[rant]Virtual Spin Class[/rant]

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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So I'm all jazzed right, outside the group exercise room there is a console where you can select a virtual activity of your choice, and work out to it. In this case, it is a bicycle riding activity and...

Let's back up.

For those that don't know, spin class is where a bunch of people, mostly women but some men, ride stationary cycles facing an instructor, and the instructor barks out instructions to the instructees on riding during the different stages of the class, set to a musical playlist. The musical playlist tends to be the latest top 40 pop. If I happen to be leading the class, it will be high energy euro techno dance mix. But that's just me.

Okay let's get back to it. Anyway there is this new toy, an elaborate video system where you can say, ride a stationary bicycle in front of a projection TV screen, and it's like you're riding through some coastal roads in France. That depicted is a coastal road in France. It is animated. It's very much like yanking one off while watching a porno except that it is more suited to a public group environment. You even get a little cycle dude, wearing a mic, dressed in cycle clothes who paces along in a rather pricey commercial grade stationary cycle that is higher end that this outfit provides. I'm guessing they created the route footage using a guy with a Go Pro, probably on a motorcycle or a scooter and not a bicycle, as you do not see the videographer getting passed by cars or motorcycles or scooters. Plus he never seems to get tired in the hills.

Now all this is fine and dandy and great, except...

There are no bikes.

That's right. There are no bikes. How the hell do you bicycle to cycle video without a bicycle? It's like watching a porn with your right arm in a cast. First, they get rid of the instructors. They don't need instructors anymore. Who needs an instructor when they can just project an instructor on a screen. That's fine. I get it. I don't like it but it makes sense. But eliminating the bikes, that does not make any sense. It's like corn flakes without the milk.

By the way, it isn't evident by the still shot but the whole scene is very disorienting. You are moving through a winding road, yet the little spin instructor dude is stationary and he is facing the wrong way. It would almost be better if they centered him in the road, turned him around so he's going with the traffic, and have him turn his head back towards the class to issue the verbals. It would suck for the 40 minutes it takes to film the routine but so what, he's getting paid for it. It's not like I'm going to get paid to sub another class at this gym anymore. A-hole.

You know what I'd rather see. If I had to lead a virtual spin class, I would not use a bicycle route as the video backing of my routine. I would use in-cockpit footage of acro routines. Yes. Set to techno dance mix music with vocals having Italian and German accents. Or perhaps in-cockpit footage of @SixPapaCharlie and @eman1200 collaborating for a Cirrus training video, moving to euro-techno dance mix music.

I want my bikes back.
 
Finally, we get to see what Sac looks like in real life. Or at least half of him
 
not sure I could be jazzed about staring at a screen that has a dude in bicycle shorts on it. I take that back, I AM sure I would not be jazzed about that.
 
Yeah, that's kinda creepy, seeing that dude riding the wrong way like that.
 
They could have put this picture up there:

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I also vote for "go outside and ride a bike." Get some fresh air instead of not moving in a stinky gym.
 
So... it's a spin class with no spinners (aka, bicycles)? Then what's the point? Sit in a chair and watch the video? Or am I missing something?
 
jbDC9 said:
So... it's a spin class with no spinners (aka, bicycles)? Then what's the point? Sit in a chair and watch the video? Or am I missing something?
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No, you aren't missing anything. There is no point.

And by the way, I vote for getting on a real bike and going on a real bike ride as well. I just don't have time to do it on weekdays, particularly in the darkness, cold and rain.

Plus - there are the spin bunnies...
 
Sac Arrow said:
I just don't have time to do it on weekdays, particularly in the darkness, cold and rain.
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My reason for owning a Peloton bike. Ride any time, music selection good, and the morning commute to the gym is super short.
 
Virtual workouts are a sham. I watched the P90X videos 3 times start to finish and didn't lose a single pound.

Seriously, though, I purchased a BitGym membership and it's pretty cool for winter workouts on my spin bike. It streams videos of bike rides to my iPad and the iPad camera detects your cadence from your head bobbing back and forth as you pedal. The faster you pedal, the faster you move through the scenery, and vice-versa. Makes a 45-minute ride go by in no time.
 
colojo said:
Virtual workouts are a sham. I watched the P90X videos 3 times start to finish and didn't lose a single pound.

Seriously, though, I purchased a BitGym membership and it's pretty cool for winter workouts on my spin bike. It streams videos of bike rides to my iPad and the iPad camera detects your cadence from your head bobbing back and forth as you pedal. The faster you pedal, the faster you move through the scenery, and vice-versa. Makes a 45-minute ride go by in no time.
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I see guys posting virtual rides to Strava now, complete with the mapped route. London, Moscow, Pyongyang, Rome, you name it. The lack of elevation gain clues you in. Plus you know that they probably didn't travel from Detroit to Tahiti and back three times in one week.
 
I ride at home, on Zwift, because my outside options are either rainy season or tourist season, neither are very desirable. I even have a keyboard and second monitor setup so I can try and do work while I ride.
 
I've been in classes before with those video screens, although no goofy guy looking back at me. Anyway, it actually isn't that bad. The toughest part of sitting on a stationary trainer is not getting off as soon as it becomes uncomfortable. An instructor, music and many others dying with you helps. The video comes in second in my opinion. Of course the best is riding 30+ miles away, you have to turn around and come back, no other choice .
 
Did sac just say that he wanted to look at some guys butt and have the guy bark at him for 40 minutes? Things be gettin' strange in sac land.
 
Wow... I must be getting old. Having to wear the right exercise clothes, having to hold your mouth just right and having to have the latest video equipment is just too twilight zone for me....

I think I will go outside and virtually clean the garage, then change the oil in my truck and then have some target practice on prairie dogs...
 
PaulS said:
And that is just wrong, on many levels.
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I am assuming that is a female backside. It looks like one to me. And I am very practiced when it comes to examining them.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I am assuming that is a female backside. It looks like one to me. And I am very practiced when it comes to examining them.
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Sometimes it's hard to tell with the helmet, shades and the fact many bikers shave their legs. It wasn't what I saw at first glance, but maybe you are correct.
 
PaulS said:
Sometimes it's hard to tell with the helmet, shades and the fact many bikers shave their legs. It wasn't what I saw at first glance, but maybe you are correct.
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This is what comes up in a Google image search, so, I think I am safe in my hetero.
 
I was not trying to "turn" Sac, just playing the carrot-on-the-stick game.

I the real world, back when I used to run 5K and 10Ks, my race strategy was generally pretty simple. Find someone that was easy on the eyes, that had a slightly faster pace than I did, and spend the next 3.1 - 6.2 miles earning a new PR.
 
Sac Arrow said:
No, you aren't missing anything. There is no point.

And by the way, I vote for getting on a real bike and going on a real bike ride as well. I just don't have time to do it on weekdays, particularly in the darkness, cold and rain.

Plus - there are the spin bunnies...
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Don't they have regular stationary bikes? Use a recumbent. Makes it easy to read or check out the "bunnies". Listen to your own tunes.
 
jkaduk said:
Don't they have regular stationary bikes? Use a recumbent. Makes it easy to read or check out the "bunnies". Listen to your own tunes.
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They do, but they are out on the floor on the other side of the gym. Wheeling one in there is kind of a big deal, especially a recumbent. Plus the ergonomics on those bikes bite wooly mammoth penis.

Now mind you this is the gym I go to near where I work. The one near my home actually has a dedicated spin room plus they have a couple spin bikes out on the floor as well. On a rainy day, I'll do a couple hours on one of those, listening to my own tunes, checking out the floor bunnies.
 
Matthew said:
I was not trying to "turn" Sac, just playing the carrot-on-the-stick game.

I the real world, back when I used to run 5K and 10Ks, my race strategy was generally pretty simple. Find someone that was easy on the eyes, that had a slightly faster pace than I did, and spend the next 3.1 - 6.2 miles earning a new PR.
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Actually on long rides I'll settle in behind a lady and share pulls if I can find one evenly matched. Unlike guys, they generally don't try to blow you up. I'm getting a little more seasoned now and the younger guys especially hate to be beaten by an older guy. Sometimes you just have to do it.
 
PaulS said:
Actually on long rides I'll settle in behind a lady and share pulls if I can find one evenly matched. Unlike guys, they generally don't try to blow you up. I'm getting a little more seasoned now and the younger guys especially hate to be beaten by an older guy. Sometimes you just have to do it.
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I was on a ride a couple years ago, and I got passed up by a group of two men and two women. They didn't blow by me, I just let them passed. The peloton was led by dude #1, followed by his girl, and then dude #2's girl, a short Asian chick, then dude #2.

Dude #2 was lagging behind his chick, and he motioned for me to join in and take his place in the peloton. I'm like, 'why did this guy want me to draft his chick?' So I get behind her, and discover why. She was all over the place. Speeding up, slowing down, going sideways - it was really quite annoying. I did notice that nobody in the group seemed intent on cycling through the sequence, probably because the other two riders didn't want to get behind her either.

I kept that up for a few miles then broke off and went off in another direction. Every once in a while I'll trade pulls with another rider, but it's fairly rare that I run in to a lady that is close to matched.

Not saying that doesn't happen though. When the Amgen was in town, there were a lot of pro riders practicing on the trail a couple days before the races. This lady with Godzilla legs shoots in front of me, and I start drafting her, at about a 21 mph pace. Then some guy on an aero bike flies past both of us, doing more like a 25 mph pace, and she decides to have him for lunch instead, and takes off and passes him up.
 
We have a few women in the group I ride with who can torch about 95% of the men, maybe more. One is a world ranked tri athlete, I love it when she shows up and gets feisty. I lock in behind her and hang on for dear life for as long as I can. Usually can't see how fast I am going because my eyes are watering. There is another who loves to lead the pack, she'll do 8 or 10 mile pulls. Tough holding her too. It's been a long winter this year for me, will be interesting to see where I am when I finally get outside consistently. Added swimming to my routine, but been sick, 4 colds since Christmas, yeck.
 
And here I thought this thread was going to be about some goofy flight sim class where folks learned to stall and push on a rudder pedal at the same time...

Sac Arrow said:
Plus the ergonomics on those bikes bite wooly mammoth penis.
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Now there's a phrase nobody thought they'd be reading today when they got up this morning. :)

Sac Arrow said:
So I get behind her, and discover why. She was all over the place. Speeding up, slowing down, going sideways - it was really quite annoying.
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Cycling While Asian? LOL...
 
My son in law is a professional triathlete. He has his bike set up on rollers and they're connected to his computer and he does virtual bike races with others. I guess it beats riding the same course in his neighborhood over and over again.
 
flyingron said:
My son in law is a professional triathlete. He has his bike set up on rollers and they're connected to his computer and he does virtual bike races with others. I guess it beats riding the same course in his neighborhood over and over again.
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Don't get me wrong, there is a place for that. The people that I know that do this live in the northeast. There are months out of the year you can't ride there. At least, don't want to anyway.

Heck, it's not 'supposed' to rain today but I opted to do two hours on the stationary recumbent listening to Italian disco mix and watching the gym bunnies pump their gluteals on the leg curl machine, while some stupid cop show was playing in my peripheral vision. I know that the second I jump on that bike it will start to pour again. It always does.
 
UPDATE:

There is a room full of spin bikes now. I decided to do a test run.
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They are Schwinn. I normally prefer Star Trac but these are pretty nice - RPM, power meter, timer, and you can connect them to a phone app if you want.
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It's really not bad. They even had the sound enabled so you could hear the spin instructor dude giving instructions to you, and the trip through the mountains in Spain was entertaining. I kept wanting to pull over to the side of the road for a Sangria. I think though, they will still need an instructor for no other reason than moderation. It will be interesting to see how that all works out.
 
jbDC9 said:
So... it's a spin class with no spinners (aka, bicycles)? Then what's the point? Sit in a chair and watch the video? Or am I missing something?
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There's probably a few spinners...oh, you meant bicycles...
 
I hate, hate, hate riding indoors, it's even worse that running on the dreadmill. I find that I spend a lot more time running than riding, even though I much prefer riding to running, just because running is more convenient. I can pack clothing when I head into the office, change at the end of the workday, and grab a run on the way home. During the week, it's really tough for me to get a contiguous hour and a half to myself during the school year, and that's the least amount of time I'd need to get a ride in.
 
denverpilot said:
You went from argyle to hot pink socks?
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Ha ha, one of my women decided to join in. She had an absolute blast. I'm wearing white Nike athletic socks. Or was, rather. Right now at the very moment I'm in fact wearing argyle socks.

FormerHangie said:
I hate, hate, hate riding indoors, it's even worse that running on the dreadmill. I find that I spend a lot more time running than riding, even though I much prefer riding to running, just because running is more convenient. I can pack clothing when I head into the office, change at the end of the workday, and grab a run on the way home. During the week, it's really tough for me to get a contiguous hour and a half to myself during the school year, and that's the least amount of time I'd need to get a ride in.
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I don't quite have the same hatred of it you do. I'll take riding indoors over the rain and the cold. Plus, I'm at it early enough it's dark outside. Riding a real bike is strictly a weekend activity for me.

And then, there are the wimminz.
 
Those are nice bikes, I prefer bike shoes over those toe clips, always end up with a blister on the top of my feet.
 
PaulS said:
Those are nice bikes, I prefer bike shoes over those toe clips, always end up with a blister on the top of my feet.
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Me too, and those pedals are particularly bad from the toe clip side. I didn't plan on doing any spin this morning so I didn't bring a pair.
 
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