Spin classes

Basically the roads around UAE are far too dangerous to ride a bike on. This is mainly because of the speed of the traffic, and the cultural history. People don't ride bikes in the UAE, they drive cars. It would take quite a huge mind shift to even look out for cyclists. You see the occasional Pakistani and Indian men riding along on the footpath, across the pedestrian crossings, or around the little side streets, but you seldom see anyone out on the road on a bike or on foot. You are literally taking your life in your hands.
In order to ride a bike I have been going along to spin classes, bike riding classes, at one of the International hotels. I used to go on Sunday after work, remembering Sunday is the first day of our working week. With monitoring and cutting across your limited evening it just got too hard, so I have switched to Friday morning, the first day of our weekend. I'm thoroughly enjoying the class, the work out and being back on my bike so to speak. Classes are limited to 7, and its not in a fancy gym with mirrors, so it all fits my comfort level. Andrea, the instructor works for our company and runs the classes as an interest thing. Mostly our company people attend, and there are no Sarah Ulmers or Katie Bates, just a group of middle aged ex pats doing some exercise and on a day like today, perspiring like crazy. Today we did sprints, hill climbs, and break aways. And most weeks I can walk reasonably well the next day. Riding to Picton on my bike is still way up there, but in the meantime, I'm on my bike!