Picking a fight with stationary bike

I was only on it for 30 minutes, just 30 minutes, not three hours, not two hours, not even an hour, and yet, I still managed to walk away with new annoying aches – in my lower back and my brain. Another reason to add to the list of many reasons why I do so dislike the dreaded snoresville stationary bike.

Now, generally I love cycling, it’s not my passion like running, but it is something I very much enjoy doing especially with Mario, who’s rather hardcore about it (Have I mentioned we have a bike room dedicated to everything bike related?) But I am most definitely a fair weather cyclist. You will not catch me cycling outside in the winter months, you’d even be hard pressed to catch me in the fall months … unless, of course, a certain cousin of mine decides to organize an epic ride through Flanders that is! But seeing as how I’m not really running right now, and I don’t start pilates until next week, I succumbed when Mike at The Type 1 Game suggested I hop on a bike to offset the hard-pounding toll running can take. And so, I hit the gym, another place I do so very much dislike.

TONIGHT’S RIDE … if you can call it that:

• 5 p.m. BG before: 5.4
• Kashi granola bar, no bolus
• Temp basal: – 50 per cent
• Time: 30 minutes
• Distance: 10.8 km
• RPM: 70
• 6:15 p.m. BG after: 10.1 (correction bolus: 1.45 units)

The first thing swimming through my head when I arrived was what the hell bike was I supposed to choose? They had a row of like 20 bikes, some were short, some were tall, some looked recumbent, all looked boring, none looked real. I chose the recumbent-style one and as soon as I sat down I was looking for a seat belt. It seriously felt like I should be strapped in, it felt like I was driving – it didn’t feel like a bike. I then spent practically an hour (or so it seemed) trying to figure out how to turn the damn T.V. on that was attached to it. The label on the screen said to start pedaling, so I started, nothing. It said it could take up to 45 seconds to a minute to turn on, so I kept pedaling, nothing. I looked for a power button, couldn’t find one. I tried changing the channel, tried fiddling with the volume, nothing. Just a black, boring screen. Fear not, though, I brought a book. Life is all about backup after all 😀 So I cracked my book open and started reading, one page, two pages, oh no. My eyes grew hazy, the words on the page started swimming and my stomach went blurb-blurb-blurb. It was like reading in a car, I kid you not, I thought I was going to hurl – and I still had 22 minutes to go! But I persevered, oh yes I did, and my back hates me for it.

And take note, that damn bike, which has become my new nemesis (I swear it was out to get me) turned the TV on, all by itself, the second I was done, the second my feet stopped pedaling. I shake my fist in the face of that bike!

The experience wasn’t all bad, though. I did run into a couple of familiar running faces, one of which belonged to my former Running Guru, which was really cool because this was the first opportunity I had to share my marathon experience with him (he was with me when I first started running almost five years ago). And just like gurus are prone to do, he was doling out oodles of advice. When I told him about my low blood sugar issues in the last 10 km of the race, he suggested it could have been the result of pouring so much energy into staying warm from the never-ending rain, which took away the necessary energy stores to keep my blood sugars inline. And when he was telling me this, I just wanted to smack myself in the head. It made sense. Why the heck didn’t I think of it?

So moms, you may be getting your wish after all, I may have to look at warm weather races from this day forward 😀