Well, today didn't go as planned. I ended up joining a World Gym – the new Taipei Nanjing branch that opened in March a block away from me.

I'd been really good this season about riding just about every day the weather has permitted. I'd gotten comfortable with 50+ mile rides and was set to start tackling Taipei's bigger climbs for the first time in over 3 years (with trepidation, mind you, as my health may have returned, but I'm not so confident about my strength).

Then May came. Pretty much solid rain. There were a total of two days that the weather was OK but I was sick on both of those days, and anyway the forecast surrounded those days with entire weeks of rain. Not worth going out on single nice days, only to be off bike for the next week.

So I was lured by World Gym advertising of "free trial" period until the end of May. That's a total lie, mind you, there is no "free trial" period. They explained the "free trial" period when I asked, and for the life of me and I couldn't relay how they purportedly explained it.

Bottom lining it, if you were going to be using their facilities, you would be paying for it some way or another. There is NO "free trial" period. Just discount or no discount. No discount if you ask for the "free trial" period. You still have to sign up, apparently, is my guess.

But I was leaning towards joining anyway. People who aren't should be prepared to walk and not succumb to the pressure they put on you (pressure that's put on them by the company, no doubt). And they do put pressure on you. They're basically corporate hookers, despite being very nice and personable.

They did have to accommodate the fact that I don't have a credit card, which was a bit funny. The monthly fees are only payable by credit card, and I don't have one and wasn't open to getting one just to join a gym. That was an out for me to walk, but they offered to accept if I pay the entire two-year contract up front in cash (and ultimately involved another discount, I think).

So at that point I had to decide, and I asked for a few minutes to think about it (commitment issues) and ultimately favored joining. Paying upfront was a little over a thousand dollars US for two years with the discount that they only told me about after I accepted (go fig).

I'm alright with the decision. Would just like to emphasize that their offer of "free trial" period is totally bogus. I thought it was a free trial period to see if it's really what I want, but it's just a lure to get you in to put pressure on you to join immediately.