Like many the early pandemic period pushed me towards finding a way to stay fit(ter) at home. Our usual routine of walking every day is a good thing, but despite it’s benefits for mental health, it really only provides a floor for cardiovascular health. Given that there are essentially no hills around here, something else is required…
And so i bought an exercise / spinning bike. More specifically i bought a Schwinn IC8, which is now “updated” and called an 800IC. Over the last two years it has needed “service” several times to fix issues that seemed to caused by poor quality construction. Fingers crossed is now running smoothly. The local service provider was good about it, sending someone out during the warranty period (now ended) but it was a slow and frustrating process.
Several years later we’re both still semi-regularly using it… so that’s good! What tends to happen is that we’ll get into a routine, fall out of it, and taking a few weeks (or months depending on what is going on!) to get back in the saddle.
I’ve had a good few runs, where it was obvious that it was doing good things to my general level of health… during one of these periods a good friend (thanks again Sean!) bought me a heart monitor so i could better track my progress. I’d really like to lower my frenetic resting heart rate – in my head (and heart apparently) i’m a small, nervous, mammal.
The bike has a power meter, probably ridiculously inaccrurate, but hopefully consistent in its inaccuracy. One of my first requirements was to (privately) track some basic infomation about my rides… and, oh my, that’s a nightmare! Eventually i found an app called Kinetic, which would at least record the power meter, heart monitor, and send the data to the Health app on my phone.
After some more coaxing from Sean, it looks like i’ve finally got a stable (and in hindsight) and entirelly obvious setup: connect the heart monitor to the bike (bluetooth); connect the bike to Kinetic; cycle; end the ride and let Kinetic transfer the data to connected apps (currently Health and Strava).
Now i’d like to keep a routine through the winter and emerge from my cocoon in spring as a beautiful, big legged, healthy, butterfly… try not to dwell too long on that mental image!
It'll All End In Tears 