Yesterday, jurors in a Manhattan courtroom were exposed to the harrowing rituals of a dark and mysterious subculture: spinning.

Lawyers for Stuart Sugarman, who claims that last year he was attacked in an Upper East Side gym by a fellow spinner after he whooped excitedly during class, explained that a spinner, at the height of cycling, achieves an ecstatic, trancelike state, what they called "the zone." Whooping, they said, is not only normal, but encouraged.

According to the Post,

The lights are dimmed, music throbs, and the instructor leads the class in call and response — "Are you ready? I can't hear you!"

Spin instructor Mark Selden was called in to testify. "There are times," he told the courtroom, chillingly, "when 50 people will respond in harmony."

Eventually, Sugarman himself took the stand to answer questions about his participation in the bizarre ritual known as spinning. Red faced and limping, according to the Times, he faced the jury stoically:

"Are you psyched?" an assistant district attorney, Brigid Harrington, asked Mr. Sugarman, in an effort to explore his mind-set during spinning class.

"I am," Mr. Sugarman said.

God, we can't wait for Law & Order to get hold of this story.

Grunt and Center [NYP]
Grunting in East Side Gym Class Leads to Hospital, and to Court [NYT]
Earlier: Spinning Classmates Face Wheels of Justice