Forty-Five Minutes of Excruciating Pain

And no, I'm not talking about a killer 'cross race. I'm referring to what happens when the morning dawns cold and rainy, my nose is still stuffed from the cold-from-hell that I can't seem to shake and I resort to attending spin class at my gym.

I wanted to ride for 90 minutes. First annoying thing: why are spin classes only 45 minutes long? With 5 min of warm up and 5 of cool down, you're only doing 35 min of work. That's not worth me putting my shorts on. Geeeeez...slackers. I decided to show up early, do 20 min before class and another 25 after so I could get my minutes in. First 20 minutes rock. Literally. I have my iPod on and am happily jamming to my tunes.

The instructor shows up, throws on her music and I'm wondering if it's a joke. The Hustle? You have GOT to be kidding me. No, I do not want to "Do the hustle!" It's got to get better, right? Ah, that would be a serious no. Yes, I want some action and I love the nightlife but I hate the song. I'm stuck in a spin class of 70's disco hits. Someone KILL ME NOW! Next, we move to the 80's and we got Rick Springfield wishing he could have Jessie's Girl. I'm blanking out on the songs in the middle of class - I think I purposely pushed them out of my head which is a good thing. I've been coding all day with "I love the nightlife...I got to boogie.." ringing in my brain. I was even tempted to throw some comments in the code saying so just to see if anyone ever reads them. (I refrained.) We finished up class with some Dolly Parton song. Now, I seriously doubt Dolly has ever attended a spin class and even if she did, I don't think she would like spinning to her music. It should be banned from cycling studios everywhere.

But even painful 'cross races eventually end as did this class. I happily reached for my headphones but not quick enough. Mr. Clad-in-Full-Kit Dude sitting behind me comes up and wants to chat about my seat height (too high, he says, you're bouncing...). I thank him nicely hoping he'll just go away. But no, he wants to argue about it and REALLY wants me to change my seat height NOW no matter how much I tell him, "Thanks, but I like it that way." Finally, I've been pushed too much and not so nicely tell him, "I'm bouncing because I finally got some good music coming and my technique sucks but thanks for playing." He finally left. I was going to ask the instructor to settle our little dispute but given her taste in music I didn't trust her cycling judgement (ok, not sure how those correlate but she lost all credibility in my eyes when she got off her bike and started dancing to Alicia Bridges. Really. I'm not making this up.) I put on my headphones and finished up to Jimmy Eat World, Matchbox Twenty, Boys Like Girls and P!nk.

I REALLY need a spin bike for my basement (don't like riding trainers). Or I need Frank to move to Bahstahn and teach classes here (fat chance - she's a Cali girl through and through). Or I need spring to hurry up and arrive. Considering it's just November, I better find a spin bike on eBay soon.