ICG® believes the brand Be Your Own Hero® represents a way of liberating ourselves and raising our quality of life through service. It’s possible for everyone to be heroic. To live life as a hero — and view yourself as doing so — is not ego. It’s a personal commitment to helping others with your unique talents, day in and day out, while making an occasional statement that commands attention on their behalf.
Anna Mei is an Italian schoolteacher in her 40s, married and helping to raise two children with her husband Stefano. She lives her life heroically. Her talent is ultra-distance cycling. On top of family and job, Anna chooses to ride her bike incredibly long distances, day in and day out, to support, and raise money for, the Butterfly Children — children who suffer with Epidermolysis Bullosa.
This is how she shares and helps others, using what she was given at birth. That’s being a hero, and it’s not always easy. Anna gets tired, hurt and injured like everyone else. Her life has ups and downs. Being Her Own Hero simply means she reminds herself every day that living life as a hero obliges her to get on her bike and call attention to the Butterfly Children.
Early this year, Anna set a new world record for miles ridden on a track by a woman — 441.55 miles in 24 hours. Riding in circles. When you speak with Anna, she rarely mentions the record. Instead, she talks about the Butterfly Children.
This past weekend, ICG® sponsored Anna in the 24-Hour World Road Championships in Coachella Valley, CA. I was her crew chief and honored to be part of her team. It was a tremendous display of heroism on Anna’s part.
The event began at 6:00 p.m. The cyclists would race through the night and then the next day in the blistering desert heat near Palm Springs. Starting at night means you’ve already been up for 12 hours prior to the race start, making the final 12 hours during the day even more challenging.
The race started with great promise. Anna was racing alongside legendary ultra-cyclist Seana Hogan, who had surpassed Anna’s 24-hour world record in June by riding 445 miles. Six hours into the race, Anna suffered a crash during a handoff. For a handoff, the rider must ride dangerously close to the support vehicle to take fluids and food while riding. The lacerations on Anna’s legs were extreme, but she had no broken bones, and the bike was not damaged.
Any cyclist who has crashed and gotten back on the bike understands the pain of riding with road rash. Only an ultra-cyclist can understand what it means to have to do it for 18 more hours.
After dawn the route changed, and support vehicles were no longer allowed to follow the riders. We had to remain at the Start/Finish line as Anna repeated a 30-km loop. We saw her every 55 minutes or so. During her third lap, Anna called me. She had been driven off the road by a car and crashed into a ditch of sharp stones and broken glass. We raced to the scene and saw that the lacerations on her arm were more extreme than those from her earlier crash. These would require stitches. Again, no broken bones, and the bike was still ride-able.
Stefano, an ER nurse, cleaned the wound and applied temporary bandages. Without hesitation, Anna got back on her bike. She had 6 more hours to ride in near 100-degree heat.
Anna finished the race, totaling 349.2 miles, enough for 3rd place. She’d put in an incredibly brave 24 hours. What was most heroic about Anna was that, after the finish, there was no thought of how well she might have done if she’d had a better day and hadn’t suffered two crashes. This race was a cry for people to pay attention to the Butterfly Children. That’s all.
Living life heroically is a quiet, personal experience. There’s no want. It’s a simple choice to use attributes you were born with, or developed in life, to help others and occasionally to make a statement that draws some attention.
If you tell Anna she’s an inspiration, she’ll thank you. But that’s not what she’s after. She’d prefer that you support the cause to which she has dedicated herself. That’s why she heroically rides her bike every day.
Living life as a hero has a personal cost. Stefano’s anguish and fear as his wife got back on the bike after her second crash made that clear. He understands, though, that this raises his wife’s quality of life — and, through her efforts, that of others.
Anna is truly a hero from within. She wouldn’t be happy living life any other way.
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To learn more about Epidermolysis Bullosa, “the worst disease you've never heard of”, and help the Butterfly Children, please click here.
More and more I'm hearing and seeing how Instructors are experimenting with riding in with the class, rather than presenting up-front-and-center on the traditional “Instructor Bike”.
It's fun to mix it up and IMO, an imperative when teaching to a structured Virtual Ride DVD.
But riding away from the music controls creates a technical difficulty; how do you make adjustments to the sound volume?
I witness this firsthand, while riding in an unnamed (but very attractive) Instructor's class this morning.
Her playlist included a bunch of very interesting mashups of popular tunes. Which made for a great class… except that a number of tracks had been mixed at varying sound levels. After hitting play, our unnamed Instructor took her position with the rest of class in the front row, leaving her iPod up on the sound equipment cabinet. Everything was going as planned until one of the mashups came on REALLY LOUD! She hopped off her cycle, walked up to her iPod, quickly turn down the volume and returned to her bike. Problem solved.
Solved that is until the next song which was very quiet. Not wanting to disrupt the class any further she left it where it was, leaving me wanting to yell out “turn up your music!” Out of respect for another Instructor, I didn't say anything during her class.
But I will offer you two possible solutions, Amy:
I can order you a very long cord for your iPod.
I can lend you my Bluetooth receiver and show you how you can connect wirelessly using your Android phone.
I'm here to help and you know where to find me.
Actually there's another reason I've found to go wireless – many accessory cases prevent the 1/8″ plug on the connection cord from being fully inserted into your phone. So it doesn't work with the case installed 🙁
In my case I was forever taking off my iPhone's case so I could plug in the cord. When I got tired of the hassle, I quit using the case altogether. And then promptly dropped my iPhone, breaking the back glass panel – not good. So a Best Practice for any Instructor is to invest in a $25.00 (with free shipping) for this Bluetooth receiver and not need to invest in a $549.00 replacement iPhone.
Speaking of riding along with your class… I Shazam'd this track last night, Come Along from Vicci Martinez. It conveys the essence of exactly what I'm trying to communicate to my students as we push through a tempo Threshold effort together. There's a wonderful refrain the you can add to your cuing at the 2:27 mark; Time Fly's, Make a Statement, Take a Stand… and finishes with; Take… Your… Shot!
Meet Vanessa Wilkins Team ICG® Master Trainer, Indoorcycling Group® in partnership with LIVESTRONG® Fitness by Matrix. Vanessa provides our latest Audio PROfile:
Winning Team – Don’t Stop Believin’
Intro:
Living in San Francisco when Giants Baseball is CRUSHING IT has been fantastic. Our nutty city was really brought to together. There was camaraderie among the people living here. Our team spirit sat and clung over the bay like damp fog. As a winning city, our people seemed a little more kind and jovial to one another. The vibe is still undeniably contagious, and I am sure this is true in any city where you have a winning team. Men walk tall and proud with full, lush, uncut and untamed beards. And if you met any random stranger dressed in orange and black (which was too often to count), you could, without a second thought, walk up, stand nose to nose, and obnoxiously shout “Let’s go, Giants!” and expect to be rewarded with a chorus of cat calls, cheers, fist pumps, and high fives from those around you.
I found teaching a cycling class during our playoff and World Series winning streak extremely challenging, and close to unbearable. (It is important to note that the cycling studio where teach sits directly across from the stadium. The challenge of getting to class alone was difficult.) Not only was I a bit distracted because I wanted to be watch the game instead of teach, but my regular packed class had dwindled to a select group of die-hard cyclists, who, although super-fans, HAD to get in a ride. I really wanted to capitalize on this event in my hometown, and I think the “team pulling together” is a concept we can never tire of using.
November the time of year when our classes start to fill to bursting as all of those outdoor riders make the forced transition inside, and the time of year when those rainy grey cold November skies can have an adverse effect on all of our energy levels.
As Instructors it's our job to to make sure that not only do we keep our riders in a positive frame of mind but we too have the energy and positive attitude to help fuel our riders minds and bodies.
And nothing does that better than some upbeat energetic music that just makes it impossible not to want to dance on those pedals!
Rogue Vogues – Off My Mind serves up 5 minutes of 120bpm music for you to keep those November blahs outside the studio doors, as you help your riders work up a good sweat and use it's positive energy to help yourself and your riders stay up through out the class.
We started the Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest as a way for talented Instructors to show their stuff. Creating interesting class profiles, that go beyond the basic Indoor Cycling movements and intensities, is hard work.
Our first contest introduced you to 5 motivated Instructors who delivered some very well designed class profiles.
And for Part Deux the next batch didn't disappoint and I'm very excited for you to meet each of them 🙂
It's with great pleasure that I announce the winners of the Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest.
Fourth runner-up: Mark Peterson from Davidson, NC
Race Day profile
Profile Description
For the love of the Road Race! The inspiration for this ride was the recent Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado but the ride is generic in the sense that you could do this ride as a stage of any Cycling Race. The objective of the ride is to educate my students on the sport of Bike Racing, entertain and to provide some of those moments of lung splitting, leg busting intensity that is Road Racing!
Mark won $250.00 in prizes including EpicPlanet.tv’s new Race Day Video: Pensacola Stage Race
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Third runner-up: Christine Nielsen from Head of St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia
Going the Distance profile
Profile Description
This profile was developed as part of a series to show that endurance classes can be as engaging and informative as rides with higher intensity. This class gives the instructor an opportunity to simultaneously address effort management, pedaling mechanics and related form issues, universal mental challenges and also introduce some outdoor bike safety topics.
Christine won $250.00 in prizes including EpicPlanet.tv’s new Race Day Video: Pensacola Stage Race
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Second runner-up: Kathy Palkaninec from Cooper City, FL
The Vicious Cycle profile
Profile Description
This ride was created after researching metabolic conditioning sequence and how to burn stubborn body fat. I found the Ultimate Cardio Sequence by Shaun Hadsall. His explanation and sequence based on science inspired my “vicious cycle”. The name of the game is Intensity first.
Kathy won $450.00 in prizes including a CyclingFusion.com — Online Certification voucher ($225 value)
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First runner-up: Kristen Dillon from Hilton Head, SC
PUSH YOUR THRESHOLD profile
Profile Description
As an instructor on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, we have VERY flat roads. As a result, many outdoor cyclists who live here spend much of their training time on speed building. It is important to note that both the outdoor road cyclist and indoor cycling enthusiast can benefit from this workout. To improve speed, riders should work at their anaerobic threshold. Both experienced and new riders can use this ride to improve speed at threshold.
Kristen won $300.00 cash and $250.00 in prizes
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Grand Prize Winner: Traci Kann from Westminster, MA
Ladder Stepdowns – A Descending Interval Workout profile
Profile Description
This ride was inspired by a running workout described in “Runner’s World” magazine a few years ago. While the workout in the magazine was designed to be done on foot and not on an indoor bike, and while it was presented a bit differently than this ride in terms of timing and the total number of intervals, the basic concept remains the same. The premise is to experience a range of paces from common road race distances, from the marathon to the mile. As the simulated race distance decreases, the intensity of the interval increases.
For her winning submission, Traci won a total of $1,315 including:
One week All-Inclusive accommodations where you are the Fitness Professional at your choice of 65 Caribbean resorts from FitnessProTravel
If we hope to expand our reach as indoor cycling instructors, measurement – whether in the form of power/wattage or heart rate monitoring – is best used to add motivation to an already effective workout. In our enthusiasm, we as instructors many times end up complicating the experience when we add technology. We over-load our students with too much information and thereby narrow our audience down to an elite “hard core” group. We forget that the gift of technology is to actually make things simpler or more exciting. That’s why your preschooler is hogging your iPad, right? It’s the simplicity of riding a bike that attracts a WIDE variety of people to experience and enjoy our classes and what speaks loudest to everyone who exercises is the hope of just a little extra motivation to go longer, harder and more often. Adding measurement can do just that.
The addition of power/wattage to bikes is an amazing advancement in the indoor cycling category. We can now actually tell if someone is getting fitter, losing fitness or maintaining fitness. It’s been a long time coming and students who use cardio machines in the gym will tell you they have had measurement on the console in front of them on the treadmill, stepper and elliptical for years! For them, it feels normal to be able to measure their workout! It’s our job to now make that measurement mean something.
Many instructors began their careers as front row riders. But once we go from being a front row participant to being the instructor we sometimes forget that successful instructing is not about how scientific we can make the experience, but how addictive! Maybe you’re shaking your head and thinking, “but we have to produce RESULTS”. Yes, though I believe we create long-term results in clients by making the experience extraordinary and this includes incorporating technology in an unintimidating way.
One way to do this is to coach riders to set their individual baseline wattage for work in a class and commit to staying above it and returning to it after recoveries. We can compare our work effort objectively from hill to hill and from class to class. And, of course, measuring work is a key component in achieving stellar results. I love that we have a new way to set bench marks for our participants so they can see progress in distance ridden, our time holding wattage, versus riding a bike going no where in a dark, smelly room by “feel” alone. It’s a new day in indoor cycling and the smartest instructors in the industry are the ones that can take the really intricate stuff and translate it to the novice rider in the oversized t-shirt, baggy sweats and running shoes as well as the hot shot triathlete in the front row.
Having personally launched power on bikes in more than one club, I find success, of course, starts with education. But not education that makes class any more complicated with charts and graphs and rider homework, but education that gives instructors the cycling science on measurement and the coaching tools to layer this easily over the great rides they are already teaching.
Can I take my knowledge of power and heart rate training and make it more specific and customized? Of course! In a small group setting or with a paid-for program with a specific focus, when I know everyone is in there with the same goals and the same level of commitment…Yes. But industry wide, that’s just not the mass appeal of indoor cycling and the most successful instructors I know, know how to reach the masses.
I have been more inspired and seen more results teaching with measurement in the last 5 years than in the previous 10 without it! And I encourage all instructors to invest in the education needed to deliver measurement in the most meaningful and motivating way. It’s here to stay, so make it work for you. The most important strategy is to make sure the entire cycling team at your facility is on the same page and to then to hone the coaching skills to deliver measurement as motivation – SIMPLY – to everyone.
John's note: Thanks Shannon 🙂 I appreciate your response.
I had asked for comments from a number of Indoor Cycling education providers in response to this post that identifies some of the issues we face implementing Power based classes. Schwinn's Master Educator Jay Blahnik is scheduled to be on the Podcast at the end of the month. Our plan is to explore his strategies to helping you successfully transition from conventional Indoor Cycling classes to classes that include Power.
