With the start of the new year, some benefits at work got topped up again. One of these is the global fitness benefit which reimburses you if buy things that help you exercise. I used this benefit last year to buy my walking treadmill.
This year, I decided to buy an exercise bike. There’s enough room in my apartment for one, without me having to move around any furniture or restrict my movement. Now I used to think exercise bikes cost at least $500 and if you’re looking at a fancy bike like a Peleton, those are around $1000+. I got mine for just over $300 and that’s with tax and shipping included. It’s not the fanciest bike available but it’s not a poorly made bike either.
The bike was made in China obviously to be that cheap but it’s got three separate adjustments for the handlebar height, seat height and seat distance from the handlebars. It’s even got a very simple computer that can track things like speed, distance, time elapsed, and even your heart rate. It took me about twenty minutes to assemble but the steps were all very intuitive and easy to do.
So far, I’m starting simple, so I ride the bike three times a week. Each time, I average about twenty-five minutes on the bike. I usually start off with a quick pace for a few minutes and then I dial up the resistance to simulate a hill climb to really get things going. I do this as long as my legs can endure it, then I remove all the resistance and then do a normal sprint for a few more minutes.
I can work up quite a sweat and I feel great after the ride. The original bike seat was too small and a bit too stiff, so the first few rides made my ass hurt, to the point where it was very uncomfortable. Amazon came through with a seat cover that has thicker padding, so now rides are much easier on my butt.
The bike is also super quiet, there’s virtually no noise coming from it no matter how fast you pedal. I remember riding some exercise bike as a kid and it was probably designed in the 70s or 80s and it made such a racket when you pedalled at any speed. Whatever technology got developed in the meantime has made these machines so much quieter and apartment friendly now.
There’s no excuse for my cardio to be bad now.