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…
“I brought my heart rate up to Zones 2, 3, and 4 and then changed cadence from 88 to 75, 70, and 60, adding resistance each time to keep the power the same. I stayed at each cadence for several minutes. My heart rate dropped considerably each time I lowered my cadence while maintaining the same power output. Did my heart rate drop because we use muscle more than cardio at lower cadences or is this an issue with the bike?”Read more…
I’m certain each of us has participated in one or more charity events. We ran, biked, walked, or possibly accomplished something more adventurous in the name of a great cause we believe in. Those of us who had the opportunity to be one of the chosen instructors responsible for motivating these big-hearted participants know the tremendous privilege this is. Being an instructor for a charity ride is also a rush beyond what can be experienced from teaching our everyday indoor cycling classes. All excitement aside, events of this nature can be intimidating for an instructor. Here are some tips and considerations for how to approach the event, how to approach your ride, and how to approach your riders for the best charity ride ever.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 185 Italian songs to spice up your Giro playlist. These also work well for an around-the-world theme ride. Read more…
Whenever I think of recovering faster, I hear my grandfather in the back of my head telling me to sleep faster when I only had four hours until the morning. By no means do I want you to start shortchanging your recovery time nor try to psychologically speed up the process. I do want you to consider how fast your heart rate recovers and learn some valuable information you can provide to educate your riders.Read more…