A New Stair Stepper and Other Random Thoughts

I’ve had this exercise machine for more than an month now and you are  probably scratching your head and thinking “What? He got another exercise machine?! Doesn’t he have everything already? Is he nuts?” My answers are: yes, no, and probably. Here are what I have: a treadmill, elliptical machine, recumbent bike, spinning bike, stair stepper, weight bench with barbells, dumbbells, resistance bands (rubber tubings), and a chin up/pull up bar. In the last 30 years, I’ve had 3 stair stepping machines. The first two were utilized until they finally broke down. When I bought the elliptical machine, I thought it would take the place of the stair stepper but after just a few uses, I found out that even though it was low impact, the forward and backward motion of the pedals irritated my bad ankle tendons, so I used it infrequently. The up and down motion of the stair stepper does not. When I first looked for stair steppers online, the cheapest one I found was $128. A few weeks after, I found the same product at Overstock.com for $108 with just 2.95 shipping and no tax. When it arrived, assembling it was pretty easy. My concern when I first saw the photo online was if my book rack would be stable on the machine’s handle. I found out after assembling the machine that it would not, because of the curvature of the handle. I tried to think of a remedy and I finally came up with one. I wrapped a bungee cord at the base of the book rack and around the handlebars of the machine. At least even if I bumped the book rack accidentally, it would hold steady and not drop my Asus Transformer, which I use to read while working out.

So what to do with the now unused elliptical machine? Maybe I’ll put it up for sale on Craigslist. Anyone reading this wanna buy it? I bought it for about $500 and am willing to part with it for half that, or best offer.

And then there is this matter of my Nike Velo cycling/touring shoes. I’ve had them since the 80’s and they have served me well. I’ve patched them up so many times that the tops look like they have more Shoo Goo than leather. Well, the glue had become so stiff that they were beginning to hurt my feet. Since I’ve been using the two year old Louis Garneau shoes the last couple of months (even though they are not as comfortable), I finally parted with the Nikes.

          We have a couple of swimming pools in our condo complex but the human occupants haven’t used them yet this year because of the cool spring climate. However this hasn’t stopped some visitors from a nearby park from cavorting in the water and leaving their droppings. I’m talking about ducks who usually come in pairs. Maybe they found our pools to be a nice place to bring a date. I'm not sure if they are the same two every time though.

          And finally - I was going to post some photos here of my face unshaven for 8 days (I don’t shave on my days off from work) and after shaving, but they are too dorky and ugly so I’ll spare you. Thanks for reading y’all J.

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Shopping For Cycling Shoes

On my way home from Saturday’s attempted running comeback (http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2010/08/return-to-running.html), I stopped by Jax Bicycle Store to check out cycling shoes. I had been wearing my 1980’s era Nike Velo touring shoes and while the sturdy soles are still intact, I’ve had to patch holes on its top with Shoe Goo. An old pair of Sidi racing shoes that I had years ago is long gone. I don’t even remember if I threw them away when I stopped cycling, or if I donated it to charity. I mentioned to the new, young salesperson that my shoes were probably older than he was, and indeed, they were :-D. The store had several models from Shimano, Bontrager, and Garneau. Oh boy, did I get sticker shock when I saw the prices of these shoes. The cheapest was $79 and it went all the way to $200 + for the ultralight carbon fiber type. But none of them felt as comfortable for walking as my old shoes did. After trying several pairs for comfort and size with the new employee, an older employee finally showed me a hybrid shoe, the Garneau Multi, which can be used with or without cleats. The previous ones I tried were either mountain biking shoes or racing shoes. Well, I don’t plan on mountain biking, racing, or doing triathlons. I just use the bike for fitness riding. Since they didn’t have any in my size of the hybrid shoes, we exchanged contact information in case I want to special order them or if a shipment with my size came in. A couple of hours after I got home, I looked up my choice of shoes online and most of the prices were the same as it was at Jax’s, except for two online stores. One offered it for 67.95 plus 11.50 shipping, while the other had it for 69.95 with 6.50 shipping. It turns out, the second option was the same store that I bought my padded cycling shorts from, where I got free shipping. However, this time the website didn’t indicate the same free shipping offer. Next, I looked up any promotional codes for that particular store and found a free shipping coupon code. I applied it to my purchase and voila, I had myself another bargain! If I bought those shoes at Jax’s, it would have been 79.99 plus 9.75% state tax. At the online store, it was a flat 69.95 without tax and included free shipping. Having paid off my bike just moments before and since my credit card entered a new billing period, I went ahead with the shoe purchase. It was too sweet a deal to pass up. Anybody interested in reasonably priced cycling gear? Try aerotechdesigns.com. I hope the new shoes will give me a similar number of years of service like the old one is still doing.

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