> Do you ride with anyone? <

Almost never - I start out around 2:30-3:30 in the morning to avoid bad traffic here that starts really early.

> I learned spinning by riding a fixed gear bike, riding on rollers and concentrating on the motion. <

The motion seems, to me, to be possible in multiple ways - I can spin fast and, to me at least, fairly smooth, but have minimal resistance. Or I can push more and still have fast rpms resulting in more speed. THen there are all the things about trying to pull back, push over, scrape feet, etc, etc which tends to give a different result. I THINK when I pull back and maintain some resistance, I'm actually smoother, though it is harder at this point. But I was pleasantly surprise that I could do it for 11 miles. I feel fine now, but I'm expecting a little soreness tomorrow.