Tiger Mountain tries out TRIKKEs

It’s like skiing, but on wheels.

That’s the idea behind the TRIKKE system, a sort of double-scooter contraption that is the newest addition to the Tiger Mountain High School P.E. class.

Students at Tiger Mountain are the first in the state to try out the TRIKKEs, which are billed as a full body workout.

“It’s a rather euphoric feeling,” Larry Santos said of riding the TRIKKEs. Santos and Jim Paulson work at Workout Wheels in Seattle, the store that is letting the school use the TRIKKEs for three months, free of charge.

Tiger Mountain P.E. teacher Ed Cunningham first saw the TRIKKEs at a fair in Lake City.

“I thought ‘That looks neat,’” Cunningham said. “Then I found out there’s a whole curriculum.”

Cunningham has had his for a while now, testing it out. He brought it on the first day of school to drum up some interest in the machines.

On Thursday, students got their first real trial of the TRIKKEs, after a brief presentation by Santos and Paulson.

After some shaky starts, and some moments of self-consciousness, students began testing the TRIKKEs more enthusiastically.

Ninth-grader Desiree Segar was one of the first to try the TRIKKEs.

“It was fun,” she said. “It’s good exercise, once you get the hang of it.”

Students weren’t the only ones trying out the TRIKKEs — guidance counselor Bradley Nyhof also tried them out.

“I love it,” he said. “There’s a little trick to it, a little feel in your hips and your arms, and then you’re moving.”

And of course there was Cunningham, who has already gotten hooked on the device.

“You’re a million miles away,” he said. “It makes me feel like a kid again.”

Cunningham also admitted to sneaking out to a skate park at night to try the TRIKKE on ramps after seeing some videos of that on the Internet.

“But I don’t want the kids to do that and get hurt,” he added.

Many of the schools in the country that have been chosen to try out the TRIKKES are those that deal with students who have problems with regular schooling, which is why Tiger Mountain was chosen as a good school for the program. Paulson said many schools have reported kids doing better in school, more excited to be at school.

“Nobody is going to make your life better besides you,” Jim Paulson told the kids.

After the three month trial period, if all goes well and the students really like the TRIKKEs Cunningham said he will go to the district to request funding for them.

Santos also said that a new model, one with electricity, is coming out later this year. Those models can go for miles on just $.08 worth of electricity.

For more information on TRIKKEs visit www.TRIKKESEATTLE.com.

Kyra Low can be reached at klow@issaquahreporter.com or 39-0363, ext. 5052.

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