Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bicycle and exercise

In need of a solid errands bike

l33tpolicywonk — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:13:41 -0800

Need a budget priced new / used bike for grocery shopping and a bike bag to carry them in - tell me what I need and what brands I should look for. I live in DC. In January, I'm moving to a small town in northern Pennsylvania. I'll be looking to get a bike to make about a 3 mi round trip to the grocery store twice weekly, as well as run a handful of other basic errands and maybe get some exercise. Until January, I'll have access to the DC Craigslist market for used bikes (a little overwhelming) as well as any local bike shops. I'd like to spend about $150 on a bike and maybe around $50 on some pannier bags or some other grocery-toting solution that can carry about two bags of groceries. I'd prefer something able to deal with a little bit of snow in the winter and easy to carry up a flight of stairs. Please recommend brands / models of bikes to keep an eye out for, features I should consider when looking at a used bike, and particular storage solutions for groceries. Thanks!

Uphill, both ways, in Pittsburgh

that girl — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:29:16 -0800

How can I make it so that I can make it up the hills on my bicycle? I recently bought myself my first ever bicycle, figured out how to generally not fall over (I'm actually pretty good at the not falling over), and have discovered that I am gloriously excessively out of shape and cannot make it up even the modest hills. This is a problem. I live in Pittsburgh. It is all hills. I live halfway up a rather large hill. I'd like to be able to commute to work, but the last mile of my commute home is a 300' rise in less than a mile, which is way more than I am currently capable of. Everywhere I want to go involves going up a hill. There is a threat of a bus strike soon, so cycling and walking may soon be my only options for getting places. Whenever I cycle now, I end up walking my bike a good amount of the time.

What would be a good training regime for getting myself able to not collapse or pass out or fall over, and make it all the way up some rather big hills on my bicycle? What sort of training and practice can I do with a) a bicycle and b) no other equipment? How often do I need to do these exercises to get better? I am up for various exercises that do not involve cycling, as long as they don't require various gym equipment or any other exercise equipment, really. I don't particularly want to go out on my bicycle in the dark, and with the days getting shorter, the amount of light I have on weekdays is starting to get pretty small.

Why doesn't it hurt so good?

bicyclefish — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:38:43 -0800

Can exercise be good if it doesn't make me sore? Like so many in this modern world, I'd like to fitten myself up.

This summer, I've traded in my Metropass for a bike, and suddenly become that guy who shows up everywhere with a helmet in his hand and his pant leg tucked into his socks. (One of many, here in Toronto.)

I do ride at a good pace, trying to push myself one step beyond where I'm comfortable, and I keep it up. I feel great afterwards, and enjoy my endorphins as much as the next cyclist.

But I've noticed that, even on days where I'll bike across town twice, sometimes riding for hours, I'm not sore the next morning. Runs and even strenuous 6-hours walks certainly do.

What does this say about the exercise I'm getting? Am I not pushing myself hard enough? What does soreness really denote? Is there gain without pain?

I want to ride my bicycle.

Jairus — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 07:58:05 -0800

I would like to buy an exercise bicycle for a friend who wants to cardio train, but has terrible knees. However, I know nothing of exercise bicycles. ...and it seems like there's a lot of options out there. The two brands I've had recommended to me are Keys Fitness and Schwinn, but there are more categories of bikes-that-don't-move than I was aware of. Upright? Recumbant? "Indoor Cycling"?

What are the pros and cons of upright or recumbant bikes? Which ones are better for someone with bad knees? Does anyone have any personal recommendations?

For a budget, I'm looking towards the less-expensive end of things. I don't need a crazed featureset, I want something that works well, isn't going to fall apart, and is worth the money spent.

Any suggestions or personal experiences would be appreciated.

Have stationary bikes fallen out of favor?

LordSludge — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:35:10 -0800

Have stationary bikes fallen out of favor? For several months I've been going to a gym. Besides the freeweights , etc., it has the usual bland assortment of aerobic exercise equipment: steppers, elliptical trainers, and both recumbant and upright stationary bikes. I don't remember the brand, but they all have the same sort of boring interface with a bunch of red dots representing your exercise level, various settings for interval training, endurance training, etc. Nothing special.

Oddly, though, they only have 2 or 3 upright stationary bikes, as compared to 10+ each of recumbant bikes, steepers, and elliptical trainers. Furthermore, nobody (except me) uses the upright stationary bikes. Lots of folks, both men and women, use the recumbant bikes, steppers, and ellipticals.

This works great for me, as I never have to wait in line, but what's the deal? Why doesn't anybody use upright stationary bikes anymore? Or is this just a local, isolated phenomenon?

One solution for exercise and powering the home?

vanoakenfold — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:11:44 -0800

I'd like to help power the house and exercise, both solved with one solution, and need some suggestions. For example: if I set up a massive and ultra-heavy flywheel (half-ton-plus, maybe 8-ft-plus diameter) in my garage, that I could start rotating by pedaling (albeit very slowly at first), could I conceivably get it spinning so fast, perhaps by gear changes on a 10-speed or similar, that I could walk away for hours at a time and it still generate elecricity to power a home-capacity battery from which to draw power?

How to keep my lungs warm when biking in the winter?

kaibutsu — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:04:50 -0800

I'm wanting to do some outdoor bike training this winter, in preparation for going over the Rockies next summer. But, of course, riding in the winter isn't pleasant. The biggest problem I've run into is that my lungs start freezing when I get into a hard climb, while the rest of my body is overheating from the extra layers (essential for big downhills). Any tips on clothing choices that get the best of both worlds, or ways to keep my lungs warm?