I've added a new media player option that we'll use when embedding the full video player isn't necessary or whenever we feel that the normal player will take up too much space.
It's pretty cool and you can try out the new player by clicking this link to a zone based heart rate training video produced the people at Experience Life magazine. Life Time Instructors will recognize the monthly magazine Life Time provides to their members.
We may also use the player for music – playlists – made – up – of – multiple songs whenever the mood strikes us 🙂
For many (me included), the biggest appeal of spectator sports like motorcycle racing or watching the Tour de France is projecting yourself into the event as one of the participants. Having road raced motorcycles for years, I know intimately the continuous sound of an engine at redline… what it's like to hang off the side of the motorcycle at over 100 miles an hour… the rush of adrenaline as my knee scrapes the asphalt. So it's easy for me to let my mind drift and fantasize that I could make starting grid for a MotoGP race, from the comfort and safety of my couch at home.
Same is true for me when it comes to bicycle racing, especially while watching the tour each July. I can hear commentator Paul Sherwen describe my break from the front as I power up the road, intent on bridging to the breakaway; “Macgowan as made his move, as we knew he would… He's definitely saved just a little bit in his tank for this final climb… this will be an exciting finish Phil!”
Could I really ride with the Tour? Not hardly. I've ridden and raced with people who could simply ride away from me with little or no perceived additional effort. And these people were certainly not able to make the starting roster for a professional cycling team. I'm guessing that few of the cyclists is I've ridden with, the ones who really impressed me with their strength/speed/endurance, could even hang with the professional team on their recovery days.
In the past my comparisons were based on direct experience (typically getting dropped) or simple perception. Now, with the availability of power indication in our classes, I can compare my power output (watts) with that of a professional cyclist and know with certainty how quickly I'll be dropped 🙁
They say that the beauty of using metrics in training is that; if you can measure it – you can improve it. But metric's also provide a tangible point of comparison we can use to compare ourselves to others.
I talk a lot about the 1 watt per pound concept that Gene Nacey uses to decide whether or not you're ready to go out and start climbing hills. Gene says ” One watt per pound is the gateway to outdoor riding.” Where Gene lives in Pittsburgh it's very hilly. Long climbs don't exist here in the flat-lands of Minnesota. So I like to discuss a second metric in my classes; what's your sustainable flat road speed? Or based on your sustainable wattage, what speed would you be riding outdoors?
This website has a fantastic tool for computing sustainable flat road speed, based on your individual (male or female) power output. It also has a fun chart where you can compare yourself to cyclists who race in the various categories; Cat 5 – Cat1 – all the way up to professionals.
You enter your body weight in Lbs and your Threshold Power in Watts. I know I can sustain 250 watts on a FreeMotion Indoor Cycle and I weigh 160 lbs. Here is my result.
I believe ~23.82 mph is quite close. I dug back into my records and saw my average speed for the bike leg of the Apple Duathlon was right at 23 mph. This 33k race course is dead flat. I raced it three times, partnering with my neighbor Mark who did the runs. The comparison chart shows me as a Cat 4, which was the highest I ever raced.
So how would I compare to a time trial ridden by a professional? Because the length and course of the individual time trials in the Tour De France change every year, there's some debate as to who had the fastest average speed. Local boy Greg LeMond (he's from Minnesota) in 1989 and David Zabriskie (2005) both won individual time trial stages averaging ~34 miles an hour.
Here's how much power they needed to not only produce, but sustain for nearly 60 minutes:
Assuming they both weighed 160 Lbs, Greg and David needed to double my wattage to ride 50% faster than me… astounding!
Go over to the calculator and see where your power falls and which category you would race. And if you're brave, add your results below.
This is a versatile 91 bpm song that can be used for the first road out of the gate, as a nice recovery flat in the middle of your ride, or as one of the last roads heading toward recovery and cool down. This Grammy award winning female British vocalist has always been a favorite of mine with her smooth vocals and great band. From Dido’s third album, Safe Trip Home, “Don’t Believe In Love”, is 3:51. Here’s hoping you will keep it in your play list and find it useful in many places in your ride.
 
Here's a great live version of Don't Believe In Love from the Tonight Show. Two options you could use to trim off Jay Leno's intro; trim it in MixMeister or if you use iTunes you can Right Click the song title > Get Info > Options Tab > tick the start time box and set it for 0:14 to begin during the applause. Or you could leave it and see what happens 🙂
“Your class is a lot more efficient workout for me, than riding outdoors.”
My question was directed at my class in general, but I was looking at Jim, a buddy of mine when I said it. Jim is a member of what I called the A-Team, the regular participants to my Monday 5:45AM class. Jim is a typical A-type personality; a high-powered attorney who has more money than time. If you spend a few minutes talking to him you'd realize he's pretty much a no-nonsense guy and I'm guessing Jim had some court date or other appointment that morning. Otherwise he would normally be out on his bike.
Are your students looking for efficiency in your class?
I'm going to start by suggesting that the time of day your class occurs attracts a specific type of person:
Early morning classes, in my opinion, are filled with people looking for efficiency. Like my friend Jim they want to go in, work out and get off to work at a set time. We (I'm including myself in this A-Team) are very structured in our schedules. Every Monday morning as I leave the club I hold the door for another friend, Dr Block, who's just arriving to the club… every Monday this happens without fail.
Midmorning classes tend to be social events, attracting a large number of women… which is why many of us call these housewives classes.
Noon classes are back to efficiency… Students want to get in and out within the prescribed length of time.
Evening classes seem to be a hybrid of both efficiency and social. If you teach evening classes you may recognize members who appear to have nowhere else to go at the end of the day… and those who blast off 10 seconds after the end.
So if you're teaching either early morning, or noon classes I feel it's important that you recognize your student's need for efficiency and deliver on it.
Here are a few suggestions from a habitual early a.m. Instructor:
Start on time. I've been in a lot of morning classes where it's obvious the instructor is expecting a number of late arrivals. Teach to everyone who's there on time!
Demonstrate discipline as the Instructor. People looking for efficiency tend to be well organized themselves. If you are stumbling around, with no clear sense of direction, you'll frustrate your students.
Keep your communication clear and concise. As I discussed in an earlier post where the microphone had quit early in class, because I had already laid out the class plan students new exactly what to do.
Encourage early arrivers to lead themselves through a self-directed warm-up.
Minimize the duration of your planned warm-up. I'm not suggesting you yell GO! at 5:46 am and then pound them for the next 60 min. But rather impress upon everyone, in the spirit of efficiency, to increase their work-load as quickly as they can comfortably do so.
Teach long efforts near threshold. My experience is that people want to feel that they've time in class has been productive, but not feel trashed at the end of an early a.m. class. Despite everyone's best efforts, we're still warming up 30 min. into class. Long efforts give your students a chance to adapt, as their bodies allow.
Minimize recovery between efforts. I rarely take my students above threshold in the morning class… but I may keep them just below it for 20 or more minute. I'll described it as riding in your Performance Zone â„¢ where I encourage students work as hard as they comfortable, for the specified length of time.
Discourage the chatter. Efficient people do not appreciate distractions, while they are focused on a task. Believe me, many of the your students look at their participation in your class as a task to be completed within the specified length of time. Long efforts up near threshold, with minimal recoveries in between, will keep most everyone focused and above the Chatty Zoneâ„¢.
Potholes, potholes everywhere!!!!! At least here in MN again this summer. So rather than get mad, we are simply riding to them outside… because we have to, and inside… because we can. Inside we get to use music to help motivate us through the hard stuff. This tune just begs for us to work in and out of the saddle, strengthening us mentally and physically for the potholes that are thrown our way. Daryl Hall just keeps getting better and better with age (lucky dude!) Even without his sidekick, John, his latest CD, Laughing Down Crying, is fantastic. The song specifically chosen for today is “Problem With You”. At 59 rpm (4:39), it has a great bluesy feeling, great Daryl Hall vocals and guitar licks and well….I just like it a lot for lifts on a climb. Hope you do too. Check out the whole CD. Lots of good stuff.
Every day, countless products, services, and people provide us with positive or negative experiences. Not long ago, one of my students confronted me to let me know that she was annoyed and frustrated with a substitute instructor I had used for a recent class.
Now, substitute cycling instructors are often well-trained, decent instructors. But however good the sub may be, he/she is not the instructor for whom he/she is subbing. As we all know, indoor cycling students grow attached to their instructors, especially their favorite ones, and are critical of whoever comes in to sub that favorite’s class.
For 30 years, I was a program director in commercial clubs. Instructors sub out an average of 15% of their classes every month. A club that offers 20 cycling classes per week has a monthly schedule of about 87 classes. Taking 15% of 87, we can estimate that 13 classes per month are subbed. At $35 per hour, that works out to $456.75 a month or $5,481.00 per year spent on subs. Multiply that by 20 clubs.
If the students don’t enjoy the class, that’s a lot of money spent on a negative member experience.
The question is whether the cycling-instructor substitute provides a level of service that’s beneficial for the club owner and a sufficiently positive member experience for the cost. Of course, there are exceptions, but consider the market as a whole. How valuable is the current instructor-sub system that’s in place in most clubs? Could it be replaced or enhanced in any way?
My experience in the industry tells me that having an instructor in the room may be necessary for safety reasons. The substitute process is also a great way to check out and train new instructors. Yet, when you look at the cost, the aggravation and time spent dealing with subs, and poor member experiences, is the current system the best solution? Does it remain so in light of current technological advancements?
If you’ve read my posts, you know that my position regarding the use of video and virtual programming in the club setting is very positive. The production of virtual programming for indoor-cycling classes is accelerating and improving. I don’t believe that video will ever replace a quality instructor. But I do feel that a well-constructed video profile can do the job that many substitute instructors are doing. It could certainly leave a more positive impression on the students.
One of the reasons for this has to do with a change in expectation. An indoor-cycling student who sees that the class will be taught by a virtual coach has a completely different attitude about the situation. A sub will inevitably be compared to the favorite instructor, but no one could reasonably expect a virtual class to be as good as, or even similar to, the favorite class.
This “forced” opening of the mind almost guarantees greater satisfaction — or, at the very least, less dissatisfaction. The student’s mind has to go in a new direction altogether. The student will walk away thinking different thoughts. Thoughts like: I liked it. I didn’t like it. That was interesting. It was OK, but “real” instruction is better. That was kinda fun for a change. I can’t wait till ___ gets back.
At least these are a far cry from, “I hated the sub and won’t go to any class she/he teaches anymore.” Or “What a crummy way to start my day.” Or “Why can’t my favorite instructor find better subs?”
So we should still retain subs, but what if they were used in more specific contexts, when video just won’t do? Would this not ease the struggle of the indoor-cycling director, as well as save money for the club owner? Would it not reduce negative member experiences?
Teaching indoor cycling is my occupation and my craft. The time I spend preparing for it and doing it is equaled by some, not equaled by others, and disregarded by still others. My point is not that video is better than a live instructor, but that each sub prepares differently, is liked or disliked by individual students, and will be compared (typically unfavorably) to the regular instructor. If a well-done video can provide a good, solid class that is met with a better attitude for the reasons described above, wouldn’t that make it a better solution to the “subbing problem”?
I hope this topic generates some discussion. I’m interested in your thoughts and feelings. I see this as a real and viable possibility for the future.
