Sunset Spin Class

Will Rogers Beach, March 2021.

The world had slowed, but not stopped. The beach had emptied in a way that wasn’t seasonal. I had taken to walking it alone.

And then I saw it: a spin class, improbably arranged at the edge of the Pacific. The gym, displaced to the shoreline, where wind and salt had the final word.

They pedaled in place, aligned against the horizon. Machines and bodies, reduced to silhouette.

Then, briefly, the pattern broke — arms lifted skyward.

With the small silver Leica TL2 in my hand, I caught it before it settled again. The APO-Elmar compressed the distance until the scene flattened into something almost symbolic.

It felt like ecstasy in dark times: freedom disguised as cardio.

The horizon didn’t move. Neither did they.

The gear Leica TL2 + APO-Vario-Elmar-TL 55–135mm f/3.5–4.5 ASPH. Light enough to carry without thinking, long enough to compress the scene into something almost abstract.