Ultiracer at the 2026 Naegok Valley Festival: Senior Riders Shine
By Shaun Cheon
On Thursday, 22 October 2026, Ultiracer joined the 2026 Naegok Valley Festival (2026 내곡밸리 페스티벌) in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Residents of every age stopped by for a 30-second ride, and every rider left with a printed report on their balance. The riders who stood out most were the older ones: about six in ten riders were aged 60 or over, and as a group they rode more steadily than the event average.
About the 2026 Naegok Valley Festival
The Naegok Valley Festival is a neighbourhood celebration in Naegok-dong, hosted by Seocho-gu's Neutinamu Shelter (서초구립 느티나무쉼터), a community and cultural center for older residents, together with the Seocho 50 Plus Center (서초50플러스센터). The 2026 edition ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the two centers. It was planned so that residents, especially older and middle-aged neighbours, could enjoy health, culture and leisure programs together (Diplomacy Journal; Naewoe Ilbo).
Five organizations ran hands-on booths, among them the Seocho Women & Family Plaza Jamwon Center (서초여성가족플라자 잠원센터), the Seocho Mental Health Welfare Center's Maeum Health Center (서초 정신건강복지센터 마음건강센터) and the Dementia Care Center of the Seocho-gu Public Health Center (서울특별시 서초구보건소 치매안심센터). Visitors could try AI body-shape analysis, a stress check and dementia-prevention counselling, collect stamps for food-truck coupons and souvenirs, watch a show by magician Han Ki-yong and browse a flea market run by five resident teams. Seocho-gu's announcement of the festival, carried by several outlets, listed the Ultiracer bike experience among the day's programs (Global News Agency).
Seocho-gu Mayor Jeon Seong-su said he hoped the festival would be a place of harmony where every generation shares its talents and culture, and that the district would keep using local facilities such as the Neutinamu Shelter and the Seocho 50 Plus Center to widen exchange between generations (Diplomacy Journal).
A 30-second ride at the Neutinamu Shelter booth
Our bike was part of the Neutinamu Shelter's own booth, which ran under the slogan "타고, 재고, 건강 UP" (ride it, measure it, boost your health) and promised visitors a navigation made for their own body. Ultiracer fits that idea well. It is a real bicycle on a platform that lets it sway, lean and steer like a bike on the road, while the platform keeps the rider from falling. Most visitors rode Perfect Racer, our 30-second balance game: keep the bike in the middle of the road on screen, and the steadier you ride, the farther you go.
Our staff helped each rider onto the saddle, showed them where to look on the screen and stayed beside them for the whole ride, so even first-time riders could relax and enjoy it.
A balance report for every rider
For every rider, we provided a balance report based on their 30-second ride. The one-page sheet, printed at the booth, shows:
- Balance Quality: a single score out of 100 that combines sway, lean steadiness and steering steadiness.
- Sway, lean steadiness and steering corrections: each set against the range we see across all Ultiracer rides.
- Coordination strategy: whether the rider balanced mainly by steering, mainly by leaning, or with a mix of both. It describes a riding style, not a score.
- Speed and ride graphs covering the whole 30 seconds.
Our staff went through each report with its rider, and the printouts soon drew small groups of neighbours comparing results. The report is a comparison with typical riding, not a medical assessment, but it gives every rider something concrete to take home: a picture of how they balance today, and a starting point to compare against the next time they ride.
Senior riders stood out
About six in ten of the day's riders were aged 60 or over, and they rode remarkably well. Across all riders, the average Balance Quality was 83 out of 100, already inside the "Good" range that starts at 70. The older riders did even better:
- Higher Balance Quality. Riders in their 60s averaged 86 and riders aged 70 and over averaged 88, both above the event average.
- Very little sway. Riders aged 70 and over moved side to side by just 1.42 cm on average, which puts them inside the steadiest quarter of all rides recorded on Ultiracer kiosks.
- Calm steering. Riders in their 60s made about 81 steering corrections a minute and riders aged 70 and over about 84, both inside the calmest quarter of all Ultiracer rides. The event average was 91.
- A balanced style. The most common coordination strategy among riders aged 60 and over was the balanced one, using the handlebars and lean together.
- Perfect rides. Quite a few riders in their 60s and 70s scored a perfect 100.
A note on these numbers: the averages and ride scores above come only from the visitors who chose to ride at the festival that day. They are not a representative sample of the wider population, so they show how this group rode, not how everyone of these ages rides.
The results echo what we see across Ultiracer as a whole. In more than 4,000 Perfect Racer rides, riders aged 60 and over rode more steadily than riders in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Age alone does not decide how steadily someone rides, and the older riders in Naegok showed it once again.
Looking ahead
The festival lasted one day, but the riding does not have to stop there. The Neutinamu Shelter already has an Ultiracer kiosk on its first floor, so anyone who enjoyed their ride can come back, ride again and see how their balance changes over time. That is what we hope to see in more community centers: a short, enjoyable ride that people want to repeat, with feedback that makes every ride count.
Naegok was also our second community festival in Seocho-gu this autumn, after the Bangbae-gol 1080 Festival in September, and we look forward to many more days like it.
Our sincere thanks go to the Neutinamu Shelter and the Seocho 50 Plus Center for hosting the festival; to the Seocho Women & Family Plaza Jamwon Center, the Maeum Health Center and the Dementia Care Center of the Seocho-gu Public Health Center for sharing the day with us; and above all to the residents of Naegok-dong who stepped up to the saddle.
Would you like to bring Ultiracer to your center or event? Get in touch with us.