Thursday, June 4, 2009

Bikes GALORE!

I finally did it. I tried a Spinning class.
I absolutely loved it! It was 100 times more entertaining and a better work out than sitting on the stationary bike for 45 minutes! I loved how you were constantly supposed to stand up, sit down, go up hills etc. Plus the music was a perfect addition to it. This may sound dumb, but the other thing I like about it is that I am not horrible at it. Lately the only classes I have been doing are yoga, and lets face it- I do not have any talent as far as yoga goes. I know it's good for me and I enjoy it, but as my physical therapist reminded me the other day- flexibility is not my strong suit. When I go to yoga, they always have to correct me and it's always so clear how much better everyone else is than me. Normally I don't really care that much but it was refreshing today to go to Spinning, not even have the instructor pay any attention to the fact that I was new, and easily keep up with everyone :) Of course, spinning is also good because you can just casually turn down your resistance at any moment and no one really knows haha.

Speaking of resistance, I need some help from any spinning experts out there. The instructor kept saying, okay- go up to 8, already take it back to 5 etc. I get she was talking about resistance. But, there were no numbers on the resistance knob. Now, I get that it is probably a scale of 1-10, so 5 would be in the middle but you had to turn it around several times to get from 0-10, so I didn't really know where the middle is! My sister and I were discussing this later today and we speculated that maybe they meant your own 0-10...10 being the hardest you can work. But I have no idea, so please enlighten me on this. I was totally making it up today and it was obvious because people were like barely moving around and I was happily spinning away.

In other amazing news, I BOUGHT A ROAD BIKE!

I actually bought it on Tuesday but I got to pick it up today. It is SO amazing and I love it. I hope I continue to love it because it was probably the most I've spent on anything that I didn't really *need* (such as, a house, rent etc haha). I didn't buy a really fancy one, but I am just getting into it so the people at the bike shop seemed confident that this bike would serve my purposes. I am going to try it out for my first official bike ride on Saturday morning, so I'll let you know how that goes.
Of course I made sure it had as much pink as possible. I can't wait to try it out. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Friday!

19 comments:

  1. Pretty bike, I'm soooo jealous. I want a road bike like crazy.

    Glad you liked spinning, its always a great workout!

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  2. bah I am so excited for you??? What type is it??? More details please :) Love the pink details!

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  3. Great looking bike, I am hoping to upgrade my huffy to something more official looking soon. I am having a GiveAway for Thorlo Experia performance socks you should check it out if you have a minute, they are designed for runners, cyclists, hikers, fitness walkers etc.

    http://ericarunning.blogspot.com/2009/05/thorlo-experia-reviewgiveaway.html

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  4. YAY for trying spinning! Good for you! I've never done spinning, so I can't help you out on the resistance thing. I'm sure someone can, though!

    Your bike is fantastic! I love the pink accents. Have fun riding it, and have an awesome night :)

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  5. cute bikeeee!!!!!!!

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  6. OMG! I am so excited! Does spinning rock or does spinning rock! I LOVE IT! I am the same way....yoga and I go together like...well, like nothing! haha As far as the resistance goes, my instructor uses 65%, 70% and 75% (low, med, high). Basically, 70% or medium (or a 5 in your case), should feel like you are riding through the wind. If you pick up the pace a bit, you should immediately feel your thighs (like a wall squat). 65% (or 3 in your case) is like a leisurely ride on a straight road and 75% (a 9/10 for you) is almost like riding through mud! After a few classes, you will know what YOUR 65%, 70% & 75% is! Every instructor uses a different method & I really like the percentages( working as low, med & high resistance as opposed to a scale of 1-10, but you have to work with what you are given!). If your gym has various spin instructors, I would try them all because the instructor COMPLETELY makes the class! I LOVE my instructor!

    Ok, enough babbling! haha

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  7. OK... I may have to try spin class. I have to admit, I'm afraid of spin class. That's because the people coming out of the spin room look like they worked their butts off!

    I noticed the pink on the bike right away. It's beautiful! Congratulations!

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  8. oooh a road bike! love it. i hear ya on "fitting in" in spin class. i'm not too coordinated at any of the others but spin class, i can handle. love the part about easing off the resistance and no one knowing, i totally did that sometimes! in the classes i took they always yelled out the number of turns you should put on the resistance. i would assume it's your own 0-10 scale too?

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  9. I've taken several spinning classes and my instructor uses a totally different method as well. However, as she always says, it's your ride, so you can make as difficult as you want. That being said, the 1-10 scale should be unique to you. It will probably take a class or two to get that figured out.
    And congrats on the bike. You'll get used to the riding low thing after awhile. Just make sure you keep your back sort of straight by bending from the waist. Don't hunch and you'll be fine. Enjoy it!

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  10. I love spin classes. It's definitely a fabulous workout. Sometimes I prefer just doing my own thing on the regular bike though - listening to music and not killing myself. But spin is definitely the better workout. And it's always fun to be with a group.

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  11. OK, your first paragraph about spinning and yoga fits me TO A TEE. Seriously, I feel the EXACT same way. Crazy!! I can't wait to try it again :) :)

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  12. I am SOOOO jealous!!! It's a beautiful bike! I can't wait to hear how you like riding it, because eventually I would also like to make the switch from mountain to city bike!!

    As for spinning, one of the great things is that you can really customize your workout. As you start to go more often, you'll start remembering where your 5 is and where your 10 is. I don't always listen because I like to work hard the whole time, but I think the 0-10 refer to your own strength. I could be wrong though :)

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  13. My instructor uses percentages instead - 60%! 80%! 90%! (effort)

    Congrats on your first spin class. Sounds like you might be hooked! Enjoy your new bike, too!

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  14. My spinning instructor uses a 1-10 scale for level of exertion, and has a little chart on the wall to remind us what each level should feel like (and of course I don't remember off the top of my head, ha), and sometimes she gives details like, "this should feel like you can't take more than one breath through your nose" etc etc. I'm sure your instructor would welcome your question! Glad you had fun!

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  15. I totally feel your yoga pain! I am so not flexible, so I am usually the person who needs correcting, too. But I agree, spinning is great!

    Love the bike!

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  16. ohmigod DROOL. your bike is beautiful!!! i love the pink handlebars -- i also just bought myself a pink cage for my waterbottle YAY! :) hehe.

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  17. YAY for a road bike!!! Oooh, you're going to have so much fun!! I'm loving getting into a new sport and there's so much to cycling to learn about (nerd alert).

    As for the spinning thing, I'm almost positive the 1-10 scale refers to your personal effort level. 0 being the easiest thing ever, 10 being you're going so hard you think you're going to die. So 5 would be medium effort, and 8 should be pretty hard. I love spinning too. Like you, I suck at yoga, so it's nice to do activities I'm good at from time to time :)

    Happy riding!

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  18. Congrats on the spin class! Sounds like you found a great upbeat, enjoyable exercise for yourself. Keep it up! I've never had a chance to try spinning for myself, but it sounds like so much fun!

    AWESOME bike! That's going to be so much fun this summer!

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

    xxoo
    Heather

    Love the blog btw! Can't wait to keep reading! :)

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