The New Guy in Spin Class

While standing outside of the spin room, Erin (spin buddy and nurse by trade) and I were chatted up by a guy who was taking spinning for the second time ever. He quickly laid it all out: "I've only taken one class, I thought I was going to die, do you have any pointers for me?"

We both thought a bit. My advice was to pace himself better this time. There is no shame in sitting down, or not adding road, or whatever. You're getting a workout in no matter what and it takes a while to learn how hard you can push in spinning. And you want to like it and come back, not be tortured. He agreed his ego got the best of him last time.

Erin's advice was that if anything hurt, you should be aware and stop or adjust. But if it was just hard, you should push through, and that you need to learn the difference. Good advice, but, I think she was eating her words later.

We got set up on our bikes: me against the wall, then Erin then New Guy right in front. Linda the instructor had a cold, so she was kind of foggy and didn't push us much, which was fine by me since it still hurt to walk from Sunday's 8 miles. :)  That being said, spinning is still hard, and especially difficult when you have never done it. You have to learn how much to turn the dial, how much your body can do...

Chatty New Guy is still learning.

After maybe the second song, I heard weird noises. I looked at Erin because I thought she was talking to me. Maybe it was something weird in the speakers or the music. A few more songs and I heard the same thing. At the end of a song after a bunch of pickups while in position 3, I realized the noises I was hearing were from New Guy. I looked over at him; his mouth was wide open and he was gasping and groaning. And I could hear him over the loud music.

Maybe that's why Linda reminded us about 5 times that it was "our ride" and we should push as much as we needed to.

I had a meeting to go to after class, so I was hoping to avoid the chattiness and recount of the class that was probable to come from New Guy. I was in a hurry to get out. Erin was also hasty with her stretching. I figured it was because she knew I was hustling out of there. But it turns out, she was worried he might pass out from the effort.

When we were out of the room, Erin started telling me what was going through her head during class, and it cracked me up. Being closer to New Guy, she had a more in-your-face experience. Her nurse instincts completely took over. She had it all planned out for when he conked out on his bike...she'd tell Linda to call 911, she'd tell me to go to the wall to get the defib machine, then someone else would have to get the lights...then oh no - what if he had spin shoes on! It'd be more difficult to get him off the bike....etc etc. It was really surprising and funny to hear how she had an action plan all worked out in her head. None of that went through my mind. She's such a nurse ;)

I hope New Guy comes back. When I was waiting in line for a smoothie near the exit, I heard him chatting with another guy about tanning packages. He must be really trying to get the entire Urban Active experience! Ha!