Stationary bikes are nothing more than a futile exercise!

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

They could call it the Brexit bike – because you can spend years exercising yourself into a lather without ever going even one step further down the road. Instead it’s known as an exercise bike and, if you stop for a second to think about, it defies all logic.

After all, there is already a type of bike that facilitates exercise by allowing you to pedal away until you’re blue in the face – only this original of the species actually takes you somewhere in the process.

The idea of a stationary bike that goes precisely nowhere sort of loses its lustre by comparison.

In its defence, at least the exercise bike can remain indoors which means you don’t get wet in the rain or sunburnt in the summer. As an additional benefit, you don’t actually have to be able to cycle – as in, balance yourself on a bike – to use it either.

And you can do it in your jockeys or your jim-jams if you wish; you don’t have to dress for warm or cold or wet weather; just slip into the saddle and pedal away until you’re completely blue in the face.

But just like its cousin, the treadmill – where you walk for hours without leaving the spot you started on – it’s a sort if pointless means towards an obvious end.

Yes, you might get a bit fitter and even lose weight – but you’re doing this in your bedroom, your cellar or your garage when there is actually a real world outside the door which would allow you to stimulate your other senses at the same time as you get the endorphins flowing.

Of course, cycling for real can be hazardous to your health as well, what with Galway city’s narrow streets or those restricted rural roads – not to mention puddles and potholes that can leave you feeling you’re cycling across Swiss Emmenthal cheese.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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