Canadian Cycle Class: It's American-like but with different-coloured bikes.

When I was back in Canada last month, my sister, known to all just you guys as GymSis, could not wait to take me to her gym.  And since I had inspired her with the posts here, here, here and here, she felt compelled to drag her younger sister to her spin class. Oh joy.

People say we look like twins, but I don't see it.

She was kind enough to bring me a water bottle (courtesy of ChatterNephew). Oh hey, can we talk about this water bottle for a minute?  I struggle with these in general.  I avoid wide-mouth bottles when I can because I end up looking like I have a drinking problem.

No, like a physical problem.

I tend to do best with the adult sippy cup, a.k.a. the CamelBak water bottle.  You just bite... and sip! (Anyone else hearing the "Bend and Snap"?)  

I think we could all agree that I would be Paulette in this scenario.

Don't get me wrong, the *bite and sip* is awesome.  But it did not prepare me for the fancy Contigo bottle.  You have to push a button under the lip of the bottle that retracts the top so you can drink.  There is a timing issue that GymSis had to explain to me after I may or may not have spilled everywhere:  you let go of the button before you take it away from your mouth.

Well when you explain it that way...

Ok, back to the class. We chose our bikes and hopped on; GymSis found one with a fancy, sparkly red seat.

The bikes were on the older side, so the tension knobs were a little off.  I would turn and turn and turn, spinning tension-free.  Then suddenly I would just jerk to a halt.

Once the class started, the teacher (her name was Natalie) always had lovely motivational phrases, such as:

And:

Start??  Really, Natalie?  I think that happened when I sat on the bike.  I was definitely a level beyond 'slightly breathless'.

I got to try something new in this class:  jumps.  Natalie was once again very um, uh, motivating.

Side note:  While talking about this later with my mom, she couldn't understand how we performed that maneuvre without hurting ourselves.

After surviving the ride, GymSis took me downstairs to meet our mom for a nice, relaxing BodyFlow class.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the instructor.

(That white scarf did not fool me.)

The class involved some tai chi,

some pilates,

and some yoga.

GymSis' bendiness is so impressive!

Hmm? What's that?  Where's *my* yoga pose, you ask?

Ta-da!


NEXT POST: A NEW WAY TO RUN


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