The Elliptigo

My parents got me a guest pass to the gym where they go while I was in Colorado. (I'm grateful for it because a yoga class the first day fixed the kink in my neck caused by my 20+ lb baby in the front pack). The gym rents out elliptical bicycles (a.k.a. "Elliptigo" -- which I had never seen before) for an hour at a time. My interest was piqued because ellipticals are by far my favorite pieces of gym equipment. I was slightly reserved about the idea of riding one though, but when my sister-in-law heard about them, she made a very convincing case for trying them out.

Riding the Elliptigo (especially up the hills of underpasses) felt a bit like riding on a bicycle without a seat. There's a "Would You Rather?" card game that gives two alternatives of not so fun things. One of the options was  "riding on a bicycle with just the seat stem and no seat for 100 miles"... that was kind of what I was imagining with the Elliptigo. The Elliptigo website clears up this misconception about their product. Apparently, it was originally created for runners recovering from injuries and not as a bicycle replacement.

 I really wish we had a camera. It was fun to see all the quizzical looks and hear the comments of the people we rode past. I don't have great balance, so I had to coast when we were going by anyone else on the path. I managed not to run anyone off the road and only ran myself off once.  I missed moving my arms like I would on a stationary elliptical... but I'm sure moving arms would NOT have helped my balance. Not moving my arms meant it was a total lower body workout. It was a little strange to have my thighs burn and not my calves like on a regular bicycle. It was nice that I got a second wind mid-way though the ride. 


I'm glad Marla was paying attention to where we were going because I didn't realize there were so many "spurs" to the trail and I took a wrong turn on the way back, but she just went on the other way and waited for me to catch up. It was amazing how different things looked going the other direction, which was an ironic observation on my part, because I had been thinking about what a shame it was to have to go back the way we came.


Riding the Elliptigo was an enjoyable life experience, but I'm not sure that I would ever need to own one... Well okay, maybe I would if money was not an issue, but not before I get a skeeball machine. I wonder if I could keep up with the boys on bicycles when they get bigger if I had one.