Welcome to the Indoor Cycling Association
How to Educate Your Riders, Part 3: How to Teach Without Being “Teachy”
Indoor cycling instructors have to wear different hats at different times. How many hats do you have in your skills closet? And do you know the right time to wear each one? Here are some best practices to employ when trying to educate your students, and links to five additional articles on how to teach your students outside of class time.Read more…
Olympic-Themed Profile: Faster, Higher, Stronger!
Christine has done it again, this time with a profile based on the Olympic theme Citius Altius Fortius, which is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger. And while it is certainly relevant right now, it is also a profile to pull out again and again when you want to remind your students of their amazing potential. As you cue this ride, you will empower your students to come up with their own motivational phrase that inspires them, and you may be amazed at the results. Read more…
The Olympic Dreams Profile
This awesome, creative, and fun profile by Christine Nielsen used the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, to explore some form and intensity topics related to four winter sports, describing teams from four different countries. The music for each sport is performed by musicians from each of the focus countries.Read more…
Powerful Words Create Performances in the Olympics…and in Your Cycling Class
What does the coxswain of the 2012 Olympic rowing team and indoor cycling instructors have in common? Powerful words!Read more…
OCD: The Olympic Rings Pedal Stroke Drill
I’ve been teaching this pedal stroke drill for almost as long as I’ve been teaching (20 years). I first introduced it at a conference in my session called The Anatomy of the Pedal Stroke at WSSC in 2002. It’s a fabulous visual to help riders connect with their pedal strokes.Read more…
Educating Your Students, Part 2: Using Humor, Metaphors, and Analogies
Everyone had a class with a fun and wacky science teacher in high school, right? I’m not advocating that we start developing quirks or acting wacky in our indoor cycling classes, but the point is, making education fun using humor and wit is a great way to learn AND and a fun way to teach. Hopefully our dating, bagels, poultry, and pasta analogies will spark some ideas to create some of your own wacky ways to explain something on the bike.Read more…
Ask the Expert: Is Zone 3 a “No-Man’s Land”?
In a recent post of an aerobic-intensity profile called Ebb and Flow, I received a question about the Zone 3 level of intensity of the profile. This zone has been called a “no-man’s land” or a “dead zone” by some cycling coaches. Is this true, and if so, should we be worried about it?
Read more…
“Break Glass in Case of Emergency”: How to Manage Defiant Students
You know those red boxes where you break the glass to throw the emergency alarm? You need one of those in your instructor toolbox. The reason you need one is the defiant student.Read more…
Should Indoor Cycling Instructors Educate Our Riders? Part 1
At first I was confused by this question. As indoor cycling instructors, why would we not educate our riders? As a rider, why would I not want to know more about how a class, drill, or movement was going to impact me? It seems silly. There are times when we need to educate a rider to help them make corrections in their form. Education can also provide great motivation to try or persist, knowing the ultimate short- and long-term benefits. Read more…
Magic Coaching Minute: Bouncing in the Saddle
How can you help riders quiet their form and eliminate bouncing? Jennifer Sage and Tom Scotto discuss why this happens and provide a few solutions.Read more…