Spinning

To help me get stronger and faster road biking I have been doing the spin bike at the gym.  I have to say I really love it.  In a class or by myself its a great workout.  Today I was in a side yoga room where they had a bike and it was essentially dark in there.  It turned out to be a perfect spot to listen to a podcast and do an hour of biking.  No one bothered me and there was nothing to look at but my thoughts as they drifted in and out in the gray room.  While it is all fun, I really do it to get ready for gravel rides.  This is a new thing I've started this year.  There are amazing old gravel roads around the Dalles and hood river.  One interesting benefit of riding inside is you see the calorie counts on the bikes.  Today I rode for 52 minute and it said I burned 600 calories.  That is about the same as a box of Mike and Ike's.  If I had to chose between the 2 I'd definitely ride over crushing a box of candy.  Spring is really on the way.  Flowers are blowing the air has a warmer tone than the last few weeks where it was more biting.