A New Stationary Bike

I have ridden rollers for 30 plus years.  I liked rollers.  They gave me the chance to ride meaningfully when the weather or schedule did not really make that feasible.  For many years I rode at least four times a week for 30 to 60 minutes.  They really help your stability and the smoothness of your peddling style.  It was instrumental in increasing my peddling to 80 to 90 rpm.  I often described ridding rollers as riding a road that is 2' (two foot) wide.

I bought my first set from Sears. They were an end of season special that I purchased in about 1982.  I had a nice basement to ride in. with a flat concrete floor and windows to look out.  The ceiling was high enough to let me get on the bike, low enough that I could grab a rafter if I started to go off the rollers.  They had wooden rollers made of pieces of wood glued together and then milled into a concave rather than flat surface.  I used them for about ten years, before they started to come apart.

I replaced them with a set of plastic rollers.  I did not like the new frame, so I continued to use the old frame, and just changed the rollers.  I bought the set used at a garage sale at Fort Leavenworth.  They did not look like they had been used very much.  The plastic was not very thick, and they were not very heavy.  The wood rollers had a lot of heft to them, and really poor bearings that combined to a lot of resistance.  Changing to the new rollers was so much easier that I did not feel I could get a good workout.

I replaced them with a used set of Kreitler rollers that I bought in Columbia.  I was living in the far north Missouri at the time.  I had stopped by Walt's Bike shop for some parts.  I saw a picture and a phone number.  I called, the seller was available, I stopped by and purchased them.  The seller was motivated, since he had tried to sell them for months, and was scheduled to get on a plane the next day for Japan.  They included a front fan that ran off the rollers.  Again I did particularly like the frame, so I adapted the rollers to the original frame.  I rode those rollers for 12 years before I noticed that the resistance was increasing.  I took them apart and found the bearings were shot on two of the rollers, the salt from my sweat had taken its toll on the rollers.  I found that Kreitler would rebuild the rollers very reasonably, so they were quickly back in service

I guess I should go through the records to see how many miles that I rode each set of rollers.....a bit anal, but hell that is why I write all of this down.

If you look at the picture you can see the main tubes of the bike are covered in duct tape.....again a reaction to the sweat generated by riding.  I ruined my best bike riding it on rollers.  The corrosive effect of the sweat eventually impacted the steel bike.  Over the years I built three bikes that were dedicated to being ridden on rollers.  They can be cheap bikes, the important thing is the geometry, the handlebars and the peddles.  I traded a mower for this bike, and have replaced the wheels so that I can use the 27 by 1/14 tires.  The bigger the wheel, and the bigger the tire means they last longer.  I tried riding 700c but went through tires quicker than I did on the road.  The contact point of the tire to the roller is quite small, which means maximum deflection of the tire unless it runs high pressure.  So I went to 27 inch tires to get the 125lbs that I wanted.

I have been in search of a bike for my wife.  It has taken me to Craig's list.  While I have not found a suitable bike for her, I did find a stationary bike for sale, and on impulse went and looked at it and purchased it.  It is made by Schwinn.  It was a spinning bike.  I reworked it, including adding a bike computer and have started to ride it along with the rollers.

I had thought about using a trainer, but I did not like the contact points to the bike, and did not like the way the bike was raised in the rear unless you put the front wheel on a block.  None of it was particularly stable to me.  I had not considered a stationary bike.  Most that I had seen were of dubious value, and did not match a bicycle's geometry, meaning your position was not at all like it would be when riding the road or trail.  This seemed like a different thing entirely.  The only downside is that it does not give me an accurate comparison to the road.  It is not like you can change gears.  You can change resistance, but that does not relate to more speed or higher revolutions. I did work out an equivalency that I put into the bike computer, and it seems to be reasonable.  I enjoy riding it when I do not feel like concentrating on staying up right on the rollers!

Colorado BBQ

Yes it has been a while since I wrote anything.  I took a trip, then have gotten bogged down with work related activities since.  Hard to say that work is getting in my way, when it is summer and I have responsibility for two summer classes with a total of 3 students.  Don't worry, I do not get paid for any of that.  I was suppose to have a class the second 4 weeks summer session, but it was canceled because of budget constraints.  I offered to teach it for free, and was told that I was already teaching two classes for free, so could not teach any other conference classes.  Still I have a lot of things to do, most related to organizing for the fall semester and getting my stuff ready for the promotion/tenure process.

I did take a nice trip to western Colorado.  I had not been to Colorado since 2000, when the whole family went to the YMCA to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  This trip was fun because my daughter and I were signed up to the same meeting in Glenwood Springs, so she, my wife and her not boy friend all took ten days to drive out and back.  At first I packed a bike, but then realized that there was not going to be enough room in the van, so took it out.  I should have left my helmet gloves and bike clothes in the car, but they went out with the bike.

A year ago we went to Portland Oregon.  I was told the weather is usually cool and wet.  We were there for ten days and it was sunny and 70's into the low 80's the whole time.  Here I was in the mountains for ten days and it was sunny and in the 80's even the low 90's.  So I contended with heat as well as altitude. The altitude was more of a problem than I wanted it to be, though I am sure most was in my mind rather than physiological.  We did walk a lot, and I really lost breath only when I tried to go up the side of the mountains too quickly.   My wife and I rented bikes in Glenwood Springs.  We rode for about an hour and a half and it was all I really wanted. 

I can't say that I enjoyed riding the bike, partly the frequent changes in the path up or down, partly that the altitude made effort more difficult, and I was out of breath quickly when the path turned up.   It is so strange to ride a rental bike, partly that it was not well adjusted and the front hub was too tight, and the rear too loose. Mostly it was that I did not have my shoes, helmet, gloves and most of all mirror.  The little things that make riding a continuous experience. 

The trails and paths were very well maintained, and we saw a lot of people riding bikes.  I think there is a concrete path running near I70 from beyond Glenwood Springs east to Denver, but at least Aspen and Vale.  The mountains are a weird place for me.  There are times when I am going down hill that I feel like I am going up hill, and times when I am going uphill that I feel like I was on the level or even going downhill.  When I drove west, I seemed to be driving downhill much of the time after we went through the tunnel near the continental divide.  When I drove back east I realized that there were considerable variations up and down.  When on the bike it was the same way.

I did find some very good BBQ in a little town outside of Denver called Idaho Springs.  We stopped there after we got through Denver on our way out, and found a nice hotel.  We ended up staying there for several nights and using it as a staging point for forays back into Denver and into the surrounding area.  We really liked the town a great deal.

Smokin Yard's BBQ was near the hotel, and we stopped into try it.  I had the usual brisket and fries.
The brisket was wonderful, thinly sliced and a nice flavor.  They had a nice menu, with a wide variety of offerings....including cream corn!

It was a nice atmosphere....clean, nice but not fancy.  

It is to bad that it is so far away.....