Carol, an ICA member and instructor in Illinois, shares a wonderful story about her favorite rider, Jules, who just turned 93. She threw a party in her class to celebrate, and she shares her special playlist with you here. After every class Jules tell her, “You keep me vertical!” We all should have our very own Jules in our classes!Read more…
Here are 132 summer-themed songs to choose from for your fun-in-the-sun and school’s-out profiles. Then, come back in 8 months to dig these out again when you’re tired of wearing a heavy winter coat!Read more…
I came across a blog post on how to wash your cycling clothes. I am sharing it here along with a few of my own tips and things to consider. Do you hand-wash them or use the washer? What temperature? Do you hang-dry or put them in the dryer? There may be a trade-off—reduced lifespan of cycling clothing, or possible bacteria.Read more…
This is a blog post by group fitness instructor Erica Barker (reprinted with permission). She accurately describes what most of us go through as we prepare for our one-hour fitness class, of any format. It’s a LOT more than that one hour, isn’t it? Share this with your peers and even with your students; it’s helpful when they understand how much your passion drives what you do!Read more…
For those who have video and Wi-Fi capabilities, here are a couple of mesmerizing music videos to give your riders something entrancing to watch when you don’t want to talk much….Read more…
This is a discussion of a Joe Friel article on a common misinterpretation of a heart rate response to training. DON’T LET THIS BE YOU! Make sure you understand how your riders’ heart rates respond to training! In this post is a list of resources and articles (some free, some books, some premium articles) to help enhance your understanding of heart rate. This is important EVEN if you don’t teach with a HR monitor. It also helps your coaching using RPE and optimizes your use of power training. Read more…
If you are planning on doing a Giro d’Italia stage, throwing a little Italian pop, hip-hop, a soundtrack classic, or a fun cultural tune will make your ride even more authentic and exciting! Here is a bucket playlist of 175 Italian songs to spice up your Giro playlist. These also work well for an around-the-world theme ride. Read more…
Billy Coburn, Star 3 Spinning® instructor and occasional contributor to ICA, was moved to put together a fundraiser ride for Nepal earthquake relief. He had a profile he created last year called North, about summiting Mt. Everest, so he resurrected the ride for his event. Thank you, Billy, for sharing this with all instructors!Read more…
Want to organize a ride for victims of the Nepali earthquake? Here is a checklist on how we created a successful fundraiser in three weeks for both the tsunami disaster of 2004 and Katrina in 2005. Whether you plan on a small event for just one class, or want to spearhead a larger more coordinated event several hours long, this checklist will give you some ideas on what to do.Read more…
Over/Under Intervals are some of my favorite training sessions to improve lactate threshold. They are hard but doable with proper training, they take great focus, and they keep riders engaged. In this profile, I put a different “spin” on an old favorite!Read more…