Superstar Spinning Cycler

Status: Sore

Activity: Strenuous Spinning

I ventured into new territory last night, the Group Cycle class at the YMCA. Also known to the cool kids as spinning, I think. It started out like most group exercise classes for me: biggest girl in the class? Check. Most sweaty and inexperienced? Check. If I were friends with the other riders and could ask them embarrassing questions, I would likely be able to confirm that I also qualify for most sore pelvis today. Note to self to check the seat next time. This was 45 minutes of serious activity; I had no idea how hard it would be. Walking out on my spaghetti legs, I had a feeling that I haven’t had in a while. Pride mixed with oh my gawd, I am so completely tired and spent and so sweaty gross must shower - NOW. The kind of work out afterglow where you finish and feel like you’ve earned a piece of cake, but then you don’t eat it because that would ruin it. I haven’t been there in a while.

It’s also an honor system work out. You can decide how tense to make your resistance, and how fast you want to go. I sometimes suffer from “Keeping Up with the Instructor” syndrome. Where I push myself to learn something quickly and do it just as skillfully and quickly as the instructor, even though I should focus on learning it before trying out for the Olympics. But I realized that the class is 45 minutes, and 10 minutes in I was already sweating, so maybe just dial it back notch, sister. This turned out to be prudent advice to my self. When I walked out of there I felt exhausted, but also somewhat excited. Here’s a new activity that could be the key to making that durn scale move the other way. I challenged myself and I liked it. I'm feeling powerful again - like I will succeed instead of just hoping that my efforts will work. Kind of like a superstar.