Two Hard Days Then an Easy One – BionicOldGuy


On Thursday I did my upper body workout, followed by an easy ride. I was happy to have my new and improved arm-cycling setup. I had recently talked about my problem with early stages of carpal tunnel syndrome. It turns out, using the arm-cycling handles I put on my home exercise bike, there is a great deal of wrist flexion and extension, which is not good for carpal tunnel. So I took a good look at the handles on some commercial arm ergometers and concluded it’s a good idea to have them vertical to allow a more neutral wrist position. This was easily arranged with some fence post handles from a hardware store and some miscellaneous brackets. I padded the handles with some old resistance band handles and wrapped with tape, and voila:

I took this for it’s first test drive Thursday and it allows for a good workout without bothering my wrists. For added protection I also wore wrist braces from Mueller I got on Amazon. Between this an my resistance bands in the garage I get a great upper body workout without bothering wrists or SI joint.

On Friday I was supposed to do a longer (2 1/2 hours) but easy ride. But I got it into my head that this should be at a heart rate of 120. This turned out to require pushing it too hard so I was tired after. In the future I’ll make sure I go by perceived level of exertion which should have been “brisk but comfortable”. Saturday I did an easy day to compensate, just under an hour on my e-bike.

Thursday upper body workout posted on Strava here, ride here, Friday’s ride here, Saturday’s here.

I saw several cottontails on this stretch on Friday but was unable to catch one on camera