Day 200 - Spin

I was afraid, very afraid, of taking the resident spin class here at work. And now, after the fact, I know why. I am not sure what shade of purpley-red described my face upon completing the class, but I'm sure I could make millions if I sold it to Crayola. Upon arrival, the petite and innocent instructor showed me all the "ins and outs" of bike adjustments and seemed helpful. That was, until she turned into Spin Demon and yelled as she mounted her bike, "Today's going to be a lot of climbs!". Umm, "Okay", I thought to myself, "I can do a few of those". In retrospect, the entire class was "climbing".

To those of you that have not had the privilege of taking a spin class, climbing is made up of 3 basic positions, all while adding increased resistance to your bike. Position 1) jogging. This is you standing up on the pedals, and pedaling. Position 2) is much like position one, but you are now huddled over your handle bars, leaning over the front of the bike. And position 3 is hovering over the seat, but remaining off of it, while leaning over the handlebars. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? And did I mention, increased resistance? Don't forget to, "Give me 2 full turns!" of resistance, too. Ouch! And I thought my butt would be sore from sitting on the tiny, non-existent seat? Boy was I wrong! I don't think my butt ever saw the seat except on warm up and cool down.

I thought it was a bit unnecessary at the beginning of class to have every bike draped with a towel. As if I'd get THAT sweaty? Half way through class, I got off my bike to get the towel that had fallen off my handlebars in efforts to wipe down my soaked face and neck, I didn't care the towel had been on the floor, I needed it! It was at that moment I thought, I really could have used one of those fat, sport headbands that were so popular in the 80's.

As class drew towards a close, I dismounted the evil torture device and stretched. And then stretched some more, hoping that my face would return to some normal shade of pale before leaving the classroom. No such luck. Me and the sweat soaked workout clothes walked out of the spin room with legs of jello, but a cleared mind and a happy heart. I can't wait to go back again!