The Spinner has a fixed gear. This means when the flywheel is turning, so are your pedals. In other words, you don't have the option to coast. It's not very slacker-friendly. The best description I can think of it is an aerobic dancing class on a stationary bike.
Fans provide the only cooling breeze.
You cannot cheat, because there aren't any hills to coast down or stronger riders to draft behind. This is the advanced class, where all the riders are Spinning veterans and everyone goes all out. As Denise told me later, she'd have preferred it if Ted had brought me to an introductory class. In fact, her brochure demands that all beginners take the beginner class first. This guy's in shape.