I’ve done a lot of indoor cycling over the past year. A bunch of it was on the stationary bike going at my own pace, but I’ve done spinning also a few times over the past year. Recently, I’ve actually been doing spinning a lot (3-4 times a week) as I find it to be a great workout and very effective in helping me with my weight bet (less than three months left!). I know spinning sounds a little girly and trust me, I thought the same thing before I tried it due to numerous recommendations. It’s not girly at all, even though I’d say 2/3rds – 3/4ths of the class is made up of women. It’s actually a great workout and it doesn’t hurt that there are usually a lot of hot girls in the class.

However, there are some things I don’t like about spinning. First, it’s hard to get a spot because it’s so popular. I have to get to the gym early, wait in line, sign up, get my hand stamped, then go stand outside the room until the doors open so I get a good bike (the bad bikes are the ones that are too close to other bikes, etc). All of that is a pain in the ass. Second, I really don’t like working out to dance/techno/club music. I just don’t like it. And they turn the music way up, so I can’t use headphones to block it out. Third, some of the instructors suck and you can’t really determine your own workout breakdown (sprints, hills, etc) as well as I would like. Despite all of that, it’s still enjoyable and I plan on doing it for a long time to come.

That being said, I want to spend a lot more time cycling outdoors. The problem is, until recently, I didn’t really have a good bike to ride on. The past few seasons, I’ve used a hybrid bike made by Giant which while okay, wasn’t really great for riding on. So I decided to upgrade. Recently, I bought a Trek 5000, which is a semi-entry level, but semi-high end bike. I can’t seem to figure out exactly how good it is, but it does have a carbon frame with a lot of carbon parts (seat post, fork, etc) along with good Shimano components. It should serve my purposes very well.

This is a picture of it (bigger picture here):

Should be fun, I plan on taking it out a bunch over the next few weeks before I have to take a little bit of time off for Turning Stone and Ithaca.

Related posts:

1. Bike ride
2. Back from the bike ride
3. Back from my break
4. I’m in Grand Cayman
5. La Guacima