Here’s a sample and you can see more at Ride-Fit.com
 

But the class loved it and you will too, especially at a 50% discount if you purchase it today.

You can use coupon code DEAL at checkout today and receive a 50% off the DVD, digital download or both.

But this isn’t just for Black Friday – we are planning to feature a special PRO/Deal of the Week every Friday! Much like Groupon for Indoor Cycling Instructor’s, our PRO/Deal of the Week will feature a different product or service, at a substantial discount, every Friday!

Look for more later this weekend…

Epic Red Wing

The Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the neighboring Wisconsin countryside is nationally known for its cycling-friendliness. Now, you can take a virtual tandem training ride in this beautiful area with John and Amy Macgowan and friends, of the internationally renowned Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast and Indoor Cycle Instructor Pro Website.

Take a 50-mile ride along the scenic banks of the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin, separating Minnesota and Wisconsin, on a warm July morning. What better remedy for those cold-weather blues!

This ride has it all—two climbing segments, one endurance segment and one rolling country segment—and offers a balanced workout for indoor cycling classes and home trainers.

Includes our new “Just the Ride” menu option which gives indoor trainers, coaches and instructors a choice of 60 minute and 45 minute versions of the ride to fit their training or class requirements.

Here’s an early review from a customer;

Overall Rating: Five Stars – Fantastic! ★★★★★

What you like best: Great video as always. It was more moderate intensity than the last couple of ones which is nice for those days when you want to relax a bit more. The scenery is beautiful. I liked the short hill climb at first and then the last climb really ended it on the right now. Beautiful area, excellent ride. Excellent quality!

What we can improve: Nothing you can do to improve. It just gets better.

Other Comments: Great product, great company. Thanks for making an indoor ride fun!

There seems to be some confusion in the marketplace about how this new crop of indoor cycles measure power. I’ve been following all the advancements as the Host of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast and feel I have a pretty good understanding on this topic.

People want to know how much work they are actually doing on an indoor trainer and most of the IC manufacturers are building cycles with the option to display Watts, along with RPM and other information that can be calculated like estimated speed, total calories burned, etc…

The first Indoor Cycle with power was the CycleOps and it features their Power Tap hub integrated into the flywheel – which uses strain gauges to measure the force you are creating to display your work output. Excellent system, very accurate and for many who can afford one – the perfect indoor trainer. But the CycleOps was too expensive for health clubs / studios to consider for indoor cycling rooms with 20-30-60 or more bikes.

Enter Keiser and their M3 indoor cycle.
Keiser’s M3 was revolutionary in that it displays a riders wattage at a price point that competes with many commercial bikes like the Spinner NXT. How Keiser could offer Power, while keeping the cost down, was through the use of estimated power. To estimate the amount of power being created by the rider the engineers at Keiser programmed the computer on the M3 with an algorithm that looks at the resistance system’s position (gear position) and the cadence (RPM). The computer sees these two inputs and looks at it’s internal power chart which says; gear 13 at 90 RPM = 240 watts – and then displays it on the screen. This is accurate enough for a group cycle class, but the system is far from the accuracy many training endurance athletes are looking for.
Next Schwinn began offering their AC Performance series of indoor cycles with the same type of estimated power. The Proform TDF bike uses a similar system. All three of these brands offer a reasonably accurate system of displaying your wattage, but they all fall short when it comes to accurately.

FreeMotion and their new S series of indoor cycles are accurate because they measure, not estimate, the force you create.

They do this through a strain gauge in the left crank arm which measures the twisting force you create and the computer applies your cadence and displays the wattage… simple, accurate and without the need for frequent calibration.
I’ve been teaching on FreeMotion s 11.9 bikes for the last 3 months. The 11.9 is the commercial version with an aluminum frame. My understanding is that the S 11.0 has a steel frame but uses the same computer option. I really wish that they would make the drop handle bars standard on all their cycles.

You can choose from 20 of their best; Triathlon, Indoor Cycling, Running and Performance Videos and the sale runs until the end of the year.

Available titles are:
Triathlon:
Triathlon: Through the Eyes of the Elite
Triathlon: Racing Faster
USAT Series – Triathlon: Getting Started
Open Water Swimming
Triathlon: Transitions
Four Keys to Long Course Triathlon
XTerra Off Road Triathlon

Performance:
Athlete’s Guide to Yoga
Endurance Core
Performance Stretching
USAT Series – Triathlon: Strength Training
Endurance Nutrition

Running:
Evolution Running
Jeff Galloway Marathon Training
USAT Series – Triathlon: The Run

Indoor Cycling:
RIDES: The Rockies
RIDES: Las Vegas
RIDES: Southern California
RIDES: North Carolina
RIDES: Hill Country
RIDES: Texas

Click here for more info

Does a DVD – Video Rental for Spinning Indoor Cycling Classes make sense to you? I love teaching my Spin classes using virtual ride DVDs but they tend to get stale after a while. Would a DVD rental service like Netflix be of interest to you?

I could easily see teaching to a video over a weekend, popping it into the mail on Monday and then having something new show up on Friday for the following weekend. I’ve checked around but I can’t find any service with the titles that interest me.

Do you know of any? Please send me an email john (at) indoorcycleinstructor.com

Not great - but not bad for 50 - or 49 in her case

Over the past 15 years my goals have evolved; first it was as simple as having the fitness to not get dropped during a local coffee ride… then it progressed to finishing near the front of a Cat 5 crit… enter Triathlon and not drowning or embarrassing myself during the run were high on my list of what continued to drive my training.

But now that I’ve “been there & done that” to the level that my genetics and time allowed, I’m left with just one real motivation – vanity.

Not vanity in the “look at me!” arrogance sense, but rather; can I look in the mirror and truly say - there’s a pretty fit looking 50 year old

OK, feeling comfortable jumping into a beach volleyball game, with a bunch of 20 year old kids, when I’m on vacation in Jamaica isn’t all bad either.

10 years as a group fitness instructor have me thinking I’m not alone. Most of us exercise/workout/train – whatever you call it for the purpose of looking good.

Sure, the competitive stuff is always there and wanting to live a healthful life is important… but looking fit and healthy is very important for me – and I’m going to guess it is for you as well.

This Triathlon coach really understands what motivates people training for a triathlon > they want to look fit, strong, maybe even ripped. Actually this coach is Ben Greenfield. He’s a friend and contributor at www.indoorcycleinstructor.com.

Ben really gets it. If I’m going to do all this work (and I’m really only competing against my PR) then why not look good – no - look ripped as the result of all the hours I’m going to invest training?