Excuse Me? Can You See The Hills?

Drew left for Washington, D.C. on Thursday night, which meant that I was left to my own devices to wake up this morning. Needless to say, that didn't go so well. The only good thing about that is that the gym really isn't too crowded on Friday evenings. I'm not sure what that says about my social life, but I certainly appreciated the fact that it wasn't too busy.

I came home after work, changed clothes, grabbed my gear (including bike shoes), and was off to the gymnasium. I was hoping to use the computerized spin bike again. There are two bikes, but up until yesterday, only one was operational (the computer portion, I should say). When I got there, there was a girl on the one bike that had been working and she wasn't even using the computer program. Luckily for her, the other bike's computer was now working, otherwise I wouldn't have had any qualms about asking her to switch over to a regular spin bike. I don't think I would have been out of line. If all you're doing is riding a spin bike, there are 30 regular spin bikes and only two with computers. If you're not using the computer, what is the point of getting on that particular bike?

So, instead I tried out computerized spin bike #2. It's exactly like computerized spin bike #1. Not a big surprise. I decided that I would do about 50 minutes on the bike and once again ended up on Level 7. I must not ever see where you change levels in the set-up. Oh well. I guess 7 seems like a nice enough number.

I was about half-way through my ride when the girl next to me vacated computerized spin bike #1. Her spot was quickly taken by a very smelly guy. I tried not to notice too much, but I wonder why boys are always so stinky at the gym. Do they just forget to wash their clothes? Do they not use soap when they shower in the morning? What is it? Anyhow, smelly guy messed around with the computer for a while and then said, "Excuse me? Can you set this so that you can see the hills?" The short answer was no, which was what I said to him. The long answer is that using resistance and cadence, you can tell whether or not you're going up a hill. I didn't explain all of that to him. I just kept it short and sweet, at which point he got off the bike and took his smell with him. Whew!

I will say that I felt a little bit smug or like I was a "real" cyclist because I knew how to tell whether or not I was simulating a hill without a graph telling me that I was going up a hill. Not that I think I am a real cyclist, it was just a momentary feeling.

All in all, it was a pretty good ride. The only thing that I don't love about the bike is that when you select a time range (I believe I chose 50-55 minutes), it automatically factors in the cool-down in that time range. I guess that's okay once you know it, but I generally tack on an extra couple of minutes in my head to cool-down. It also stops recording once you reach your time limit. Not the worst thing, but not my most favorite either. Perhaps I should just over-estimate my times from now on.

Time: 52:56
Distance:17.9 miles
Pace: 20.3 MPH average
Calories: 586
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 158