The Exercise Bike

The Exercise Bike

'I heard he was only thirty-five' someone whispered from within the crowd of bargain hunters,searching through the deceased persons items on the front lawn.

'And it wasn't as if he was overweight either' came the whispered reply.

'A massive heart attack' somebody else said.

'Who would have believed it' from someone else entirely 'He looked so young and fit'

Don listened to the crowd as he perused the items for sale.Weights,barbells,a bench press in one area,household effects,linen and clothes in another.Furniture and other large items clumped together near the side fence.Just about everything imaginable he thought to himself.Some new,some old-as per usual.

Don enjoyed seeking out garage sales on the weekend.After dropping his wife at work at 10 am it gave him something to do and helped while away an hour or two before he had to go home and prepare lunch.He always picked her up at 2 pm for her lunch break and liked to have everything ready when she came in the door.

He watched as people gathered their chosen items into separate piles to denote they were taken-but not yet paid for.He wondered if he would spot anything of interest himself.Most times he came away empty handed,knowing he had enough junk cluttering up the house and back verandah as it was.But he still searched in earnest,for he never knew when he might spot that one off bargain,something so cheap he'd be able to brag about to his mates and the Mrs when he picked her up.

He ambled alongside a row of plastic tables strewn with kitchenware and novelty items,all of which he had no use for and then he saw it,about a metre or so past the last table.Standing there on it's lonesome,as if it had been outcast by all the other items in the garage sale.

A shining silver and black exercise bike.Just like the ones you see in those fancy sports catalogues that come delivered inside your West Australian newspaper each week.A postcard sized sign hung from the middle of the black foam padded handlebars.From where he was now standing it looked brand new.He took another three steps and came to a halt  right in front of it.

His eyes went straight to the price tag and he wondered if someone had switched tags or something because it only read forty dollars.

He knew that it's original price would have been around the four to five hundred mark and he could see from it's condition it was still fairly new.

Don adjusted the height of the padded seat and with one foot on the near pedal he raised himself onto it.He placed his other foot on the opposite pedal and wiggled his backside to get comfortable.The pedals felt about right for the length of his legs and he started their rotation by pushing down on his right foot.

The pedals were hard to push from a standing start and Don leant forward and adjusted the tension knob in the centre of the bike.Who-ever had used the bike last had the tension set way over on the + side and Don thought that anyone who could pedal far on that setting would have to be well and truly fit.With the tension turned right down Don pedalled the bike and listened for any noises that would indicate if there was anything wrong.He was pleasanty surprised to feel the pedals move freely and the bike appeared to be without fault in the mechanical side.However a glance at the screen on the handle bars told another story.The display panel was absolutey blank.Not even a flicker of life showed on the small rectangular screen.

Don had never actually used an exercise bike before,but from what he had read in the advertising pamphlets he new they gave out  information such as speed,distance travelled ,calories burnt and heart rate.And for forty bucks he figured it didn't really matter about all that info' anyway,just so long as the pedals turned freely and the thing was stable,that would satisfy his needs for a five minute burst here and there in front of the tele'.

He dismounted from the bike and went in search of someone in charge.

Don spotted a rather short and somewhat rotund little lady who was taking money from a chap and dispensing change from a tan coloured bumbag attached to the front of her belt.He approached her and asked about the bike.

"I notice the display isn't working on the exercise bike' he said,'Do you know if there is an on-off switch or something to get it activated.'

The lady replied that she had no idea and called for her husband to come and talk to him.

'What can I help you with mate?'the slim elderly gent asked as he approached Don.

'Yeah,i'm interested in the bike over there and I was wondering if you knew anything about the display panel' enquired Don.

'Sorry mate,can't help you there,don't know a thing about the cursed bike,that's why I've only got forty bucks on it.'

'I'll take it' replied Don and whipped his ageing cowhide wallet from his back pocket.

He took out a couple of twenties and handed them to the old chap.

'Thankyou' he muttered and then added'Don't know why he got into all this fitness crap for anyway.Didn't do him any bloody good,did it?'and then he turned and walked away to help someone else.

Don leant over and attempted to pick the bike up.It was a lot heavier than he had anticipated and he stood back and studied it.It had small wheels at the front that enabled it to be wheeled around once you tilted it by the handlebars but he could see that they would only work on a hard level surface such as a concrete floor or pathway.

The bike was about six metres from the driveway and if he could get it there it would be easy enough to roll it out to his ute that was parked about two houses down.

Don looked around and spotted a rather beefy looking bloke with a beer belly to match his broad shoulders,tagging along behind a heavy set woman,who he assumed was probably his wife.He approached him and asked if he could bother him for a lift.

'No worries mate'he replied and came right on over to where the bike sat motionless on the front lawn.'I've been thinking of getting one of these meself you know'

The two of them lifted the bike to the driveway and placed it down carefully.

'I can wheel it from here' said Don 'But if you wouldn't mind giving me a hand with it into the ute that would be great'

"No worries mate' the bloke repeated and followed Don as he wheeled the bike out to his ute.

They took an end each and hoisted the silver and black beast onto the back of Don's ute.

'Much appreciated' said Don

'No worries mate'said the other guy once again,and Don smiled and chuckled to himself at his repetitive answers.

Don drove straight home and reversed the ute up the driveway stopping just short of the back patio.He called for his eldest son Steven to come and give him a hand unloading the bike.He was usually lurking around somewhere at this time of the day.

Steven emerged from the kitchen with a sandwich in one hand and a can of coke in the other.

'What's up old boy' he sang out.

'I need a hand to get this exercise bike off the ute,it weighs a bloody ton.'

'What the hell you buy that for?,it'll just sit and collect dust like the rowing machine and the abcurl thingy that you never use.'Steven laughed taking the piss out of his old man.

'Twas a bargain my boy,only forty bucks'

After the two of them had unloaded the bike onto the back patio,Don went in search of some tools to dismantle the display panel.He returned with a couple of different screwdrivers and a pair of pliers.

There were four philips head screws holding the panel to the frame and he undid them with ease.Once he removed the panel from the stand he could see that there was a small square cover,which he assumed led to the battery compartment.He prised it open and sure enough there was a case holding four pencil type batteries.He went to remove it from it's cradle within the panel and noticed that one of the wires had broken free.

'Aha,too easy' he exclaimed.And went in search of his soldering iron and solder.

Within fifteen minutes Don was reassembling the panel with four new batteries and a resoldered positive wire.

'Don't know why you're bothering to fix it' remarked Steven 'You'll never use'

"We'll see smarty bum' Don replied' I'll be running rings around you before you know it'

He tightened the last screw and set the screwdriver down with the other tools.

"Now for a test run,my boy' Don said gleefully as he hoisted himself up onto the padded seat.

He pushed down on his right foot and started the pedals in motion.A short beep emanated from the panel and it lit up with a row of zeroes.

'Houston,We have lift off' Don said in a serious but comical voice and continued to pedal faster.

He watched as the numbers started to change on the screen and worked out which one was the km's and distance travelled etc.The last number was his heart rate or pulse.It read 85.

After doing one km Don stopped pedaling and sat for a while to regain his breath.He wasn't quite as fit as he thought and when he dismounted from the bike his legs felt like jelly.

'She'll be right ' he thought to himself ' A few days on this and i'll be fightin' fit,ready to take on the world'

He heard his son call out from inside the house,'I'm go'in down town Dad,i'll seeya later'

'Ok' he shouted back and listened to the front door slam against its jamb.

He waited till his legs felt a bit sturdier and went inside to find a place for his new toy.

The family room was a bit crowded and they only had a small tele' in there,so he headed for the lounge.'Yep' this would do.All he had to do was re-arrange the furniture a little and the bike could sit about two metres to the left and in front of the large flat screen tv.

Once he had everything in place Don switched the entertainment system on and the large screen flashed vividly to life.There was an opera in full swing and the wall mounted speakers delivered the high quality digital sound throughout the room with amazing clarity.He switched channels and found a fishing program just starting on GWN.This'll do he thought and stradled the Beast as he had come to call it.It was just after one pm and he thought he would get in a few km's before arranging lunch and heading down town to get the Mrs.

He started pedalling and after a few rotations he leant forward and turned the tension knob a couple of clicks to the + side.The pedals firmed up as if he was climbing a gradual incline and he put a bit more energy into turning the pedals over.

The fishing show was hotting up on the screen with a couple of large pink snapper being hauled aboard the runabout and the host was screaming in excitement as he attempted to real another from the depths of Sharks Bay.

Don was a keen fisherman himself and he found himself glued to the activity on the screen.His legs pumping away beneath him,his mind oblivious to the readout that he had just fixed on the bikes information panel.

It read from left to right Time 5.00,Speed 16.9,Distance 1.4,Calories 54.5,Pulse 176.

Don hit the deck in unison with the large pinkie that was being hauled out of the crystal clear waters of Sharks Bay.

But unlike the colourful pink snapper that flapped and bounced at it's captors feet-Don's body lay contorted but deathly still,the colour ebbing quickly from his pink face at the foot of his new toy.The Beast.

'I heard he was only forty-two' someone whispered from within the crowd of bargain hunters.

'A massive heart attack' somebody said.

A rather beefy looking bloke with a beer belly to match his broad shoulders,tagged along behind his heavy set wife as they looked for anything of interest at the Saturday morning garage sale.

He stopped in front of a  shining silver and black exercise ....

Copyright 2010 Russell Leslie Howells