The Stationary Bike has
never been released as an actual book. It is only available as an
audiobook. The story is split between two CDs and has a total runtime of
about an hour and a half.
The story is read by Law and Order's
Ron McLarty and he tells the tale so well that it is
a joy to listen to it. This is the first audiobook I have ever
listened to and on the strength of the experience I fully intend to buy
some more.
The central character in The Stationary Bike is a
commercial artist named Richard Sifkitz. A week after taking the
physical he had been putting off for three years Sifkitz is invited by
Doctor Brady to review and discuss the results. All of the test names and
numbers on the doctor's sheet are listed in black except for
one. That line is printed in red and it is marked 'cholesterol' and the
number that stands out in that line is '226.' Sifkitz doesn't even bother
to kid himself that 226 is a good number. It wouldn't be in red if it was
a good number.
Doctor Brady discusses Sifkitz' weight with him and explains
the connection between high cholesterol levels and heart disease. Brady
then compares the metabolic process with a work crew - men in chinos and
Doc Martens. "Their job is to grab the stuff you send down the shoot and
dispose of it," Brady tells him. "If you send them more than they can deal
with you put on weight." The doctor tells quite a good story and warns
that Sifkitz' work crew aren't getting any younger and so are no longer as
efficient as they used to be. If Sifkitz doesn't make some changes, and
soon, he will have a real problem on his hands.
When Sifkitz arrives home he cannot get the picture of the
work crew out of his head and he begins to incorporate them into a picture
and even gives the crew names. He doesn't know how he knows all the guy's
names, but somehow he does. He knows all about them and their lives.
Worried by the test results, Sifkitz buys a stationary bike
and puts it in the basement. He is so worried about his health that he
actually rides the thing too. But riding a bike that is going nowhere in a
basement is boring and so he employs his artistic talents and paints a
mural on the wall: a country road, winding through some woods underneath a
red sky. He even buys a map and decides where the road is. He decides
that it starts in Poughkeepsie, New York and goes to Herkimer.
He marks out his progress each day on the map.
Sifkitz soon finds that he loses track of time when he is on
the bike, he goes into a kind of trance and it is as if he really is on
the winding country road and his stationary bike becomes not just an
exercise bike but the three-speed Raleigh he used to have when he was a
child.
All of that pedalling pays off and Sifkitz' cholesterol
level becomes so low that even Doctor Brady is envious and tells him,
"It's lower than mine." The problem is that Sifkitz is becoming so drawn
into his imaginary journey that before he gets onto the bike he has to set
an alarm clock, to go off two hours later, just to pull him back to
reality. Even then, though, Sifkitz is aware that, in time, the alarm
clock won't work and he is becoming increasingly convinced that he is not
alone on the road to Herkimer and that someone is following him.
There are a total of 6 chapters in the story - three on each
CD - but they are spread across the 12 tracks that each CD Contains. If
you are interested in it breaks down to something like this:
CD 1
Introduction (track 1)
Chapter 1 Metabolic Workmen (tracks 2-6)
Chapter 2 Stationary Bike (tracks 7-9)
Chapter 3 On the Road to Herkimer (tracks
10-12)
CD 2
Chapter 4 Man With Shotgun (tracks 1-3)
Chapter 5 The Screwdriver Would Do For A Start
(tracks 4-6)
Chapter 6 Not Quite The Ending Everyone
Expected (tracks 7-12)
The Stationary Bike is a great story and it works
very well as an audiobook. I think I would have enjoyed reading it in
conventional book if I had been given the option, but I doubt
that I could have enjoyed it anymore than I did just sitting back and
listening to it. It's a great story, well told and I can wholeheartedly
recommend it.
List
of Stephen King books reviewed on this site
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