After being told by his doctor that his cholesterol level is too high, Richard Sefkitz begins riding a stationary bike in the basement of his apartment building. To help alleviate the boredom, he buys maps and plots a route from New York to Herkimer, a town on the U.S./Canadian border, each day marking the amount of miles he has "ridden" towards his goal. He also paints a scene of a road on the blank wall in front of the bike to help him imagine actually travelling the road. As he nears Herkimer (according to the miles plotted on his map, at least) and has gotten in great shape physically, he begins having strange thoughts that there is someone following him on his daily rides.
Community Thoughts:
Posted By: S.K.Rules - 07/03/2010 - 2:15 PM EST
I think the moral of this story is to much of one thing is not good for you and in this case it's exercise. A good read.
Posted By: Squish - 03/19/2010 - 1:20 PM EST
After reading this story I have to say I will never look at exercise the same again! But Terrific story just enough psychological drama and suspense to make it a VERY worthwhile read! I loved it!!!
Posted By: Jeff Skinner Horror Writer - 07/22/2008 - 11:30 PM EST
Thank you Stephen for such a great story. It's my favorite of your short fiction running close to the classic: The Last Rung on the Ladder. Thank you for keeping me on track with the whole addiction thing. There's only one problem, I'm addicted to reading the story! Over and over and over again. lol