Most interviews begin with an intro call where a potential guest and I discuss the process and I answer any questions they might have. Most of these calls are uneventful – but Gloria is not what you'd describe as leading an “uneventful” life. When I called her at the scheduled time she was breathless, having just rescued a stray dog from a busy highway. As she describe to me (in real time) how she was helping this poor, frighten dog into her car – I knew right away that I had found another Awesome Instructor!
Gloria was nominated by ICI/PRO member David Santiago. If that name sounds familiar it's because David was a past winner of our Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest. You can hear his Racing With Pros Audio Profile here.
Please feel free to contact us to nominate an Awesome Instructor.
Here's David's nomination email:
Hi John,
I want to nominate Gloria Stover Lewis as an Awesome Indoor Cycling Instructor at the Y and for her endless volunteer work, especially with the “Girls on the Run” program held locally in NC.
Gloria started out as a regular student coming to IDC. All of the other teachers enjoyed having her in class. She is enthusiastic with boundless energy and has an outgoing winning personality. She is also a very strong cyclist and competed in several elite outdoor mountain bike races.
It did not take us teachers long to suggest she should become certified as an IDC instructor. We are always looking for talent. She eagerly agreed and become certified. She was a natural at it and now has huge followings at two YMCA locations. Her ability to combine challenging and fun profiles with fantastic music is among the best in the area.
Gloria is now certified to teach several classes:
– Indoor Cycling (of course)
– Jump pump and spin
– Boot Camp
– ABS
– INSANITY (I took this class once and it is now off my bucket list. Toughest workout I ever had.)
I am nominating her not only as an awesome indoor cycling teacher, but also for her volunteer and charity work with kids:
– Youth triathlon volunteer
– Ecvelo club at Cotton century ride and bike post trails race (volunteers with the youth part of mountain bike race)
– “Girls on the Run” program as both a dedicated Coach and Fundraiser requesting donations for kids who could not afford them (athletic cloths and shoes).
David Santiago
Girls on the Run is an incredible program supporting young girls from 3rd to 8th grades. It provides a safe and interactive way to learn about healthy living which includes an introduction and education on important topics such as goal setting, cooperation, healthy decision making, and self respect, while training for a 5k event. The innovative curriculum teaches girls to listen and open up while also encouraging them to commit to a healthy lifestyle and harness the inner strength that they possess. Their important mission is accomplished by giving girls the tools to make positive choices for a healthy body and mind, while reducing the many risks they face today.
Attached is a fairly long and informative video explaining the Girls on the Run Program from the Chicago area. If you have any questions about starting a program in your area, please email them at StartingGOTR@girlsontherun.org.
Listen to my interview with Gloria below.
Long time friend Suzelle Snowden from Fit Bodies, Inc sponsors our Awesome Instructor Award. Suzelle is providing a $500.00 certificate that Gloria and a guest can use toward an All-Inclusive Teaching Vacation at any one of 60 beautiful resorts in the Caribbean You can learn more about participating in these trips here.
Michael working hard during the Tour L'Etape on Mt. Baldy
Studio owner Michael Stadvec joins me to discuss his upcoming event – The Tour de Pier on the Manhattan Beach pier. You can hear more by listening to the Podcast below.
John and Jennifer,
Thanks for the opportunity to promote the Tour de Pier!
Several months ago a student and friend (they all become friends!), Jon Hirshberg, approached Fit On Studios with a goal of getting “hundred's of bikes” for a one-of-a-kind charity event here in Manhattan Beach on May 19th called the Tour de Pier ( www.tourdepier.com). Jon lost his father to pancreatic cancer over 15 years ago and he started the annual 5k/10k LA Cancer Challenge, which has helped the Hirshberg Foundation become the largest Pancreatic Cancer non-profit in the country. We immediately said “yes” and then quickly began wondering how the heck we were going to get “hundreds” of bikes (we have 40). Our first call was to our buddy, over at Studio Cycles, Jeff Wimmer. Jeff has supplied us all of our bikes and not only is he a master bike mechanic, he has a knack for filling his warehouse with new and used bikes that he ships all over the world. He quickly committed 100 and then we pressed and he upped it to 200 bikes! That gave us 240 and we pooled some resources and Spectrum Clubs committed to another 150 or more bikes from local clubs and the total has kept growing to over 400 bikes!
Personally, I love anything to do with cycling – indoors, outdoors, going around a track in circles, so that was an easy selling point, but what hits home is that during all of this, my mom was diagnosed with a stage 4 Glioblastoma brain tumor. We had not been strangers to the devastation of this disease as my wife's father has been battling liver cancer for over 6 years. My mom fought hard, but passed away earlier this year. The Tour de Pier has become even more personal for me and bringing awareness and money for research that is critical to beat this unforgiving disease.
All of the fundraising dollars will go directly to four worthy charities: Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, Cancer Support Community of Redondo Beach, Livestrong and the Friendship Circle.We will also have a Kids Zone and a Health Expo with sponsors focused on promoting healthy living in kids and adults.
We have a quote on the wall in our studio that one of our favorite (ok, they are all favorites) students masterfully phrased that sums up not only what we strive for in our studio, but for this event and all others like it… “The Power of Shared Energy.” That is such a powerful statement, but even more powerful when put into practice. It is hard to describe to someone if they haven't experienced it first hand, but it is so true…it keeps us going when we want to quit, it fuels us when we are down, and it inspires us to give that energy back.
Dr. Carl Foster joins me to discuss his upcoming sessions at this year's ICI/PRO conference in Boston 9/30 – 10/2. As our conversation progressed we steered into; some of the history of zone based heart rate training, where “220-your age” came from (it's actually valid, in some respects) and we talked about my favorite subject – creating a standard method of describing heart rate training zones. I apologize for the length of this episode, I find it all very fascinating 🙂
These free Podcasts are provided through a sponsorship from Cycling Fusion
This Podcast is was originally published on November 19, 2008, I have updated it with our new Podcast host information and I am representing it now. I hope you enjoy it, Joey
I met Paul Camerer, AKA Pink House, at the Heart Zones conference. We both were taking the level 1 Indoor Cycling certification course. Paul's birthday is December 26th and he will be 90 years old. That afternoon he will probably teach an Indoor Cycle class in his garage /studio or lace up the new running shoes he regularly wins at local 10K races. The guy is amazing and a real inspiration to everyone who meets him.
Here is an article all about Paul and his Pink House Studio!
That's Paul in between Dr. Carl Foster and Dr. Phil Skiba, MD
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe using iTunes or Zune.
If you watched any of this year's Tour de France, you almost couldn't miss seeing Clean Bottle's mascot Bottle Boy running along with the Peloton. As I watched and listened as Phil Ligget and the other Tour commentators talking about Dave Mayer and Clean Bottle, all I could think was “who ever is behind (or inside) that Bottle Boy is a marketing genius!”
Fast forward to early September, less than 30 days till the ICI/PRO conference and it dawns on me that I had completely forgotten to source water bottles for our participants. Last year's provider was tapped out and I started looking at just purchasing bottles when I though I should check with Clean Bottle.
This rest is history – I contacted Dave and he quickly had boxes of Clean Bottles on their way to Boston.
The more I learned about Dave and his story the more I felt he would make an interesting guest for the Podcast 🙂 Listen as Dave describes the three year process he went through to take his initial idea all the way to the to Tour de France!
You can learn more about participating in these trips here.
