Instructors

I am used to that from the old days when I taught classes after college – sporting instructors are terribly high-maintenance, and spinning instructors are no exception. So, to the drama of bikes that are constantly breaking in really bad ways at the Gold’s Gym on Brannan, we have a collective of instructors that constantly bad-mouth each other when out of earshot. I got an inkling of that last year, when JP, one of the instructors, decided I should take over one of his classes because he had to go on a long trip and couldn’t find enough subs. Continue reading

Nightly ALC Class

It’s been now six weeks that my friend Steven started teaching a spinning class at 7p at the Brannan Gold’s gym here in San Francisco. The unusual thing: it’s his way of getting to his pledge for the yearly AIDS Lifecycle Ride (ALC). If you don’t know, the ALC is a charity ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, just like the more famour AIDS Ride. The latter has gotten a bad reputation for mismanagement of funds, so there has been an effort to create a ride where as much of the funds goes to AIDS research as possible: ALC. Continue reading

Steaming, smoking, hot

JP’s class this morning. The usual hard workout, high speed, high intensity, lotsa sweat. I was put in the front row (JP wants me there), with the sun shining from the back and the windows open. I sweat, I run, I chase, I sweat. It’s time to stretch and slow down, and then the unexpected happens: steam starts rising from my body. The sun plays with it, and the whole class stares at me, the steaming, smoking hot man in red bib short…

Six times a week

Recently, JP became a spinning instructor and has taken over the Wednesday and Friday slots that I avoided like the plague. I want to help him out in the beginning, since he’s got no takers yet and the guy that was there beforehand has sent everybody into the stratosphere in search of a class. Of course, that means I am going to take his class for the first few weeks until he gets his own regulars. Continue reading