![\"\"](\"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/spin.jpg\")
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February 1, 2000 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Padded shorts.<\/p>\n
Buy some if you’re planning on participating in a spinning class with the guys from Adventure Cycles in Oakwood.<\/p>\n
Trust me.<\/p>\n
I do not own padded shorts. And I was reminded of that fact each time I sat down in the days following my introduction to spinning last week.<\/p>\n
“We should have warned you about that,” said Jack Haire, the store’s co-owner, who occupied the bike next to me. He was smiling.<\/p>\n
We were just warming up, but the small seat of my bicycle was already starting to rub my backside the wrong way. That discomfort would soon be forgotten, however.<\/p>\n
It was nothing compared to the burn that possessed my legs for the next 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
The mirrored room at the back of the Fitness Zone, which shares the 4619 Smithson Blvd. property with Adventure Cycles, was filled with several serious, competitive bikers \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and me.<\/p>\n
They were bikers of the road, mountain and marathon variety, the type of guys who own padded shorts \u00e2\u20ac\u201d probably several pair.<\/p>\n
Perhaps you’ve seen spinning classes at your local fitness center before. Stationary bikes. Loud music. A trainer telling you to pedal faster.<\/p>\n
Well, this is a bit different. The Adventure Cycles guys bring their own bikes, the same ones they race the rest of the year. A device called a “wind trainer” allows them to convert their regular bikes into stationary ones, with resistance and everything.<\/p>\n
“We do it as a way to keep cycling going through the cold and nasty months,” explained Haire, 41, a regular on the local sprint triathlon circuit. “And riding your own bike this time of year is what it’s all about. You use your shoes, your pedals. It’s better for you when it comes into racing season, because it’s your machine.”<\/p>\n
It was definitely cold and nasty last Monday. Wait, it was worse than cold and nasty. It was Ice Storm 2000. It was the storm of the century … well, the first three weeks of the century, at least.<\/p>\n
It looked like a warzone outside my house. Wires and tree limbs littered the street. Ice covered everything. My home had no power, no heat. I was cold.<\/p>\n
Spinning cured that problem \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and then some.<\/p>\n
“You get a lot hotter riding indoors,” explained Haire. “The only thing you’re missing is the wind. So fans are a big deal.”<\/p>\n
So are towels. So are water bottles. Every rider had them. Every rider needed them.<\/p>\n
Forty-five minutes spinning, I was told, is the equivalent of 90 minutes on the road. You can’t coast during a spin class.<\/p>\n
We were training to a video workout. It began with a warning, kind of like the violence and adult language caution before an episode of NYPD Blue.<\/p>\n
“NO SLACKERS ALLOWED!” the screen read. Then the announcer, in a voice oozing with machismo, informed me that the following workout was going to be “intense beyond (my) wildest dreams.” I was to “get ready to suck, and get faster than (I) ever thought possible.”<\/p>\n
My 38-degree house was starting to look better and better.<\/p>\n
From the safety of the inside of the television set, super coach Troy Jacobson continued to yell at us for next 45 grueling minutes. He told us when to shift, when to speed up, when to stand.<\/p>\n
“Pick it up!” Troy would shout. “C’mon let’s go! It’s only going to get tougher!”<\/p>\n
I’ve never met super coach Troy Jacobson, probably never will. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but I believe I grew to hate Troy last Monday.<\/p>\n
The loud wind-tunnel sounds of wheels spinning filled our training room. Riders were constantly grunting and gasping as large beads of sweat poured to the floor.<\/p>\n
But Troy’s abrading voice cut through it all.<\/p>\n
“Let’s see what you’ve got! Don’t let up! Push it! Push it! Push it!”<\/p>\n
It works, you know. I wanted to push it so hard that my bike would break free, run into the television and right over Troy. I guess he is a super coach after all.<\/p>\n
Troy wasn’t only yelling at me, though. It was all of us. And that made it slightly more bearable.<\/p>\n
“It’s the camaraderie. Working out with a bunch of guys who are suffering through it really makes a difference,” said Haire, who with Mike Bennett, co-owner of Adventure Cycles, and Hitesh Patel, owner of the Fitness Zone, organizes these free spinning sessions each Monday during the winter months.<\/p>\n
Anyone is welcome. All you need is a bike, a wind trainer \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and some padded shorts.<\/p>\n
“You done great,” Bennett said to me after we had stretched out. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you’d make it five minutes.”<\/p>\n
Well, I can’t take all the credit. I had someone egging me on.<\/p>\n
Thank you super coach Troy Jacobson, wherever you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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