After our extreme coffee binge on Monday, we decided we’d wake up sans coffee the next day – with a loud alarm clock and a good 7 am sweat session at RevoCycle, a spin studio in the Pearl District.
I was a little intimidated when we first got to the studio (I’m not much of a cyclist) but the flywheel bikes were surprisingly easy to set-up and the staff, instructors and other students were extremely warm and welcoming. And if feeling intimidated by my lack of cycling experience wasn’t enough, my legs were also extremely sore and tight from my three day run streak (totaling 35 miles) and the challenging yoga class at Yoga Pod the night before so I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the class.
Once the music started and we were on our bikes warming up our legs, however, I could tell it was going to be good for me. The pedaling actually felt kind of good on my sore legs and I really liked the feeling of the flywheel bikes (so very different from traditional spin bikes!). The flywheel makes it almost impossible to cheat yourself as the wheels won’t spin unless you’re pedaling and it forces you to engage your core more – especially when you’re coming out of the saddle. We climbed, sprinted and sweated our way through the hour and before I knew it, class was over. After cleaning up the puddle of sweat on and around my bike, we caught up with Michael, the owner of RevoCycle.
He’s got an amazing wealth of knowledge about cycling and you can tell he’s super passionate about the studio, his students and fitness, in general. I was soaked through my shirt so we decided to warm up with a quick coffee (in between chugging water) and then a much needed shower.
We then holed up at Sister’s Coffee for more brainstorming / taking over the world plans. After a few hours, we were zapped, starving and ready for a change of scenery. We headed over to Prasad, a little cafe that shares space with Yoga Pearl, a cute yoga studio in the heart of the Pearl. I got the Kali bowl which was a giant bowl of kale, curried sweet potatoes. quinoa and other delicious veggies. It was perfect – warm, filling and healthy.
After lunch we took our brainstorm to yet another coffee shop – the Urban Grind where we holed up the rest of the afternoon. By 5 o’ clock our brains were zapped so we made our way over to YoYo Yogi, yet another awesome yoga studio in the Pearl District, for a 5:45 Urban Groove class. My friend (and teacher who trained me to be a yoga teacher) Kate was teaching so I was just a little bit excited about class. Just a little. Not only did I get to take a class with Kate, we also had one of our awesome SweatPink sisters, Karolynh join us for class.
And class was AWESOME. The music, the energy. the dance like sequencing. Everything about it was amazing. Kate has an incredible style and energy that keeps you smiling even when the poses get a little challenging. We focused a lot on hips throughout class – figure four-ing like crazy – and then at the very end, we gave into a full pigeon pose (a super deep expression) and I swear, I’ve never felt better.
After our phenomenal yoga class, we were off to Por Que No?! for dinner. Taco bowls and margaritas? Si, por favor.
Thanks Portland for a wonderful, sweaty trip. I’ll be back for sure!
Holiday Sweat points thus far: 20.5
Stay Sweaty friends!
XOXO,
Jamie
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