why Spinning is awesome.....

Ok. When I started the co-op term this January, I knew that I needed more
physical activity in my life. DESPERATELY needed more activity. I've
always enjoyed the facilities they have here for employees who try to get
a little more excercise. They have a 3/4 size basketball court/Gym, and a
weightlifting/workout room, in addition to a multipurpose excercise room
people just call the "spinning room" - because that's what it's used for
most.

So, I've known for a while that this is a popular activity here. Normally
I've really just kept to myself when I work out here...and normally my
frequency of working out just kind of dies off after 2 months or so... I'd
get really pumped up about losing 5 pounds...do it....then just gain 10
back. So I think that being a loner about it was my problem. I decided
that the only solution for me was to join a class.

Spinning, for the uninformed, is where a bunch of people sit in a room
and ride excercise bikes together. Read that again. Go ahead, I'll wait.
I know, it sounds absurd. To a degree, it genuinely is. But let me
elaborate.

The "Spinner" is an excercise bike developed by the SCHWINN company
explicitly for this excercise program. It has no electronics whatsoever,
so compared to other modern excercise bikes, it's fairly primitive. Its
main feature is that the front wheel is a 40 pound hunk of steel. And
right behind the fork is a giant knob that controls a frictional brake that
adds resistance to the wheel. So one of the main draws of it is that YOU
are in control of your resistance at all times. But let's get one thing
clear: that fucker can be EXTREMELY difficult to turn if you want it to be.

So how is a spinning class structured? Well I've only done it at work
here, so I don't know about other places...but basically we (about 9
bikes) are arranged in a horseshoe shape facing each other. The room is
outfitted with a kickass stereo that the intructor plugs his laptap into.

So the instructor (who does NOT ride with you), arranges a playlist,
and his basic job is to tell you how hard you should be pedaling. Again,
I'll jump back to reality with you....the first time I did it, I was
awe-struck by how simple and dumb the whole thing is.... but I've
come up with some reasons why its so great.

1) Because you're all stationary, even though everyone in the class is at
a different level of proficiency - you're all in the same place at the
same time. So that jackass who races in the amateur circuit on the
weekend doesn't do a horizon-job on you...you can still stand side-by-side
and offer encouragement to each other.

2) Again, because you're in the same place....AND facing each other...
EVERYBODY can see if you're trying hard or not. Generally, I think peer
pressure is crap....but in this case, you really want to NOT look like
a fat-ass infront of everyone..so you pedal as hard as you can! From a
motivational standpoint...the shame of wussing out on the next set of
sprints works really well to get me on my feet....

3) The music is great. My Friday morning instructor is a disco fanatic.
I hate disco. But, even I can appreciate the absurd comedy of pedaling so
hard I want to pass out and having my last cognizant thought being....
"BOOGIE!! *in falsetto voice 3 octaves higher than mine* "...if you like a
song it really does make you pedal harder....and if you hate it then it
becomes one of those zen moments where you think about if there is a
higher power or not.....

4) The people-watching is priceless. We have a pretty loyal following
here at work.... people who I don't necessarily work with, but I'm very
familiar with as spinning buddies. We have all the stereotypical
characters... we have the fat girl in her 30's who really doesn't try
hard at all (i don't know why she comes...), we have the young gun who's
doing it to get ripped (and he is), we have the tough-old-goat guy who
looks like the type I could beat up in a dark alley....but jeeesus could
he kick my ass in a bike race...especially uphill.....et cetera.

5) This is the first time in my life I've actually been enthusiastic about
any kind of excercise.... when I get off that bike my body is surging with
so many endorphins I feel like I could whip a linebacker. It's taken me
over 2 months, but my body's finally appreciating all the abuse I put it
through to get here.

So yea. You probably stopped reading 4 paragraphs ago, so I'll wrap this
up shortly.

I'm kind of bummed out about the whole thing, though. I have less than 8
weeks of work left. Now, I'm getting a little burned out with my job, and
I am REALLY ready to go home to Houston for a while and then finish up my
degree.....but I know that I won't be doing as much excercise as I am now
for at least a year (I spin 3 times a week...and twice a week I have,
shall we say, "alternative" forms of activity..more on that later..).
When I'm at school, I really focus on doing my work.

I'm probably WAY TOO focused on doing my work....but I'm just really not
as smart as some people think I am and it takes me a while to "get" what
I'm supposed to be learning... so as a result I spend my life at the M.E.
building. Last semester at school I think I went out to the bars less
than 5 times..and I pulled an all-nighter once per week to finish my 363
lab report. This summer should be so-so....I'm only taking 2 classes...
And this Fall shouldn't be super-tough....but I'm sure I'll still find a
way to never have any free time.

So I'm trying to convince myself to bring my bike back with me when I drive
back to IN in the early part of June... cuz I doubt I'd be able to keep
with a schduled class during any of my last 3 semesters.... I know a couple
of guys in my program who are bike fanatics, too....maybe I can sponge
some motivation off them.....suggestions?

First blog entry. I guess since I have a Facebook account...and I'm
already prettymuch a facebook slut, I should give in and find a more
in-depth way of putting my thoughts down. I really have no idea how
many people are interested in reading this stuff, but I think I'll
enjoy writing it.

I think the format I'm going for is: one part Sienfeldesque obser-
vational ranting ("what's the deal with airline food?"), one part
personal this-is-my-life kind of crap, and one part cheesy humor
(which will be liberally thrown in with the ealier mentioned parts).

So since it comes to mind first, I'll try one from category A. Here
at work, we have really nice bathrooms. I mean NICE. $800 faucets,
european tile floors..et cetera. The nicest set of bathrooms (we
have 6 sets in the building) is on the main floor nearest the lobby.
It has one of those urinals with the infra-red sensor & it flushes
automatically when you walk away. Sometimes violently. Anyway, it
used to have 2 urinals and now there's just the one (it was recently
remodeled); and because guys just need #1 more than they need #2 it
sometimes happens that the urinal is occupied when you want to use
it. Enter the topic of this rant: Peeing in a toilet stall.

Peeing in a toilet stall is just simply a part of life for guys in
this day and age. When you're in a Movie theater and you go to the
bathroom right when the movie gets out - you're in there with all
these other people. Everyone knows that guys don't use urinals that
are side-by-side simultaneously; that is, unless absolutely necess-
ary (but that's not what this is about). Anyway, like I said, that
just means that after half of the urinals are taken up, guys start
walking towards the 2nd half of the bathroom to use the toilet
stalls. The exact same thing happens during halftime at a football
game, and to a lesser extent, the 7th inning stretch in baseball.
Now here is the question: do you close the stall door when you pee?

At work, when I see people go into the stalls to pee, they turn
around and close the door. Then I see their feet turn back around
to face the bowl, and I hear the sounds of the remainder of the act
occuring. When you pee in a toilet stall, you still face the wall.
Nobody can really see anything, anyway. I don't find it any differ-
ent from using a urinal. You're peeing, standing up, facing away
from the public area. Nobody can see your junk....the normal safety
of this position, I believe, is one of the primary reasons that the
urinal has gained such widespread sucess. People are already more
than comfortable with using a urinal in the bathroom....So what does
the fact that some people close the door to pee in a stall mean?

Does it mean that they really actually crave MORE privacy...
that they're uncomfortable with you even seeing their backs as they
take the pause that refreshes? Maybe it has something to do with
perception.

In this case, the societal perception that when someone enters a
toilet stall, it's to do something dirty that should not be watched
by onlookers....and I'm not just talking about #2. Have you ever
seen a music video for a goth/hardcore band, and the video director
chooses to shoot the video in a really trashy locaction? Like some
stink-hole bar in Grafton. The bar's covered in peanuts, some dude
is passed out in the corner, and half the light bulbs are burned out
or shattered....it looks cool, but it's overdone (Deftones: Change
in the House of Flies, Mastodon: Blood & Tunder, Puddle of Mudd:
I hate you, Brand New: Sic Transit Gloria....glory fades, etc).
Anyway, in these types of common videos, they invariably include
a scene where someone is running into a bathroom, or they pan across
the bathroom...and the camera lands on someone in a stall puking, or
two people making out like rabid ferrets, or some guy crying with
his head resting on his fists. Anyway, the point is that in the
video, the bathroom is used as an element to show something that's
not usually seen...it's like a private moment...and the fact that
you get that feeling shows my point about people perceiving the
toilet stall as a somewhat private place. It's ingrained in our
culture that if you're going in a toilet stall...nobody else needs
to see what's about to go down.

So back to peeing in a stall: Why do you close the door?

I guess a more fundamental question is: Do you consciously choose to
close the door, or is it more of a reflex...or a feeling like you
SHOULD close the door?

I know for me, personally, I would just always close the door
without thinking about it....until all this actually occurred to me
and now I consciously DON'T close the door to pee.

I don't have anything to hide. But you're not going to see anything
extra, either. You can watch me if you want. I don't really care.
Obviously, for the people portrayed in the music videos I mentioned
above, they didn't care about closing the door (otherwise the shot
in the video would be a very boring still of the closed stall door).
So is that supposed to say something about the people who don't
close the door? Is it supposed to suggest something about the
desperate nature of the situation? e.g. "Oh shit I have to puke
so desperately that I'm not going to pause to close the door"..or
"I'm so coked out that I don't care if you watch me blow this guy
in the stall for my next hit...that I need desperately"...

What I wonder about is: SHOULD I care? Do YOU care (in either role,
as the pee-er, or the person who can see the pee-er)?

It would be interesting to know. I guess the opinion of a qualified
professional would be best. In this case, someone like that guy who
offers you a mint or some cologne as you walk out the door of those
really REALLY nice bathrooms....but I guess that's not exactly fair,
either. He only sees "proper" bathroom behavior. He'd never really
get a chance to see someone in a broken down moment of desperation.
Hell, I'd probably close the door myself if I were in a bathroom
like that (lord knows we can't have those OPEN stall door people
running around here in the Ritz..) just to fit in. I guess I'll
never know, but it'd be interesting to get an second opinion or two.