The “Heads Up Display” of student's performance data (watts, calories, cadence, HR, etc…) from Performance IQ looks like a fascinating addition to any club or studio. While not for everyone, the competitive element it introduces can make for a very exciting and motivating class experience.
But I had felt Performance IQ it was missing a few things:
The pre-class setup (entering all your students into the system) was a lot of work for the Instructor during the frenetic moments before class time.
There wasn't any option to collect or retain the each student's data.
The system only worked with the Keiser M3 Indoor Cycle.
All of that has changed now that Performance IQ is partnering with ZingFit who has a full-featured management system system for cycling studios. The beauty of this partnership is how well they compliment each other's service
Now…
Participants can reserve their bike online when they register for class using Zingfit's registration system. This in turn tells Performance IQ who's on which bike. No more need for the Instructor to do anything beyond starting their class and pressing the GO button.
Zingfit collects all the ride data from Performance IQ and displays it on a secure section of the Studio's website. Zingfit can even send an email to each of your students at the end of each class.
Performance IQ is now compatible with all Power bikes that use Ant+ (FreeMotion S11, Schwinn AC and CycleOps)
Listen to the Podcast below it hear all the details.
Righty – Tighten… Lefty – Loosen, unless you're down under when it's the other'way'round > I think
Pick a word.
Any word.
And type it into the search box in Spotify… hit play and listen to the results.
You may be pleasantly surprised like I was.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Let me go back a few seconds…
I had clicked on a video and loved the sound track.
So grabbed my iPhone and Shazamed it.
The response was Loosen up your tie but it wasn't available in Spotify.
And it wasn't in YouTube.
But the Artist – Barrie Gledden has a bunch in Spotify and iTunes.
So I tried just Loosen…
And discovered a bunch of new music 🙂
Getting Started
Recruitment is never easy, and it seems we never get quite as many subjects as we like. This is the big advantage of a University setting, it’s a veritable gaggle of guinea pigs. No offense to the college student, but they’ll participate in just about anything — believe me, I know — having participated in just about everything myself (back in the day).
While I understand this fact, there is still a point where too few participants makes it hardly worth doing, and right now that is sort of where I am with the project. I do not have enough volunteers to really get started. Our Indoor Cycling classes are down to a few digital offerings through the weekdays only, and a few outdoor rides. It’s how we like to do it in the summer; taking advantage of as much outdoor riding as we can.
Consequently, I think this study is going to be more easily conducted with volunteers from around the country, than by the usual lot I find in Pittsburgh. So, this is my official plea to all you fine would-be researchers and guinea pig hopefuls. Please send a message right on this blog post if you want to participate in the study.
What Will We Be Doing?
I can already hear the questions, starting with this one being top of mind. I will ask each participant to conduct a baseline test (specifics laid out in Blog Post #10 with a few tweaks — which will be communicated via email). After our baseline, I would like to conduct a 4 week study whereby each participant fits in Muscular Endurance work (specifics below) at least 3 times per week, and for the durations specified.
This work can be done inside or out, and can be fairly easily incorporated within any indoor “spin” session and any outdoor ride.
Here are the requirements:
After a suitable warm-up, attempt to pedal consistently at 75RPM while in mid zone 3 for riders who consider themselves beginners or intermediates, or mid zone 4 for those who race or who consider themselves advanced to expert level. As far as possible, make this drill last contiguously for a duration of 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Beginners & Intermediates do 15 min segments while the competitive or advanced rider will do 30.
Once the 15 or 30 minutes is completed, make sure to write down:
Total time (should be 15 or 30 min)
Was it conducted on an indoor cycle or a outdoor bike
Average cadence
Average heart rate
Average power
How you felt — on an RPE scale
If you did 15 minutes, try to do some recovery, or at least ride with less resistance if possible for 5 minutes, then repeat. If you did the 30 minutes, you are done with the M.E. requirements for the day.
Repeat this a total of 3 times each week, ideally with a day separating each one. However if your schedule doesn’t allow a day to separate each episode, it’s still fine to do them on back to back days.
At the end of each week, the information noted above for each 15 or 30 minute segment should be put into a spreadsheet and sent to yours truly; gene at cycling fusion dot com.
Do I need Power?
You will only need access to a power bike (hopefully the SAME bike) before and after the initial baseline testing and the subsequent performance test. Once you do your baseline, it will be strictly cadence and heart rate that will be used. So yes, you will need each of those two training tools, on either your indoor bike or your outdoor ride.
Thus, a minimum requirement for participation is a heart monitor and a cadence meter on all the equipment where you do your Muscular Endurance work.
The Benefits of Being A Guinea Pig
In the event you are reading this and thinking of joining our band of merry men and researchers, I applaud and encourage you for that. In fact, there are certain benefits for you in forging new ground like this:
1. The satisfaction that you are doing something few others may have done — trust me, it’s a good feeling.
2. You gain the “inside track” at Cycling Fusion® as a study participant. Future studies (even if you don’t participate) benefits all of our study participants & Cycling Fusion® members.
3. Analysis of your training as it relates to the subject matter being studied — it’s like getting free coaching.
4. Advanced copies of all literature related to our research and Evidence Based Cycling efforts.
So there you have it — no reason to hold back now. Let me know what you think, and/or use my email address listed cryptically above.
With Amy away in Phoenix, hanging with her parents and sister's family, I get to share a favorite track. At first I thought I would share a track I heard (and Shazamed) during the credits of the movie Safe House – Jay Z — No Church In The Wild – Album Version (Edited) – but decided against it. A very powerful, angry track to be sure, but it's probably not appropriate for many of your students 🙁
So instead I decided to to find something light and happy. Miike Snow – The Wave (Flight Facilities Mix) seemed like just the ticket. I'm going to use this as my intro track in Monday's playlist. I'm playing a new video from Virtual Active – World Tour Northern Italy and I'll let you know how my class likes it.
“Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers (with which) they are graced.” ― Brodi Ashton
It’s hard not to admire the Tour de France riders, or to watch the commercial for the Olympics and Paralympics with challenged athletes alongside able-bodied athletes, without feeling that elite-level athletes are special. They’ve been gifted with physical abilities that never showed up in my gene pool and have the opportunity to create beauty in competition and sport that I’ll never experience.
Even when I think rationally about what many of them have had to overcome or sacrifice to be where they are, I still feel they’re unique and a cut (or two) above me as an athlete. They are my heroes.
Be Your Own Hero® is a registered trademark of ICG®. We registered it because we were inspired by the overwhelming odds some people have overcome through self-belief, drive and determination. To us, the brand represents empowerment.
ICG believes, however, that it’s important to Be Your Own Hero even if you’re not faced with overwhelming odds. You don’t have to be in dire circumstances to benefit from it. Becoming your own hero is a way of liberating yourself and raising your quality of life. When you choose to see yourself as a hero, you wake up and look forward to discovering what excitement the day can bring.
When you’re conflicted, all you have to do is ask yourself, “What would a hero do?”
As a hero, you’d trust yourself. You’d see yourself through the rough times and emerge stronger. You’d do the right thing.
Let’s say you wake up in the morning and feel really sluggish. Your body aches, whether from training, overtraining, or age. You ask yourself, “What would a hero do?” A hero would get up and face the training for the day, even though he/she didn’t want to and would like nothing more than to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep.
One of my favorite cycling legends is John Howard. Born in 1947, Howard was a three-time U.S. Olympiccyclist and the winner of 14 USA national cycling championships. He won the gold medal in the 1971 Pan American Games road-cycling race in Colombia, was a four-time U.S. National Road Cycling champion, and won the 1981 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii.
Howard was one of only four competitors in the first Race Across America (RAAM), originally organized in 1982 by John Marino and called The Great American Bike Race. In 1985, Howard set a land-speed record of 152.2 miles per hour (245 km/h) while motor-pacing (behind a truck) on a pedal bicycle on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.
After all of that, John Howard now teaches indoor cycling in the San Diego area. About doing what you and I do every day, he says, “For me, indoor cycling is no longer a poor substitute for the open roads and trails, (but) an indispensable ingredient for penetrating deeply into the inner world of body/mind integration (and) exploring the deepest power patterns of cycling technique. (I)ndoor cycling can actually bring benefits attainable in no other way.”
In DIRT!, the book he wrote from his hospital bed in 1997 after a disabling crash, Howard denounced the Olympics as being about nothing more than medals, with no heart nor soul. He said he had more respect for the amateur athletes and fitness enthusiasts who get out of bed every day to face their own training than for any top-level athlete blessed with ability.
At ICG, we believe that being a hero involves treating each day as an adventure, having enthusiasm about the day and what you’re going to do with it. As Howard’s quotation above shows, a hero brings a hero’s sensibility to everything he or she does. Self-belief is key.
I haven’t missed watching the Tour de France in over a decade. Lance is still one of my greatest heroes. I love the Olympics. Having heroes inspires me.
But I also believe in myself and put on my Spiderman suit every day. I teach what I love, teach it with passion, and hope it improves someone’s day.
Be Your Own Hero. What would that look like for you?
