A Rush

How can the challenge of spinning be so satisfying?  I will venture a guess, it’s because of how much of a good time we have doing it.  I have tried doing it on my own with none of my classmates present. That experience is much like my own workouts have been like for the past seven years, lonely.  I know how to kick my own butt because I was a marathoner. But it was a solitary sport even when I was running with thousands of people.  Back then there was no one alongside me urging me to give my best performance, because I had to find that desire within. That was much easier when I was a young man but now a ½ a lifetime later I don’t have a race to train for because I am just trying to stay fit and there is no contest, no clock at each mile marker letting me know how well my training has paid off or not. As a sexagenarian fitness can seem like an amorphous pursuit but spinning has changed all that.

The results for me are much better than any personal bests, medals and trophies I may have collected back then.  Even running up the Empire State Building has not given me the same satisfaction that spinning has given me now.  I have learned to breathe, hydrate, pace my ride and give my all and no trinket can match the feeling I get when the class is over.  In fact of late the hour seems to literally fly by.  

A little over a year ago I was fortunate to stumble on Mr. Tripp Doherty.  I have supplied many adjectives to this mysterious man who injects me with adrenaline each time I have taken his class.  When I spin with him I know two things; I had an exciting ride and I am soaking wet.  It’s almost liked a great movie; it holds my attention and when I walk out of the theater I feel good. When I spin with Svengali  I have burned 500 calories as well.  And what amazes me is each time I enter the CS with him  the story he tells is one I have never heard before.