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Spinning worth the time, Road Race Saturday
To prepare for a 65-mile bike ride to benefit the MS Society last Saturday, my friends and I determined our best course of action was not to take it easy the day before.
Instead, we decided that a workout in the YMCA’s Spinning Class would really get our legs primed.
The next day - after spending seven hours, 10 minutes and 4 seconds peddling from Omaha to Lincoln - we may have been questioning if those 15 miles in class was our smartest decision.
Actually, the class helped us mentally and physically because we knew we could handle hills and sprints and just continuous peddling. Instead, we may have been questioning many of our life choices - as well as our friend choices - after that long out in the sun and wind.
In the big picture, Spinning Class, as well as all the fitness classes, helps us do the other things we want to do in our daily lives. Whether it’s being able to complete a marathon to physically keeping up with grandkids to just walking across the grocery store without getting winded.
There is a satisfaction in being physically fit to lead our daily activities.
We are blessed because we were physically able to complete the ride to benefit others who are not so fortunate.
We were able to train our bodies to be in the bike saddle for hours on end.
O.K., not really.
You never become truly comfortable on a bike for seven hours, but you can make it a little bit more bearable through “seat time.”
And that seat time is actually even better at the Y, thanks to an investment in all new spin bikes for the Spinning Class.
Please don’t ask me how they work - something to do with magnets versus tension to increase resistance - but they do provide a smoother, overall ride. That’s about as technical as I can get.
In addition to improving physical fitness, the spin bikes provide additional benefits, such as becoming comfortable in biking shoes. The bikes are fitted with peddles which allow the use of either regular tennis shoes or biking shoes.
Biking shoes allow you to physically be attached to the bike. You are literally “one” with the bike as you click into the peddle.
If you are considering bike shoes for your outdoor bikes, Spinning class is a great place to practice peddling in a full rotation, getting a feel for how the shoes fit and learning how to clip and unclip your shoes from the peddles.
And trust me, this is an invaluable lesson for anyone considering bike shoes.
Remember that shoulder injury from a bike accident a few weeks ago.
While the mud and gravel road may have been mostly to blame for the mishap, the fact that I couldn’t unclip from my peddles fast enough meant I was still attached to my bike as I landed on my shoulder. The weight of my bike landing on me didn’t help the situation. I opted not to clip in during Saturday’s long ride.
I would like to send out a special kudos to Kristy Pollnow and Angie Nielsen for completing the ride, especially since they both nearly doubled their longest distances ever on a bicycle.
In fact, the distance of 65-miles is a bit misleading because we finished at 68 miles.
Three miles may not seem like much, but when you are mentally prepared to be done at 65 miles, another three seems like an eternity.
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Just a reminder that the annual Parker/YMCA Heritage Days Road Race is Saturday morning before all the other Heritage Day’s activities get into full swing. It’s a great way to start the day and dogs and strollers are welcome.
Registration will open at 6:30 a.m. in the Norris Park bandshell. The race starts promptly at 7:30 a.m. just east of Norris Park.
The MHS boys and girls XC teams will be scattered throughout the course to help guide everyone back to Norris Park, in plenty of time to catch the rest of the day’s festivities.