How A Spin Class Lit A Fire Under My Ass

Have you ever been so passionate about something that you figure the entire world must feel the same way about it as you? Personally, I absolutely love new experiences and adventures. Anytime that I have the opportunity to try something new, I say YES! Whether it’s a new restaurant, activity, course, seminar — what have you, I’m there. I thrive off new adventures. They make me feel alive.

Enter friend’s invitation to try out a spin class. Part spin class, part goal setting workshop. Of course, in my true nature, I say yes. Even though I’ve never spun? I haven’t taken an indoor cycling class but I’m there because — YOLO!

So, I show up. I’m there early. For those of you that know me, this is crazy. I’m late to everything. But there I am, early to my first ever spin class. Another spin class had just finished up and out walked the most ripped individuals that I have seen come out of ANY fitness class in Vancouver. Are you kidding me? I was convinced I was going to die.

Long story, short — I didn’t die. I survived. I definitely had a tough time and felt particularly intimidated by all the women that clearly spin on a daily basis — how else can you be that good?! But, I cycled my ass off. I never sweat. I run on a regular basis and do some sort of workout here and there but I don’t sweat. I glisten but I don’t sweat. Let me tell ya, this spin class? MADE ME SWEAT.

As incredible as the workout was, I didn’t work hard enough to literally light a fire on my bike seat, under my butt. The credit for that goes straight to a woman by the name of Lucy Ulmer.

Lucy Ulmer is a goddess in human form. She was our spin instructor for this event and from previous knowledge (because I Google the heck out of everything I’m about to do) I was aware that she was named Vancouver’s Most Moving Instructor of 2015 by ClassPass.

Lucy is a native New Yorker who moved to Vancouver three years ago. Since then, she has accomplished more than most Vancouverites I know. She works for a Construction Law firm based out of NYC and in her spare time, is the Master Instructor at Spin Society — leading TEN instructors. She also does fundraising for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research — her mom has Parkinson’s and Lucy is welcoming any and all individuals interested in helping this charity. Oh yeah, she also trained for a triathlon in one year and finished in 12 hours and 43 minutes — CRAZY!

Lucy took some time to speak with us about goal setting. Specifically, she emphasized risk management — taking deliberate action to shift the odds in your favour. She spoke of 5 risks that we MUST take in life, which I’ll save for another post. The words that came out of her mouth were things that I have heard from others (self-proclaimed self-development junkie) but this time, it was SO different.

Lucy was a ball of FIRE. She had SO much light and energy. They darken the room for spin class (BEST, EVER!) but she was a glowing light that we basked in and fed off of. I cannot fully put into words the experience I had cycling with Lucy but it was pretty close to out of this world.

In her post-spin talk, she spoke of her life mantra — Yes or No, Not Maybe. It is what she lives by. She proclaimed, “There are times in life to say yes and there are times in life to say no. There is NO time to say maybe because guess what maybe does? NOTHING.” This hit home with me because I’m definitely a maybe person. So, I decided then and there to adopt her mantra. Yes, I’ve been wanting to write for possibly a decade of my life and MAYBE has been my partner throughout it all but MAYBE? I’m dumping you. I’m dumping you for, YES!

So, thanks to the effervescent Lucy Ulmer, I’m finally pursuing my dreams. Writing. Finally, I’m taking my life experiences and adventures and putting it out there in the public sphere. Hopefully, one day I can inspire a single individual the way that Lucy has inspired me. Then, I’ll know my life purpose has been met.

As Lucy says, you’re going to die eventually so you might as well have fun. Do what you love. Find a passion. Take a risk. Set a big goal. Live with intention. Live with purpose. Live with passion.

At Spin Society, they are all about self-confidence, no judgment, and no criticism. A year ago, Lucy started with one rider on a Saturday morning spin class. Since then, classes are SOLD OUT. She proudly states that this is a testament to taking risk and throwing yourself out there to see what bounces back. If you don’t throw yourself out there, there ain’t nothing going to bounce back.

Thank you, Lucy. Thank you for pursuing your passions and inspiring others to finally pursue theirs. Keep being the light you are because if you’ve changed one life, I can’t imagine how many other lives you’re currently changing and will be changing.