“You Spin Me Right Round Baby”

Refreshingly sweaty, energized & oh so happy; Andrea (Soul Cycle Instructor), Me, Gabrielle (Soul Cycle Instructor), Jamie, and Lisa

I am no longer a virgin. A Spinning Virgin. Yes, I handed in my Spinning “V” card this week. (I’m just trying to see how much mileage I can get out of this whole “virgin” metaphor. Okay, I think I’m done now.)

I’ve been resistant to the excersising phenomenon, which has clearly swept the coasts, for a very long time. Like, years. One by one, I’ve watched friend after friend become sucked into this Spinning vortex.

They have all tried their best to take me along. But, I continually resisted. My friend, Amy, is so obsessed with Soul Cycle, she calls it “a way of looking at life.”

I, of course, have always thought she was nuts. Her arguments, however persuasive, couldn’t sway me. But, boy did she try. Here’s how one of our “Spin” talks usually went down:

“Shar, come to one class with me. I promise you’ll love it and will totally get it.”

“Amy, I love you, but I’m so not into it.”

“You will feel sooooo good.”

“Listen, if I’m going to have something between my legs, it’s not going to be a bicycle seat.”

“You’re impossible. Seriously, you can’t imagine how much you sweat.”

Oh, yuck. “Okay, that so does not sound appealing to me.”

“Did I mention how amazing the music is?”

“Yes.”

“Have I told you that it’s my religion?”

“Yes.”

“You will feel sooooo good. I promise.”

“I don’t care. Let’s go get something to eat.”

So, I don’t know if it was the wine, the company or both, but this past Saturday evening, I committed to my first Spinning class. Yikes.

While standing around with friends Gabrielle (Soul Cycle instructor extraordinaire), Jamie, Katie and Lisa, our conversation somehow landed on their shared obsession with Spinning.

I groaned. Not internally either. Right out loud, so they could all hear me.

However, I could feel something in me sort of snap. If you’ve been with me since the beginning, you know I’m turning 40 later this month. And, currently, I’m in the midst of a mid-life crisis (which I totally plan on telling you all about in another post), so my rush to get into shape, within the next 4 weeks (40 arrives on August 28th), has me in an all-out panic. It’s not like I waited until the last minute or anything.

So, what’s a girl to do when she has four gorgeous svelte friends extolling the merits of Spin? She agrees to go to a class. Oy.

Jamie promised, “If you go on Monday at 1:00pm, I will meet you there.”

Then, Lisa and Katie joined, “Us too.”

Gabrielle looked at me expectantly and said, “I promise you’ll love it and will feel such a sense of accomplishment.”

I took a sip of wine, rolled my eyes, and sighed, “Fine. I’ll go. But, you guys better be there. Don’t stand me up.”

Much excitement ensued. I have to admit, that made me feel good. And, then Gabrielle smiled at me while saying, “Can I announce to the class that it’s your first time?”

Oh. G-d. Help. Me.

Well, what can I say. I went to the class on Monday, and as soon as I walked in, my friend Andrea, another incredible Soul Cycle instructor, saw me and immediately screamed, “Oh my G-d! I don’t believe it! I’m so excited. Let’s get you all set up.”

Jamie then came up to me and said, “You’re here. Gabrielle wasn’t sure if you were coming.”

I gave a wave of my hand and declared, “Of course, I was going to come.” I so didn’t know if I was actually going to go.

When I walked into the dimly lit studio, which had vanilla accented candles burning, I saw Katie on a bike. We gave each other a knowing smile and laughed. And, then I headed to the back of the room where I was flanked by Andrea and Lisa. They both helped me throughout the class, and let me tell you…I really needed the help.

But, I’m not going to talk about my lack of “bike rhythm,” or how many times I felt like I was going to fly off my bike only to realize I was stuck on those peddles, or how it was very difficult for me to get my water bottle back in its’ little holder thing after taking a sip. No. I’m not going to talk about all that.

I’m going to talk about how much those girls ROCK. Each and every one of them. “Girl Power.”  “Sisters doing it for themselves.”  “It takes a village.”   Take your pick. Because, they all apply to my first Spinning experience.

It struck me. No matter the event, moment or reason, it means the world to someone else when you offer the kind of support, encouragement and friendship that these women gave me. I really love having girlfriends! There’s nothing like it!

In case you were wondering, Amy was furious with me for not being “My First Spin Friend.” Don’t ask. She was all like; “you cheated on me, how could you, I can’t believe I wasn’t there, you knew I was waiting for you to come around.” And, I was all like; “I’m sorry it just happened, don’t be mad, I knew you were going to be mad, you’ll come with me for my second time.”

Well, that caught her attention. “You’re going to go again?” She was supremely skeptical.

Now, it’s two days later and my gluteus maxi-mus is still killing me, along with my other non-mentionable lady bits. That fucking bike seat is painful! (Thank you Andrea for getting me that extra padding though.)

My muscles are still aching, albeit in a very delicious way. Stairs are a real killer. Am I crazy to think I already see my leg muscles springing back into a well-defined shape? Just kidding. I know that’s not really possible after one class. Is it?

But, I have to agree with Gabrielle on this…I definitely felt a huge sense of accomplishment, after I wiped away all the sweat.

I also wasn’t even that horrified when she outed me as a Spinning Virgin. Actually, when Gabrielle made the announcement, I triumphantly raised my hands as if to say, “I’m here, it’s my first time, and I’m damn proud.”

They say, it keeps getting better and better with each time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk after Gabrielle’s 1:00pm class today. If not, I’m definitely opening up a bottle of wine, getting a massage, and ordering a pizza.

Are you obsessed with Spin? If not, what’s your exercise obsession?