Spinning!

“Push the tempo, push the tempo, push the tempo” - pounded the rhythmic dance beat 35 minutes into the class. My heart was pounding, my legs ached, continue or quit . . .

How do you describe the exhilarating feeling of strength from a workout that pushes you beyond the limits of what you’ve convinced yourself you cannot do?

“We’re climbing a hill, add resistance, out of the saddle, Attack, Attack, Attack!” belted the trainer! This little woman is a powerhouse! Whoa - how is this possible, to maintain such a high cadence and still retain the ability to talk? I am impressed!

“Stay in the moment, everything is about right now - focus. As a team we can do this, stay on pace.” The muscles in my legs burned. This was far beyond routine cycling, an explosion of speed and power. Try it - go ahead, challenge yourself, I dare you, Spinning Class.

“Back in the saddle, slow down, feel the road, recover.” Once this session starts you’re committed to an hour of what most would consider pure torture - I’m sure of it, however if you can go the distance an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment permeates your spirit. This was our third 7:30 a.m. spinning session - trepidation, thats an understatement, its more like terror. I’ve done this before, I can do it again today, just pedal, don’t think!

“Focus on the beat of the music, the music will drive your pace, are you ready? Add resistance, one full turn, out of the saddle, Attack, Attack, Attack!” How is this possible? This woman is relentless. "Power up this third big hill, push it. Together we're getting stronger."

"You'll love this next part, let's recover then we sprint - ready, go! As fast as you can, this pace for 90 seconds, keep it going, thats it, stay the distance - relax, recover.” My legs are burning, recover?

Get the idea? Spinning class pushes your limits of endurance developing strength, speed, determination, and personal power. You think you’re in shape, join us some time for a humbling experience.

Can’t wait till the next session!

Comments

The Gopher Problem and the High Powered Solution

Vacationing in Maine this week, just a short drive down the coast from Freeport, it is hard not to think about the outsized impact one frustrated outdoorsman had on the gear we all use today. Bad equipment can ruin a perfectly good day on the water or the trail, but it takes a special kind of vision to turn cold feet into a century-old empire. This is the story of the company we now know as L.L.Bean, but more importantly, it is a masterclass in integrity, learning from failure, and standing behind your work. In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean faced a persistent problem: returning from expeditions in the Maine woods with cold, wet feet. Instead of complaining, he got creative. He had a local shoemaker stitch waterproof rubber soles onto the flexible leather uppers of a hunting boot. He called it the Maine Hunting Shoe and mailed a flyer promising perfect satisfaction. Then reality arrived. Ninety of his first 100 pairs failed when the rubber separated from the leather. Not an effective product...

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Stamps and Snow

In this episode, Stamps and Snow . . . You don’t usually walk into the local Post Office expecting a time warp . . . but here we are. All we wanted were stamps for this year's Christmas cards— yes, the old-fashioned paper ones that require licking, sticking, and hoping the Postal Service is feeling ambitious this week. But holiday errands have a talent for slowing you down, almost like the universe whispering, “Relax. You’re not getting out of this line any faster anyway.” So we waited. And while we waited, we talked (Are you surprised?). Because the Post Office is one of the few places where people still look up from their phones long enough to talk . . . Maybe it's because they're holding packages. It’s the modern town square: part civic duty, part free entertainment, part sociology experiment. The discussion began with holiday specials streaming on Netflix, Paramount+, and other services during this time of year. One gentleman who has lived in Vista since 1958 told us,...

A Dog, a Beer . . . and the Ghost of 1912

Whenever you step into an American cathedral of our National Pastime built before modern ergonomics, municipal zoning, or crowd-flow dynamics, an unspoken understanding forms, creating a welcoming, timeless atmosphere. You trade legroom, sensible corridors, and personal space for the privilege of communing with ghosts. Last week, Lori and I made our pilgrimage to Fenway Park to watch our Chicago Cubs take on the Boston Red Sox (a taut 0–2 contest that felt spiritually tied to their 1918 World Series meeting). Staying just across the Charles River at the Courtyard Marriott in Cambridge gave us one immeasurable tactical advantage: we walked. While the automotive gridlock around Kenmore Square took on the character of the Siege of Yorktown—horns echoing across the asphalt like musket fire—we simply strolled across the Boston University Bridge, enjoying the river breeze and feeling smugly superior to everyone trapped behind a steering wheel. Fenway, built in the spring of 1912, holds rough...

On The Fly

Search This Blog