The folks at Cycling Fusion are offering their complete Global Ride series of Indoor Cycling videos at a 20% discount between now and the end of the year. Enter discount code VeryVIPDVDs at checkout. This might be a great time to stock up so you're ready with new virtual rides for the craziness that's coming in January 🙂
Here's a sample from from their latest Hawaii series – you'll find all the others here.
Quick question: what do you feel is missing with (or should be added to) Spotify or Deezer, that would make it the complete music delivery package we need as Instructors?
From where I'm sitting, having the option to include non-Spotify/Deezer tracks in playlists I share – and then have those tracks play for whoever I shared with.
I'm not sure yet, just getting a feel for it – but bop.fm maybe a service we can use in the future. bop.fm connects to many of the popular music sites and their iPhone App allows you to assemble a playlist from multiple sources like; Spotify, Deezer, SoundCloud, YouTube, etc.. and then you can share the playlist with anyone. As long as you have a premium subscription, the bop.fm playlist will stream & play the songlist accuratly.
The trouble with local files > you can't share them
When I create a playlist with the purpose of sharing it, I'm either super careful not to include any of my local files – or – I make sure to include a download link for any tracks that aren't in Spotify/Deezer. But this is still really limiting because there are lots of awesome remixes and mashups that can really complete a playlist.
The trouble with SoundCloud > no option to download many of their tracksÂ
You might search SoundCloud for a specific root track and find dozens of great quality remixes. Which is great except most don't offer any download option = you can only stream them. So you could build and stream a SoundCloud playlist as your class music, but there's no option to include any tracks from anywhere else.
So bop.fm maybe a solution?
Yes bop.fm will aggragate tracks from multiple sources. Which solves the initial problem of sharing a playlist with you. Unfortunately there isn't an “offline” option to download all of the tracks to your device – placing your and your class at the mercy of your Internet service. If you've got a great wireless signal you might give bop.fm a try. I don't, so I say bop.fm might be an option for us in the future if/when they include an offline mode in the future. Spotify's early iPhone App didn't at first, it was added later.
Here's a sample playlist of a few songs sourced from multiple sites so you can see an example here ICI/PRO bop.fm Playlist | Listen for free at bop.fm
Note how the playlist identifies the source of each track – this Bassnectar track is from SoundCloud.
While this version of Stranglehold comes from YouTube – pretty cool, eh?
Here's a great deal for anyone who's been dragging their feet on subscribing to Spotify. Sign up now and get three months for $0.99 – this is for USA customers, you'll need to check to see if the offer is available in your country.
If you're concerned about learning the in's and out's of Spotify – we've got you covered here at ICI/PRO.
Find a bunch of articles to learn the basics of Spotify here + a bunch of tips and tricks.
Beyond the access to millions of tracks – one of the main benefits of Spotify is how easy it is to share playlists between friends. As an ICI/PRO member you're considered a friend and we have over 60 fabulous playlists that you can download here.
Looking for that perfect track? We have 8 collaborative playlists where you can find song selections from other ICI/PRO members and you can add your own.
COURTESY PHOTO
I just saw this announcement about a Immersive Fitness Studio that is opening at the 24 Hour Fitness in Santa Monica, CA. It included the picture at the top of this post – which I think was taken at a different location as the Indoor Cycles pictured are BodyBikes, not the NXT's cited in the article.
Les Mills is teaming up with 24 Hour Fitness to open the world’s first permanent Immersive Fitness studio in Los Angeles.
Located within the 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport club in Santa Monica at 2929 31st Street, the studio is the first permanent location globally and will open to the public today, Nov. 22.
The newly installed Spinner NXT Black Belt Bikes will prove their workhorse abilities as the immersive cycling experience is launched.
Les Mills will open additional Immersive Fitness studios in 2015 in partnership with other global fitness leaders including CMG Sports (France) and Pure Fitness (Hong Kong), with other locations to be announced in the coming weeks.
Immersive Fitness adds a rich visual layer to music and group exercise.
Cinema quality video content is projected onto the screen of a purpose-built studio, while an instructor cues exercise moves that synchronise perfectly with music and graphics.
Riders in a cycle class get the sensation of ascending steep glaciers, sprinting around digital velodromes or cruising into a peaceful sunset.
The immersive experience creates a heightened sense of anticipation and reward for participants that leads to increased motivation and energy.
This sounds like a fancy version of Team ICG's MyRide+ system. My question is why the Black Belt* version of the Spinner® NXTs and not the Blade Ion's? Why no power? I'll be digging into that more and if I can get some answers I'll let you know.
*This reminded me that I never shared my thoughts on the belt version of the NXT – not much to say really. I'm not hearing of any major Big Box or small boutique studio who's purchasing any non-power indoor cycle, except for a few Schwinn AC's. I also don't agree with their choice of a high tension flat belt, which I feel is inferior to the Gates toothed belt offered on the FreeMotion S11.9 and Schwinn AC.  Â
Are you ready for this? A reality television show about the lives of Indoor Cycling Instructors, who teach at a West Hollywood Studio. How fun is that? They are looking for a few very special Instructors to cast in the show. Click this info-graphic to read the specific details.
Roxane Davis (who is Roxane Davis Casting) called me yesterday after being told I could help her get the word out about this incredible opportunity. Her email lists a few other projects she's involved in;
Roxane explained to me that, although they list some specific cities they're searching, she's open to finding the perfect Instructors no matter where they're located. The job includes a regular teaching schedule, along with being an on camera star 🙂
Are you a good looking, 25-35 year old, Rock Star Instructor? Then send Roxane an email with a short paragraph about you, a photo and your phone number to spincity@roxanedavis.com
I'm super excited to see what happens. Do you think they would ever consider writing in a roll for an Internet Radio Show host?
This had to be one of the most awesome “project” I've ever had the privilege to be part of 🙂
First I have to tell you that there's no way the ICI/PRO 28 challenge would have been the success that it was, without the enormous effort from Lena Hersey. She was simply incredible in her attention to detail, how she interacted with all of the participants and the truth is… there's no possible way I could have done this without having Lena as my partner!
28 days… 28 challenges. Sounds simple enough. We had 196 Instructors raise their hands and make the initial commitment (without knowing anything about what we had planned) Â and on September 21st we released the first 7 challenges.
Over the next 28 days the number of Instructors who continued with the challenge dropped to 34…
In the end we had three who completed all 28 challenges: Rebecca N Rhett Buchanan ,  Natalie Nojaim and Corrine Walker Bell . Congratulations to all three of them! Based on their interaction with other participants we choose Rebecca and Natalie to be the winners of the travel vouchers from FitBodies, Inc. and we are providing Corrine with a $100 gift card for her strong showing in the contest.
Click image to explore all the teaching vacation resort options from our prize sponsor.
Lena and I would like to interview these three on the podcast and learn what happened. We'll update everyone if/when we can get that scheduled.
So what exactly were the 28 challenges? Lena and I have written about some of them here and at leanlena.com – we're thinking we'll keep the rest of them a secret. We just might do this again!