Post 1888 - One Down! More To Come!

I am home from my first spin class in 21 months.  I feel tired, but pretty good.  My goal this evening was to survive the thing, and clearly, I did.

After work today, I drove from my work to the downtown and parked the car on Granville Street, in front of the legislature.   I walked to the gym from there.  I got to the gym, made sure that the men's changing room hadn't shifted from one side of the place to the other (it might have been embarrassing otherwise!) and changed from my street duds to my gym gear.

The bikes are totally different now from when I was last there in April 2010.  Good Life must have sold off or threw out the old, rickety bikes that Nubody's had used for years and  years (and years!).  The new ones look space age.  One thing I don't like, though, is how the handle to adjust the tension of the bike is right there for everyone to see.  The higher up it is standing, the higher the tension.  On the old bikes, you had to turn a knob, and there was no way for a person to tell what tension level you were at.   Those dirty so-and-so's!

I figured out how to adjust the bike to my height and taste.  I sat there and stretched my legs until Natasha arrived.  She was a spin class colleague from a few  years ago when I went regularly!  She remembered me.  I remembered her because she always wears her hair up.  I remembered the hair before I remembered her.

The instructor, Nancy, remembered me as well.  She recalled the story I'd told her in 2010 about how, several  years ago, when I was donating blood one time, the nurse was shocked to note that my resting heart rate was 50.   An Olympian athlete might have one of 35 or 40.  When I gave blood a couple of weeks ago, the resting heart rate was 83.  I have a ways to go to get back to the good old days.

The class began.  Peddling sitting down. Peddling standing up.  Tension up.  Tension down.  Faster!  Slower!  Faster!

By 6:20, we were slowing down.  We did some final stretches and it was over.

I don't know what to say.  I won't say I enjoyed my spin class tonight.  I'm not a masochist. I will state, however, that it felt really good to be back at it again after so long.  It was nice to see Natasha and Nancy again.  We all miss John Colpitts, who helped me with my first spin class in 2004 (which nearly killed me), and who died a few years ago.   It felt like home again, like a family in the best sense of the word.

I will start slowly and do one spin class this week.  I hope to do 2 next week and remain at 2 for a few weeks until I can work up to 3.  After I am satisfied with my cardio improvements, I will work on my upper body strength again.

But, baby steps.

I'm committed to this, baby!

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy