In our high desert climate,
winter riding can be tough. Most bicyclists living here leave their
bikes in the garage for 4 or 5 months every year. Many of us get in a
routine of lots of exercise and lots of activity centered around the summer.
During that time we build up our cardio and muscle strength and reduce our fat
and body weight. Then, through winter we lose everything we gained
because of less activity and less exercise-and this happens year after year, a
vicious circle!
Bicyclists in northern Nevada
can maintain their fitness comfortably and without losing a beat if they are
willing to ride indoors for a few months. There are two approaches to
indoor cycling (both available at Great Basin Bicycles): Placing your
bike on a gadget called a "trainer" or obtaining an
"indoor-dedicated" bicycle ( an "exercise" bike or "exercycle").
Most trainers require that you clamp the rear wheel
of your bike at the axle, to elevate it off the ground and onto a roller.
The roller has some form of built-in resistance (we carry air, magnet and
fluid types, ranging in price from around $100 to $300) to simulate actual
road riding. Fluid is the most expensive and best approximates the feel
of the real thing. You can vary the resistance on many models, and some
do so very conveniently by a lever you attach to your bike's handlebars.
Most trainers do not require balancing the bike. If you would like to
add balance to the indoor riding experience, "rollers" are
available. Both wheels, rather than just the rear one, are freely
spinning and you have to pay attention or you can crash in your living room.
The primary advantage to all forms of trainers is the fact that you are on the
same bike you rode all summer-same saddle, same riding position, same feel.
Exercise bikes continue to be
very popular as a means to cycling indoors. Many people join a local gym
or fitness club just to keep on riding. Exercise bikes range in price
from under $100 to over $2000. For most cyclists, if their budget is
under $300 they buy a trainer. All the features such as programmed
resistance and heart rate monitoring that you find on the fitness center bikes
are not available on inexpensive, discount store models. The exercise
bike market is much like the regular bike market-discount stores sell
"Huffy-like", poorly made, poorly performing, cheap units and bike
shops and exercise equipment stores sell "Cannondale-like", quality
exercycles. Great Basin Bicycles sells Diamondback Fitness equipment,
built on a heritage of race-winning regular bikes, "health club
technology for the home". Their indoor exercise equipment (upright
and recumbent bikes plus stair stepper and elliptical machines), ranging in
price from $650 to $1600, like all products manufactured by the parent company
Raleigh are a great value.
Much like with regular
bicycles, buying quality equipment usually increases a person's enthusiasm for
riding. Our exercise bikes offer integral heart rate monitors and a
variety of programs of resistance. For example, you can ride flat
terrain for a while and then after a certain length of time begin
"climbing". After a specified amount of climbing you then move
to flat terrain again for a cool-down. These programs automate the
resistance, at 16 different levels of strength, for your entire workout.
Exercise bikes come in two
"frame styles", upright and recumbent. The upright bikes more
closely approximate the riding position and muscle workouts of a regular bike.
If that's a position you prefer, then choose that kind of exercycle. For
a more comfortable seating position, one that makes simultaneous exercising of
your upper body and arms a little easier, consider a recumbent (the pedals are
located out in front of your hips, rather than below them as in traditional
bike riding). And these models offer a back to the seat for lower back
support, something you'll never see on a regular bike.
Indoor riding at home
continues to increase in popularity. You can exercise without traveling
anywhere, and wearing any old clothes you choose. You can put your
trainer or exercise bike in front of the t.v. to watch movies or near a stereo
to listen to your favorite music. Some people use the exercise time as
an opportunity to read, a feat most easily accomplished with recumbent
exercycles. No matter how you approach it, if you exercise forty-five
minutes or more at least four days a week all winter, you'll reach next year's
riding season fit and ready!
Ray Miskimins _ Owner Great Basin Bicycles
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