Sunday, October 28, 2007

On the road to everywhere (My Sacred Life, Sunday)


As you can see, this is a stationary bike, going nowhere. Except, you can also see that there is a book ready and waiting for my next session on the bike, which will be Monday morning. At the moment, the book is "Eat, Pray, Love," an incredible book which has taken the reading world by storm.

At other times, the book awaiting my return has been fiction, some scholarly work, or a spiritually inspiring book. I read the entire Harry Potter collection, over a period of years, while riding this same bike.

So, you can understand why I call this piece of equipment, the bike "On the road to everywhere." It is my great joy to lose myself in whatever I am currently reading, and then to look up half an hour later to realize just how painless exercise is, as long as your mind has somewhere to go while your body is getting the work done!

7 comments:

Deborah said...

I hate exercise. How can you stand leaving a good book alone until the next session? Any book good enough to get me exercising would stand a threat of being taken down and read for hours in a stationary position. :-)

Jane said...

I love to get myself engrossed in a good book. I have Eat, Pray, Love on my nightstand. I've tried to read it a few times but it always seems like a slow read. I must give it another try.

Happy Monday to you and Julia!

Anonymous said...

This is definitely the way to go. I cannot bear exercise for exercise's sake, though I will happily bike or walk to the store or hike up a mountain trail for a good view. Combining biking with reading is a capital idea.

Rick Hamrick said...

Deborah--my technique is to have lots of other choices which I can read when not on the bike! I typically have at least six or eight books from the library on my nightstand.

Jane--it will call to you when it is time! I meant to take it on our long vacation in September, but managed to leave it at home. It was destined to be my exercise distraction!

Kelly--I need to develop some better habits at work, because I could easily log a few miles there. Instead, I have learned all the lazy-man's techniques for helping people while remaining firmly seated on my gradually spreading backside. Now that we have cooler weather here in Denver, it is my intent to begin taking outdoor breaks and going for a stroll now and again. Lots of nice green areas in this office park, so I don't have to walk along the road inhaling noxious car exhaust!

Thanks to all for stopping by.

The Dream said...

Whoa - riding and reading simultaneously - there is NO WAY I could make that happen! And here I thought I was a multi-tasker - maybe not!

Rick Hamrick said...

Eileen--this is about as tough as breathing and eating at the same time!

The bike is not only stationary, but a recumbent-stationary bike. It is true that I set the LifeCycle to a nice, moderate setting so that I am not in danger of working so hard that I cannot hold my upper body still enough to read. But, that's all it takes.

Mine is really old, but it does resemble the new ones of this same type -- http://us.commercial.lifefitness.com/content.cfm/95re

All of that to say, simply, it isn't hard at all, my friend!

Lynn Cohen said...

Me thinks the recumbent bike must be easier than reading on a treadmill. The best I can muster is watching a bit of bad TV.
I had to laugh at the box and dust on your Nordic Track. Looks just like ours! Why do our exercise enviornments look like junk rooms (ours is/does)...must have something to do with my not wanting to rush in there to exercise lately.

I started this book at my daughters house while babysitting my grandchildren a week ago. It looked interesting. She promised to save it for me when she's done.