Many adults only remember riding a bicycle when they’re on an exercise bike.  Maybe they cycled when they were younger, and then gave it up as they became older. Adults can and should take advantage of bicycle riding instead of just relying on an exercise bike to get some movement. Older folks may want to ride the large tricycle with a basket on the front.

I remember my first exercise bike.  But fonder memories are of my first bicycle.  It was blue with a bell attached to the handlebars and when you worked the little tab back and forth with your thumb, you would hear a tinny ring. All the kids in my neighborhood had bikes and now all of us parents have an exercise bike. Of course the regular kind were much more fun, with two speed bikes, stop and go, unlike the many different cycles that are available now.

I don’t remember any of us being overweight back then. We rode bikes rather than watching some silly or violent program on TV. In fact, there was no TV, no McDonald’s, no computers, no Gameboys. The only video games we had were pictures in our heads.  It seems strange that we replay those while stepping on our exercise bike these days.

During the daylight hours we didn’t have many sedentary games. We ran around in the yards playing imaginary games. It was great fun. At night the whole family would sit around the supper table eating and talking. The meal usually consisted of a meat, two or three vegetables, and dessert with tea or milk to drink. No one opted for bottled water, oh yeah, there was no bottled water.  Like an exercise bike, that’s a new addition to our lives.

The only time we had hamburgers was on Saturday nights, no fries. Instead of fries we had goulash. During the summer we cooked outdoors on a homemade barbecue pit made out of stone. There were no charcoal, electric, or gas grills, we used wood in the pit.  Today, we have all of these – and need an exercise bike to burn off fat.

Some of the neighborhood kids were always invited to eat supper with us on Saturday night. We would eat on a wooden picnic table in the backyard. After supper we would play basketball or horseshoes, or some other game. We got plenty of exercise even without an exercise bike.

Maybe if we had kept on doing those type of things, we would not have so many lazy and overweight people now. Get some “kids” of all ages together and go for a bike ride at least once a week. When you are riding, maybe along the way you’ll ride upon a backyard barbecue pit where you can fix some burgers the old fashion way and pitch a few horseshoes after supper.  For those who can’t, hop on an exercise bike and let your imagination run wild!