So my team is starting a weekly spin class tonight - Ive never done spin, in part because of my mental images of sorority girls and businesswomen sweating and panting (OK, so maybe thats a reason to go) on ultra-low resistance.
I was gonna give it a shot tonight, but will it do me any good? Am I gonna be bored silly and spinning at 100 RPM at the highest resistance? Will having a bike that fits dramatically differently than my trusty steed adversely affect my performance (I figure this is less important in off/base-season)?
I do 1-2 span classes a week, an hour each time. I go early and get a good warm up, and stay after class is done and do a little more work.
If you’ve got the nicer Lemond spin bikes, you should be able to get really close to your normal position. But beware – you usually have the choice between toe clips or SPD cleats. If you’ve got the older Schwinn spn bikes, then you’re stuck with something like 1.5" increments and you’ll always feel like it isn’t anywhere NEAR right.
As for resistance, that’s completely up to you. You won’t run out, I’m sure. Wasted? Not really. It’s certainly not the same as riding on the road, but it sure beats not riding at all.
IMO - spin classes can add value to your base building - and from my experience, the spin bikes have plenty of resistance so no need to be concerned there unless, of course, you are one of those guys that rides in your biggest gear up the steepest hills all the time. Spin bikes are pretty damn uncomfortable so be forwarned. You gotta try it a few times before deciding if it something you want to do on a regular basis. When I first started riding - I did a spin class about 2x a week and found it helped my hill climbing quite a bit. Didn’t do any spin last winter but am thinking about adding that back to my off season this year. Good luck and have fun!
I just starting going to spin classes 2xweek starting last week. I have to admit my initial reaction was like you but dang they can be tough. I would guess 50 minutes of spin is equal to over 1 hour of normal ride due to lack of freewheel. They guy who teaches the Wed class is a serious cyclist and a hell of a climber. Seems like half the class was “climbing” this morning.
I am trying to ride at faster cadence and hope doing these classes will make me focus more on this…plus there are some hotties in the class which always helps.
Do beware, however, that most of the “Spin” instructors will direct the class to a rather low cadence. Mine seems to think that 80-85 is a max cadence, and keeps yelling “your push point is at 3 o’clock.” We’ve had discussions about pedaling technique, and she’s coming around.
If your instructor is a cyclist, then you should have no issues.
I go at least twice a week. We have the old Schwinn bikes, equipped with LOOK compatible pedals. Plenty of resistance and one of our instructors is a stud duathlete. When we get a lame instructor I just do my own thing closest to what they are suggesting. Don’t really care who else is in the class although it can be funny sometimes. Don’t worry about resistance, the great thing about spinning is that everybody get set their own intensity according to what they want to do.