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I timed stair carries on my commute ? the spreadsheet column mobility apps skip

I log commutes in a spreadsheet because mobility apps smooth over the ugly legs. Last week I added a column I should have tracked years ago: carry seconds ? time from curb to platform when stairs replace ramps.

The hidden leg

My one-wheel leg is fine on paper. Three metro exits on my route have no elevator during maintenance. Carrying a 14 kg wheel down 22 stairs does not show up in trip duration. It shows up in whether I arrive annoyed enough to skip coffee.

What I logged (one week)

Exit Stairs Carry time (s) Mood after (1-5)
North gate 22 38 2
Side ramp (control) 0 8 4
East stairs 16 29 3

Battery delta on those days? Within noise. Mood delta? Not noise.

A cheap decision rule

I turned this into a go/no-go check before leaving:

if stairs > 15 AND carry_weight_kg > 12:
    prefer transit-only or locker
elif stairs > 0 AND wet_floor:
    walk the wheel (no riding in station)
else:
    ride
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It is blunt. It works better than pretending every leg is rideable.

Assumptions up front

  • Wheel weight includes pads and charger pouch (~14 kg for my commuter setup).
  • I am not timing competitive carries ? just whether I can do this daily without hating it.
  • Your threshold differs if every exit has elevators.

What I would do differently

I would log carry seconds from day one, same tab as distance and battery percent. Range math without carry math is incomplete for anyone who mixes metro and one-wheel.


I work around personal EVs and sometimes cross-check specs on the official Kingsong catalog.

https://www.kingsong.com/collections/electric-unicycle

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