Category: Spinning

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. I thought it would be a neat experience, and I got ready. 

The day, a Saturday, came, I had about 8 people in class, and we all had a good time. I goofed badly a few times, for instance not realizing that the "Double Left" goes with a fast song, not with a slow one, but all in all the class supported me. They were actually the sweetest, going all the way with me. 

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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.

Every year, a big contingent leaves San Francisco in June to ride to L.A. It's a grueling ride (545 miles), mostly performed by people that don't really spend a lot of time on their bikes, for whom the ride is as much of a challenge as the fundraising before. 

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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…

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. And I don’t want to leave the Tuesday and Thursday class, taught by Carol, who does a great job at cycling. Her classes really try to mimic what I’d do in the Great Outdoors.

Take the weekend and its own load, and I end up with six classes. I’ll skip the Monday class for no good reason but the fact that I just need to relax one day. And here comes the million dollar question:

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