Everyone has seen a Segway, whether it was on TV or under a cop at the airport. Yet, despite our widespread familiarity with these so-called personal transporters, very few people have actually ridden one. The result is that there is an incredible curiosity surrounding these motorized, gyroscopic thingamabobs. Among other things, people want to know how you turn it, how fast it can go, and most of all, whether it's easy to learn. I'm happy to report that the answers to those questions are: a) move the stick right or left; b) about 12.5 miles an hour; and c) it's so easy, well, a Vandal can do it.

Adventure Tours of Idaho, which recently opened up shop at the corner of QWEST Arena that was formerly occupied by a take-out pizza business, has a small fleet of Segways. If you've been to the Saturday Market this year, you might have even seen some of them whizzing up and down the walkway between the Centre on the Grove and QWEST Arena.

If you're willing to have a little fun and do something you've never done before, Adventure Tours rents their Segways in 2- or 4-hour blocks. Or, if you only want to try it out for a bit just so you can say you did it, you can even take it out for a half hour. If you're looking to really impress your date or significant other, they also have a "Date Night Special", where you get two Segways from 4:30 to 9pm for a hundred bucks, which sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Just think of the brownie points you'll rack up.

Adventure Tours also has a guided historical tour of downtown Boise, which is perfect for out-of-town visitors or those who want to know where the red-light district used to be before it moved to Garden City. Other notable stops on the tour include old Chinese laundry sites, Freak Alley, the Steunenberg statue, the Egyptian Theater, the old Assay Office, C.W. Moore Park, and the Basque Block. The historical information behind the tour was provided by Todd Shallat, the director of Boise State's Center for Idaho History and Politics.

The infamous Boston version

Although the Segway is super easy to use, it does require a bit of initial training. You'll have to watch a 20-minute instructional and safety video, but you can make that time enjoyable by asking for the infamous "Boston version" of the video. It sounds like it's narrated by my cousin Sully from Yawkey Way, and it includes enough colorful language to make you forget it's a training video. I'm still trying to get a copy of it for my personal DVD collection.

After the video, the kind folks at Adventure Tours will take you outside and demonstrate how to use the thing, making sure you're comfortable on it before they turn you loose. Don't worry -- the Segway is remarkably simple to use. Just shift your weight forward to go that way, and the more weight you shift, the faster you go. The thing balances itself, and you lean the steering stick left or right to start turning that way. It has zero-radius turning capabilities, and it'll even go backwards. After about a minute you'll be itching to hit the city sidewalks. Trust me -- it's a darn good time. Just be prepared to answer a lot of questions from all the curious onlookers.