Is it fair to call this the “Model T” of Indoor Cycling?
Myth: Indoor Cycles require a lot of Fore/Aft Saddle adjustment to accommodate the range of cyclists coming into your class.
Real bicycles only provide about 2″ of total saddle adjustment (through the saddle frame rails) to properly fit the owner with their knee over the pedal spindle… so why are many Indoor Cycles designed with up to 9″ of adjustment like the Spinner® NXT?
To make the riders comfortable, even if they ended up in a horribly wrong position, that's why.
This Myth goes all the way back to the very first Johnny G Spinners. Remember those?
The whole Spinning® thing was brand new. We were encouraging people who probably hadn't been on a bike for 20 years, to climb on and ride for 45 minutes. Many most didn't have the flexibility to ride comfortably in the proper position and wanted to ride bolt upright. In those days the handlebars only moved up and down – not in and out. Raising the bars helped some, but moving the seat forward helped a lot!
So that's what riders did and God help you if you suggested otherwise 🙁
I'm guessing that Johnny knew exactly how to properly fit a rider to a bicycle. But I also believe that he and his early partners understood that if people aren't comfortable, they won't come back = end of the program.
Notice how the original Johnny G Spinners above appears to have far less travel than the NXT below that offers a whopping 9″ (4 1/2″ either way of center)?
I need to credit Schwinn for being the first manufacture (that I'm aware of) with the courage rein in the amount of saddle travel (in part by offering handlebars with Fore/Aft adjustment. The AC Performance is limited to about an 1″ or so either way from center. The FreeMotion S11 series has a similar amount of travel because that's all they need 🙂
One of the beauties of taking another Instructors class is that you can observe the problems and/or issues they have during class and make a note to ensure the same doesn't happen to you.
Case in point…
I was taking the class of an un-named Instructor last week. Even though I was sitting the the front row, I couldn't hear most of what she was saying. It wasn't that she was trying to talk over the lyrics (thankfully) but I was only able to pickup about 50% of her cues.
I found myself asking the person next to me; “what are we supposed to be doing now?” But then I had to stop. I was getting less than friendly looks from the un-named Instructor, so I turned to face forward, smiled and tried to concentrate on her cues… that I was only hearing bits and pieces of.
There's a perfectly technical reason why this can happen.
Instructors don't hear what their student's are hearing.
The sound levels you hear up on the Instructor bikecan be are different from what your class hears. Speaker placement, room acoustics and the number of riders in the room all affect the sound levels – beyond the settings you make to the studio's sound system.
One universal problem is studios with wall mounted speakers, on either side of the Instructor platform, facing the class. Sound travels in a straight line and the sound's energy decays quickly as it travels through the air. So your participants in the front row get everything, second row a little less and so on. You sit in a relative Cone of Silence. Most of what you hear comes after bouncing around the room = weaker that what the rest of the class hears.
We had a phenomenal sound system, complete with a Sound Engineer and his big mixing board, at our last conference. Big speakers on either side of the stage. I thought it sounded great. Barbara Hoots was one of the Instructor team on stage during Tom Scotto's ride with a live band. She explained to me after the ride that she had a very difficult time understanding what Tom was saying, even though she was riding only 2 feet away from him and neither could the un-named Instructor sitting right next to her. We hadn't thought to provide monitors pointed back at the Instructors on the stage like they use during a concert.
But our studio also has speakers on the back wall facing me… so this doesn't apply to me, right?
Maybe yes, and maybe no. It didn't help the un-named Instructor in my example above. The distance you are from the source of sound has a huge effect on how loud it sounds.
There's a simple way to solve this* – get off your bike 🙂
When I first started riding in with my class, while teaching to a video, I would begin class up front in the normal position. Then, after we were through the warm up I would dismount and climb on a bike with the rest of the class. Often I'd find myself needing to reduce the volume of my music so I (and presumably the rest of the class) could hear me properly**. But then the music would be too low… so I would find myself constantly adjusting my iPhone down when I needed to cue and then back up for more energy.
I figured out that if I started class, with what I thought was a good balance between my voice and the music, I could walk around the room and test what everyone else was hearing. If I was a little too weak, compared to what sounded like the right level for the music, I could naturally return to the sound system's controls and make any needed adjustments. Only then, after finding a good balance, will I join the class for the rest of training.
Give this a try and let us know your experience.
*No, the solution is not to ask the class; “How's my volume?' With each student hearing you slightly differently (or having a different sensitivity to sound) who do you respond to? Besides, in public environments like your class, most people will tend to lie to you (not want to be critical) and tell you everything is just fine, when maybe it isn't.
**I use a $20 wireless Bluetooth connection for my iPhone so I can control it anywhere in the room. This post explains more.
As promised, here is part 2 of my interview with Schwinn Master Trainer Jay Blahnik – for ICI/PRO members.
In part 1 Jay briefly describes what he sees as the three different segments of people (Instructors and participants alike) that you will probably encounter when introducing Power.
I convinced him to stick around for another half hour and really drill down on his strategies for bringing all three of these groups on board – if possible.
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Jay describes the three segments as:
Those that reject measurement and Power.
The 30% who are engaged, but don't know quite what to do with it.
Then there's people like me (you too?) who loved it from the start 🙂
You can listen to this interview below and you will also find it in your ICI/PRO Super Secret iTunes Feed – instructions are here if you haven't set your's up yet.
I was in Rochester MN yesterday and took an awesome class at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. It's a beautiful club, with a stadium style studio, full of FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycles. If you're ever find yourself in Rochester It would be worth your time to pop in and take a class at the DAHLC – that's what they call it.
I've made it a habit to take other Instructor's classes as often as possible. My objective is to learn from as many different people as possible – it doesn't matter who they are or their experience level. I find I can always pick up something of value, not to mention it's just fun take someone else's class!
The Instructor's name was Julie and she had a great playlist that included two tracks that worked very well together as a 70 rpm steep climb that transitioned into a 94ish flat. I'm never in class without my iPhone these days and Shazam identified and saved them so I could add them to my Spotify library and also share them with you.
They have a SoundEar Sound Meter hanging on the back wall of the studio to help the Instructor understand how loud her music is playing. I see this as a valuable tool (although very pricey @ $700.00) that solves the “YOUR MUSIC IS TOO LOUD” problem. With the studios speakers mounted to either side of the Instructor and pointed at the class, Julie isn't hearing her music at the same level as her class. It was interesting to watch her make adjustments to her iPod when she saw the SoundEar's red light flashing – which indicates a volume above the preset level of 85 dBs. In case you are wondering 85 decibels is pretty loud, at least it sounded loud enough for me 🙂
So you've got a room full of brand new indoor cycles with Power. Now what?
How do you effectively introduce the concept of adding measurement (Power/Speed/Distance) to a class that has been taught without metrics for 15+ years?
And do so in a way that doesn't overwhelm the participants?
Or you (the Instructor) for that matter?
I posed the question to Jay Blahnik, Master Trainer with Schwinn Indoor Cycling. Jay joins me to discuss a number of steps you can follow to successfully introduce measurement in your classes.
ICI/PRO members can access Part 2 here, where Jay breaks down how to communicate with the three groups of people (participants and Instructors) you will likely encounter and how to address their specific needs/concerns.
