Timmy Mac

So I started spin classes at my gym a little over a year ago. Didn't own a bike, and wasn't planning on buying a bike. Just wanted to mix up my workout a bit, and was always amazed at the sheer amount of sweat and pain I saw going on in that room. Needless to say, spinning kicked my ass for a while, but now I'm totally in love with it, and that's not even taking into account the weight I've lost. I do 3 or 4 a week, depending on my mood and how much lifting I feel like doing instead.

Anyway, I finally bought a bike - nothing special; a used, refurbished road bike. This weekend was my first real shakedown ride on it. Wasn't at all sure how it would go. Haven't ridden a real bike in many years. Mapped out a route that was about 30 miles. Didn't have any idea how the spin classes would translate to road riding.

Long story short, the ride was a cool breeze. Legs and wind were right there, and I stroked right along. Felt absolutely great, especially when I passed guys on much fancier bikes.

Just wanted to throw out this unreserved endorsement of spinning for conditioning. Paid off in spades!

P.S. Not for nothing, I know that 30 miles ain't the ultimate ride, but for a first bike ride, I thought it was nice to see the gym actually gave me some benefit, yeah?

Garfield Cat

Sounds like the gym workouts really paid off. You're not starting from scratch and you have the confidence to really get into road riding.

What would be interesting is to follow your progress into road riding. Does your spin class instructor also do road riding?

Timmy Mac

I know the maniac* who teaches the Monday class does. He's on staff at a local shop and rides for a local team as well. He is, quite frankly, the hardest-core SOB I ever met in my life. The other teachers are really good, but he's in a class of his own, both in terms of fitness and his ability to motivate.


*I mean this with absolute respect.

J.Lockdown

I am interested in taking a spinning class in the near future at my local gym and it sounds like it will pay off. What rpm's arrange dose the class work at?

peiffer83

I teach group ride at my gym and I usually take it about 3 times a week as do you. It helps a ton with my climbing I believe. A spinning class burns around 400-600 calories depending on your weight. I where my polar watch and burn at least 650 every time.

Now ride your bike 50 miles its crazy how many calories you burn. Today I rode 57 miles, and burnt 2,225 calories. With an average of 137 HR and a max of 181. It was a group ride for the first 40 then after that I went on my own.

Group ride helped me get my start, and I'm glad to hear that spinning helped you out!

Laminarman

What the heck is spinning? Can you do it on a trainer on your bike?

Febs

Indoor cycling. You can read a description here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_cycling

C_Heath

30 miles aint no beginners ride.

Donegal

Spinning is also how I got into cycling. My trainer friend decided to create the toughest spin class in Atlanta. He was very successful. Many people came, just one time. Many of our spin people were athletes. I was in class with triathletes, racers, trainers, a pro football player, etc. It's a great way to get riding.

Also, what a great start to riding. 30 mph is definitely no beginner's ride, you have jumped right into the fray. Good luck, have funl.

Febs

My story is similar to Timmy Mac's. After taking a 10-year hiatus in cycling, I joined a gym back in February to improve my overall cardio fitness and lose some weight. At the beginning of June, I decided to try the spinning classes.

After two weeks of doing 3 or 4 spinning classes per week, I thought to myself, "why am I riding a bike here indoors when I could be outside on the road." I bought a new road bike two weeks ago, and have been riding almost daily since then. I did 21 miles the day after buying the bike, and a 48 mile ride the following week. I'm signed up for a 100k charity event next week, and while 100k is a bit longer than my longest ride since getting back into cycling, it's on completely flat terrain and I'm confident that I'll be able to finish it.

Timmy Mac

That's even better news, then. I just didn't want to be the clueless new guy going, "I don't mean to brag, fellows, but I did ten whole miles today and I only cried twice!"

KevinF

Every instructor conducts their spin class differently. But there's none (that I've ever had) that specify a specific cadence to pedal at... I've usually been told to work at a certain intensity... i.e., 60% of MHR, 90% of MHR, etc. If that involves spinning at 120rpm, then that's what it takes. If you can hit the "% of MHR" goal at a different cadence, then great... that's what it takes.

All that said... I tend to pedal a spin bike way faster then I pedal my real bike outdoors.

J.Lockdown

That make sense. I am interested to see how much it improves my riding because I 100+ rpms for ever without problems with a average heart rate of 165 bpm (I am 5,11 and weight 165 so its a little low for my target heart rate which is around 180 to 190).

I would say 30 miles is nothing to just brush off because its still a fairly good distance. When I do my rides M-F I shoot for a distance around that but I more look at the time it takes. On average I look at around 1 1/2 hours to do it depending on the route and weather. I burn around 1,000 to 1,400 cals when doing a 1+ hour ride. But either way if you are biking no matter what distance and are enjoying it then its all good.

ih8_punkrock

Timmy Mac, that's great! Good on you, bro.