Spin Doctor

First it was slink around the gym; try to build some muscle and endurance while avoiding the “big guys”.
Next, begin walking on the treadmill and spending one or two minutes on the stair master.
All the time looking with admiration at the Boot Camp people and hoping to join the group in the future.
Finally, in my mind, cresting a new peak, spending one hour with the “Spin Doctor”.
I recently after much thought and trepidation entered the spin class.
Sparta is the “Spin Doctor” and wasting a bike with inadequate effort is in her estimation a major “mortal sin”.
Spinning is a very heavily subscribed class.
Frequently three or four people are unable to get a bike.
So if you are lucky enough to get a bike you had better be ready to ride to your death.
This is something you can’t easily walk away from and it is something that requires an internal integrity as to the amount of effort.
Effort is measured in revolutions per second and volumes of sweat rolling off of the body.
Effort is measured in heart rate and how long you exceed the predicted max for your stated age and I am not talking target but predicted max.
Predicted Maximal Heart rate is 220-AGE so for me my predicted max would be 155 and my target for exercise would be 60 to 80% of the max or 94 to 124 beats per minute.
So I went into the spin class and got a bike.
People help me set up the bike, Sparta comes in, sets the mood, lights down, music “cranked”.
She begins calling out the terrain, “a flat, lets go all out”, 5 minutes later, “incline”, (increase the resistance) for 6 more minutes, “getting steeper, stand up” everybody increases the resistance, launches themselves into a standing position on the pedals and maintains the pace.
It seems like many minutes pass, thighs are screaming, sweat is not dripping from the forehead but pouring from the forehead in a continuous stream.
I silently wonder if I have ruptured an artery and am now “freely bleeding” from the forehead since it is flowing so fast and one towel is soaked.
Finally a flat, sit back and again it is all out.
Sixty minutes pass fairly quickly, more quickly than I would have ever guessed making me wonder if I passed out during the session.
As Mr. Id has said on occasion during a strenuous class, “I have one leg that is completely paralyzed”.
If he can recover from transitory paralysis I am sure I can peddle even in a state of unconsciousness.
First you really don’t want to waste the bike and secondly the “Spin Doctor” is watching.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, my heart rate at the end of the last class was 164 or 107% of predicted max.
I guess I am ready to ride to “death”.