May I Have Your Tension, Please?

Mr K loves gadgets and sports equipment. Among his latest Amazon purchases were an air fryer (apparently speeding up the cooking process by a third) and an exercise bike. Mr K had a really good deal when buying the latter, just because it came in boring monochrome: black and grey. The colours meant nothing to Mr K anyway - not because of his sense of aesthetics... He was blind.

Because he couldn't see, Mr K needed help with constructing his new bike. He recently managed to assemble a table himself but spent ages figuring out how to do it without instructions and seeing what the table should look like, not to mention searching for the washers he dropped on the floor. Mr K had a history of GoodGymers assembling his old exercise bikes and cross-trainers, so he knew who to reach out to!

Kash signed up for the task as it resonated with her. She doesn't like when people are denied keeping fit and healthy just because they are injured, don't have the right gear, or their condition prevents them from building their equipment.

Mr K knew GoodGym longer than Kash - about four years - and was very interested in GoodGym runs and missions. He was also curious about parkrun as he used to run himself. Kash told him about guide running and an event in Bushy Park with lots of VI's, but Mr K said he had developed knee issues and his running days were over. But not the cycling days! Mr K has a tandem and rides with his friends even as far as Surrey.

While chatting with Mr K about her experiences with autonomous hoovers (another gadget Mr K was checking out) and how helpful Alexa is for him in daily tasks, Kash unpacked the exercise bike and checked whether all parts were in the box. She took her time assembling them, following the instructions, as she didn't want to undo previous steps. She talked through what she was doing to give Mr K a sense of observing the progress. The most tricky part was connecting a tension wire, and Kash asked Mr K to lend her an adjustable spanner to loosen the mechanism before attaching it.

Finally, the bike looked complete and stable, so Kash tried it out. The resistance adjustment knob worked, so the tension cord must have been attached properly. Phew! Kash asked Mr K to test the bike himself and then changed the handlebar angle to a more comfortable position for him. It was perfect. Another successful sports equipment assembly project for the GoodGym x Mr K portfolio!

Mr K is a lovely chap, and Kash would love to come again to help him - hopefully not to build a bike as that would mean the old one has fallen apart. Mr K was curious about how the shopping missions work, so maybe he will request a GoodGym delivery soon!