Stationary Bike
Photograph by Ultimate Mediaon Flickr.
He likens Richard s metabolism to a team of workmen who clear the various Bike Friday junk foods that Richard ingests. (2010) The Aftermath (1963) 路 Sword in the Darkness (1970) 路 The House on Value Street (1974) 路 The Cannibals (1983; 1989) Unpublished Stationary Bike works by Stephen King 路 Media based on Stephen King works 路 Tabitha King 路 Naomi King 路 Joe Hill 路 Owen King 路 Bryan Smith 路 Peter Straub 路 Rock Bottom Remainders 路 Dollar Baby 路 Jerusalem s Lot 路 Castle Rock, Maine 路 Derry, Maine 路 The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red .
These events cause Stationary Bike the mural Richard has painted to transform, warping into a more nightmarish appearance with every passing day. When his mail comes one afternoon, he sees a package-which contains a baseball cap with the word LIPID written on it.
The doctor tells him an interesting anecdote in Stationary Bike relation to the number. Richard agrees to relax his diet, but makes one request-he wants a cap that the workmen wear.
As time passes, though, the notion of the metabolic workmen enter his mind again, and he paints a bizarre landscape on a mural, depicting four tired workers clearing a fat-laden road. The workmen list their expenses, and explain that their fellow member committed suicide out of desperation.
Stationary Bike is a novella written by Stephen King, which was originally published in the fifth edition of From the Borderlands in 2003. Richard s cholesterol is dangerously high, largely due to his high fast food intake.
It was recently released as part of King s 2008 short story anthology, Just After Sunset. The story opens with Richard Sifkitz, a commercial artist and widower, visiting his doctor, and staring at the results of his physical. Richard begins to lose weight, but as he does, he begins to see the workmen in his dreams.
This metaphor strikes Richard, and he becomes rather obsessed with the idea. Richard becomes determined to lose weight, and sets up a stationary bike in his basement. At first, he hangs a map of the United States on the wall, imagining himself traveling to a foreign destination with each mile.
As he steps back through the mural, he begins to wonder when he will convince himself that the strange experience was all a dream. The story jumps forward to a few weeks later. As Richard ages, these metabolic workmen tire out and begin to slow down, resulting in heart trouble.
Richard now eats dessert and has finally escaped the bike. He smiles as he dons the cap and prepares to go to work painting. An audio book version, read by Ron McLarty, was adapted from Stephen King s work Stationary Bike and released on CD in June 2006. Willa 路 The Gingerbread Girl 路 Harvey s Dream 路 Rest Stop 路 Stationary Bike 路 Graduation Afternoon 路 The Things They Left Behind 路 N. 路 The Cat from Hell 路 The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates 路 Mute 路 Ayana 路 A Very Tight Place Carrie (1974) 路 Salem s Lot (1975) 路 The Shining (1977) 路 The Stand (1978) 路 The Dead Zone (1979) 路 Firestarter (1980) 路 Cujo (1981) 路 Christine (1983) 路 Pet Sematary (1983) 路 Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) 路 The Talisman (1984; with Peter Straub) 路 It (1986) 路 The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) 路 Misery (1987) 路 The Tommyknockers (1987) 路 The Dark Half (1989) 路 Needful Things (1991) 路 Gerald s Game (1992) 路 Dolores Claiborne (1992) 路 Insomnia (1994) 路 Rose Madder (1995) 路 The Green Mile (1996) 路 Desperation (1996) 路 Bag of Bones (1998) 路 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) 路 Dreamcatcher (2001) 路 Black House (2001; with Peter Straub) 路 From a Buick 8 (2002) 路 The Colorado Kid (2005) 路 Cell (2006) 路 Lisey s Story (2006) 路 Duma Key (2008) 路 Under the Dome (2009) 路 Doctor Sleep (TBA) The Gunslinger (1982) 路 The Drawing of the Three (1987) 路 The Waste Lands (1991) 路 Wizard and Glass (1997) 路 Wolves of the Calla (2003) 路 Song of Susannah (2004) 路 The Dark Tower (2004) 路 The Wind Through the Keyhole (TBA) Rage (1977) 路 The Long Walk (1979) 路 Roadwork (1981) 路 The Running Man (1982) 路 Thinner (1984) 路 The Bachman Books (1985) 路 The Regulators (1996) 路 Blaze (2007) Night Shift (1978) 路 Different Seasons (1982) 路 Skeleton Crew (1985) 路 Four Past Midnight (1990) 路 Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) 路 Hearts in Atlantis (1999) 路 Everything s Eventual (2002) 路 Just After Sunset (2008) 路 Full Dark, No Stars (2010) Danse Macabre (1981) 路 Nightmares in the Sky (1988) 路 On Writing (2000) 路 Secret Windows (2000) 路 Faithful (2004; with Stewart O Nan) Riding the Bullet (2000) 路 The Plant (2000; unfinished) 路 Ur (2009) Creepshow (1982) 路 Cat s Eye (1985) 路 Silver Bullet (1985) 路 Maximum Overdrive (1986; also director) 路 Pet Sematary (1989) 路 Sleepwalkers (1992) 路 Cell (TBA) Sorry, Right Number (1988) 路 Golden Years (1991) 路 The Stand (1994) 路 The Shining (1997) 路 Chinga (1998; with Chris Carter) 路 Storm of the Century (1999) 路 Rose Red (2002) 路 Kingdom Hospital (2004) 路 Desperation (2006) Ghosts (1997; with Michael Jackson) 路 Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2010; with John Mellencamp) 路 Black Ribbons (2010; with Shooter Jennings) Creepshow (1982) 路 The Dark Tower (2007) 路 The Stand (2008) 路 The Talisman (2009) 路 American Vampire (2010) 路 N.
He is then gripped by another vision, which he paints-the garage of the youngest of his metabolic workmen, who has committed suicide. Richard realizes that the men are conglomerations of people he has met before in life, and tries to tell them that they are nothing but imaginary figures.
Despite these warning signs, though, Richard cannot stop exercising; he enters a trance when he rides, and seems to enter the mysterious landscape as he does. When Richard goes back to his doctor, he finds that his cholesterol levels have dropped to safe levels. They speak to him, accusing him of ruining their lives; without a stream of fatty foods, they have stopped receiving income for their work.
He is pleased, and tries to stop exercising, but cannot resist the lure of the stationary bike.
