Adventure Briggs

I have been biking at my desk since 2020 when we all lost our marbles a little and realized that moving and socializing were crucial to our collective sanity.

Early in my fully-remote journey, I decided that I wanted to find a way to pedal at my desk. Unlike many people who seem to love the idea of a treadmill desk or walking pad, I knew that my poor proprioception made walking while working at a desk impossible. If I can hardly walk through a doorway without bumping it, there’s no way I can focus and balance enough to take steps while also working on complex tasks at my computer.

My first bike desk was simply a proof of concept. I wanted to spend the least amount of money possible in order to test my hypothesis. The hypothesis was simple:

If I have a bike desk, then I will use it.

If my hypothesis turned out to be true for a period of at least a month, then I figured it would be a good investment to buy a height-adjustable desk and a much better spin bike.

In the meanwhile, I took my mother-in-law’s old fan exercise bike that was in my basement:

…and dismembered it, removing the arms with a saw.

I then went to a nearby used furniture store and bought a compact, height-adjustable standing desk. It wasn’t really a desk so much as a small kiosk, but it was $50 so I said yes please. I needed a few extra inches of height, so I popped some bed stands underneath. Worked like a charm:

I also covered the desktop with some fancy contact paper for $7. Very cute.

After working at this desk regularly over a period of a few months, I decided it was time to invest in a much better setup. That’s when my expert bike desk was born.

For a person with a small office setup like me, it only made sense to create a workspace that adjusts for either a chair or a bike because I simply don’t have anywhere to create a second workspace at bike-height in addition to the one I had at chair-height.

Thankfully I live in Furniture City, USA (or close enough) and scored a height-adjustable desk with push button controls for a very reasonable price. At its highest setting, a spin bike fits under it easily and my knees cleared the space no problem.

I had to buy the spin bike since I didn’t already have one, and that took some research. I offloaded the old dusty fan bike and replaced it with an Echelon bike. I didn’t want to buy a low-end bike that had mixed reviews and limited utility. I wanted to be able to control the resistance of the wheel, but I also didn’t want a bike with a screen on it. I had to be able to remove the handlebars to fit it under my desktop, so I would never use the screen anyway. I went with Echelon and have been using it for 2 years. I love it. Great success!

The only hiccup in my plan was that I didn’t realize I’d have to pay if I wanted to track my bike stats via the Echelon app. Ugh—annoying. I said no thank you to that and spent a few bucks to buy the QZ app that manages to connect to your bike’s bluetooth and give you all the stats without having to pay for a stupid subscription. Big W.

The last step is just making myself use the bike. It’s easy to raise my desk and roll the bike over for some light to moderate spinning while I work on the less complex tasks or listen in on webinars. If I don’t feel like running at lunch time, I can get in an hour of biking while I listen to a book or podcast. There are even times where I’m having more casual meetings and I’ll stay on my bike while we chat. If I really try, I can stay still enough from the waist up that I don’t look like I’m pedaling. Ha!

But if you are interested in an active desk setup and you don’t want to jump on the walking pad trend (or if you fear for your safety trying to walk while thinking, talking, and clicking), I highly suggest you check out bike desk!