Another Confession

Another confession? No, I didn't find another bike hidden behind the canoe I never use.

The 2007 season started for me tonight. But we're not to the confession yet. You'll have to be patient.

My plan was to take the last part of October and all of November off. I can check that off my list. I rode some during that time, and even raced a few times, but it was all for fun.

I started the 2007 season tonight because I joined a gym. I've got free weights in the basement that I used last year, and I've got a trainer that I've used in previous years with some success. This year I'm trying to bump things up a notch, and drop a few pounds. That, and the gym deal was too good to pass up ($20 for 3 months, with half going to the Ames Cross Country team).

So, I went to the gym tonight for the first time in a long time. It's a good gym. They've got three locations in Ames, and their equipment is top-notch. When I signed up, I didn't realize that that they had a "cycling studio", full of LeMond Revmasters.

Here comes the confession. I went to a spinning class in the "cycling studio". I was a little apprehensive, but it was pretty cool, and it was definitely a good workout. We did many short intervals (less that a minute), some with high cadence, some with very high cadence (she was asking for 120+), and some muscle tension intervals. I thought I was going to die during the early high cadence, out of the saddle stuff. But I really liked the low cadence, muscle tension stuff. My t-shirt was soaked at the end of the hour, and I don't think my HR dropped below 155 during the hour (and was frequently above 170). I've ridden enough to retain some muscle tone, but I've definitely lost cardiovascular fitness during my down time. I'm OK with that. There's plenty of time to get that back. I'm more interested in muscle recruitment at this point. I still plan on riding outside on Saturday mornings. Except this Saturday morning, when I expect to see you all at MackyDu!

Maybe Cory and I will have to do our ride on Sunday this week. Anybody else wanna go?