Powered Paragliding by Rob Part 1 of 3

As promised, here's my good buddy Rob on the topic of Powered Paragliding...

The health benefits of powered paragliding:
When one takes a moment to look at the topic for discussion today one would have to think that powered paragliding is the end all, be all when it comes to fitness and enjoyment of extreme sports. After all, where else can one parachute from the ground up, instead of the air down, yank and crank with the best of them, all while wearing a 40-70 pound motor and associated gear? True, there is a level of fitness needed, but it’s no where near the level one might think when seeing the sport in action. Speaking of seeing the sport in action, you should take a moment and look here to do just that: http://valkingvideoblog5.blogspot.com/
What you’ll find is a short film I shot at the 2005 National Powered Paragliding Convention in Polk City Florida. It shows a fair bit of taking off and landing and how the weekend of the convention, everywhere you looked; you saw a paraglider and pilot.
But really though, don’t let me go on and on and on about how wonderful the powered paraglider is, how it is the most enjoyable, best handling, absolute coolest way in the world to fly. We all know that already. Don’t get me started about how affordable they are, how they cost less than your average performance street bike (motorcycle), drink gas like a moped, or any of the dozens of other reasons why you should own one immediately. Instead, let’s talk about flying one. Not the nuts and bolts of how to fly one, but the “what does it compare to” of flying one.
We’ll have to start with the assumption that everyone knows what amusement parks are. If you don’t, go right now and Google “Six Flags” We’ll have to assume that everyone knows what a roller-coaster is, a cable car is, and what that giant round swing set looking thing (http://www.huvipuisto.net/huvipuis/tampere/big_swing.jpg ), you know, hat swing that lets one or two dozen people start off sitting one behind another hanging from chains like a swing set and then slowly but surely rotates them until they’re spinning around like a record player (another item we’ll assume you know what it is) with centrifugal force pushing each rider out as if they were the tips of an umbrella extended to the open position, that one. One last addition, a shopping mall escalator (one that lets you see the mall as you go up and down)…
Powered paragliding isn’t each of these; it’s a piece from each of these. […and next week I’ll explain how]

Thanks to Rob! I love a story with pictures. Although I did ride one of those swing things at the fair just before the "stomach flu incident" and find I'm having flashbacks. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!