At one time, I ran a blog called Fitterverse: A universe of fitness. This post originally appeared there. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I’ve been able to recapture the text. I’ve published them here on their original publication dates.
Ouch.
When I started this process, I was dreading spin class. Now that I’ve taken one, I dread it more. My quads may never be the same.
The vibe in this class started differently from step class. Nobody was talking to anyone else. They all came in like this was some sort of competition and everyone in there was the enemy. No talking, just getting to their bikes, getting them set up, maybe warming up or stretching.
The instructor, Margaret, showed up, and I should have known I was in trouble. Margaret was 5-foot nothing, maybe 90 pounds, and probably 50 years old. She had a body as taut as a bowstring. She asked if anyone was a first timer. I raised my hand and she asked if I needed help with the bike. I indicated that I was okay. She said that as long as the seat was about hip height, everything else was up to me.
We started warm ups in low gear, but at 100RPM. ONE HUNDRED REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE. That was the warm up.
At least in this class I didn’t feel dumbfounded by the maneuvers. How much can you maneuver while riding a stationary bicycle? I managed to keep up with the instructor until we got into 18th gear. I misunderstood the instructor and ended up at 20 RPM higher than the class for 40 seconds. Then I was told to bring it up to that RPM. I was already wasted. There wasn’t a chance in hell that was going to happen.
Right before the cool down she introduced a little competition. 2 miles as fast as you can, whatever gear you want between 5 and 10, shout out when you get there. I killed it. I even beat the instructor by a half second.
Now I’m going to go crawl off in a corner and die. My legs are sore and wasted and I’m exhausted. I’m never doing that to myself again.
1 thoughts on “Lunk goes group class 2: Cycle”