing, and very small amounts of cycling against high resistance."

cyclists' knee injuries | patellofemoral syndrome | cyclists' injuries causes

The article and references really support the need for moderation coupled with a regular cross-training program. It's well worth the time to read through it, and consider how to put it to good use.

At the same time, the underlying message is that 'you' need to adjust to the bike, rather than the bike (or exercise) adapting to your needs. For example (highlighting emphasis is mine):

"...kinematic analysis of the knee has been used to evaluate cyclists for the presence of abnormal knee movement - the idea being that it might be possible to define certain movement patterns associated with a higher risk of patellofemoral pain ('Injury prevention for cyclists: a biomechanical approach,' In Burke, ER, ed. Science of Cycling, Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics Pubs Inc; pp.145-184, 1986). In a recent study, in more than 80% of cyclists presenting with patellofemoral pain, an abnormal mediolateral deviation of the knee during the downstroke of cycling was demonstrated (ie, there was excessive side-to-side swinging of the knee during downstroke, as the knee underwent extension). In a control group of cyclists with no patellofemoral pain, most had a linear pattern of downstroke, with little mediolateral deviation ('Abnormal patterns of knee medio-lateral deviation (MLD) are associated with patellofemoral pain (PFP) in cyclists,' Med Sci Sport Exerc, vol. 28(5), p. 554, 1996)."

The implication being that if you aren't built like a robot then you are abnormal. Somehow, I have a problem with that particular approach and don't find it to be of much help. I suspect that most of us didn't come out of the womb with Lance Armstrong's legs. Does that make us abnormal? Hardly. With some training and practice we can certainly improve our technique and decrease or eliminate the resulting pain. A good cross training program will help a lot in that regard.

 

Kinematic Comparisions - Part II (Yoga-Motion)

In an earlier post I started to compare the kinematics of jogging, cycling, and kickbiking. My primary objective was to get a better understanding of why I feel so much better after an hour of kickbiking versus an hour of jogging or cycling.

Some simple, matchstick style models of the kinematics involved indicated several major differences. It was easy to understand how the constant pounding of my feet hitting the ground while jogging was generating shock and stress, and in my own personal case, was breaking small capillaries in my lower legs.

Cycling, while much better than jogging, still results in sore knees and some muscles if I go for an extended ride. Modeling the leg and foot motion made it easy to see how much of the time the knees are under stress. Of course, picking a frame and crankset with the right dimensions, and optimizing the setup to match your body improves things considerably.

Yet, when I kickbike for an hour (or more) not only don't my joints feel sore, they actually feel much more fluid and flexible at the end than they did when I started. Instead of being compressed and stressed, they feel like they have been stretched and massaged. In some ways it reminds me of the 60's Rock classic 'Locomotion'.

There are three nodal points I wanted to examine in more detail: the hip joint, the knee, and the ankle. What happens to those three nodes as I cycle and kickbike?

So, what did I find?

Cycling: Mechanical, closed, repetitive stress, constant, pumping up but not releasing

Kickbiking: Natural, opening, stretching, flexible, flowing, kick-glide-kick-glide, pump up then release

Locomotion?

Yes but more, much more- Yoga-motion, definitely Yoga-motion.

Think about doing yoga stretches with your whole body while you're moving down the road enjoying life.

"Come on baby, do the Yoga-motion with me..."

Yoga-motion(with apologies to 'Little Eva' Boyd)

Everybody's doin' a brand new dance now
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
I know you'll get to like it
If you give it a chance now
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It's easier than learning your a b c's
So come on, come on,
Do the yoga-motion with me

You gotta swing your legs now
Come on baby, kick up, hmmm kick back
Oh well I think you got the knack

[2:]
Now that you can do it
Let's make a chain now
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
Chug-a chug-a motion like a railway train now
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
Do it nice and easy now don't lose control
A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul
So come on, come on,
Do the yoga-motion with me
You gotta swing your legs now
Come on, come on,
Do the yoga-motion with me
Yeah

Chug chug [sampling]

[3:]
Move around the world in a yoga-motion
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
Do it in Japan if you got the notion
(C'mon baby do the yoga-motion)
There's never been a dance that's so easy to do
It even makes you happy
When you're feeling blue
So come on come on do the yoga-motion with me
You gotta swing your legs now

[END:]
Come on, come on,
Do the yoga-motion with me
Yeah
Come on, come on,
Do the yoga-motion with me
You gotta swing your legs now

[END:]
[repeat & fade]

Jogging, Cycling, and Kicking Kinematics - A layperson's analysis

Kickbiking, jogging, and cycling share a lot of the same leg movements and dynamics, yet my experience with kickbiking is so much more pleasureable and less stressful. Why?

If we make a very simple "matchstick" model of the lower leg and foot - strip away the skin and most of the muscles - perhaps we can get a feel for what's going on. To make things even simplier to visualize and understand, it's helpful to model the foot itself as just two elements. Of course in real life the foot is a very complex and difficult to model mechanism, but for now we just want to see the macro dynamics of the leg and foot.

Adding some animation provides a model we can use to see what takes place when we jog or kick:


In this model the leg bones are blue and green, the foot is magenta, while the tendons and lower leg muscle are red.

In both jogging and kickbiking, the leg goes through the same repetitive cycle with the relative movement of the bone linkages, expansion and contraction of the muscles, and flexing of the knee and ankle joints. The most obvious and immediate difference between jogging and kickbiking is that in jogging the active leg carries all of your weight, while when you kickbike your stationary leg bears the load. This may sound like a minor or almost trivial difference, but in fact it makes a tremendous amount of difference in both the short and long term.

• Shock- as you jog the active leg experiences the impact of your body weight. Worse yet, since your body is in motion, the impact is multiplied (momentum = mass x velocity). Since your active leg has to do all the supporting, it feels the shock of up to three times your resting weight. Repeat this for each foot, for each step, for several kilometers of jogging and it's easy to see why your joints end up sore and often inflamed.
• Stress- while jogging your leg muscles and tendons have to act as a natural shock absorber. They have to compensate for the sudden impact of your foot against the ground, provide some elastic support, and keep you from falling. If you've ever walked down a long, steep mountain path or down the flights of stairs in a skyscraper, you've had an extreme version of the type of stress your leg undergoes with every jogging step.
• Balance- in addition to the vertical shock and stress of jogging, you also have to expend energy and effort to maintain your balance.

In contrast, when you kickbike your body weight is supported by the opposite leg; the majority of your energy expenditure goes directly into propelling yourself foward; and the gyroscopic effect of the wheels helps to maintain your balance.

This has a lot of side benefits. In my own case, for example, there are times when a sore foot or some other minor injury would normally rule out jogging, but by taking it easy with the kickbike, I am able to continue with an active exercise program.

So, what happens when you're cycling?

The good news is that the seat and bike frame support your weight. Another bit of good news is that the wheels provide a tremendous amount of gyroscopic stability to the point that once you learn how to ride the balancing process quickly becomes second nature.

The downside? Your legs are forced into an unnatural linkage cycle. They become links in a mechanism whose sole purpose is to make the gears go round in circles propelling you forward. Our legs and joints weren't designed to make perfect circles. Even if they were, with the rotation of the crank and pedals the path our ankles and knees actually follow is very squashed and eliptical. At one point in the rotation our legs are stretched, but for a significant part our knees are bent fairly tight.

I've deliberately distorted the relative motion of the bones and joints a little, but not much, to give a sense of the stress that's created during cycling. Of course you can minimize this by the proper frame selection, and paying close attention to the way you setup your bike. Unfortunately most people don't make the effort and wonder why their joints ache after riding. That still leaves the ever present seat problem. I've tried a lot of them over the years. Different designs, different padding, set at different angles. Unfortunately I have yet to find the 'magic' seat, so I just have to grin and bear it.

Does that mean that I've given up cycling? No - no way! I love cycling and will continue to enjoy it as long as I possibily can. It's great for longer trips - like when I want to go a significant distance, or for a few days in a row, or if I need to get someplace in a hurry. It's also great for those trips to the 7/11 when I know I'm going to come back with a few more bags than I can handle on my Kickbike.

Is kickbiking perfect - does it solve all problems? No - of course not. It has its drawbacks and shortcomings just like anything. For example, last night, while running one of our dogs with my Kickbike, I managed to find out why you shouldn't try to scratch your nose while kicking...

Still, it's the first exercise methodology that I've experienced where I can do it for hours, feel the strong training effect in my muscles, feel no pain or soreness, and immediately want to go back and do more of it. It fits the ecology of my body, and my spirit, like a glove.

And... it's just so much darn fun!

Custom Autoped

Keith Moss put together this custom autoped, and a bunch of other very unique cycles. I wish I had his mechanical skills - it's way too involved a process for me to tackle.

 

"With these large wheels you can get high speed without worrying about flying over on to your face. I made the deck long enough for both feet. That helps out when changing kicking legs. I usually make two kicks then change sides. It looks like a slow motion run when riding it. It's very nice to ride for long distances and my back feels more relaxed after a ride, also seems to be a good gut burner."

Exploring: Edogawa River Trail - Tokyo, Japan

 
A more appropriate title for this particular exploration might be "From Medieval Castle to Mickey's Castle" since the cycling trail that parallels the Edogawa River extends for 59.5 kilometers from Sekiyado Castle at the extreme northern end of the course all the way to Tokyo Disneyland at the most southern tip where the river enters Tokyo Bay.

Exploring: Hanamigawa River Trail - Chiba, Japan

"Hanamigawa" in Japanese means 'flower viewing' river, and there are certainly lots of flowers to enjoy if you are lucky enough to hike, cycle, or kickbike the trail when they are in bloom. Even if they don't happen to be blooming, this trail is still one of my favorites year round.