This past weekend, I spent the entirety of Sunday cleaning out my office -turning it into a bike training paradise. Who needs a home office anyways? Instead of sitting at a desk getting fatter by the day, I can hop on my bike and actually lose weight – maybe.
Office Rearranged, Head Cold Standing in the Way
January 14th, 2010Indoor Bike Trainer Acquired
January 9th, 2010The last post was about my desire to find a quality indoor bike trainer. Today, FedEx delivered some boxes from Amazon containing all of my new indoor cycling training equipment. To get started with my training, I purchased three things. Here’s a rundown of what showed up on my doorstep earlier today.
CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer
The centerpiece of my new indoor training setup is a CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor bicycle trainer. The reviews of the CycleOps trainer were mostly positive and most people say that it is quiet, a top priority for me. It also comes with a lifetime warranty. You can’t beat that.
CycleOps Stackable Climbing Block
Since I’m a noob overall when it comes to cycling, I am thinking that I could probably use a little more stability. For this I figured I might as well stick with the same brand. The best part of the stackable block, is that I can buy another block in the future and simulate climbing.
CycleOps Training Mat
The last piece of my training setup is a CycleOps training mat. Basically you can put everything on top of this to protect your hardwood floors, an important thing for us. So, now that I have what I need to get going, it’s time to start reorganizing one of the rooms in our condo to make room for the trainer and my bike. That all starts tomorrow.
Shopping For a Stationary Bike Trainer
January 7th, 2010The first week of 2010 involved three days of snow, which means that I won’t be spending much time on the bike outside. I need to get an indoor trainer. I’ve run across a few different types of trainers. Fluid, magnetic, wind and rollers.
Setting a Goal for the New Year
January 2nd, 2010There’s a lot of things that you can do to help get into and stay in shape. You can run, you can swim, you can walk or you can cycle. I’m going with the cycling.
Over the years the amount that I exercised has decreased steadily. This is due to years of decreased lung capacity from smoking and an increase in weight from years of happy marriage to an amazing woman who is also an amazing cook.
This lack of exercise combined with years of “eating right” have led to a bigger me. A “much bigger than I would like to be” me.
I’ve tried quite a few things to get back into shape. I’ve tried the running and every step ends up like a sledge hammer on my knees. I’ve tried the swimming and am not real fond of swimming in a pool full of other people’s “stuff”. Then I tried cycling.
“Holy crap!”
Cycling is the best form of exercise I have ever tried. You get to get outside and go places. Like really go places. Not like running where you go around the same places everytime.
After making this discovery, I set out on a mission. A mission to ride a century. The Flatest Century in the East as a matter of fact. This ride occurs around September and it is my goal to participate in this ride, provided a doctor can confirm that I am not so out of shape that I won’t die trying.
