Now I know why I have never done classes – they are full of sad narcissistic dickheads…..
Greccia Clausen, a Manhattan accountant, approaches her quest for a front-row bike at SoulCycle like the numbers game it is. Every Monday at noon, when the booking window opens, she and a friend each try to grab two front-row bikes. Then they compare notes and choose the two best placed, preferably front and center.
There, Ms. Clausen can’t be stuck, never mind slowed down, with a view of any rhythm-challenged, hungover or just not-quite-so-fit riders.
“When there’s people in front of me, it gets in the way of my workout,” she said on a recent Sunday morning in SoHo, after an hourlong Soul Survivor class and the purchase of a $54 white tank that read “FRONT ROW.” “I won’t ride if I don’t get the front row.” (Of the shirt, she said, “It’s a little obnoxious, but I’m a crazy front-row person.”)
As the New Year’s resolute join (or return to) gyms everywhere, pleased to log even the most desultory of workouts, a subset of people will have practically broken a sweat before class even starts in its efforts to land a front-row spot. For classes where those places can’t be bought or reserved, these die-hards arrive 20 minutes early to hover by the studio door, ready to throw down a water bottle to claim a spot.
More here – The New York Times
“I won’t ride if I don’t get the front row.”
Eh? Is she there to train or not?
When I am on the mat, I have been lucky enough to train with Judo Olympians and Ju Jitsu World Champions, they train and wrestle with anyone who is there, even if it is an out of shape dad in his late thirties. Doesn’t seem to stop them training because they don’t have a “front row” or special t-shirt to acknowledge how good they are.
What a weak attitude. Seems like the instructors perpetuate this self obsessed crap too. Would be a lousy place to train.
Why not just get a real bike and ride it with your mates. Then if you are good enough you’ll end up on the ‘front row’
I have to admit that i have moved most of my training out of the gym and it is much more fun. It is surprising the number of parks around Melbourne that sit along our various bike paths that have a collection of bars and rings that nobody every uses….other than to sit on.