The Spin Class That Wasn't

I knew getting to the gym from work by 6:00 p.m. would be a stretch, so when I made it in the doors by 6:05 p.m. with athletic attire and both sneakers on, I considered that a victory.  After four months of really only running for marathon training (I know you’re supposed to cross train, but when you’re doing that kind of mileage, trying not to get injured, and working long hours, who has the time?)  I have been more than excited to get back into other kinds of workouts… Barre, Weights, Crossfit, Zumba,… pretty much anything that doesn’t involve a treadmill.  Last night I figured a spinning class might be a great way to mix it up.
 

I have never done spin before.  I’ve always wanted to, but I’ve always been a little intimidated and somehow the timing never worked out.  That said, I’ve been a gym member since I was 14 and have used a stationary bike plenty of times, so even though the classroom was dark, the music was blaring, and the instructor was already spinning her little heart out, I thought I could slip in the back and figure things out as I went along.

I tiptoed my way to a bike, adjusted the seat (that alone took 2 minutes and I’m still pretty sure it still wasn’t right) and started pedaling.  I realized pretty quickly that my bike only had clips, not pedals and for some reason when my foot slipped off the pedals kept right on going.  And going.  And going.  They were spinning faster than a cassette tape on rewind.  (Remember them?  Funny.)  I figured they would stop eventually, but they didn’t.  I couldn’t figure out whether they were secretly controlled by the instructor.  I tried turning my bike off, but that didn’t work either.  After trying to stop the pedals with my feet and scraping up the back of my leg in the process, I gracefully totally awkwardly hobbled to the bike next to me, which appeared to have pedals.  I didn’t want to go through the embarrassment of adjusting the seat again, so I just got on and started pedaling only to realize that this bike only had one pedal and wouldn’t turn on.  It was like the Land of Misfit Bikes.  I pedaled away with no resistance for a couple minutes before realizing that my arms were really hurting, and since I wasn’t using them at all, that probably meant that my bike wasn’t adjusted properly and since the bike wouldn’t turn on I wasn’t really doing anything except potentially hurting myself.  With that I snuck off the bike and tried to make the fastest, quietest exit possible.

Unfortunately, a friendly gym employee was standing outside the door and wanted to know if I left the class because I didn’t like the instructor.  When I explained what happened he laughed at me, then scolded me and told me that going into a spin class after it had started for my first class was, “Borderline reckless.”  He also told me that there was an intro to spin class at 5:45 p.m. (of course, if I can’t make it for a 6 p.m. class, I don’t know how I would make it for a 5:45.) 

Thus ends the story of the spin class that I failed miserably.