Photograph by Douglas Rider
Taking a 'Spin': Spinning instructor Melinda Campbell leads her class on a regimen of stationary bike exercises at the Campbell Community Center. The popular class is open to all fitness levels, but it also caters to the lower levels. Signups for the next class are in January.
Riders flock to spinning class
New form of exercise puts a new 'spin' on an old form: bicycling
By Steven Raphael
Heads down, bodies hunched forward over their handlebars, the pack of bikers wear their exertion openly on their sweaty faces. As they sprint up a grueling hill, the leader shouts words of encouragement. "Pedal, pedal, pedal," she barks. The red wheels of their Schwinn bicycles become a blur as the nine bikers zip through the race course, leaning into the curves and sailing down the straightaways. Forty minutes later, the riders are panting and dripping with sweat as they coast to the end of their ride.
But they haven't moved an inch.
These Campbell residents are participating in the newest exercise class at Campbell Community Center--spinning. It's a group class that involves stationary bikes, and it has quickly become one of the most popular forms of exercise in the Bay Area.
"Spinning is a form of indoor cycling that mimics both road racing and off-road racing," said recreation coordinator Valerie Stopper, who teaches spinning on Fridays, at the community center. "It's probably one of the most physically demanding classes that I teach."
Participants "ride" one of 11 Schwinn Elite trainer bicycles in the class. These $1,100 bicycles were specially designed to simulate the feel of riding a real bicycle. A black knob at the center of the bike allows riders to adjust the level of resistance they feel while pedaling, thus mimicking the effect of riding on different surfaces and inclines.
While music plays in the background, an instructor leads the class through a 40-minute routine. Curves are simulated by having riders lean to the side and pedal harder with one leg than the other. To take a hill, riders increase their resistance, stand up on the pedals and give it all they've got. As the ride picks up, so does the soundtrack, progressing from new-age-style sound to hard hitting Zeppelin-esque classic rock.
Participants say the class can be grueling, since there is no opportunity to rest. However, by only doing what they are comfortable with, Stopper says, participants can work at their own level.
"You just do what you can do," she said. "That's the neat thing about spinning. We have many different levels of riders ... and some are triathletes using it to train during the winter."
Margie Croall, 44, tried many different exercise programs before she discovered spinning.
"I like the endurance and I like the way you feel afterwards," she says. "You feel energized."
Across the room, a man in black biker shorts and a white Nike T-shirt is training for a different reason. Matt York, 30, says he started Spinning "to get in shape for some road cycling.
"It's winter, and this is an easy way of getting the time in during the week," he says.
Throughout the ride, the instructor chats with the group, fostering a sense of camaraderie. Stopper says this is an essential part of the group atmosphere.
"Most individuals have a difficult time finding a level of motivation independent of the group," she says.
Spinning classes are offered at the community fitness center, which is located by the swimming pool in the heart of the community center. Classes cost $4 on a drop-in basis, or $66 for a six-week session of two classes per week.
Drop-in classes are on Fridays at 12:15 p.m. The six-week session classes are taught Mondays and Wednesdays, at 6:30 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 6 a.m.
For more information, call the city recreation department at 408.866.2105.
Campbell, California
