What makes a participant do these things??

[crazycanuck]

It's the public & people are stupid...That's my 5 Cents

I'm sure you're a cool instructor

[Running Mommy]

OY! Must be in the air...
No real advice or anything, but MAN do I feel you!
I've been wanting to vent about some things I've had to deal with at the bike shop lately, but I didn't want to send out a negative vibe, or give the wrong impression... (but here I go anyway, hope this doesn't come across wrong)

For example, WHAT on gods green earth would make someone think it's ok to come into a shop and proclaim/ask "Well I buy all my stuff online from like nashbar and Jensen, but the idiots on the phone don't seem to know what they are doing. So if order the wrong thing I can come to you guys and you'll tell me what I need right? So then I'll know what to ask them for when I need to excahnge it"....
My manager who is normally SO restrained actually looked at the guy point blank and simply said firmly "NO"....
Yes, a guy actually said that pretty much verbatim!

Or the guy who rebuilds 80's style bmx bikes. He never so much as buys a tube from us, but he has no problem coming in and taking our mechanics attention away for 20-30 minutes at a time while he asks them to explain to him in detail how to fix something. Or he'll ask to borrow a tool??!!
Ok, I have no problem giving advice, or answering questions, but it has to work both ways. Give us a few bones every once in awhile. I pay my staff PER HOUR whether they are doing something earning me revenue or not. And when you take them away from whatever is on the stand, you are also cutting in front of the person who IS paying us for our services!

WOW. I feel MUCH better!
Sorry to hijak this thread, but it's kind of related as to why sometimes dealing with the public can be so frustrating.
Tho I must say 99.9% of the folks who walk in my door are fabulous!
It's that .1% that grate on my last little nerve!
I'm sure it's the same way in your class.
Sigh.... (shrugs shoulders)....

[Zeek]

It's the public & people are stupid...That's my 5 Cents

That's it in a nutshell.

[Raindrop]

You know...sometimes it just helps to vent...and then read other peoples vents and realise that the simple answer came to us on this forum...from Craxycanuk

It's the public & people are stupid.

I don't even want to mention the guy that takes my class and partakes in ironman competitions...well, yeah I do want to mention him cause it feeds right into this thread

He shows up, and while I'm explaining the process to a couple of newbies, I include the warning not to take their exertion to panting because that leads to puking and it disrupts the flow of the class (my attempt at humor). Meanwhile, the ironman guy pulls the garbage can from the front of the room and tells me, "I don't feel too good, so I might need this." I told him that I'm a sympathetic vomiter and he needed to get his "not feeling-too-good-self" out of my class because there was no way in hell I was going to chance him pukeing (sp?) during my class.

Gawd! What nerve!

[Raindrop]

Oh... I forgot to mention that he did leave. I'm short but aggressive!!!!

[Dogmama]

How about the people who arrive early & "save" bikes for all of their friends by placing towels, spinning shoes, etc. on the handlebars? Then, the working class folks come in & can't get a bike. THAT really p*sses me off.

Or, the guy who does back-to-back classes when others are waiting for the second class? I talked to management & they said they can't (won't) do anything because he's a paying member like everybody else.

Centers of the universe, indeed!

[aicabsolut]

I used to do back to back classes if I could get them, because I needed 2+ hrs on a bike for my training. Usually, these classes would not be during peak times, so the 3 or 4 of us who did it weren't taking bikes away from anyone else. During peak hours, if I needed more time, I'd use a spin bike in the general rec areas, if there was one at that gym.

Anyway, as for the people who really shouldn't be there...I have no idea. I've seen people bring their own music into classes. I saw one woman bring a book. I see plenty of people only do 30 min (of a much longer class) and then leave. I guess that's ok if you have a tight schedule some days and want to squeeze in a workout, but not when some people were shut out of the class who would've stayed the whole time. Sometimes, these are classes not covered by membership (but cost extra), so I wonder why they wasted their money...

[cyclingmama]

Why would you insist on riding with your hands behind your back, or crossed over your chest, or just hanging by your sides when I caution that you need to keep at leat one hand connected to the bike unless your wiping off sweat or getting a drink?

raindrop, I'm not challenging what you said, I'm sincerely requesting more info. I routinely during cool-down, or if there is a quick reprieve between songs, will sit all the way up on the bike (i.e., no hands) and spin, usually with my hands at my side or on my hips. I'm especially inclined to do this after a more intense track, as I find the position allows me to "open up my chest", breathe better and bring my HR down a bit. Is this really a bad thing? (several people in the class tend to do it, and the instructor has never said otherwise). I wouldn't dream of doing this while standing.

[Duck on Wheels]

...Or, the guy who does back-to-back classes when others are waiting for the second class? I talked to management & they said they can't (won't) do anything because he's a paying member like everybody else...

Well, I didn't shut anybody out. There were a few bikes left in each class today. But I did do 3 in a row. It's about 20F outside and the roads are powder-snow-on-ice. NOT my kind of cycling conditions, though some do bike through the Winter here. Nor do I have rollers or some other trainer to prop my bike up on, or a place in the house where I can see doing that. So it's spin classes all winter for me, and as I try to put in increasing numbers of hours it'll have to be back-to-back classes. Maybe that's what his situation is like too, and maybe that's why he joined the gym ...? For instance, today will be my only Monday without choir practice until after ALC, and thus my only chance to do the 3-in-a-row experiment. Other days, there simply aren't 3 classes back-to-back at my gym. So I told the instructors as each came around to collect our tickets that I'd be "riding my own ride" and using their class to keep myself alert and entertained at a moderate "pace", which would be about 75-80% of max HR. They were very supportive and encouraging. All in all it came to 3 hrs and 15 minutes. It'll probably be my longest "ride" until the snow is gone from the bike paths. I plan to do a double-session tomorrow and Wednesday as well (last week I noticed there are half-a-dozen of us doing that), then the endurance class (75 minutes) on Friday and the intervals class Saturday morning. At 9+ hours I hope it'll be my biggest indoor spin week ever. I'll be away next week, then have one moderate week, away again the week after, then another moderate week, then in CA for a couple of road rides, and when I get home after that I hope I'll be able to do the rest of my training outdoors. I'll be glad to be outdoors, but I'll miss some of my instructors. I've promised them postcards from California to tell them how their coaching has paid off on my ALC ride. Ooh! That reminds me. I need to get sunglasses.