Setting up the Xdream
Before your first Xdream experience, you need to get your riding position set-up right
and then learn the controls and movements. Let’s start with the seat height.
The Seat Height
Using the seat quick release lever, slide the saddle so it is lined up with the number 3.
Centralising the saddle in line with the seat post.
• Stand next to the Xdream and adjust the seat by turning the knurled adjuster
mechanism anti-clockwise. Adjust the saddle so the top is in line with the top of
your iliac crest – this is the bony tip of your pelvis at the side of your waist.
• Once position turn the adjuster clockwise to tighten to mechanism.
• Now sit on the bike and place the ball of your foot on the pedal. This is the cor-
rect foot position. This means you should not necessarily have your toes all the way
to the end of the toe-clip. Slowly pedal.
At correct height the riders’ leg should have a slight bend at the bottom of the pedal
stroke but your hips shouldn’t rock. You should be able to drop your heel to straight-
en your leg out completely. If your hips rock from side to side you will need to lower
your seat. If your leg is not fully straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke then raise
the seat.
If your seat is too high: Your hips will rock leading to the ligaments in the sacral iliac
joint area being permanently lengthened and the sacral iliac joint dysfunction can
occur causing sheering of the ligaments.
If your seat is too low: Your leg will not extend to the required length placing greater
stress on the patellar tendon; the psoas can get over developed and shortened
causing posterior pelvic tilt. This can lordotic posture, tonic hamstring and fasic lower
abdominals. This obviously leads to deviation in postural alignment causing muscle
imbalances that can lead to back problems.
Seat Lateral Positioning (Fore/Aft)
• Place your feet on the pedals and turn the pedals until they are at the 3 and 9
position.
• Now look down in line with the front of your knee cap of the foremost leg. You
should be able to see the pedal axle directly below the front of the knee cap.
• Use the seat quick release lever; slide the saddle rail forwards or backwards until
the front of your knee is in the correct position over the pedal axle.
Exercise helps control your weight
Muscles need energy to work. Energy is measured in calories. By burning off
calories, exercise helps balance the calories taken in as food. When we are
sedentary, the balance is usually tipped toward an excess of calories, which
accumulate as fat and additional pounds. When you are physically active, there may
be a deficit of calories, which takes fat away and lowers weight. Lowered weight
reduces the heart's load and is beneficial in diabetes.
Exercise strengthens your bones
When you exercise, bones and muscles work together. Just as muscles grow
stronger when physically stressed, bones also respond by getting stronger. Exercise
also increases bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis, the condition in which
bones lose density, weaken, and become porous and very fragile.
Exercise enhances your emotional well-being
Most people feel calm and have a sense of well-being after
they exercise. Any anxieties they had before exercising are
tempered or even gone. They feel better about themselves,
less tired, more productive at work and more interested in
sex. There seems to be a chemical reason behind these
emotional benefits. Exercise, according to one theory,
releases beta-endorphin, a natural substance in the body
that is hundreds of times more potent than morphine.
This begins to occur just 12 minutes into a workout.
Another theory points to serotonin as the cause of the
exercise high. Increased levels of serotonin in the central
nervous system are associated with feelings of well-being,
heightening of appetite, and lessening of mental depression.
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