Today I tried out the bike spinning machine thing. Husband couldn't come with me, so he gave me a description of the bike I should look for, told me how to raise/lower the seat, etc. "My goal," he said, "should be 90-95 rpm's."
So Newbie Me arrives at the gym, and I stop at the desk to get help in selecting the right bike. The gentleman who helped me was ever so polite and helpful. He moved the seat up. And up. And up. Finally, it was adjusted to my height, and then I asked him about measuring the rpm's. Huh. Not on that bike. So we walked down the line. There were bikes with bench seats. Not those. Eventually we got to the end of the line where the bike "with the uncomfortable seat" (according to Husband's description) was. And it could measure/show rpm's. We decided this must be the bike Husband was talking about. So the gentleman got the bike all set up to my height, showed me how to set the levels, and encouraged me to start slowly and build up.
And off I went! I worked the levels up after five minutes of spinning at 70 rpm's and thinking I was going to topple right off that bike. Something did NOT feel right, and my legs could not possibly go in circles any faster than they were currently going. There was no counter-resistance to my pushing on the pedals, but I still felt like my legs were going to fall off. How in the world was I supposed to keep up this out-of-control feeling for 30 minutes?! I increased my level, and thankfully got distracted by a friend coming to chat to me while I spun. When she walked away, I happily realized I had completed about 25 minutes, and my rpm's were now hovering in the upper 70's. The last five minutes I decided to give it all I could, and actually got the rpm's up to 86 for a short time.
At 30 minutes, my mileage was 7.1. I hopped off that bike feeling like I'd had plastic surgery while I blinked, receiving Sampson's legs. Solid steel carried me to my car, and all I could think was, "This is not going to feel good tomorrow."
Oh, the learning curve of a newbie!
Spinning out of control doesn't sound fun. Think I will stick to my recreational biking. Heading out now. Weather is perfect. Aiming for 700 miles for 2011 and getting close to 600 miles currently. I bike hard, but it has never felt out of contol. Ultimate goal is to do the 30 mile river trail round trip in one day. Am lucky to have it behind my house.
ReplyDeleteProud of you for taking on this challenge. Much more then I could ever think of!
Aunt Kathy
That's awesome, Aunt Kathy! You are close to your goal! How wonderful to have the trail right behind your house. Sounds like a beautiful place to ride, and what a lovely time of year.
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