*The first update was made 11/27/00 the second on 2/2/01. The most recent is from 1/14/03 at the bottom of the page. Check out the second boots page here.*
Rocket Boots! It's a name out of a dream -- from the 22nd century where mankind resides with flying cars and robots that make pancakes! But they're real!
My journey began on November
10th. I had gone to Duke with some friends to see the Upright Citizens
Brigade. After the show (which was hilarious), we were sitting around
talking when a friend of mine happened to mention "Russian Rocket Boots"
which he had seen on the Discovery Channel. He began giving us the details
he could remember. "You can go 30 mile per hour and jump 20 feet!"
Most people's reaction was along the lines of "you'd have to be an idiot
to get on those things. What if you tripped?" Well, I wanted
to be that idiot.
As soon as I got home, I leapt to the Internet and looked up "boots" "Russian" and "mph" on Google. After shifting through a lot of detritus, I found a description that said, "Fancy a pair of seven league boots?" Eureka! I read the article over and discovered the boots were called "Quickwalker Boots" and with that knowledge, I found this link (which has a vague picture). Hmm...the boots seem to have a small motor and some sort of piston arrangement. I was growing more ecstatic by the second.
The next day I drafted an e-mail to the New Scientist requesting any information at all regarding the rocket boots. After an excruciating four day wait, New Scientist wrote me a personal response and provided me with the phone number of the inventor, Viktor Gordeyev. I then decided to look up Mr. Gordeyev by name on the Internet. I found two new articles with much better pictures. Click the pictures to go to their respective articles.
The boots themselves have quite an interesting story. Apparently Mr. Gordeyev was simply tired of doing a lot of walking as a soldier, so he started fooling around with the idea as sort of a joke. However, the joke panned out leaving him with a device that will allow one to run at 25 miles per hour and take strides of 12 feet. They're basically a small diesel engine on your foot, and they only take 40 grams of fuel per 12 kilometers.
Armed with all the knowledge
I could glean from the Internet, I called them at 2:00 AM (10:00 AM Russian
Time) with Enforger beside me. Damn! The phone was busy, but I
was determined not to give up. Finally, at about 2:30 a woman answered.
"Allo!" she said as is the custom. Thanks to my 2 years of
high school Russian, I immediately began saying "I don't speak Russian.
I speak English," in Russian over and over again. "Minutyo!"
she told me. After hearing a lot of shouting and stuff in the background, a man got on the phone and
said "English please!"
Wow! I was actually talking with a Russian guy at about 3 AM regarding boots that allow a man to run at 25 miles an hour. It was pretty surreal. So I simply asked him if I could buy a pair of the Quickwalker boots (they're also called Saigak boots after a type of antelope). The man I spoke with -- I'm still not sure who it was exactly -- was wiser than I and said, "Give me your email address." Well, I started spelling it out. And we got about 5 letters into it when we hit a snag. I can not pronounce the letter "d" worth a damn, and when the man repeated the letter back, it was pretty heavily accented and I couldn't figure out if he was saying "d" or "t."
So, he said, "I'll give you mine." However, we had some of the same problems. I couldn't really figure out the first letter of his e-mail address. I sat there saying, "V as in Victory or T as in toy?" The connection was pretty bad to begin with as well. So finally after about 20 minutes we sort of figured that one of us was bound to have the right address. So I sent off an email asking about price and some other questions (How do you stop with these things?). Turns out I got his address wrong, but about 4:00 AM, I got a letter with some Russian text at the top and then a very friendly message telling me that I could ask all the questions I wanted and then they gave me their fax number.
That's where the story stands now. I'm waiting to get a reply to see if I can even get a pair of the Quickwalker Boots. They're in pretty limited production. However, I have my fingers crossed. And I'd like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Gordeyev and all his colleagues for taking their time to talk with me. Even if I can't get a pair of the Quickwalker Boots, it's not often that someone can say they talked with a Russian man about rocket boots.
While I was home over Thanksgiving break, I got a response from the Russians! They hadn't responded to my first letter, so I wrote them again and they replied pretty promptly. I asked them about the cost, whether the boots were safe, how you could stop while wearing the boots, and what sort of fuel they used. This is the reply that I received.
Dear Mr. Wood,
The pilot party of the power boots is in production now. I hope it will be
ready at the end of December. I shall e-mail You when the boots be ready.
The boots are safe. It is extreamely easy to stop with the boots.
Thank you very much Mr. Wood for Your interest.
Sincerely,
Rustem Enikeev. [Mr. Enikeev is the best English speaker there I presume - YT]
So wow! Mr. Enikeev is awesome! Think about it. If someone wrote you in a foreign language asking to buy a device that you have to make one at a time, and they only wanted it for personal use, would you spend much energy talking with them? Talking with Mr. Enikeev and the staff at the office there at Ulfa is rad solely on the basis that they'll talk with me. Plus, I consider all my concerns answered in full.
Here's hoping that I can buy a pair. Actually, I've gotten so much positive response from my friends that I'm seriously considering starting up a small business selling the boots here in America. Mr. Gordeyev wants to produce the boots in Russia (and more power to him for keeping business in his country), but maybe if they can start producing the boots in large enough quantities, I could be his distributor here in the States. The boots would sell themselves, and I'd do it for free just because they're really cool. The world needs rocket boots!
Some how, the boot page got listed on some online forum and I've gotten several emails about the subject. I went ahead and posted the emails because they're funny and the people who wrote me are cool.
However, due to the response I was getting, I decided to start anew. Previously, Mr. Rustem had promised to email me toward the end of December, but he never did. I waited until mid-January (the Russian Christmas lasts through most of early January) and emailed him. My email got bounced, so I sent one again which also got bounced. So I had sort of put it on the back burner until I started getting these letters from people.
So last night (2/1/01) I stayed up late and went ahead and called them. It was pretty much the same deal. "Allo?" "Ya ne govryeoo ruskie yazik! Angliski pazhowsta!" So after a little wait, I got someone who spoke English -- different from the other person I spoke with prior. This time I knew better and kept my sentences very simple. "I want to buy the boots." "The boots?! Ah yes, you must fax us the order! It is the same number!" "So the boots are for sale?" "Yes, we are collecting orders!" "How much do they cost?" "One thousand American dollars." I didn't really have much else to say, so I said good-bye.
By now it was about 2:30 AM. So I wrote up a quick little letter that contained my address, email, and phone number along with the text: "Dear Sir: I want to buy a pair of the power boots. Please contact me and tell me how I can pay you for the boots. Thank you." And then I walked to Kinko's. The guy looked at me funny when the number I gave him had 14 digits or so, but he dialed it and instead of the fax picking up, the secretary did. He told me that his machine was fax only and couldn't do voice stuff too. I asked for a phone and he gave me this nine dollar piece of junk with all the numbers rubbed off the buttons. So I dialed the 1-800 number for my calling card, then my 8 digit passcode, then the 14 digit telephone number and of course I screwed it all up. But the Kinko's guy tried again and those blessed Russians had turned the machine on and the fax went through. So then I walked back home and slept because it was about 3:00 AM.
I have not gotten a response yet, but here's hoping.
I seem very close to getting a pair of the boots; however, I'm not going to
get my hopes up. The logistical problems of this transaction are enormous.
But cross your fingers for me!
On a more general note, Many people may think spending one thousand dollars on something that could potentially kill oneself is the height of stupidity. Well, I guess so. But that's just not the way I see things. Money isn't worth much if you don't enjoy it, and to me living an interesting life is more important than a big savings account. As well, I trust the Russians. Many people think it could be a scam or the boots will kill me, but I believe the Russians. Maybe it was talking with them on the phone, or maybe it was reading what Mr. Gordeyev had to say in interviews, but I believe Mr. Gordeyev is an honest man committed to creating and selling a good product.
Here are the emails that I have gotten.
[From Steve]
Hi, how's it going?
Could you please keep me informed on any developments with your attempts to get some of these boots? Because I_must_have_some, or else my plot to take over the world will be fruitless. Anyways I'm from Australia, and it'd be kick-ass to be the first person with something as cool as those boots out of 20 million ppl. As long as they cost less than about $1,000 - $1,500 US I'd be happy to buy
Thanks,
Steven.[I replied to Steven and here is his response]
Hello again,
Thanks for the prompt reply, it really means a lot when I have to wait 2-3 weeks for a response from some lame company that basically says "Sorry we don't understand, please explain further" or to answer some stupid question like "Is your modem plugged into the wall?" Anyway I checked the domain of the email address you gave me, ie www.ugatu.rb.ru, and that was functioning fine for me. Seeing as it's based in Russia I'm assuming the infrastructure is of poor quality, so it might have just been a server problem that caused your emails to bounce, and the problem might have been fixed. It doesn't necessarily mean it's poor infrastructure though, my web server's down at the moment too, and my server admin's lazy =( Thanks for the telephone number and other info, I might even be bold enough to try it =) The phone rates are acceptable between here and Russia, AU$1.10 a minute, or US$0.60 a minute. I might give it a whirl after you give him a try and see how that goes. They could really make a decent go of running a business selling these, I mean just from what I've experienced half the people on the planet havedreamt of, while maybe not specifically power boots, something similar, so I'm sure there would be a great market for it. At a decent price I'm sure it would be an international hit almost overnight.Just as long as nobody exploits them it could be a real success story.Anyway I'm sure it would all work a lot better when some additional information starts coming out of Russia, not to mention some of the first-run of boots.>Go right ahead and post my emails if you want, I've got no problems with that at all. I look forward to hearing from you
Steven
[From Beau]
Hello,
I am an Australian currently working in Tokyo as a computer programmer and I was wondering if you had a price yet for the boots as Iwould certainly be interested in buying a pair. Sorry for this short e-mailbut japanese working hours are pretty intense. Bye for now....
[Beau's response]
You are quite definately a bit of a legend. You have some fine stories indeed. You may remember I mailed you the other day about the boots!By the way how is that going? You may or may not be interested but I am climbing Mt Fuji this Sunday just for the pure insanity of it! As it is the coldest part of the year in Tokyo and it should be a challenge. You can find my web page at www.bissmich.com and the password to enter is [Removed for privacy - YT]. Look under missions and misson plans to find Mt Fuji Extreme. There are some other cool stories under missions like Tea Towel underground but here is one which you may like! My girlfriend's brother and a few of his university student mates were driving down the road when they came upon a car driving quite normally except with its hazard lights on. They were in the presence of the car for sometime and realized that the hazard lights were on by mistake. Their response was to asume a position up along side the car and screamed "Hazard" as loud as possible and speed away. This may not be considered funny at all but it is a story that had to be told regardless. By the way "bissmich" means bite me in German. I am not german or anything but I thought it was funny. Have a good one... also if you have time check out my funny photos on my web page...
[From Ben]
Hello--
I was astounded by your article on the rocket boots... Could you please let me know if you are able to purchase a pair?? I am also interested in purchasing a pair myself..and how do you plan on marketing these in the US?? Thanks for your time
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Ben[Ben's Response]
Hello--
Thanks for your quick reply...
The reason you have got so many replies is because someone posted your siteon the Adstream Information Central forum on delphi...You are welcome to post anything I send you on your website that you wish.. >Do you know any of the details?? Like how they work, how you stop yourself, etc??? And do you have any idea of the cost?? Are we talking about thousands here?? I have been thinking about marketing them...there any many things you have to consider..Like liability...these things seem extrememly dangerous, I mean if you aremoving at 30 mph and hit something, you could be killed...also you have to avoid lawsuits, etc so that you will be successful.. But why not buy just 10 pair, and auction them off to the highest bidders... I mean, if everyone has a pair, they won't be unusual.. it would be great if there were only a few pair around....unless of course the scientists want the market them, in which case I can give you any assistance if you need it...I am pretty good at programming and web design...Please keep me informed on the progress...do you have ICQ??? If so, this would go alot faster...I will try to email the scientists and will let you know if I get aresponse...Thanks
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Ben[If you do want to contact me online, you can get me through AIM. My screenname is Brandolon.]
See, this is great. People all over the world are pumped up about the boots. With all of the people who have written me, I've responded and sent them the phone/fax number and the rather iffy email address of the Russians. The world wants and needs Mr. Gordeyev's invention and I will do everything in my power to help spread his creation.
Wow, I have gotten a lot of mail about the rocket boots. So much so, that I really can't post it all. However, I have gotten two letters of note within the past year.
[From Robert on 11/15/02]
Alex:
I will investigate this through one of my sale agents who lives in Paris and
travel very often to Russia.
He is fluent in Russian.
I will ask him to get in touch with the UFA university staff.
I will report back to you within a month.
Robert
[From Adrian 5/13/02]
Hi,
My name is Adrian Thompson, from London, England. Like you I am a power boot fanatic.
I have just returned from my first trip to Ufa (very interesting and exciting), were I met Mr Gordeyev and his colleages. I have agreed a long term partnership with these guys to put the Power boot into production and market it in the west. The plan is to produce 1000 boots initially. These will be for sale for $1000.00 USD per pair + shipping. We are redesigning parts of the boots to meet western safety requirements and will take about one year to get to market.
It was great to read your enthusiastic web pages, and I look forward to hearing your thoghts on what we are doing here in London.
PS. I tried the boots and they are the coolest thing on the planet!
Look forward to hearing from you.
Adrian.[Adrian's Reply]
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the mail , I must admit I was very nervous about going but the boots had captured my imagination and as a product design engineer, I new I just had to go for it. I didn't want to be thinking "I might have done that" for the rest of my life!
It looks like the boots will be made in europe initially, at least until the russian infrastucture improves a bit more. ( Which is happening at a rate of knots from what I saw).
I will be posting up a website to keep enthusiasts like yourself up to date, and will be taking orders from August onwards. I will let you know how its going in due course, and would certainly appreciate any help in the US. Whats your ground ?
Thanks again and stay in touch!
Best regards,
Adrian.
PS. The Russians are really lovely people!
Sadly, I haven't heard from Robert or Adrian in a long
time. If you guys happen to read this, write me back!