Originally Posted by
Altair 4
So my daughter works part-time at our YMCA. She's been nagging me to try a spin class and I met the instructor last night. I'm going to give it a try next week.
Looking for advice. I guess wear my padded bike shorts and my 5 10 stiff soled shoes. Most of my trail rides are 15 to 20 miles. Not sure what this whole spin thing is going to be like. They apparently have a big screen monitor with a video of roads from somewhere. I dunno. I'm pretty laid back when I ride - I like to ride solo and do whatever I want while on the bike. If I see a vista I want to look at or photo, I do it. I'm concerned I'm going to look bad.
My primary reason for doing it is because I told my kid "I'll do it if you will." I think the exercise will help her ADHD and get her moving. I'll post more afterward.
If you have SPD mountain biking shoes, those might be preferable since (in my experience) a lot of spin classes include pretty demanding climbing out of the saddle. Don't be concerned with looking bad, in fact I have found that many people seem to be self conscious so they gravitate to the rear of the spin room leaving many bikes available in the front row. I don't care what others think so I go right to the front row and get a better airflow from the fans up there anyway. If you are good at visualization and "active relaxation" then you will do fine. While it is quite possible to get caught up in all the mayhem and drive your heart rate into the tachy red zone, the flip-side is that it is also quite attainable that you can self manage your efforts and get some excellent cardio in the timeframe alotted and have a great time too!