Stupid question - am I doing Spin Class wrong?

Hey. No if your bouncing around that means you dont have enough resistance. Your doing it right!

No, you're not missing out on a thing..... the problem with everyone else is that our legs are not as strong as your also burnt out is setting in the muscle so, we push ourselves to complete the task.
Congrads to you for having Thor thighs and calves

From a cycling perspective, I would guess you have better form than the others. They are letting their weight push the pedals down, not powering through with the legs. Watch pro cyclists and you're likely to see something that more resembles what you are doing.

That said, I've never done a spin class and maybe that is the point.

The most important thing is that you are changing your position and re-establishing blood flow to *ahem* sensitive parts, as well as challenging your muscles to adapt to varying usage.

I use to be a Spin Instructor. You're doing it right. When your resistance is low; you bounce around in the seat when sitting and when standing and your bouncing around; your using the whole body to turn over the pedals.

To me, it sounds like you're doing it right. Your body should never be just bouncing around all willy-nilly on the bike. Control is a good thing.

Now I have a fun story. There is a new(ish) woman in my spin class. You can tell that most of us ride bikes and are training for the upcoming season (proper shorts, bike shoes, good form, etc) So this woman comes in who is very lean, dressed in full road garb, and really looks like she might know what she's doing. Then she gets on the bike and bounces around like a total goon all through class. She never turns up her tension so that she can appear to be going sooo much faster than the rest of us and it is just sooo easy for her. Well finally she got called out by the instructor the other day and he told her she needed to crank up the tension. Resistance is obviously new to her because she proceeds to almost rip off the handle bars, she has to grip them so tightly and yank them about just to get the leverage to pedal. I hate to admit it but I felt so self satisfied at watching her struggle. I am pretty sure she assumes her form is best and she kicks *kitten*. I give her credit that she is nice and lean but she obviously does not strength train one bit and I would just love to see her ride a real bike and see how she does it. I hate judging people, especially at the gym, but she drives me batsh!t crazy.

I might be all washed up, but I'm gonna take a different approach than most of the other replies. But first, when you say they are bouncing around I'm assuming they DO have decent tension on (you did describe it as a standing hill climb afterall) and they are moving side to side to use body weight to push harder up the hill. If that IS what they are doing then I'd say THEY are doing it right. Sometimes in class we'll do a song worth of 'hover's' (quad burners) where its like you are balancing a book on your head, slightly squated down (yet still standing). That sounds more like you. That is NOT the way to climb a hill on a bike. Watch any bike race and you'll see that bikers do indeed use body weight to help them climb. To do that you have to lean side to side at the top of each pedal stroke. Make sense?