I am doing the Via! It’s a meet up our our RunningAhead women’s group. Some of them are doing the relay, we have one or two doing the full (I think) and about 4 or 5 in the half. Glad to get confirmation that it’s flat. I’ll get to visit my family in the Poconos while I’m up there.
Test ride of the Arc in my private driveway - success! The gear shifter really helps. I was able to climb our hilly driveway (about 20% grade), huffing and puffing, of course, but I managed to do it several times. Boy, I am out of shape!
Ohio, the Arc is obviously slightly wider than a bike, but not by much. The frame is bike-like (think skinny-wheeled “trick” bike), and the footrests extend outside of the frame by about as much as bike pedals do. I will measure it an post the dimensions after our ride on the trail! Praying that it will not be a disaster. 
Here is the best part: my Fitbit counts steps while I ride!! 
That’s awesome, Bunsen! I think you will like it a lot. You can channel your inner Meb!
WooHoo on the Fitbit credit!!!
Could we have video too please?!
In due course! Mr. has a Youtube channel…
Well - epic fail. Got to the park and discovered that the trail is being used for a major otganized bike ride! A gazillion of porta potties, a quadrillion of spandex-clad sweaty bodies, and twice as many wheels. There is simply no space there for a slowpoke elliptibike. Turned around and will be amusing the neighbors
Seems like you are really going to enjoy the Eliptigo, Bunsen. Have fun with it! 20% grade in your driveway - yikes, that will give you a killer work out!!
MOWC, yeah, it seems like this hot weather is never going to end. Hit 93 today outside of the city! At least your race is north up in Allentown. Should be cooler in general and in 2 weeks, who knows, the weather could turn.
Yes, Michael, I used the driveway for hill speedwork and garbage can rolling exercises.
Went for a short ride in the neighborhood. Phew… We have some serious hills, who would have thought! Would have gone for a longer ride if Mr. had not found a semi-dead garter snake. He HAD to pick it up and carry it for a while, and then of course we needed to go back so he could wash his hands! So only a 20 min ride, but I already feel the muscles that I thought I never had. It is a good low impact workout device.
Michael - I crashed two weeks ago in my triathlon. The handlebars (stem) are at 11 o’clock vs 12 o’clock looking down. When I crashed they must have moved. I’m guessing it is the Allen nut in the stem that needs loosened? I think I’m going to take it in eventually just to see if wheels are still true and just to see if any frame damage? (Is there a way to check on a carbon fiber?)
Bunsen - does the Elliptigo fold up for easy transport?
Ohio, here’s what I would suggest. First, short of x-raying your frame, the only way to check for frame damage is to look for visible cracks in the paint, clear coat or top layers of the lay up. Check it out under a magnifying glass. Given the impact on your stem and handlebars, pay particular attention to the head tube area. Second, I would have your bike shop drop the fork out of the head tube and check the fork’s steerer tube for damage. Usually, on carbon fiber tri or time trial bikes, the carbon forks have carbon steerer tubes which can be susceptible to damage by impact and the torsional stresses of the impact on your stem. I would check not only the steerer tube itself but also the junction of the steerer tube with the fork crown. As to repositioning your stem back to center, there are two stem steerer tube clamp bolts that need to be loosened. However, it is also usually necessary to loosen the stem top cap bolt which is the adjuster for the headset bearings and cups tension. All of this would be done as a matter of course as part of dropping the fork out for inspection. When resetting everything and tightening the stem top cap bolt, it’s important not to over tighten which would cause the headset to bind up. When tightening the stem steerer tube clamp bolts, it’s important to use a torque wrench with NM (Newton Meters) measurements to avoid over tightening the stem and cracking the fork’s steerer tube. The stem usually has the recommended torque specs print on it by the steerer clamp. Finally, if you have carbon bars, have them checked out too. While if there is no visible damage or cracks, you are probably ok, it’s important to have a mechanic who is really excellent with carbon fiber check things out. When carbon fiber fails, it does so catastrophically unlike other materials. As to your wheels, unless they too are carbon fiber, easy to check out. Just spin them and watch how the rim’s sidewalls track relative to your brake pads. It should be uniform and if the gap between the brake pad and rim oscillates, your rim is out of true. Don’t get fooled by the tire. It’s the rim you need to watch. Then check whether the top edge of the rim oscillates the gap between it and the underside of the fork crown or brake assembly. If it does, your rim is out of round. The former is usually 100% fixable by simply adjusting spoke tension. The latter can be more problematic and could require rim replacement. Hope this helps.
Have fun MOWC! I read that the course (laid out by Bart Yasso) is a good BQ race. Super flat, runs along the river.
What a nice gathering. And you have family not far away. Win. Win.
D likes this race especially because her work is one of the sponsors and pays their registration. I think it’s probably good that she’s only running a relay because it’s been so hot that training has been difficult. She’s also newly single this summer and has been having a great time going out with girlfriends. Not so fun to get that weekend long run in when you can only run at 6 am because of the heat.
“Bunsen - does the Elliptigo fold up for easy transport?”
We had no problem fitting it into our Lexus van (RX330) with the rear seats folded. It also fits into my Corolla hatchback - ditto with the seats folded. You have to remove the column - there is an easy pin and locking mechanism for that, then it can be reassembled quickly. The bike has a kickstand. It is super cute!
The Arc is different from the other models because it is not a true elliptical; the pedals move in a circular motion a la riding your bike while standing but much more comfortably. Neither Mr. nor I were really crazy about the other models, so we got the Arc. The store gave us a small discount ($200), but if you look online, the bikes are all list price. Our store also had the other ellipticals for rent.
20K steps today, however, I still feel like it didn’t make up for the pasta bolognese I had for dinner. Maybe I would have been better off skipping both the pasta and the 20K steps!
LOL, bus!
Deb, good for your D that she is keeping herself busy!
First steady run in the past two weeks. 4 miles with running group at 5:50 am. Hit the snooze two times before I got enough courage to get out of bed. Need to start running with this fast group. Wish they’d run in the PM. Knee felt/feels good.
Ran about 2.5 this AM. Still humid here but a bit cooler. It really feels good to be back on track with running (though I am still building the intervals back up) and yoga.
I was pleased to see that I gained only one pound when visiting the midwest last week. Lots of unhealthy food - fried chicken and pork as well as the never empty candy dish at my mom’s house and MIL’s cheesecake. I did run twice and walked a lot including a hike so that helped.
It was a busy weekend and I am so far behind with all the posts! I had a pretty good run Saturday morning. I did 18 miles and my pace was OK. We started at 6:15 am so it was nice to have it cool in the beginning (well, maybe not cool at 70 degrees, but not hot). I like running in the pre-dawn, it is fun to see other runners on the trail and watch the sun gradually come up. But then the next couple hours are not as fun! Yesterday we volunteered at a local canoe float event. Six hours of helping people out of their canoes and then hauling the canoes up to a staging area, then loading canoes onto the trailer - I have very sore shoulder and back muscles today. H was a not happy that I ended up with 30K steps for the day from all the walking and hauling (plus a good bit of pacing while waiting in between arrivals). He did shuttle duty, driving paddlers between the registration/exit point where people parked their cars up to the take off point. With all his time in the car, he was pushing it to make it to 10K steps for the day - the dog was happy to get a nice walk before bedtime so that H could hit that 10K.
Bunsen - the ElliptiGo sounds awesome! I hope you have a chance to ride it on your bike path soon. That sounds even more fun than in the neighborhood. I’m really glad you were able to get this so that you can continue with your exercise program even through your injury.
MOWC - I was glad to read that you plan to reduce your mileage for 2017. It really seems as if you put a lot of miles on and over so many years that you’ve been running, that really has to be hard on your body and joints.
sabaray - you are doing great plugging away at your training program. I know that you will have a great run at your MCM this fall.
Got a few pounds to lose here - I’m recommitting to my healthy eating plan. I have no problem following the plan - it’s just the extra stuff that somehow gets eaten on top of the plan.
I’ve settled on 7 half marathons for 2017 - one in the fall still TBD, the others all identified and signed up for! I still have 2 to complete in 2016. I think I’m addicted to the endorphin rush that comes in the minutes/hours after finishing one.
@Plantmom - it sounds like you are good & ready for your half!
@BunsenBurner - curious to see if you will set off a wave of Elliptigo purchases on this thread! It sounds like so much fun.
Early morning, lengthy pup walk – before the brutal heat sets in. My father has been here for a few days, so I didn’t feel I should run off to the gym …