My totally awesome coworker and his wife are putting me up in their suburban home (below is what I showed up to when I walked into their guest room!) but I wanted to get on my bike so I ended up at a spin class. Let me first say that I enjoy spin class. Sometimes it's nice to cycle indoors. But there really is no comparison. Yesterday I went to a spin class at my local gym. I had fun, I sweat a lot, but there was no spiritual conversion. First, in real life nobody stands up on their pedals unless they are really trying to push up a hill or just want to mix it up. I hardly ever stand on pedals, and I certainly don't float up and down off of them like one of those drinking birds. And there rarely is any Mariah Carey playing. And the wind in your face keeps you dry so you don't just sit in a puddle of your own sweat. Nobody yells at you to keep up the pace. The scenery changes. The pace is much more your own; you take occasional breaks. Sometimes you go hard. Sometimes you don't. Outdoor cycling, to me, is real life, a connection with nature.
Oh, and pet peeve: when you up a hill, you increase your cadence. Going hard doesn't mean slowing down your legs; it's quite the opposite in fact!
