Commuter Challenge

However, James's efforts aren't be simply along the lines of 'bus, bike and car' - oh no... James is trying some more unusual methods of getting from A to B.

His list includes: cycling, walking, electric car, heelys (trainers with wheels), segway (a kind of electric scooter) and powerizers (stilts with springs)!

You can follow James's progress each weekday on BBC Radio Derby - listen to Andy Whittaker's Breakfast Show for regular updates (use the link on the right) and see more on BBC East Midlands Today each evening from 6.30 pm.

Day 8 – Heelys

Journey Time – 35 Minutes | Journey Cost – A pair of Heelys cost between £50 and £70 (similar to a pair of trainers). There are no running costs (forgive the pun!).

Heelys are one of this years 'must have' items on children’s Christmas lists! It wasn't easy finding a pair for an adult, but in the end I managed to find a pair of size 10s at Rollersnakes in Derby!

I was really surprised at how much like normal trainers they looked, in fact, apart from a well-hidden wheel, you would never know!

I put the trainers on and decided that my courage would triumph – I am not a soft American, I would go to work in my suit, and nobody would know I was doing anything any more eccentric than wearing trainers with my best work clobber!

Thankfully the weather was dry, but Early 'Heeling' efforts were impeded by stones the size of pellets. This meant my footwork resembled a strange, almost tribal dance. The first good surface was on Haslams Lane, and I started to glide for a few metres at a time, wondering what on Earth the people in the cars coming the other way thought I was up to.

This was short lived, however, as I went to the mill and started the climb, 'heeling' up the hill was, to say the least, counter-productive. Not only did I stumble, but I couldn't get anywhere, so I reverted to a walk up the hill.

After arriving at work I discovered the best place for 'Heeling' - the staff car park at the Uni has a steady down hill gradient and a very smooth surface! This was fantastic, and I had several goes here! In fact, at one stage I even went a little faster than I could run, but I survived with just a stumble and none of the injuries promised to me on the box!

To conclude, I think Heelys are great. They are a toy, and a good one at that. I won't be coming to work on them again though, as I don't think they are a realistic alternative to any other transport (unless you live in a town with consistently smooth pavements and have a downhill gradient all the way to you destination!)

You may, however, see me going backwards and forwards in the University's staff car park!