Master Educator Cameron Chinatti with Stages Indoor Cycling joins me for a fun followup to their very successful IHRSA convention where they launched the new Stages SC3 Indoor Cycle. We've got a bunch of videos that relate to my interview, which you'll find below.
One of the highlights from the show was the amazing efforts of two cyclists, during their 60 sec challenge.
First there was
Junior Nationals competitor Dominic Suozzi decided to try his hand at the #60secchallege today. The kid's wearing Converse and he destroyed everyone. 1100 Watts!! That's crazy-ville!
Then how about the huge effort from Kat Haskins … aka TheBarnKat > she's an Instructor at CB Cycle Barn and wasn't an outdoor cyclist, up until now. She won a new Giant bicycle with Stages Power Meter for her efforts 🙂
Here's my interview with Cameron. Enjoy!
Cameron and I discuss their new “Sprint Shift” innovation. Here's a quick video showing how it works. You can read more about how I used this new feature at my review of the Stages SC3 Indoor Cycle.
Before I get a bunch of hate mail from Schwinn Instructors. I make the comment that Stages is the first Indoor Cycling company that is focused on both Indoor and outdoor cycling. Yes I realise that the brand “Schwinn” was first a bicycle company – my first road bike was a green Schwinn Varsity, second was a white and purple Schwinn Paramount. But the Schwinn Indoor Cycling brand has/had no connection with the bicycle company known as Schwinn bicycles. Stages is currently selling products to outdoor cyclists (the Stages Power Meter+ Endurance Training Education) as well as Indoor Cycling studios (the Stages SC3 Indoor Cycle + Instructor Education) Does my comment make sense now?
We've been jamming uphill and having a blast with this 63 bpm 3:43 minute song. Not only cranking it uphill, but also lifting in and out of the saddle as a class in rhythmic unison. This song, from an American dance- pop band, formed in 2003, has been a class favorite…the tune that everyone asks me about after class :).
I hope you and your class have fun with it too.
Here's Cobra Starship, featuring Icona Pop, and Never Been In Love':
John, I feel we need an official organization of Cycling Studio Owners + an annual conference where we can all meet and learn from each other.
I've heard this dozens of times from Studio Owners, including this past IHRSA and last month at our Full Psycle/PRO PIQ training in Chicago.
That's a great idea, I would say repeatedly, followed by; So who's going to organize it?
Well… you are John – always said with a big smile 🙂
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There's a simple sales technique that's called; If I could… would you? The purpose of this exchange is to confirm if a person's question (do you have this in blue?) is conveying actual interest. Your open ended response is designed to understand more, keep the conversation going and possibly gain an early commitment (if I could get you one in blue, would you purchase one today?).
An example of using this at your studio:
Customer question; do you offer a “beginners” class for new riders?
Your response; If we could offer a “beginners” class… would you come?
Notice how responding directly; yes, we have a beginners class, doesn't have the same effect? That response ends the conversation and now you're left waiting for your customer to offer more.
An alternate response to this (if you have an existing beginners class) might be; yes we do – Wednesdays at 9:00. If we have an open bike, can I count on you being here to ride it?
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So back to the original question:
If we organized a meeting for Cycling Studio Owners…
…would you join us?
Now I understand that isn't nearly enough information to say Yes, or No. You'd need more detail. This would be open to Owners, Managers and prospective fitness entrepreneurs. We have some early interest from a number of potential sponsors and have scouted a possible location. Here's what we've found:
At an upscale hotel in Stamford, Connecticut > very close to NYC and LaGuardia airport – the east coast has the highest concentration of boutique studios.
Rooms are only ~$110.00 a night.
We're thinking about meeting over two days, during the third week in August > that dead time, after youth sports and long before Labor Day.
Having hosted two ICI/PRO conferences, I know that events like this are a huge undertaking and will be very, very expensive. Beyond your tentative Yes/No, I probably will/won't participate, I have a bunch of additional questions for you:
What are the best days of the week for this?
What should the format be?
What would you like to learn, see, experience?
Does it make sense to establish a formal Studio Owners organization?
I've created this survey to collect your responses.
If, or how, we proceed will depend on what you tell us!
Judith Hill in 2013 at Target Center/ Star Tribune photo by Kyndell Harkness
Too much sun and spirits in Mexico and the next thing you know you've forgotten to post the Friday free track 🙁
Don't despair. We've got a very special treat for all of our ICI/PRO members!
I'm on a local band email list and was alerted to a special promotional distribution of the latest album from singer Judith Hill.
Our newspaper described the launch:
The host and a woman a head taller than he walked into a recording studio control room filled with a dozen or so invited guests.
“This is Judith Hill,” he announced just before midnight Sunday night at Paisley Park in Chanhassen. “And I’m Prince.”
Yes, Prince is working with Hill, 31, the Los Angeles singer who caused a sensation on NBC’s “The Voice” in 2013 and also was featured in the Oscar- and Grammy-winning documentary “20 Feet From Stardom” about backup singers.
As part of this promotion, you can download the entire album in high quality .wav format[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'] here > but you need to be quick as they're saying that the free downloads end March 25th.
A Note From Prince
Sorry 2 bother U.
Just wanted 2 send U this baby picture of Judith Hill with Her 1st piano.
Loox like her parents, who r also musicians- had a plan. Well, that plan succeeded.
This is Judith Hill's debut album BACK IN TIME.
Please spend some time with this music and then share it with someone U love.
Download your copy of Judith's album now until March 25th – Click here
Prince does say share it with someone you love 🙂 Here's the link to download if you missed it
[/wlm_private]NOTE: WAV files won't show up in Spotify. If you open the tracks in iTunes you can easily convert them to MP3s (PC) or AAC (Macs) that will > Highlight the track > Right Click > Create MP3/AAC version and then you'll see the songs as local files in Spotify.
On Wednesday March 11th around 2:00pm I arrived in LAX to take part in my first IHRSA as a Master Educator for Stages Indoor Cycling. I was so excited that I went straight to the convention center to help the Stages team finish setting up our booth. I had been to the IHRSA convention before but never as an exhibitor. This time I got to see what happens “backstage” before all booths and exhibits are shipshape and the red carpet is laid.
As I walked into the Los Angeles Convention Center the place was buzzing with activity as all the exhibitors were putting the finishing touches on their booths, some of the Stages team had been setting up since Monday morning. Our booth is a reconditioned shipping container, that was bound for the landfill, and it’s floor and stage are built out of Colorado beetle-kill pine. Most of the heavy lifting had already been done but we still needed to lay down our floor, test the audio/visual system, check and recheck all our bikes and make sure everything was spotless for this so very important new product launch.
I also got to spend some time with my friend John Macgowan whom I credit with getting me noticed and hired by Stages Indoor Cycling. John is one of the most influential voices in indoor cycling and Stages was so confident that he would approve of their new indoor cycling bike that they sponsored his trip to IHRSA and gave him an exclusive first look. John and I talk weekly, but I was sworn to secrecy about this new bike so it was with great relief that I could finally share it with him. Here are the links to John's review of the new Stages SC Series Indoor Cycling Bike; Part 1, Part 2.
After the Stages team dinner we all made our way over to the IHRSA Opening Reception. For the past few years I have been very active on social media and “met” many smart and passionate people, some of them were here at IHRSA and I wanted to officially meet as many of them as possible. As I worked my way around the room catching up with some old friends and meeting new ones I saw John and Amy Macgowen chatting with the self proclaimed spokesperson for KEEPING IT FUN Indoor Cycling, Karen Casler. Karen may have been the most influential personality in indoor cycling this past year. She is the founder of CB CycleBarn in San Clemente California and has found a way to bridge the gap between Rhythm and Technical indoor cycling classes. The staff at CB Cycle Barn has taken the motto of “Give them what they want AND what they need” to a whole new level. Karen and I had been corresponding through e-mail and social media for some time now so it was great to finally meet her. When I learned I was going to be in California for IHRSA I contacted Karen to see if I could get a spot in one of her classes to experience the magic they were creating at The Barn. After a few conversations she invited me to not only take a class, but to teach one as well. Karen's energy and passion for fitness and indoor cycling are infectious, the rest of the evening was spent discussing how we can change lives on a bike that goes nowhere with John, Amy and Karen.
Early Thursday morning the Stages Education/Presenter team of Cameron Chinatti, Pam Benchley, Dunte Hector and I arrived at the Stages booth long before the rest of the team to discuss how we were going organize and present our early morning workouts. The Thursday morning workout was going to be for just the Stages team. The bike was so new that most of the team had never ridden it and we wanted to give them some saddle time as well as an opportunity to ride together as a team and burn off some of the pre-launch anxiety. This a very fit and competitive bunch so when you include the accountability of power and the ability to race with technology like Performance IQ you can expect to see some superhuman efforts. Some of our team ended up laid out on the floor recovering from max efforts, it was so much fun. After the ride we all gathered together for for short talk with our owner Jim Liggett. Jim spoke about the long process of building and bringing this bike to market. He also spoke about how hard it must have been for each of us to keep this amazing new product a secret for so long and that now it was our time to climb to the top of the cycling world, to show the world that we believe we have built the best indoor cycling bike in the industry. It felt like we were “popping the cork”, all that pent-up energy was about to finally be released. We all excitedly rushed back to our hotels to get cleaned up and ready for “The Show”.
The doors opened for the IHRSA attendees at 10:00am and the rest of the day went by like a blur. So many people, so much excitement, so much energy. We were't sure what to expect, but the positive feedback was so much more than expected. People loved the bike! The team at the Stages booth included the engineers who built the bike, the sales people who sell the bike, the education team who teach on the bike and the owner who paid for everything. There was not a question asked that could not be answered. Our marketing team also came up with a brilliant idea to keep the buzz around our booth throughout the day, The 60 Second Challenge! This challenge was very simple. The convention attendee, male and female, who could produce the highest 1 minute average wattage handicapped by weight (watts/kg or watts/lb) would win a Giant bike complete with a Sages Power Meter. Every few minutes we had attendees stepping up to the challenge and the entire Stages team, equipped with cowbells and clappers cheered them on, this made for a huge crowd around our booth for the entire day. By the end of the day we had all lost our voices, our feet were hurting, we were tired, dehydrated and hungry but we loved every minute of it and all agreed the day was a HUGE success. After a bite to eat and a few celebratory toasts it was time for bed. Tomorrow we had another early morning and the eduction team had two sold out early morning workouts to show the world just what could be done on these new bikes.
Cameron, Pam, Dunte and I were once again some of the first exhibitors to enter the convention hall. We knew this was a big day for all of us, this was our chance to show all the industry decision makers how this new bike was going to change the way people looked at indoor cycling and especially how to use power to create a fun and effective class experience. Our classes were a huge success, we did some basic sets and drills that showed everyone the special features of the bike, but we also included some relay races that got everyone really fired up and pushing it. Our two classes were sold out, but we also had at least 30-40 more people just observing the workouts, all in all we felt like the morning was another huge success. After a bunch of high fives and hugs we ran back to the hotel to shower and get ready for another day of proudly showing off the bike we believe will change the way we look at indoor cycling.
Friday was much like Thursday, lots of 60 Second Challenges and short demos, but it was a little slower and that gave me some time to explore the rest of the exhibits in the convention hall. I work for Stages Indoor Cycling but I teach indoor cycling at multiple locations and on many different bikes, though I would love it for all the facilities I instruct at to to purchase the new SC Series bikes I also know this is not a reality and this was my opportunity to check out the changes each manufacture was making to their bike. The changes I found were subtle but welcome like console improvements, handlebar shape, belt drives and pedals. The one technology that most every manufacturer was embracing is heads up displays like Performance IQ and Spivi. I believe this is the next “Big Thing” in indoor cycling and in a future post I'll write about my experience with Performance IQ at CB Cycle Barn.
As the show wound down we awarded Josh Crosby and Kat Haskins The 60 Second Challenge winners performed our last few demos for prospective buyers or other exhibitors who where only now getting a chance to check out our bike. It was now time to break down our booth. Many companies call in a group of laborers to do the grunt work for them, not the team at Stages, we all put on our work gloves and got busy. After about 3 hours the stage, booth, bikes and everything in it was packed up and ready to go to the next show and we were all ready for dinner and drinks.
My first experience at IHRSA as an educator/presenter was not all glamor and glitz, but I wouldn't change a thing about it. I'm so excited to part of the Stages team that is so passionate about cycling both indoors and out and to be working in an industry that has to the power to change lives every day.
Welcome to the Pearl Izumi/ICI PRO Program!You are qualified for a 40% off retail purchase rate for up to $1,000 of gear per season at shop.pearlizumi.com .
Please remember some of the basic rules of the program. This program is for your personal use only – please don't discuss your special privileges with anyone who's not part of the program; it's designed to make you more familiar with our products so you can show them off to your clients.
Of course, the whole process isn't complete unless your clients can purchase our products for themselves at a retail location – please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the stocking Pearl Izumi dealers in your area so you can send some customers their way – you might even land a few clients through these new relationships (you can use the dealer locator function on the site if you're not sure which dealers are nearby).
Dealer orders take precedence over any of our discount programs; your order will generally ship within 4 business days (even orders for PI employees have to wait), and you'll receive an automated email with your UPS tracking number once your order is en route.
ICI/PRO Annual/Platinum members can log in and review Pearl's entire 2015 line here. Please contact me if you have any issues accessing the programs website.
*I've lost track… I think this is year six of our exclusive access to the Pearl iZumi PRO Purchase program. Thanks Pearl for your continued support of our Instructors 🙂
