To Everything, Turn, Turn

Mark today down in the history books, peoples, because today I took a spinning class. The instructor was a kind friend who was giving a free class to any takers. And I said, "yes, please." It is time to get rid of some of the baby padding.

Now in case you are not in the know, spinning is the equivalent of biking up the Matterhorn minus the scenery. Lance Armstrong, I am not. He does not have to worry about a challenge from me. The class is an hour long. You heard that right, an hour. I am expected to perch my adult size tookus on a toddler size bicycle seat for 60 minutes. My tookus will never be the same. Mercifully, the room is dark so the eyes of the person behind me do not suffer permanent damage and neither does my ego.

Our instructor is loverly and fit in spandex. I am not in raggedy yoga pants and a hot pink tee. But again, the darkened room comes in handy. We were told to listen to our bodies and not overdo it. Actually, my body was telling me to run far, far away, but I put a gag in its mouth and climbed up on that bike.

You pedal and pedal and pedal and think that you are almost done, when a voice informs you that you are now halfway through the class. Come again? Someone needs to get their watch fixed. At one point when we were standing and pedaling (which is a challenge for me because my knees don't work right), I had to sit down or fall off the bike. I was asked if I was okay. I nodded my head "yes" and replied that I was coasting. There has to be a little bit of downhill. Wheeeeeeeeee! There was a time when I though I wanted to quit, but I persevere and realized that in a situation like this my body has a point where, if I push through, it just gives in and finds that it cannot stop even if it wanted to. I have come this far, I can't. stop. now.

Hydration is a must. I had a bottle of water, but it wasn't quite big enough, so by the end of the class I had run out a few miles back, halfway down the mountain. It was a good thing that I was riding in front of the fan or I would have been cooking in my own sweat. I think I need to hire someone to wipe my brow and hand off drinks and snacks.

So that was my first spin class. I am now sitting comfy at home, and I hurt so good. This was one of the most difficult activities I have ever done. And I am going to do it again. And pay money for it. Crazy, no.