The Way I Roll

I am no expert on human behavior, but I'm fairly certain that most people do not excitedly rip open their first Spinervals DVD and immediately pop it in the player to watch while eating a plate of nachos*. And yet, I'm not most people, am I?

It makes total sense to me that most people in general - and certainly all gung ho triathlon type folks - would pop their fabulous new DVD in the player and hop on their bike trainer to try it out. So. Not. Me.

I may have mentioned before that I'm a little anxious about mechanical matters. I'm definitely a follow-the-instruction-manual type. (Unlike John who doesn't even LOOK at the instructions when he puts things together. He ends up with extra parts - which stresses me out - but what he puts together always works. Even more irritating is that he can intuit how to use every feature while I'm still trying to decipher how to plug the darn thing in!) To say that I'm not much of a technical gal would gravely understate the situation.

I may also have mentioned that I get a little anxious about new workouts. I have issues about doing things the "right" way. I get flustered trying to learn too many things at once. I'm definitely not a jump-in-and-try-it kind of athlete. (Unlike Donna who has about a nanosecond delay between deciding she wants to try something and being in the middle of testing it out regardless of what equipment she may need. She just starts with what she has and makes it work. No drama. No hesitation.) I am not a fan of surprises in my workouts. To say that I'm all about some reconnaissance (recce) and consideration first would gravely understate the situation.

Which brings us to the situation (i.e. me sitting on my couch, stuffing my face, watching 45 minutes of other people riding bikes on trainers while Coach Troy sporadically tells them when to pedal faster.) I've never been to a spin class. I've never even seen one. I didn't know what to expect from a Spinervals DVD (despite reading the back cover of 47 different ones at the bike store before somewhat randomly deciding to buy one of them). I do know myself though. New workout+complicated machine**=sit down and take notes before attempting. I was not surprised to be about 3 minutes into the thing before I had a list of questions that were not answered on the DVD. (Nor were they answered on the website later despite my searching the FAQ's and perusing articles with names like "Getting Started With Spinervals".)

I have, however, made progress of sorts. I'm not only fueled and rested, but also confident that there are no more surprising or confusing instructions left uncatalogued. I still have no idea what Coach Troy's directions mean about what gear my bike is supposed to be in. I don't have a cadence measuring thingy (yet) and if I had a power meter I'm sure I wouldn't be able to figure it out either. The old me would have been overwhelmed by my technical/mechanical inability to do this workout "right". The new me has taken these obstacles in stride and is going to do it anyway. I've learned that light years away from "right" can still be in the ball park of "good enough". And "good enough" is the way I roll these days. But on the off chance one of you bike smart tri-peeps knows how to explain bike gearing/sprocket nomenclature in a manner that will not make my brain melt and in such a way as I can subsequently use that knowledge to get in the gear that is called for - I'm all ears!! Just a sec while I grab my nachos.


*They were at least healthy(-ish) nachos! Baked chips, nutrient rich beans and veggies, and low(-ish) fat cheese. I get points for that, right? 'Cause I didn't even have a beer or oreos for dessert or anything!
**The complicated machine in question being the bike/trainer combo - not the DVD player. I've got the DVD thing down cold. Finally.