I never thought I would ever write that a spin bike is a pocket of joy, especially a spin workout sold in part by the ability to tailor the workout to your musical taste. Traditionally I have disliked spin — I do not find it athletic enough and it does not feel like being on my road bike. I do triathlons and I love riding outside.

Plus, I care about gauging my workout on metrics such as power and speed. Too many spin teachers give nebulous instructions such as, “Turn the dial up a bit” or “Make it slightly harder” and, even worse, get participants to jump in and out of the saddle and spin at excessively high speeds — both things I would never do on my road bike.

Yuk, yuk, and yuk. Also, I don’t like training to music. Outside I bike in silence — I soak in the scenery. Inside I bike (on my trainer) and run listening to podcasts. I love my podcasts and relish the opportunity to listen to them.

I guess I should start heeding the words of one of my clients: “Never is the longest word in the English language. Not useful. Stop using it.”

I am loving my Peloton.

So, what changed? I am not training or racing these days, so I have been unmotivated to sit on my uncomfortable bike trainer — a trainer that none of my clients can use because the bike is fitted to me. Since I couldn’t make myself bike I was running too much. I decided I needed a solution — I needed to run less.

I thought about getting a rower, but I decided a Peloton would get more use. My clients would love it, and I would not hate it. As spin goes it is fairly athletic — you compete against other riders and the teacher offers specific metrics such as resistance and cadence. Plus, I realized I can put the instructions on closed captioning and thus listen to my podcasts. Solution found. I bought one for my birthday present to myself.

Now, I like the bike but what I REALLY love is the app — it has literally hundreds of strength, yoga, meditation, core, etc workouts of all lengths. So, when I finish a bike or a run I am FINALLY able to force myself to consistently do things I know I need — like yoga and meditation.

I have always done some yoga and meditation, but it was generally like once or twice a week — now I am doing something after every cardio workout. I appreciate that I don’t have to think — the instructor tells me what to do — and I am able to make myself do the videos because I can pick a short option.

I just say to myself, “What is 10 minutes? …. Anyone can do anything for 10 minutes …. JUST DO IT.” So, I do. Basically, after every run or bike I am doing either yoga, mediation, core, or stretching — only 10 or so minutes, but it all ADDS UP. YAY me!!