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Having Fun, Fun on an Exercise Bike

ELDR Editor-in-Chief Dave Bunnell tries out a virtual reality exercise bike that lets him pretend he's racing up and down the hills near the ocean in the south of France.

Dave Bunnell

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

There are many solutions to the boredom of riding an indoor exercise bike or jogging on a treadmill. If you go to a gym with high-end equipment, the aerobic machines are likely to be outfitted with individualized TV screens so you can watch Oprah or CNN—or you can bring your iPod or simply read a magazine.

These solutions alleviate the tediousness of burning off those calories but I wouldn’t call them “fun” because they merely provide an escape—while your legs are pumping your mind is elsewhere.

I recently heard about a “virtual reality enhanced” exercise bike that is supposedly changing all this. Produced by a Silicon Valley startup, Expresso Fitness, the “Spark” as it is called creates the illusion that your are riding through scenic mountains, along beautiful coastal waters or even through ancient, historical settings.

What is "Virtual Reality," Anyway?

I admit I was intrigued but skeptical. For one thing, virtual reality technology, since its invention by my old friend Jaron Lanier in the early 1980’s has been way over-hyped. And it has been misused to describe things which aren’t really virtual reality.

As defined by Lanier, virtual reality, which some people think of as being similar to an “LSD trip” is actually the opposite. Virtual reality is a way for users to engage more with the activity at hand, not escape from it.

So, when I headed for the Bay Club in San Francisco to test out the Spark, I decided if this thing wasn’t engaging and wasn’t hella fun, it was probably a scam that some foolish venture capital firm had invested in because they were duped by the company’s silver-tongued founders (this has been known to happen!).

Wow, was I in for a treat.

Riding a Spark is like, well, riding a bicycle, only in some ways it is even better. After booting up the screen and selecting to take a 3.4 mile coastal run “past a peaceful farm on your way to an ocean decent” the first thing I noticed wasn’t the splendid graphics on the screen, it was the feel of the moveable handlebars which provide you with a realistic sense that you are actually steering the bike.

Watch Where You are Going

You have to watch where you are going or you’ll find yourself off the road. (The software won’t let you actually crash, however. No matter how inept you are, you’ll end up back on the road.)

Even though the Spark is built around a standard Lifecycle brand exercise bike, the sensation you get from riding it is uncannily close to the real thing. The resistance of the pedals smoothly corresponds to the terrain you see on the video screen. Navigating curves is similar to what you would experience in the “real world” though the bike doesn’t lean to either side (a future enhancement?).

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