Last night, I participated in a “master” spinning class with Josh Taylor. Apparently, Josh is the spinning guru. Since I just starting spinning nearly six months ago, I never heard of him but ask any spinning instructor. They will tell you he is the best and gives an “amazing ride!”
That’s how I found out about Josh and the 2-hour spin class. My friend, Morris, sent me an email about this class taking place at the Marriott Marquis in midtown. He told me that this would be the ride of my life. How could I pass on such an opportunity???
I signed up on line, paid my $75 bucks and I was registered and ready to go. When I woke up in the morning, I packed my bag with my spin shoes and gear and had a bit of a panic attack. How am I going to do this? I could barely spin for an hour let alone two hours!
When I got to the Marriott, there were tons of people lined up to get in for the spinning class. I saw a couple of older men and asked, “do you know about Josh Taylor?”
“Oh yes,” said one man to me. “He’s amazing. I’ve been a spinning instructor for many years and this is my first opportunity to ride with Josh.”
The doors opened and everyone grabbed a stationary bike. Josh Taylor was on stage. He was handsome, extremely lean and muscular. “He only has 5% body fat,” Morris told me.
As we were warming up, Josh asked the audience how many people were spinning instructors. Almost everyone raised their hand. “Okay, how many people are not spinning instructors?” Josh asked.
I raised my hand. I looked around and only saw about two or three other hands across the room. All I thought was, I’m in trouble!
Josh told us to close our eyes and visualize the now. “Be in the moment,” he said. (He must have read “The Power of Now.”) “Let everything go. Don’t think of anything but the long straight road ahead of you.”
I felt myself go into a meditative state. I was totally relaxed. Next, he asked us to stand and ride. He told the instructors to have their class do that for an hour. We actually did it for the first hour. The second hour was even tougher. It was steep hills and rough terrain.
My feet were killing me. My legs were killing me. My butt was killing me.
“Don’t think about the pain,” said Josh. “Go through it and enjoy what we love to do. At the end, you’ll feel like you really accomplished something.”
Throughout the ride, I didn’t think about the time. I just thought about the moment.
And at the end, I did feel like I accomplished something. I threw my arms up in the air with the rest of the class and screamed out, “Oh Yeah….”
