Spinning my wheels

I love me some spinning, especially in the winter months when its too cold in the morning and too dark to ride outside in the evening. However, there are several instances when I just HATE it.

1. Parking - For anyone who goes to the Gold's Gym in Ballston, you understand the problem. As the 2nd largest Golds Gym in the country (only smaller than the HQ in Venice Beach, CA), there are probably only enough spots for half the people who are there are on a regular basis. This means that in order to go to a spinning class, you have to get there WAY early, so you don't spend 20 minutes stalking people walking out of the gym for a parking spot.
2. Lines - If I am lucky enough to find a parking spot within a normal amount of time, this is not a problem. However, someone "smart" within the Golds Gym staff decided that it makes sense to keep the door locked until the instructor shows up. Now, in order to have a class at 6 pm and in order for people to get to the class ON TIME, one has to get there around 5:30. Since many of the instructors also lead normal lives that include regular jobs, they don't actually get to the class until a few minutes before. This means that a ridiculous line forms down the hallway. AND, because there are several classrooms, you can't always tell who is waiting in what line. Once the instructor finally does show up, it is a mad dash for the good spots and bikes. If they just left the doors open like they used to do, this would not be a problem.
3. Instructor - The instructor drives the class and should therefore have a good understanding of the format, the music, and the operation of the bikes. MOST of the instructors are ok and some are excellent. I always try to make it to classes with instructors that are excellent, because I know what kind of workout to expect. But sometimes, my workout schedule must be shuffled around to accomodate other situations. This has on occasion forced me to attend a spinning class with a crappy instructor.
   

So, when all three of the referenced instances go my way, I am a happy person. When numbers 1 and 2 are gone, but its still an excellent instructor, I can get by. But when a crappy instructor teaches a class, I truly have a hard time dealing with the class.

Last night, I went to a spinning class with an instructor that I have been with before and the last time he taught it, the class was fine. Well this time, it was not. Talk about a mess of a class. He was doing things on the bike that I know is bad for you. He used minimal cues with the music, had no organization of the class, and was very poor with verbal direction. As a result, I had no motivation to listen to anything he said. The only good thing he did, was play active music...too bad he would have to listen to the first 5 seconds of 3 tracks before settling on one to play in the class. So, I did my own workout with the music, based on classes I have taken before. The funny thing is that as I looked around the room to see what people were following his lead, I noticed two others doing things differently, in addition to myself. One was a person I would classify as a regular and the other was a woman who had an Ironman Finishers tshirt on. So I'm glad to see I'm not alone here in thinking that this class was aweful.

Note to self - Only go to spinning classes where you KNOW the instructor is going to provide an excellent class.