The bike-in-a-box is a solution to keep heat, match, and social in chilly outside climate, in a approach that doesn’t waste vitality. It’s a bit of bit like a one-person transportable sauna (see ridiculous photos under), besides that it’s not truly a sauna, and it may be utilized by a couple of particular person at a time.
The concept is that this: you place a number of stationary recumbent bikes inside an insulated field, with a gap on prime of the field in your head (your warmly behatted head) to peep out of. Ideally the bikes even have heated seats, so that you just’ll be heat whenever you first sit down, earlier than you’ve had an opportunity to warmth up from pedalling. The insulated field will lure a lot of the warmth given off from the seats (and out of your physique), and also will act as a wind-breaker on windy days.
If the field is positioned in a sunny space in the course of the daytime, that may clearly present a supply of warmth as effectively. You possibly can additionally place the field close to a hearth, or warmth the field from inside, for instance by utilizing an area heater. When you’ve warmed up from pedalling, you possibly can then cut back these further sources of warmth with the intention to save in your use of electrical energy or gasoline (or within the case of yard wood-fires, to scale back your smoke inhalation and contribution to city air air pollution).
One other supply of warmth for the bike-in-a-box can come by means of scorching drinks and scorching meals. The field will include a hatch for warm meals and drinks to be saved in, in order that your meals and drinks can keep heat within the insulated field whereas, on the similar time, they can even be offering further warmth to the field. (I haven’t fairly discovered methods to get the meals from the field to your mouth but, however we’ll cross that bridge after we come to it…)
In idea, the bikes is also hooked up to a pedal-powered warmth pump to offer further warmth to the field.
The bike-in-a-box can subsequently be a social and bodily exercise,
permitting you and your folks to eat and drink exterior in chilly climate, maybe in entrance of a small fireplace below the celebrities within the countryside, or maybe whereas watching sports activities or a film on a giant outside display in your yard within the metropolis. (You gained’t be bothering your neighbours practically as a lot as you’ll on a heat night time, when home windows are open they usually is likely to be exterior too). You may also bike-race your folks nearly, and even play pedal-based video video games with your folks, on that very same massive outside display.
Should you use a recumbent or semi-recumbent bicycle or tricycle in the course of the hotter a part of the 12 months, you would additionally put it on a motorcycle coach stand within the winter with the intention to briefly flip it right into a stationary bike in a field for the season. Should you do that, you’ll then even have the choice of taking your bike or trike out of the field, with the intention to use it indoors as effectively in the course of the winter:
In the summertime, the field may double as a yard storage shed, in your summer time sports activities or backyard gear (and so forth.) that you just may retailer in your storage in the course of the winter.
Certain, it could look absurd to sit down exterior along with your head protruding of a field. But it surely’s additionally a approach of getting contemporary air and train and having enjoyable within the winter, significantly for seniors who may, for instance, be fearful about going to the health club due to a winter pandemic surge, or be fearful about jogging exterior on icy roads. And it’s an excellent excuse for watching television guilt-free.
