At the Stanford Cool Products Expo we had the pleasure of meeting Kristin White, the host of TalkTech.tv, an internet site featuring interviews with start-up company founders in Silicon Valley. Kristin liked the elliptiGO and asked if we'd be willing to be interviewed for her website. We were happy to participate although only Bryan could do the actual interview because Brent was in San Diego the weekend we filmed it. We think it turned out great. Here it is:
elliptiGO selected as a semi-finalist in the Sundance Channel and Lexus "Big Idea" Contest
A few weeks ago we found out that the elliptiGO was selected as one of 25 semi-finalists in the Sundance Channel and Lexus "Big Idea" Contest. Voting is open to the public through midnight June 24th. If you have a minute and would like to vote, here's how to do it:
1. Click on the link at the bottom of this post 2. Once the page loads, you will see 25 thumbnail photos (if you don't see the videos, select "The Big Idea Contest" link from the box on the left). Find the elliptiGO. Click on it. 3. To vote, you will have to register with the Sundance website, which only takes a minute. The registration link is at the top of the video page. Once you find it, click on it. 4. Fill out the info and click the button. 5. Click on the elliptiGO video again. 6. As the video loads you can click on the "vote here" text below the video. You can vote once per day, so please keep coming back if you like the video and pass it along to your friends.
After almost three years of development, we were eagerly anticipating the Rosarito to Ensenada ride to make our first public distance test for the elliptiGO. Although Bryan had put in about 700 miles of testing rides over the course of the previous three months, the furthest he had gone at any one time was 35 miles. In addition, everyone we talked to who had done the ride mentioned the two notorious, never-ending hills on the course.
We picked the Rosartio to Ensenada ride to debut the bike because we liked the distance, we liked the hills, and we liked the fact that there were supposed to be 7,500 - 10,000 people there. We have to admit that we were a little nervous about it being in Mexico given the recent spate of violence down there and we also had some concerns about the road conditions. However, our fears proved unfounded and everything went great.
Our film and support crew, consisting of Livy, Pat, Doug, Nikki, Nellie, Bill and Chris, did an incredible job of getting us down and back and capturing the event in videos and photos. Since Bryan had neglected to put a memory card in the video camera before we started, the support crew provided emergency support to the film crew for a daring mid-course handoff of an SD card.
We finished the race in 3 hours and 16 minutes of ride time for an average speed of 15 miles per hour. Our total time was 4 hours and 3 minutes because it took us about 15 minutes to cross the start line and another 30 minutes to reconnect at an aid station after we got separated on the first big hill. That was our only stop of the ride. We are looking for another event to enter the elliptiGO in. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Brent and Bryan started working on what would become the elliptiGO in July 2005. The past three years have been filled with lots of ups and downs, but we are extremely happy with how the elliptiGO has turned out and are looking forward to the next generation.
