Spin

I've already had an exciting day and it's not even noon yet.  Let me tell you why. I went to my very first Spin class.

Spin, for those of you who do not know, is one hour of heart-rate-jumping cycling set to loud and awesome music.  I loved it.

Let me back up. I was very nervous about trying it.  In fact, I've thought about trying it before, but I've never had the guts. I've heard a lot of horror stories.  I've heard it is incredibly intense. I've heard that the regular spinners are really mean to newcomers and make fun of you if you can't keep up.  I've heard that the seats hurt your butt like nothing else could.  I've heard that you walk funny afterwards.

But a couple of weeks ago, when I was in my rut, I was thinking about taking some of the exercise classes at the local gym to change up my routine and get me out of my funk. I had a one week free pass that a neighbor had given me.

Last week I happened to mention to my friend Alyssa that I had this pass and was thinking about taking some classes. She is a member of the same gym, so she got excited about the prospect of a workout buddy and encouraged me to come. So today I picked her up bright and early, and we headed to the gym.

It was really intimidating to walk in the dark room they have set-up for spin.  I had planned to find a bike in the back, in case I couldn't hang and had to leave early, but a bunch of people had already claimed bikes and I wound up in the center, middle, right in front of the instructor.  My bike seat was too high, and I couldn't figure out how to lower it. Slightly embarrassed, I had to ask the girl next to me.

Then the instructor, a well-muscled, lean and good-looking man asked if there were any newcomers.  Let me tell you something I've learned. If you are a newcomer to an exercise class, you should definitely let the instructor know.  If you don't, they don't explain everything as thoroughly and you end up confused for half the class. So, as intimidating as it was, I raised my hand high and waved at him.  He seemed surprised to have a newcomer, "You've never done spin before, ever?" he said.  "Never, ever," I responded. "Okay, feel free to leave early, if you can't make it the whole hour," he said.

He was just trying to be nice, but I took it as a challenge.  I wanted to make it the full hour, so I took it easy on the hills the first few songs.  But the longer I was in there, the more I got caught up in it.  The moves (going up hill, going downhill, sprinting, standing up, sitting down) are all choreographed to the music.  All the song selections were great, too, and sometimes I caught myself bopping along to the beat as I pedaled.

I made it the whole hour. I could see that the instructor kept checking on me (I was RIGHT in front of him, after all), but I kept up the pace pretty well. The last song, he encouraged us to go all out, and I did, man. I was dripping sweat by the time I was through.

It was a great workout. I torched some serious calories, and it was a lot more fun than I expected.  And I spent so much time standing and pedaling during the class, that my butt doesn't hurt too bad after all.   How's that for a happy ending to my Spin story?