Since my beloved elliptical died, I’ve gone through various pieces of exercise equipment with varying degrees of success. Most have been very limited amounts of success. I tried to keep my elliptical functioning, but literally the wheels were falling off. Eventually, I had to admit it was just scrap metal and out it went from my exercise space in our football room.
In that room, every flat surface and all the walls are lined with memorabilia Dave and I collected from childhood through the present. Cleveland Browns for him, Pittsburgh Steelers for me and a giant flag that says “House Divided.” Watching football games in that room inspires me to get moving with my exercises.
After my elliptical went away, I got a little bike that’s like doing squats. I could do 25 at a time, two times a day. I don’t know what, if anything, that did for me. I’ve tried to step up my game lately on diet and exercise. So far, I’ve managed to keep off five pounds since my starting point at the beginning of summer. Not exactly what I was aiming for.
Still looking to replace my elliptical, I found a treadmill at a yard sale for just $15. Awesome. I tested it out on the back porch to be sure I could do it (it was a manual machine). Our son turned down the tension and lo and behold, I could make it move. Not a lot, but I thought with time, I could get good at it. So, I went ahead and dragged it upstairs by myself. Dave was already in bed and I wanted it upstairs. Now. No one is more determined than a woman moving furniture by herself.
Once upstairs, I was able to make the treadmill move, but only for a minute or so at a time. I kept trying and trying, but it wasn’t working for me. Our son suggested I just buy another elliptical. Sure — right after I hit the lottery. That doesn’t fit into our budget right now.
Besides, I had my eye on an exercise bike at the local thrift store. It was beautiful, but it was 40 bucks. Also not really in the budget right now. I gave it a week or two to see if they sold it before I was prepared to offer her $30 for it and hope she accepted it. I was thrilled to see it was still there and ecstatic to see it had been marked down to $15. It took me and Dave, the store owner and one of her customers to get the bike crammed into our little jitney. It was like the car was giving birth when our son took it back out and set it on the porch.
I wasn’t worried about testing it out first, I was already in love. And since I didn’t wait til after hours (like Dave’s bedtime), I had him to help me get the treadmill and the squat machine out. Gravity is your friend on the way down the steps. We put them at the road the day after the trash man came so people would have an opportunity to get them.
If nobody wanted them, they’d have gone to the scrapyard, not the garbage dump anyway.
We didn’t have too many looky-lou’s, although I did watch two younger guys test them out. But then they continued their walk down the road. Yeah, you’re going to at least need a car for these things.
Finally, on the last day before the trash man would come again, we had a taker. Dave helped the guy load them into his truck. He said he was getting them for his wife. Awesome. Maybe. Maybe she’ll be thrilled with them like I was when I got them. Or, maybe she doesn’t think she needs to up her exercise game. Like, “You’re looking a little chunky lately, honey, so I got you these.” Let’s hope she was thrilled.
My new exercise bike was a lot heavier than it looked, so even with both of us, Dave and I faced a challenge getting it upstairs. It turns out it’s a Schwinn Airdyne, quite an expensive piece of equipment if you buy it new. I got the seat adjusted down to my level and have overcome the issue of slipping off the seat with some Velcro and an old dish towel.
I haven’t figured out the dashboard yet, but I’m making due with my little kitchen timer. And our Beagle Boy Cletus is loving the air from the fan on the front.
