Travel Section page 16
'Oops my Czech;s bounced', terrible pun but a fall page artical on bocking around Prague. Just found it on 'times online here
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/active/article6742261.ece (cutting and pasting didnt seem to produce the picture) I think its quite a good artical, accuratly describing the learning process and sensations. Then adding in a tour of the city ( £28 a person). Even mention Bock himself, so the reporter got given all the right facts Id say.
The bit below also doesnt have the little bit that decribes Bocks and mention the man, so could some1 scan that?
A quirky city tour: the Prague spring
Paul Croughton tries out a powerbocking tour of the Czech capital - bouncing around on a pair of giant springy bootsPaul Croughton
Paul Croughton wearing Powerbock boots in Prague
The Czechs love a tour: whatever you want to see in Prague, it seems, the accommodating Czechs can organise it. It’s not so long ago that, thanks to the communist regime, even basic progress through the city was fraught with obstruction, so now it’s as if they’re revelling in their freedom of movement.
They’ll take you on a tour of their breweries, a tour of their towers, even a tour of their airport. There are golf tours and ghost tours, bike tours and balloon tours. And now some enterprising sort has come up with a way to show you even more of the highs of this beautiful place — on spring-loaded stilts.
It’s all to do with a new craze called powerbocking. Part extreme sport, part novelty adventure, it involves bouncing and running while wearing 3ft-high carbon-fibre boots that enable you to boing 6ft in the air, take 9ft strides and sprint at 20mph.
At least, that’s the idea.Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’d rather do the brewery tour. Well, tough — stop being a chicken or I’ll take you on the airport one instead.
Besides, these boots have magic powers. All this bouncing around like Tigger apparently does wonders for your core — the abdominal and lower-back muscles that keep everything nicely tucked in — and provides a cardio workout and a leg-toning session at the same time. So off we go to the park for a bit of practice.
You’re strapped into binding, as if you’re on a snowboard, and your leg is held in place by a padded bar just below the knee. Behind you, curving down below your foot like some bizarre exoskeletal scimitar, is a long semicircle of spring with a teeny tiny little pad at the end.
And I’m supposed to stand up on that? I’ll be honest with you —there are days when I struggle to balance upright in my shoes, so how in the name of Zebedee I’m supposed to perform acrobatics on a square inch of rubber, I have no clue.
Just when I’m about to write this off as a bad idea and see if there’s space on this afternoon’s beerathon, Michaela, 23, from the bouncy tour company hovers into view. In her charmingly broken English, she tells me to man up, or words to that effect. “Ees easy,” she says. “Don’t look down, and walk like normal.” She holds my hand (not that manly, then) and I begin to stagger. It’s odd.
Surprisingly quickly, I feel (relatively) secure on my tiny pads and I am able to totter along, admittedly with all the grace of a newborn foal that has somehow been born on an icecap. But I get better. I’m actually okay, but it’s hard work. It’s hot in Prague. People are dressed in shorts and clasping water bottles — I’m dressed in a helmet, and knee, elbow and wrist guards, and am clasping a lamppost.
“Now jump,” Michaela says. “How high?” say I, but she just gives me a look and I begin to whimper. It’s one thing not falling over on a wobbly lap of the park, quite another to tempt fate by trying to leap over parked cars or small children. The jumping bit is much harder than the walking bit, until I ignore every lesson learnt on the school playing field and keep my legs straight as I land. “Better,” Michaela says as I rocket skywards about 3in.
It’s at this point that one of her friends, also wearing powerbock boots, catapults himself into the air and does a back flip. What the..? Turns out he’s 16. Sixteen-year-olds are always doing back flips for one reason or another, whether they’re on stilts or not, but it gives me the incentive I need, so off we go onto Prague’s ancient cobbled streets.
Yes, cobbles. Not really fair, is it? But the stilts are remarkably forgiving, and I’m still standing as we cross the Charles bridge, one of the city’s most atmospheric landmarks, and currently heaving with tourists. Who all seem rather keen on getting out of our way. This is an unheralded additional benefit: despite looking about as intimidating as a family of stick insects, we are bizarre enough for the visiting Red Sea to give us a wide berth. Miraculous.
“That’s an accident waiting to happen,” says one American, with his T-shirt tucked in. “I heard that,” I say over my shoulder, as I walk into a lamppost. Actually, though, I’m feeling increasingly confident and, once over the bridge without incident, and down on some backstreets (less cobbled), I go for an awkwardly straight-legged but nonetheless quite pacy run.
I can see how expert 16-year-olds can reach alarming speeds on these things, and it’s oddly addictive. I run back down the street again, trying to beat my personal best.
As we approach Old Town Square, with that great, ornate astronomical clock, I realise it’s only the tourists — albeit a lot of them — who stop and stare (then scarper). The good people of Prague have seen it all before. Nothing fazes them. Two people go by on Segways (don’t they look like idiots —not like me) and nobody bats an eyelid. Prague is the most laid-back place in Europe, absolutely perfect if you’re going to be acting like a circus performer in public.
Question is, though, is it a good way to see the city? Well, it’s fun, it’s energetic, and as a way to interact with a city, it’s pretty effective. It’s not going to give you a greater understanding of what makes Prague tick, per se, but then there’s always the brewery tour for that, isn’t there?
Paul Croughton travelled as a guest of British Airways and the Augustine hotel
Travel details: airlines flying to Prague include British Airways (ba.com), Czech Airlines (0871 663 3747, czechairlines.com), BMI Baby (bmibaby.com), EasyJet (easyjet.com) and Jet2 (0871 226 1737, jet2.com).
Rocco Forte’s Augustine (00800 7666 6667, roccofortecollection.com) is a splendid new hotel near Prague castle, in a former 13th-century monastery; doubles start at £272, B&B.
For a budget option, try the Antik (00 420 222 322288, antikhotels.com), in the old town, with a garden; doubles start at £99, B&B.
To book a powerbock tour, call 00 420 774 467211 or e-mail benes@bounceclan.cz; prices start at £28pp. Tours can also be booked through the Augustine.
