My husband
Robert is on an amateur bicycle racing team, and so he specifically trains for
racing throughout the year. In the
wintertime, he trains outdoors as much as possible, but sometimes when the
weather is uncooperative, he rides indoors on a trainer. (Me, too!) You attach your back wheel to the trainer,
making a stationary bicycle. He has
computer programs to simulate different terrain. Of course it’s not nearly as enjoyable as
riding outside, but it’s an acceptable alternative if you want to stick to your
training schedule.
A few
winters ago Robert got bored with riding for hours at a time on his trainer in
our basement. So, he started a spin
class in our town of Monticello, primarily to make his indoor training more fun
and social. He purchased 11 spin bikes
and put them in the break room at our Jordan Engineering building. Thus, jSpin was begun!
jSpin classes
have been a big hit in our community from the beginning. Robert teaches an interval training class on
Monday evenings. Two other people teach,
one on Wednesday evenings and one on Thursday evenings. Each instructor has a slightly different
style, but all provide a great workout.
Classes are offered on Tuesday evenings, too, but there is not an
instructor then. Instead, Robert puts
together a spin show of music videos, and class participants can ride at
whatever level of intensity they choose while they watch.
As March
approached, I began to think about the various ways I might promote Bicycles
for Humanity (B4H). As I described in a
previous post, I found out about B4H through a tweet by cycling announcer Paul
Sherwen. I went to the B4H website and
watched a video entitled “The Karamoja Bicycle Initiative,” in which he and B4H
founder Pat Montani give an extremely informative overview of B4H’s work in
Africa. This video was an important part
of my decision to include B4H as one of my charities in A Year of Centuries. Getting to actually see how bicycles make it
easier for people to transport water, loads of firewood, or just about anything
makes so much more of an impression than just hearing or reading about it. Hmmm…this would be a great video to include
with a Tuesday jSpin class!
Usually, I
only get to go to Monday jSpin classes because they start later than the
others, and I have to commute home from work.
However, yesterday I had to work late and couldn’t get home in time for
spin. Therefore, I left work a little
early today for jSpin. I was excited to
get to be there for the B4H video; things really do tend to work out for the
best!
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