Explore Edmonton's River Valley on a Segway (with Video)

by Omar Mouallem & Wayne Arthurson

Experience The North Saskatchewan River Valley On Wheels By Booking A Tour With Segway Edmonton.

At more than 20,000 acres in size, Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley is 24 times larger than New York’s Central Park. It’s a stat locals bandy about with the same frequency as Oilers’ NHL records of decades past.

There are eight golf courses, 141 parks, five lakes, 22 ravines and wildlife from deer to porcupines. There’s also more than 150 km of multi-use trails by which to explore all this wilderness right in the middle of the city.

Try a Segway

So how does one traverse such an urban paradise? Cycling, jogging and canoeing are popular in the summer months, while residents break out the cross-country skis and snowshoes come winter.

But there’s a new way to combine nature, low-impact activity and your bucket list: the Segway, the oft-mocked, yet resiliently fascinating two-wheeled wonder that never lived up to its inventor’s promise to change the world.

That is, unless you’re Chris Szydlowski.

“There are Segway tours all over the world—Paris, Bangkok, Rome, everywhere. And I thought the River Valley is really where Edmonton shines, so let’s do it here,” says the owner of  Segway Edmonton, an outfit that started running one- and two-hour tours of the valley last year.

Inside the Segway Tour

Szydlowski’s company eschews the typical sightseeing tour of yapping guide and passive clients for a casual exploration from Government House Park, up the various trails and neighbourhoods along the beautiful MacKinnon Ravine.

The tour doesn’t cover the entire river valley, because the wilderness is just too massive, even on two battery-powered wheels. But as riders gain confidence, Szydlowski introduces more challenging trails, some so intimate with nature, it’s easy to forget you’re travelling through the third-largest city in Western Canada.

Each tour starts with a half-hour training session and the discovery that, compared to other activities such as cycling or rollerblading, Segways are relative no-brainers.

“A Segway is probably more stable than you are because it has two points of contact on the ground at all times, while you usually have just one [while walking],” Szydlowski says.

How to Use a Segway

Standing on a Segway for the first time can be disconcerting. The default reaction for beginners is to look for a kickstand on the two-wheeled mode of transport. It’s trippy when it doesn’t fall over. But Szydlowski exudes a casual confidence to create a comfort level even for the least-coordinated.

“If you can walk, you can use a Segway,” he says.

It’s true—you lean forward to go straight, and shift your hips while steering to initiate a turn. To slow down or stop entirely, you just lean back.

And instead of your feet moving to prevent a face plant, the machine’s platform intuits every move instantly, using some of the most sophisticated tilt sensors known to science. After an hour with one, the $6,600 starting price actually starts to sound reasonable.

When You Go

One-hour Segway tours of the Edmonton River Valley are $50 per person; two hours costs $90. Participants must be at least 14 years old and weigh at least 60 pounds but no more than 260 pounds.

WestJet @ up!

VIDEO -- Join Omar Mouallem as he truly rides nerdy and get a bit of the

experience of exploring the North Saskatchewan River Valley by Segway.