Just remember: don't try to coast, especially when standing.

I think double sided pedals with SPD on the back are common; there may be a few Looks too. I haven't been in a few years.

I did a spin class on a cruise ship once. It was 45 minutes of a woman yelling at us to stand up and pedal like hell, sit down and recover, etc. rinse & repeat. It was a great workout, really got the heart rate up. But in the end I decided this was a good way to make me hate cycling, turn it into a real chore. I can motivate myself to work hard & know when I need to rest, but I can understand how someone else might really enjoy these classes.

I take a spin class 1-2 times a week, and wear MTB shoes with spd clips - as do most of the riders. There are usually 12-15 people in the class (early morning) and usually only 2-3 males including me. The gym recently upgraded to new bikes and a system that displays everyone's rpms, power and energy (calories burned) on a large tv screen at the front of the room. This leads to some friendly competition, and lately a few of the women have been taking the top 2 positions

Spin class is like any other class, it depends on the instructor, and what you put into it. I "taught" spin classes for 2 years myself. They are great in the winter if you're a wuss like me who hates the cold. As many have said though, if you put in the effort, you will be utterly exhausted when you leave this class.

IMHO, nothing replaces riding on the road, but it's better than nothing.

Spin classes on cruise ships, if you're lucky enough to be on a boat that has them, is like the only real workout you can get on a cruise ship. I'd normally say that the treadmill is workable, but usually they're very busy and time limits are 20 mins, so its tough to get a good workout.

Another hugely underappreciated aspect of spin classes - the possibility of spending an hour with some very attractive ladies in sports clothes. The frequency of that happening is dismally low in road cycling, especially once you get fast enough to ride with competitive roadies, but very high in a popular spin class. Makes it worth going to the class on its own!

Hmmmm. I didn't really think about that. Things are looking better!

I'm admittedly going straight to the doghouse for this comment as well, but I'm going to say it anyway -

Those same ladies are on spin bikes in a very opportune bike position for viewing if you're in a circle-setup so you can see other people in the class head-on. I almost couldn't do one of my workouts a few weeks ago since I was so pleasantly distracted by the view.

frankly this is what i appreciate most about spin class.

There are probably a lot of benefits to spin class, but one major drawback:

They're not fun.

For whatever reason, it's fun to go all out on the road, or go find the steepest climb in your area and charge up it until your legs feel dead. But doing nearly the exact same thing in spin class is just not fun. Sitting stationary, with blaring and often irritating music, and people raining sweat all around you in a hot room with some weirdo up front screaming at you over the music and the fans. It just struck me as dumb the one time someone talked me into doing it during the winter.

After that, it was out on the roads, with some good winter clothes, feeling the freezing air bite into my lungs and enjoying the experience of actually riding a bike.

I've considered listening to the spin instructor and following the routine to be purely optional. Headphones in, I'm riding my [spin] ride. They're sitting, I'm standing, and vice-versa. I've never had an instructor complain..frankly I wouldn't hear it if they did.

They're fun, a 45 intense work-out without worrying about gear, cars, weather, lights, etc. ... just pound it out..get off and do something more interesting.

Being outside on a bike will always be more fun than being in doors on a stationary bike. However, I think spin classes suck less than going solo on a trainer.

I think i would stay for stretching time.

Another drawback for me is that I'm a sweater. It's not as big a deal on the road, but there's no fan in the world that can prevent an inland sea forming below my spinbike.

Yeah.

I've had to literally pour sweat out of my shoes after a spin class.

I dont go to those classes because I can kill the instructor with my tracker legs and my 180 :D

:D