Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: Philly Q on March 20, 2013, 01:28:28 AM
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New Exercise Bike Day!
After a very long time, 15 years or more I think, my trusty old exercise bike had been starting to squeak and creak alarmingly in recent weeks. I took it apart to try to identify the problem, but last weekend it finally gave up the ghost. It might be fixable, but it's beyond me.... :(
So, after a couple of days' hasty but intense research, today I took delivery of a glossy new Reebok machine (obtained for a remarkable £500 less than RRP, although I'm sure no-one ever pays full price).
It took all afternoon to set up, when it was finally done my dodgy back was killing me and my hands were sore from screwing (ahem) and spannering. I got all the saddle heights, handlebar angles etc set up as close as possible to my old bike. It looks good, doesn't take up much more space than the old one, and it's incredibly quiet.
So, time to give it a go...... and I hate it! The bloody display is in km instead of miles, the manual's useless, and it just feels..... all wrong. I dare say I'll get used to it, and a new challenge is probably a good thing. But I have an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. :|
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if you've been using the same one for 15 years, i'd imagine a new one would be hard to get used to! in a slightly similar vein, i drove the same car for almost 9 years, and my back and the seat were pretty much moulded to each other. since i got my new one, i've had pains in my knee and back from adjusting to the change. so i hope my bike doesn't pack in too!
good luck with the new one, i'm sure you'll get used to it in no time. i agree with the km thing being annoying though, and the manuals seem to have been translated from chinese by a dyslexic spaniard :(
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Pics or it didn't happen.
The bike, not your bad back.
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That's why I've given up on exercise!
:lol:
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Exercise Bike ! I was thinking e-bow.
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Exercise Bike ! I was thinking e-bow.
I have considered it, but it'd be (yet) another gadget I'd never take out of the box!
I will actually use this bike.
good luck with the new one, i'm sure you'll get used to it in no time. i agree with the km thing being annoying though, and the manuals seem to have been translated from chinese by a dyslexic spaniard :(
Yeah, it makes you realise that the people who make guitar equipment actually care about what they're doing - most of their manuals are very good, and some things like Line 6 actually go into the realms of being enjoyable to read!
Yeah, I'm sure I'll adapt soon enough. Like you said about your car, it was hurting my back last night even though on the face of it nothing much was very different.
I had considered getting a "spinning" style bike because they have mechanical tension adjustment like my old bike, but I thought the seating position really would $%&# up my back.
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What is this exercise thing of which you speak? :?
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What is this exercise thing of which you speak? :?
I would've said the same a couple of years ago.
(Not entirely true, I've gone through phases of being extremely fit and extremely unfit since I was about 13 years old. But in the last 2 years I've barely missed a day's exercise.)
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i'm a bit like that too, a couple of years ago i was toned and muscular, now i'm... not :) been back at the bike the last couple of weeks though, doing about 20 miles a day now, and plan to ease back into the weights next week after doing body weight exercises so far. it can seem like hard work at times, but a good workout gives a feeling of real achievement. and when you lose your fitness, you realise how much better you felt when you were fit. unfortunately, my fitness has tended to be interrupted by various illnesses and injuries over the years.
i'm trying to encourage my lady friend to exercise some. she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last year, and while she's coping quite well with the injections, she's pretty much refusing to make any real lifestyle changes. and she does not live a healthy life! i know you were diagnosed with the same a while back, Philly. so you seem to be a good example for her :)
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I'm type 2 diabetic, but yeah, that's what spurs me on! I don't do any really heavy-duty intense exercise, but I put in about an hour a day in total, and on top of that I walk a lot. It all helps.
Conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol tend to go hand in hand with diabetes, and I was determined not to be put on statins or blood pressure tablets. So, how do you fight all those conditions? Keeping your weight down, exercising and changing your diet (I won't say eating a "healthy" diet, because people have so many different versions of what that means!).
Some people are happy to let the medication carry the burden, and of course that's up to them. A friend of mine has always used her diabetes as an excuse for being massively overweight..... I think she's wrong, but who am I to criticise, if I'd eaten less sugary junk in my life I might not be where I am now. Anyway, now I want to keep things under control myself, as much as I possibly can - that's what works for me personally.
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Keen to see some kind of image.
Your health drive is to be lauded!
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OK, here we go (hoping no-one pays much attention to the background in these photos....)
The new one:
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/f10bf76c-3e51-43db-a93a-619f140dd653_zps5084beab.jpg)
The old one:
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/22b91ccb-6b16-4af1-9e38-7730c9e6104a_zpsb967da48.jpg)
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So, I'm riding the bike this evening..... supremely uncomfortable, my lower back is killing me..... 15 minutes in...... and the left pedal falls off. :oops:
I don't think I'd ever tightened it properly. There'd been a slight but persistent clunking noise for the last three days, but I thought it was just an annoying "feature" of the bike. Now it's completely silent. Hopefully it partly explains why the bloody thing has felt so awkward and uncomfortable!
I do need some better pedals, though, with proper adjustable straps. I hate the stupid thick plastic straps it has at the moment, and I know they won't last very long anyway, based on past experience.
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The new bike looks *much* cooler than the old one. Too bad about the pedals, but I assume widely available pedals from a normal bicycle will work.
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The new bike looks *much* cooler than the old one. Too bad about the pedals, but I assume widely available pedals from a normal bicycle will work.
The old one was the epitome of cool in 1998 (possibly)! :lol:
Re the pedals, yes, I guess so, assuming it's not like guitars and you have the metric vs. imperial thread issue!
You're a cyclist, aren't you gwEm? Any pedal advice? I'm not going to get the type which needs special shoes, but presumably if I get some with an open/hollow construction I can easily fit some strong nylon adjustable straps (which is what I did on my old bike).
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Yes, I am a cyclist. Normally I use the type of pedal that requires special shoes. However, I do have a strapped pedal setup that I use from time to time. In fact, I am quite pleased with it - like with my guitars I spent a while tweaking it to get it really good. There are a few different types of pedal fixing methods, but the massive majority of bikes use the same method. I suppose an exercise bike may have different considerations to a road bike, but anyhow here is what I use:
MKS platform pedals - they are quite wide, and they are easy to use with normal shoes like trainers:
http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=ZY0276XX&gclid=CNarhOjIkLYCFUbMtAodzFkAmg (http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=ZY0276XX&gclid=CNarhOjIkLYCFUbMtAodzFkAmg)
Campagnolo toe clips - thinking a toe clip was just a toe clip I tried a variety of cheap ones for ages and hated them - hard to get into, but somehow not gripping the feet well. Out of desperation I tried a more fancy kind and the difference was night and day. They were a bit expensive though, considering what they are, but I felt it was worth it.
MKS spin pedal flips - with these little attachments its even easier to get your feet into the pedals. But for an exercise bike I suppose thats less of a concern: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mks-spin-2-pedal-flip/ (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mks-spin-2-pedal-flip/)
Vintage Christophe leather straps - got them for cheap at a bicycle jumble. I don't really go to those type of events to be honest, but they did look good. To be honest I think any decent quality strap would be fine.
But there are so many options for strapped pedals these days. This type (Power Grip) is meant to be good, but I never tried them myself:
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/280894553135?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0 (http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/280894553135?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0)
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Thanks gwEm, I thought I'd replied to your post the other day but must have closed the page without posting! :oops:
Those links were very useful. I considered a few other pedals and initially I wasn't keen on the idea of toe clips, but after a bit of research I came back round to the MKS GR-9 pedals you recommended, plus some MKS toe clips (and some cheap nylon straps, just in case the ones from my old bike don't fit). Ordered today. :D
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:D I'll be interested hear how the MKS toe clips work out.
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Was listening to a podcast on cardio science so thought I'd add that a benefit of bike based cardio is that it doesn't cause muscle loss in the legs which is what occurs during running, even more reason to get on your bike :D (According to lab based study with fancy scanner that lets them accurately measure muscle fibres, the differences theoretically being due to something to do with hip flexion)
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^
That's interesting, I'm surprised that one form of cardio exercise causes muscle loss and the other doesn't!
They didn't say anything about how to avoid pain in your lower back, I don't suppose? :?
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Unfortunately not, doing any exercises for lower back? ie Planks. Random personal suggestion might be to look into anterior pelvic tilt, basically caused by too much sitting, I always do a hip flexor stretch now when I've finished lifting weights at the gym, pretty sure my lower back gets less sore because of it. Bear in mind I'm not qualified in anything I just said.
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Yeah, planks every day, lots of stretches (not necessarily the right ones!)
I've had trouble with my lower back for many years, it was especially bad when I trained for those couple of 10k runs I did. Not saying I'm in "constant pain" or anything dramatic like that, and it's improved since I lost weight and generally got fitter, but I guess it's always going to be there.
And maybe at 48 going on 49, there's only so much I can do - in some ways I'm as fit and strong as I was in my 20s, the difference is that everything is a lot more creaky and exercise hurts a lot more! :lol:
The reason I mentioned it now in particular is that this new exercise bike really seems to aggravate my back, even though I've tried to set it up as much like the old one as possible. I guess it's just tiny things I can't change, like the shape of the saddle, the distance between the pedals... and I need to get used to them.
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when I was training on my bicycle in a serious way (not the relaxed approach I use now) I used to eat a raw egg after each session - stirred it into a whisky glass and just downed it. i used the freshest organic eggs i could get of course.
it might very well be bollocks, but i had the feeling it boosted my muscles and ligaments much faster than when i didn't do this.
also, are you doing stretches before/after and between session? i never went mad with this, but someone showed me a few simple yoga leg stretches and that definitely helped stop aching when i did this, immediately in fact.
edit: just saw that you clearly say you are doing stretches :oops:
at the moment i am being *very lazy* with my cycling and have lost 90% of what i'd worked towards over two years. that depresses me, but i know a few shortcuts now, so when i get back on the bike properly I hope to build up faster than before. after warming up its better to have a short but tough training session than a long easier one. in the end i was just doing hill repetitions and interval training, with the raw eggs and the stretches I felt I had a system going.
i'm a fat bar-steward now though.. (well you know what I mean ;) )
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With some google I see that one of the streches I did is more or less this one: http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Step.html (http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Gastrocnemius/Step.html)
I could feel it doing good.
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i'm a fat bar-steward now though.. (well you know what I mean ;) )
I can NOT imagine you fat! :lol:
(That said, in my mind's eye I never saw myself as fat, but somehow that extra 3 stone crept on over the years!)
That stretch is pretty similar to some of the ones I do, although without the benefit of a step. I'll try it.