Well, I may know what comfort items to bring to the Spinning class now, but that is only half the preparation necessary. I learned the hard way that there are many equipment-related things that determine my ability to spin aggressively.
Arriving 5 minutes before start time for my most recent class, I saw that 25 people were already mounted and rolling, with only a few bicycle choices left to me. The first available bike was in my favorite spot but missing toe straps, and I still don’t have clip-in shoes. I lugged that one away and moved in another that had a toe strap on just one pedal, better than none! I adjusted the seat to my body and installed my gel cover. But it turns out that besides the missing strap it had a wobbly base and two bottle holders that couldn’t hold my water. D’oh! I thought I could deal with those issues but when I climbed up on the seat it was tipped too low in front and my rear kept sliding forward. Arrrrgh! I was getting more and more embarrassed at my frantic antics in front of all the others spinning happily away.
I went to the back of the room and sat on a third bike to check the seat. OK. Again, I installed the gel cover and my water bottle. I strapped my heart rate monitor on to the handlebars and my training zones chart onto that, put on my sweat band, and draped my hand towel on the bars. It was now 10 minutes into the class. Since this bike had absolutely no toe straps, I struggled for 45 minutes to keep my feet centered in loose cages that are too large for my shoes. Obviously there was no opportunity to work on my pulling up portion of the stroke. Meanwhile the handlebars screw kept loosening and I had to deal with the wobbling throughout class.
Sheesh. Now I know I need to get to class before the rest of the crowd to check for seat tilt, loose handlebars, and base wobble along with the existence of foot straps. And then spend 5 minutes installing my comfort aids on the bike I finally choose!
Addedndum: Now that I own clip-on bike shoes, I’ve learned it’s also important to make sure the bindings are snug. At leaslt three times I’ve had my right foot fly out in a hard-driving momentn and almost result in injuries.