The back rest is nice, but the seat is super large and the leg cut outs aren't cut out enough for my thighs; maybe that will change as I lose weight? I don't know, all I know is i have to sit with a memory foam pillow under me and a regular pillow on the back rest in order to move my body forward enough to not be in too much pain. Maybe I just need to play around with the seat adjustments more; I"m not sure.
My Townie hurt my butt at first too, but I was able to get a gel seat cover that took care of the problem. There is only one seat cover that I've found that will cover the huge exerpeutic seat, and it's 50 US, or 80 something Canadian, and the bike was only 162 at the Walmart, so I hate to go that route. For now the pillows are working well enough. I may just need to get used to it, but so far 20 minutes is all I can manage because of the seat.
I've found so many cool virtual bike rides on Youtube. Some have music but my favorites are the ones with natural sound. So far I've gone on two short rides, the first through Amsterdam, and the second in Manhattan!
The first one is a virtual hike, not a bike ride, but it worked well for me and the scenery was breathtaking. Isn't it gorgeous?
The second is an actual bike ride, in New York. It's a guy commuting to work, and I liked the natural sounds and the fact that I could see his hands on the handle bars. He rides much faster than I do and I found myself trying to speed up when he did. He flew through a narrow overpass, something I would never do because I'd be terrified of hitting the sides at that speed, lol. I'd never ride in New York so it's nice that I get to do it vicariously from my livingroom.
Both videos are just under 20 minutes, which was perfect for me. I meant to take a photo of my set up but I forgot and already put everything back so I'll do it tomorrow. Basically, I just put a tv table in front of the exercise bike, stick my laptop on it, and then put my fan near the bike so I can feel the wind in my hair. I get on the bike first, then start the video, and it sort of feels like I'm riding somewhere, even though I'm in my livingroom. It would be so much nicer with virtual reality, or even on the big screen TV. I may buy a cord so I can attach my computer to the TV and watch on the big screen; that would be cool.
So, that's it. Hopefully I'll be able to go for longer periods of time with practice. My inner thigh is just killing me right now so I"m really hoping things will improve with time.
