OCTOBER 2008: NEXT, THE UNBIKE
In the world of odd-looking exercise contraptions, the
GlideCycle fits somewhere between Suzanne Somers’
ThighMaster and your favorite treadmill at the gym. Riders sit
upright in a bouncy seat and propel the cycle by gently
stroking the ground with their feet in a running motion.
“It’s like a Fred Flintstone car,” says
inventor David Vidmar. The seat, tweaked more than 90 times in
the design process, is meant to give the rider a sense of
weightlessness, with the supporting arched frame acting as a
giant spring. Vidmar, founder of the Ashland-based Glidecycle
company and its chief inventor, touts the machine as a
cardio-aerobic workout that’s easy on the muscles and
joints. His catchphrase: “All of the gain with none of
the pain.” Two years ago it was the pain in his knees and
his doctor telling him he couldn’t run anymore that
inspired him to build the cycle. Now he envisions athletes with
prosthetic legs using the GlideCycle in the Para-Olympics. The
biggest challenge, Vidmar says, is getting people to see the
GlideCycle as a viable exercise machine. We see a perspiring
Chuck Norris using it in a Sunday morning
infomercial.
JASON SHUFFLER
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