You are a fairly adventurous person. You enjoy the outdoors, and you are always looking for more ways to make the most of your time outside. Outdoor activities are a part of your weekly routine, and any reason is a good reason to get out in the fresh air. You canoe, bike, hike, and sail. You do everything there is to stay fit and stay out and about.
So it’s a good thing that there are many outlets for your outdoor passion. The wonders of the great outdoors never cease, and neither do the means for exploring them. Nothing illustrates that more than stand up pedalboards.
What? You’ve never heard of a stand up pedalboard before? You’re missing out.
Stand up pedalboards combine a love of land and sea. You get the adventure of riding the waves, but you get a wide stable board and the benefit of using leg power to maneuver. If you’ve ever wanted to try to walk on water, a pedalboard can get you pretty close. They meld together the benefits of a kayak with a paddleboard and give you a fun and easy way to enjoy the outdoors.
A Complete Guide to the Mirage Eclipse Pedalboard
The Mirage Eclipse pedalboard is the premier pedalboard around. The surf company Hobie manufactures it, and they have nearly 70 years of experience when it comes to water recreation. They make surfboards, sailboats, kayaks, and of course, the pedalboard. They put their knowledge and experience to use for you in creating such a fun watercraft that’s loaded with great features.
That’s what this pedalboard is at its core. It’s fun. You don’t really need to walk on water, and you probably don’t need to cross-breed your kayak with anything else in order to enjoy your surrounding lakes and rivers, but the Mirage Eclipse takes a less utilitarian view of the world.
It’s not a means to an end. It’s just a better way to take the journey.
To see if the Mirage Eclipse might be a great addition to your water sport activities, take a look at all the reasons that people love it.
It Goes with You Everywhere
Canoes, kayaks, and the like always sound like such a good idea until you have to figure out how to get them from your house to the water. It’s almost never easy, and it usually involves a complicated contraption, an abundance of bungee cords, and a silent prayer.
So you buy one, and you hardly ever use it. You store your various watercrafts in the garage and each time you pass by them on the way to and from work you say, “Someday.” Someday you will strap it to the roof of your car, and someday you will go on your big adventure.
But because you are committed to the outdoors you do plan some occasional outings. You measure and calculate, and you make sure you have plenty of rope on hand. Somehow you manage to balance your canoe on the roof of your car, and you drive to the lake in constant fear that you’ll watch it go sailing off into traffic.
There should be an easier way. Your outdoor excursions should be carefree and filled with sunshine and laughter. Your life should look more like a commercial.
While the Mirage Eclipse can’t force you to get out there and get going, it can certainly make it easier. Both the rudder and the handlebars are removable, and what you are left with is essentially a nice thick 10-foot surfboard. You can strap it your rooftop cargo carrier, or depending on the size of your vehicle, slip it right in with the seats folded down.
The hull itself only weighs 43 pounds, so it is easy to lift and carry. You can take it with you camping, or bring it on a family vacation in case people start to go stir crazy. It is portable so that you can actually use it.
You can slide it onto the roof of your car with no trouble, and the nice flat surface means you can even stack multiple pedalboards on top of one another with no hassle. This is way different than a Christmas tree, and it’s even different from kayaks and canoes. You don’t have to worry about balance, and you have a much less awkward shape to deal with.
It might not make your life as carefree as a commercial, but at least you can feel a little spontaneous. You can wake up and decide to fit in some pedalboarding before the real work begins. You’ll feel invigorated and energized, and people just might want to know what your secret is.
It’s Easy for Anyone to Operate
At first glance the pedalboard seems to be defying some laws of physics or something, and it might make you skeptical. It doesn’t seem like it should be so easy to stand up and pedal around on water, right?
Water is choppy and rough. It’s unpredictable. One minute everything is smooth sailing, the next minute you hit a wave, a burst of wind, or an outcropping of rocks. Surely you’ll be tossed aside head over heels into the water.
The footage of people pedalboarding on Hobie’s website seems almost too good to be true. It can’t be that easy.
That’s where 70 years of experience with water sports comes in pretty handy. The Mirage Eclipse may induce spontaneity, but it’s the result of lots of hard work and a lifetime of dedication to the water and the waves.
Miraculously, and thanks to the Mirage Eclipse’s expertly engineered design, it’s easy to pedal around the unexpected obstacles of lakes and rivers without meeting disaster. In fact, it’s so easy anyone can do it.
The hull is nearly 3 feet wide, so it’s wider than a paddleboard, and the handlebars and hull are optimized for stability. All you have to do is step on at the water’s edge and start walking. If you can walk, you can pedalboard. The 10-5 model has a 225-pound weight capacity and the 12 model can hold up to 270 pounds.
You don’t need to be an expert kayaker. You don’t need experience with canoes, or sailboats. It’s the perfect water recreation for a beginner, and the physical activity can be as easy, or as strenuous as you want.
You can stroll around at a leisurely pace, or you can pump your legs fast for a nice sprint. You can tour lakes and rivers for a chance to enjoy the wildlife and the sounds of nature, or you can put in your headphones, turn up the beat, and sweat off a few extra pounds in a natural surrounding.
It Handles Like a Dream
For many people, watercraft and steering don’t always end well. You’ve been in the errant canoe before, or the raft that just won’t cooperate, and you know the drill. You paddle hard to the left. You paddle hard to the right. You listen to the barked orders of other experts, and you do the complex dance of paddles that you are supposed to.
Yet still you drift from the pack and end up spinning in circles at the edge of the lake, or running aground on a collection of rocks. It’s not a great feeling.
Steering boats, kayaks, and canoes can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience, but the pedalboard is different. It’s much more intuitive. You just squeeze the handlebar controls to determine your direction. When you squeeze right, you go right. When you squeeze left, you go left.
You don’t have to perform a series of squeezes like you are trying to transmit Morse code over the waves. You simply squeeze right, or left.
It makes perfect sense, and it also makes your voyage a lot more enjoyable. If you suddenly need to maneuver around other watercraft, a piece of debris, or an outcropping of rocks, you don’t need to panic. You don’t even need to give it a second thought. You just squeeze on the appropriate handlebar, and the board responds like a luxury automobile.
It Features a Spacious Board
Because the hull of the Mirage Eclipse is so wide and stable you have room for a little cargo. You can fit your pedalboard with a crate for holding your fishing supplies, a cooler for your refreshments, or you can leave the space open for your 4-legged friend.
Yes, the next time you want to go cruise the lake you can actually take your dog along for the ride. Why should the sun and waves just be for you? They’ll get to experience the same thrills that you do, and you won’t have to worry about what trouble they’ll get into at home when you’re away.
Of course, if you decide to leave your 4-legged friend at home, you’ll have plenty of room to sit and relax on your board and enjoy some sunrays. Just pedal your way to your destination then take a seat and take a little break. You can grab a snack, fish, or just enjoy the sounds of nature.
It’s an Activity for All Ages
Finding something that a family can do together is pretty difficult. Lots of physical and outdoors activities are too tough and strenuous for young and old alike, and so you wind up doing the same things over and over again. You hike and bike, and hike and bike.
Those activities are great because the level of intensity is entirely dependent on the person performing them. If you aren’t able to hike at a brisk pace up a mountainside you simply walk slower on a more level path.
Pedalboarding works much the same way. If you’ve got a few tweens in tow, or you are out with the grandparents, then you pick calm waters and let everyone pedal at their own pace.
This choose-your-own-adventure mentality coupled with the easy maneuverability of the Mirage Eclipse makes pedalboarding an activity for the whole family. The stability of the board means that you can trust it to deliver your pedaling party from one side of the lake to the other without capsizing.
Those that want to break a sweat can, and those that want to soak up some sun and effectively stroll about on the water’s surface can do that too.
It’s Good Exercise
The best exercise is the kind that doesn’t feel like it. All you have to do is walk. And it’s not like you’re walking on a treadmill where the scenery is monotonous and the only sounds you hear are the whirring of the other treadmills.
Pedalboarding is exciting exercise. You can work on your tan. You can marvel at the beauty of Mother Nature, and you can even race against your friends and family. Then, when you’re through pedaling, you can take a dip in the cool water and relax. What could be better?
It’s also great a great form of social exercise. You can talk with your friends, you can share stories, and you can pass the time catching up on a little local gossip. That’s so much better than watching reruns of old television shows on a miniature treadmill screen.
Plus, it helps you be the efficient multi-tasking person you were born to be. You combine exercise, adventure, and building close relationships all in one. You cross lakes and rivers at the same time. You do it all, and you only break a sweat when you want to.
You Can Try it Before You Buy It
Buying a Mirage Eclipse pedalboard is not as major of a decision as buying a car, and yet you can still take your pedalboard out for a test spin. You can find authorized retailers through their website, and you can request a demonstration at many of them.
Imagine that. You can actually try out the Mirage Eclipse for yourself before you commit to buying it. If only you could have done that with all your other hobby and sporting equipment. Your closet and your garage would probably be a lot emptier.
Hobie is pretty confident that you’ll love the ride, but they want you to know for sure. They foster a love of water, and they don’t do it by forcing people onto crafts that don’t make them feel comfortable, confident, and free.
That’s pretty reassuring in and of itself, but a few minutes zooming around on the surface of the water should seal the deal.
Change Your Life with the Mirage Eclipse
The Mirage Eclipse lets you experience the water like never before. You’ll have fun, get fit, and find a great new way to spend time with your friends and family.
You can explore new waters, and you never have to worry about how to navigate your way through. You can slide your pedalboard onto the roof of your car whenever the mood strikes you, and you can start living your best life.
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