The agony of indoor cycling
It’s that time of year. Somedays it is the darkness that saps you, and sometimes it is just the cold of it all. Regardless, most of us end up “riding inside” to get our cycling fix as winter approaches. Travel can also put you on those bicycles that go nowhere, usually in “fitness rooms”" in strange cities. I guess you just have to swallow it like an oversized vitamin pill. It’s one of those things that you know is good for you, even though it feels like punishment at times.
My intro this year was particularly interesting. It happened to be the Renaissance Hotel wrapped around the Roger’s Centre Stadium in Toronto. This place can provide you with hotel rooms that are part of the stadium. You walk into your room and realize that your window could be hit by a home run if they ever put steroids on the menu again! The hotel has an onsite “fitness centre” that is a major part of the complex. The set up is impressive, especially if you are a Blue Jays fan. For a cyclist looking for a bike to ride, it was a bit more complicated. After going down and down (4 flights) into the belly of the huge gym, I finally found the room with the “spinning cycles”. The guy on the front desk warned me that there wouldn’t be many folks riding the bikes but he did not say why. ”No worries”, (an i-pod and a couple of days of travel would be enough motivation to get me through).
The room was hugely empty of other people, had about 20 bikes, and lots of mirrors. I don’t know whether this is to give the impression that you are not alone, or just to let you get multiple perspectives of your sorry self as you ride off to nowhere. Time passed, the sweating started, and I was beginning to feel like poor “Dave”, the astronaut in the movie 2001, a Space Odyssey. I think he spent years alone in some alien lab made up to look like an apartment where humans lived on earth. He actually grew old and died in that room!
I was just beginning to reminise about the movie when she showed up! Solitude was gone! “Dave” was startled, caught unawares, and mumbled something. She seemed used to this, and said she would go ahead and “set up“. She was compact and full of business, remarking that the class had indeed grown smaller these days. Next, the lights are turned way down, and a small lamp on the music console is switched on. Then Her i-pod goes into the mega sound system and giant speakers come alive! Suddenly the base blast is hitting me like a head wind!
OK… you can still do this…
Her bike moves in next to mine, and soon she is bouncing up and down to the beat. I begin to feel like a wuss. This girl is clearly sprinting up a hill, and I am falling behind! My earphones fall out, and after fiddling with the resistance knob, I am pumping away too. Standing up out of the saddle, I begin to wonder just how long this hill will be! It feels like we are racing! How could that be? Give me a break~ we are in a darkened room in the basement of a building in downtown Toronto! Where in the hell are we racing to? After several minutes of this effort, we get to back off and just spin, but only until the next soul thumping song comes on, and we are out of the saddle again!
An hour later, I have given up on her pace. I imagine that her bike is different, that the resistance knob is just for show, and other excuses. The reality is that I have just taken part in my first real “spinning class” ruled by an “exercise nazi“! I am humbled. Then I see another guy who snuck into the back of the room and just rode at his own pace for most of this. I guess I have some things to learn about this indoor cycling. I certainly have more respect for the workout one can get in one of these classes!
There was one nagging bit of knowledge. I also had a pretty good hunch why Her classes had gotten so much smaller!
The travel tip is that if you are going to Toronto, The Renaissance is a great place to stay (just be careful of the spinning classes). There’s a new training goal for me~ travel time will mean a little extra preparation “just in case” I end up riding with the exercise nazi! Yep, I’ll be ready for her the next time!


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