We Bought a Bike!

Finally, the post you've all (like 6 of you) have been waiting for. Cycling is something I've always been interested in. We used to go on bike rides in Michigan and I'd hit the bike at the gym for cross-training, but my husband and I started talking about the idea of just getting one for the house. We both own mountain bikes and I'll be honest, they haven't seen much dirt. Michigan doesn't have mountains but boy oh boy, Arizona does! We're not at that level yet. Cardio fitness needs to be built up before you just go balls to the wall. Yes, I am a distance runner, but when I'm on a bike, it's a whole different heart rate experience. Anyway, let's get into the nitty-gritty, shall we?

There she is. The NordicTrack s22i joined our family a few weeks ago. After I shared the news on my Instagram (@britanyg), I got an influx of messages asking how it is, why this, why not the Peloton? In all honestly, I would have had a Zwift setup if we had the extra EXTRA money. But, that requires a road bike, a trainer, and the actual program, all of which would have cost way more in the end. Maybe in the future! But alas, I'll tell you why we chose this set up over anything else on the market, including the largely-worshiped Peloton. Now, I will throw up a disclaimer and say I think the Peloton is a great bike, depending on what your riding needs are. I know a lot of people that own one and love it! This is nothing against them or the bike. Keep on riding your ride! This post is obviously full of my own opinions and hopefully won't come off as bias. I love everybody no matter what you do!

We weighed lots of pros and cons. We even test rode it a handful of times before taking the dive. Getting a bike of this magnitude is an investment. So why a bike, anyway? Why not a treadmill? Well, my husband isn't a runner. I prefer something we both can get great use out of. I had been looking to part ways with the gym for some time as I wasn't even going and doing everything at home, including my yoga routines. When he introduced the idea, I was totally in. There were a few aspects that really sold us on this bike. First and foremost, the warranty. NordicTrack offers a 10-year frame warranty, 2-year parts, and 1-year labor. This is compared to Peloton's 1 year for everything. Speaking of warranties, the NordicTrack comes out of the box with toe cages so anyone can ride the bike right away without having to buy clip-in cycling shoes.

We opted to change our pedals to Shimano SPDs, a very easy flip. The kicker? This doesn't void the warranty. If you change either the pedals or the seat on a Peloton, you can say bye-bye to the warranty. You don't absolutely need to ride a spin bike with clip-in shoes but it will make your ride a little more comfortable. I recently purchased these Bontrager shoes for $80 and they work perfectly. I also like that they don't look like your traditional shoes.

The second feature that I really loved is the fact that the incline and resistance happen automatically with whatever ride you're doing. Your trainer controls it. You can definitely opt in to change it manually but taking the guesswork out of it is nice. Maybe that's just me being lazy. I've done plenty of CycleBar rides and have turned many knobs but to just focus on my ride is great! 

I actually had no idea it went to a negative decline until I was doing a ride. Talk about a kick upon those RPMs! If you want to know what to expect ahead of time, you have the option of watching a graph.

You can also see a leaderboard in that picture. I don't really care about anyone else since I'm not a competitive person but if you're into trying to catch that number one spot, you can filter it to show people in your age group, specify male or female, and many other things. Now, this is a good time to mention the spin classes. Obviously, Peloton is notorious for having that spin gym vibe, offering live classes you can attend from your own living room. While NordicTrack does have a variety of spin type classes, they aren't live. They are all pre-recorded. Clearly, that wasn't a selling point for me. 

If I wanted to just do spin-type classes all the time, we would have gotten the Peloton, but I want variety. The NordicTrack gives you the option of not only what you see up there but trail rides, road series, even complete tours. I think the coolest feature about riding is that it has Google Maps integrated. You can map out any ride you want and it'll follow street view as you go. 

Here's me riding down a road in my hometown of Rochester Hills, Michigan. This is a neat feature for me, as a runner. How? Maybe there's some new road I want to check out but not sure about the number of hills I might die on. Now I can ride it ahead of time. 

I'm in this Argentina series right now and it's been epic! Having the trainer ride along and coach you is super motivating and makes the time go by quicker than just pedaling away on a stationary bike. 

I know, I already posted this picture, give me a break. Another feature I really like is that the massive 22" turns a complete 360 degrees. Some spin rides have workouts where they have you get out of the saddle and do some bodyweight moves or stuff with weights. There is also a full library of workouts that don't include riding such as yoga, HIIT, strength, and more. It's nice to be able to turn the screen and not have to have the bike in the way. The bike does come with 3lbs weights at no extra cost.

Even though the pictures make this bike look massive (maybe it's just the screen), it easily fits into small spaces. We have ours in our guest room right now along the side of the bed. It's only 51" wide! 

I think that pretty much highlights all of the reasons we like this bike and decided to go with it over the Peloton. I can enjoy a spin class but also ride in Moab or France if I wanted to. Do I have any cons? Sure. The incline feature can be a little loud. The touchscreen can be slightly laggy sometimes but it's nothing that completely annoys me as much as my 11-year-old Macbook Pro. The only other con is that there is no Bluetooth option. While we don't have to worry about waking up kids since we don't have any or disturbing each other because it's in a completely different closed-off room in the house, it'd be nice to have the option to have wireless headphones. However, the volume controls let you change the music, the trainer's voice, and the overall volume all separately. If you want to ride without music, you can choose to do so. Obviously, none of these were huge factors into us changing our minds.

There are a lot of negative reviews out there for this bike, most of which revolve around how much "technology" is built into it turning into more fixing later down the road. There are also a ton saying they ripped off Peloton. I mean, every company rips off each other eventually, right? I'm sure we'll see something even more epic in the next year from someone else. I've read that some people returned it after a few weeks when it started making weird noises. One fitness equipment store we visited even had a couple in there butt into us asking if they carried the bike, calling it a "Chinese piece of crap". I laughed as I walked out. We haven't had any issues and so far, we are absolutely loving it. You can't rely on everything you read from the general public. 

I'm sure there is a lot more I could talk about with this. If you want to know more, you can comment below and I'll do my best to answer your question. Whatever you may be riding, I hope you enjoy every minute of it! 

Tofurky Time

I think Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. Yes, family time is great, but I love food. Comfort food, to be exact. The tofurky is already purchased and I'm reviewing the rest of the menu after I write this. This will be my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian but since I'm trying this '30 Days of Vegan' for November thing, everything on the menu will coincide. So far, it's looking pretty friggin' delicious if I do say so myself. Trust me, there will be pictures shared after next weekend.




News flash: it's raining in Arizona!

Look at me, trying to be artsy from my office window. But yes, the rain is here. I find it entertaining because the news treats it as if it's a huge snowstorm in the midwest. They send anchors out to different parts of the state and keep asking what the conditions are where you're at. Yes, the rain here can create pretty hazardous situations. Flooding happens fairly quickly. The temperatures have dropped from 80s to 60s. I can't tell if I'm happy or sad but let's be honest, it's great for running.




Speaking of which, training is going well. We are officially 80 days away from the Mesa Marathon. I've been limited to running at the park because it's the only 'flat' part of town as hills still irritate my knee slightly. I don't know what's worse: treadmills or running the same loop for 5 miles.

I started breaking in my custom orthotics this week. They definitely give that extra support to my rather flat arches. Still have to train some anti-rotation issues and work on glute strengthening but Rome wasn't built in a day and luckily my (not always there) patience is doing well. I even won a contest at therapy and scored a new Hydroflak! Hurray!

Switching gears from feet to pedals, I spectated my first mountain bike race this past weekend. Cycling is definitely something I know I need to do more of, it's just the whole pushing myself to get out and do it thing. I have a decent mountain bike (Specialized) that hasn't seen any dirt. That needs to change.

Speaking of the holidays coming up, we're hosting, and that means cleaning time. I mean, I already clean every week because I'm OCD like that and have to always have a clean and organized environment but like extra EXTRA clean this time. While I've always used normal bleach-containing products and good 'ol fashioned Windex, it was time for a change. A change to something way more environmentally friendly and stuff I could use around the house without making my husband have an asthma attack from the fumes. I'm a big fan of listening to "How I Built This" on NPR. I've always seen Method items at Target but never really knew the back story until the creatures appeared on the show. It's nice to know that if I accidentally drank this stuff in my sleep, I wouldn't have to ring up poison control. I'm a big fan of all of it so far. I like the minty smell. The floor cleaner is the bomb! We even got the laundry detergent! Why the hell does normal laundry detergent have petroleum jelly in it? I've become an ingredient reading crazy person and not just for food. Yes, you will shell out a little bit more but trust me, it's worth it, not only for you but for your whole family.

There's honestly a bunch more stuff I want to write about but I'm going to save it for next time and jump to the part where I share a recipe! What's my biggest downfall in trying to be Vegan? Pizza! Yes, I know there are vegan options out there, but a good, brick oven cooked margarita pizza is my jam. I know there had to be other ways to try some other options at home since frozen pizza isn't my thing. Queue Sam from 'It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken', my favorite recipe website.

Holy matrimony, this was GOOD. Feast your eyes on a BBQ chickpea pizza, complete with red onion, some banana peppers, and vegan mozz cheese. The dough is even homemade because that's how we do it here. This was so simple to make and I was thoroughly surprised how good it tasted. I even dabbed each piece in some vegan ranch like your typical midwestern would. Highly recommend giving this one a try. I'll link the recipe here.




Alrighty, folks. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are celebrating it. If you aren't, have a great week. Try to #OptOutside on Black Friday instead of bowing to the man. See you next time!