Spinning

I woke up bleary-eyed and wondering why my sit-bones were so sore. Oh yes, I went to my first spinning class last night. A warm but pleasant evening outside, and here was a full class of people riding stationary indoors.

I have been trying to work up the nerve to take a class for a few months. Walking by the room, I've been both intrigued and intimidated. The participants always look so relaxed, despite the sweat showering down to the floor, despite their thighs tightening through the resistance. Maybe not relaxed, but confident, in control.

Perhaps part of my fear stemmed from my lack of experience on a regular bike. I am the rare exception, having ridden bikes very little since I was a child. In fact, I had only ridden a bike with handle speed/brake control once before my husband bought me a bike for my 30th birthday. Stopping and getting off the bike (without falling or injuring any body parts) are my main troubles. I'm sure these would come more easily with practice, but it's difficult to get a certified chicken like myself to keep doing something that could cause injury or, worse, embarrassment.

One would think that my years of dancing would have made me more graceful, centered, balanced. Not so when an apparatus is involved. My center of gravity does not extend beyond my own body.

Back to spinning...here is a bike that's stabilized, which takes care of the problem of getting off the bike. But of course there's a problem. We're talking about a bike and me in the same breath. There is a crank system, which the rider turns to increase or decrease resistance to simulate hills and flat terrain. The instructor would shout out, "Increase to a seven and a half" or "Level out to a five." It was dark in the room to keep it from heating up more than necessary and I never did figure out how to tell what number I was setting the crank to. No visible numbers as far as I could tell. So I faked it, turning the crank randomly when the instructor yelled out, "Up to an eight!" I measured my resistance in terms of viscosity, pedaling through air, water, butter, molasses. Pedaling toward reconciliation with the bike.