Tis the Season to Make Resolutions, innit?

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It’s this time again: New Year, New Me! The list is out. The lines 1-10 duly filled. Lovely jubbly. THIS time I will actually DO them. All those things. Get fitter. Be healthier. No alcohol. Don’t use the credit card.

Yes, I know I start a new year the same way every year. But 2016 will be different! Or will it?

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Are you the kind of person that does do a list? Even if only a mental one? Don’t get me wrong: lists are great. Goals are great. Without goals you can’t get anywhere. They give you directions. How can you reach your destination if you have no directions? But setting goals can be tricky.

For any goal to work, it has to be SMART.

S is for SPECIFIC. “I want to be fitter and healthier”. GREAT! Now what does it actually mean?

Tip: test your fitness level, measure your body fat %, blood pressure, weight, waist whatever it is that you think you should improve. Then you can set yourself a target. But you need a starting point.

M is for MEASURABLE. No, it doesn’t have to have anything to do with weight… How many push ups can you do in a minute? Or if you are really starting your fitness journey set yourself a goal of doing a series of 15 proper push ups. Do you know your FTW/FTP number – we are talking about indoor cycling?

Tip: If you have a PT ask them to give you a bleep test. Or go on a treadmill and see how fast you can run 5km. Make notes of these numbers and then retest every 6-8 weeks. (FTP test should be done much less frequently – even every 3 months).

Numbers are important but don’t get fixated on them and start measuring your waist and weight etc every week. Pay more attention to what changes you introduce to your lifestyle, including what you eat, so you can work out what brings results.

A is for ACHIEVABLE. Jan 1st “I will not use my credit card!” Jan 2nd – SALES! “Oh, Ok, after the sales. Jan 10th – Oh what’s the point. I am over the limit already. I will do that next year.” Don’t set yourself up for a failure. January sales are great for bargains especially gym gear and cycling shoes, even bikes.

Tip: be SMART with your spending. Shop around, buy stuff that will help you achieve all the other things on your list. If you plan to really get into the spin classes, buying cycling shoes is the best thing you can do. It’s an investment that will pay off in abundance. It also serves as an additional motivation: “Bloody hell I spent £60 on these babies I may as well go to take the class…”

Tip: If your initial test showed that you can only do 2 proper push ups before your form goes down south, don’t set your target at 100 push ups in 4 weeks, OK?

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That ties up nicely with R for REALISTIC. Don’t aim for 15% body fat. Just don’t. Women athletes are between 14-20%.

Tip: Get some advice from your PT, GP even reliable sources from uncle Google but not the likes of Kim Kardashian etc.

If you like a glass of wine don’t say NO ALCOHOL with immediate effect. Unless you are going for a personal challenge or a charity thing. If you have a sweet tooth suddenly cutting out all sugar may feel like mission impossible and cause you so much stress you will fall off the wagon by day 4. Not to mention you becoming impossible to be around…

Disclaimer: if you are the type of person who CAN do cold turkey quitting anything, then please do. But if you are known to fail over and over – change the strategy. Be SMART. Get some data and then get the numbers down 🙂

Finally T for TIME BOUND. If you are on a mission regarding your fitness, your goals must have time limits. It’s good to have a long term goal: 6 months or 1 year down the line but it’s important to break it down into smaller chunks.

Tip: Testing in a gym environment is great but things happen, excuses make appearances… That’s why signing up for events is fantastic to keep you going: 5k run, 10k run, half a marathon and a marathon. And if you do it for charity it makes you even more accountable.

Sign up with the local cycling club. Tough mudder? Gym challenge? We are halfway through Izabela’s 50 Class Cycle SMART Challenge – you can still join us. We have two more months to go 🙂

One of my favourite songs of 2015 was Changing by Sigma. There is a line there: “I don’t understand playing by the same hand how you find something new”. So in 2016, instead of a new list get a new approach.

Happy New Year 2016

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What a year it has been!

As an indoor cycling instructor I have come so far with 11 permanent classes a week. Sometimes I miss doing mainly covers as it made things a bit edgy 🙂 and exciting never knowing where and who you were going to teach. But then I love building rapport with my riders so having regulars is great.

I started teaching on Matrix IC7 bikes which was a challenge in itself as I had to educate myself on training and teaching with power (previous post). I still have a long way to go to get where I want but I am on the way. From this month at Fitness First Clapham Junction we are rebranding one of my regular slots as PowerCycle. It will be a bit more educational and training orientated than a usual class. I am really looking forward to it.

I have done the mind blowing cycling trip to Costa Rica (here) and completed my first Gran Fondo in Cambridgeshire that you can read about here. This year I have signed up for the Etape in Scotland (Lord have mercy!) – you can check it out here. Then repeat of the Gran Fondo in June.

Last but not least I started this BLOG! I was toying with the idea for a long time and finally took the plunge and it has been great! Thank you to all my lovely readers and followers for your lovely comments. Keep reading it 🙂

But the main challenge of 2016 will be the sports massage course that starts at the end of March. Back to books for me! What this means for you my class participants and friends, is that you may be the lucky ones to be my case study subjects and get some sports massage for free! 🙂

I have a couple of other ideas that I won’t mention yet until they are more solid but watch this space. Definitely my website is coming up very soon.

So thank you for reading. And thank you to fellow instructors – both the ones I have met in real life and through online groups and Twitter. The social media has been instrumental in me evolving as an instructor. Thank you Tom Lahoud, Jennifer Sage, Lean Lena, Neil Troutman, Richard Collier, Sandro Morelli, Barry Ross and all other people from the FB forums. Most of the people mentioned above have blogs that I follow so check them out.

Here is to a great 2016!

Ride on!

10 Instructor Tips To Convert Indoor Cycling Newbies Into Regulars (Part 2)

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And here come the other 5 tips 🙂 as a follow up to the previous post that you can read here.

  1. 1:1 ATTENTION

It can be challenging if you have more that 3-4 beginners especially if they are dotted around the studio. I encourage new people to sit in front by saying:

“No point in going to the back to hide – I walk around so I will see you anyway 🙂 If you sit in front you can see me clearly and I can give you corrections. Plus it’s scientifically proven that you burn 25% more calories in the front 3 rows because you are trying to look good! But it’s your choice 🙂

If this is your first class your mission is to ENJOY THE MUSIC and make sure you feel like you are DOING SOMETHING. If your breathing is changing and you are sweating – you’re doing the right thing. The rule is: FEELS LIKE NOTHING – YOU ARE DOING NOTHING”

The balancing act of giving attention to those who need it most – read: beginners – without the others feeling like you have abandoned them is a tough one. And I will be honest with you, I can’t imagine doing that from my bike. I have to get off and walk around.

I almost always have a long endurance track in my profiles 6-9min. I tell people what they need to do. Clear and simple:

“80-100RPM, steady tempo, RPE7. Resistance high enough so you have to fight a bit for your chosen RPM. If you are doing it right in the next 3min you will hear your breathing and a puddle of sweat will start forming under your bike. If none of these is happening – adjust your resistance or speed.”

These are perfect to switch the mike off and walk around. When I see beginners struggle (especially with no consoles) I describe with more detail how they should feel. then ask them: “Ok personal challenge for you: when the clock gets to 0:30 you push harder for 30sec then back off. Then again”.

I prefer this to saying: do whatever you feel like you can do, listen to your body etc. Let’s be honest, if you have never done this and it feels hard your body will tell you one thing – THAT’S TOO HARD. TAKE IT EASY. LET’S STOP FOR CRYING OUTLOUD!

I still want them to feel like they are taking the class and not doing their own.

Make sure however that every minute or two you say something to the whole group so they know you are still with them.

  1. PERMISSION TO STAY SEATED
Cyclist with stuck seat.

Cyclist with stuck seat.

The only thing I always allow first timers is to stay seated the whole class. Yes, it makes it more uncomfortable on the bum but some people really need to build some base pedalling technique and get an understanding of resistance to stand up.

“When we stand up, feel free to try. Remember you always need to add resistance before you do stand up. When you get up if you feel out of control or it feels awkward, try adding resistance. If it still feels wrong or you’re not sure what I want from you – just stay in the saddle”

  1. CUEING – VISUAL & VERBAL

When you are not used to loud music with instructor talking over it, and you have this resistance knob to think of then keeping up with the beat, breathing and staying alive all at the same time makes understanding the instructor one thing too many. And if people around start doing different things it can all get too much for a beginner.

As an instructor use your face, exaggerated movements, point to elbows, knees, get off and mimic pedal stroke from the side. Do anything to get your message across.

Choose your music wisely to help yourself – get some instrumental tracks giving you space to explain stuff.

Get them ready: my warm ups always have a flat fast track first to cue the form. Then there is a slow hill to cue the standing form. Don’t get into a standing run straight away.

  1. CONSOLES/POWER METER

Do you remember your first spin class as a participant? I lasted about 2min. There was no set up. We went into a crazy speed (or I did at least, I had no clue and no direction) straight away. I left and it took me almost 2 years to try again. That was on an old school bike and I used to cycle outdoors as a kid.

Nowadays we have great bikes with monitors. Yesss! Or is it? Some of them have bright colours and all of them have sh******* of numbers on them! Imagine how the first timer feels walking into a studio with 45 bikes, loads of people wearing lycra, some funny noisy shoes, punching loads of data into the bikes, and they all seem to know what they are doing…

When I get complete beginners and I have consoles like on MatrixIC7, I do not set them on coach by colour. I leave the basic screen on with only the basic data. And I explain that they can go by the beat or by RPM (I ride to the beat most of the time, with options for those in-the-know 🙂 ).

“Top left hand corner is your speed. I will give you a direction like 80-90 or 64-66RPM and you can either check your numbers or if it is too much, you just listen to the music. It’s the same thing. Top right is your resistance. You start around 20%. Every time you add or take off you just feel a slight difference in your legs and match the beat.”

On other basic consoles I only use RPM.

  1. FEEDBACK

I always give group feedback in the cool down as we ride out for 1-2min.

“Congratulations to the first timers! It wasn’t easy. Reality check: it never gets any easier, you just push harder (wink wink)”.

Then I give 1:1 when necessary or when I get a chance. Good, bad and the ugly. It makes people realise you care and you actually watch them work. Even if they were in the back row.

These are my tips. Anything that you could add? Any tried and tested methods?

 

 

10 Instructor Tips To Convert Indoor Cycling Newbies Into Regulars (Part 1)

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This post has been inspired by one on ICA page which you can read here if you are a member (and if you are an indoor cycling instructor but not a member I would recommend you become one).

It’s about the challenge we group exercise instructors face when new people come to our classes. And this topic is extremely relevant as January approaches and the New-Year-Resolution-Stampede is about to take place.

Queues outside the studios, face offs, cat fights for the bikes, the regulars getting peeved that THEIR bikes are taken, etc. It is always fun. You know it will last 3-5 weeks and things will be back to normal though.

"I'm really serious about exercising. Last year I only went to the gym twice, once to join and once to renew."

“I’m really serious about exercising. Last year I only went to the gym twice, once to join and once to renew.”

 

But wouldn’t it be nice to actually convert some of these newbies into regulars? As an instructor you only have those first 2-3 classes (sometimes only that first one) to leave an impression positive enough to make people stick with the classes throughout those first tough few weeks.

Here are my 10 tips that will help you do just that. And they apply to both January Madness and any other time of year. Oh, and yes, you ALWAYS get a new person (or a couple) in each class throughout the year but in January 30% of your group may be people who have never been on an indoor bike.

This post includes 5 and further five are coming next.

  1. BIKE SET UP

If you don’t pay attention to the set up and don’t instil its importance in the participants from day one, you risk them getting into bad habits at best and not coming back EVER at worst.

Do you remember how much your backside hurt the fist time? Or second? Or really until you started doing 3 classes a week or more? It can put you off completely. Therefore make sure you take time setting the bike up so they suffer for all the right reasons only 🙂

TO DO THAT YOU MUST ARRIVE TO YOUR CLASS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE…

I also finish classes saying:

“Your butts are going to hurt. Maybe not today but tomorrow. You can’t help that. Don’t sit on hard surfaces. If you have another 5-10min stretch properly outside the studio so you can at least save your legs”.

“Give yourself 2-3 classes with different instructors, different times of day before you decide if you hate spin or not”.

2. BEGINNERS HANDOUTS

I have a great hand out that gives advice about shoes, clothes, bike set up etc plus included my contact details in case they have questions. I give these out at the end of the class.

I encourage new faces to come early or stay a bit after the class to check the bike and put down the numbers on the hand out. They can then transfer them onto their phones so next time they come they can set themselves up. It gives them more confidence in the second class.

3. GET FAMILIAR WITH THE BIKES – MAINLY RESISTANCE

I encourage people to use the studio (if the gym permits it, or bikes on the main floor) when there are no classes. Now they know their set up, they can ride with their own music and play with that resistance trying to keep the beat.

As a rule every time I have a complete beginner I ask them to turn the resistance all the way down and see how that feels. Then to keep turning it right until their legs can’t move. Now they know both ends and have a better idea how hard it can get I say:

“We will never be working at any of these points in the class. Ever.”

4. CLASS PROFILE

Be prepared with your profiles in January. Have enough variety to choose from. You don’t want the first timers to think the classes are boring just because they don’t yet understand the intensity and resistance, nor do you want them to leave with an impression they are not fit enough to come regularly.

At the same time you want to keep your classes challenging with your regulars in mind. Can it be done? Ideally there would be some introductory classes on the timetable but hey, we don’t live in a perfect world.

  • beware of long endurance classes where 70% or more of your class is in the saddle – they can come across as boring to new people so make sure you choose some interesting tracks with clear beat
  • power intervals – I would wait with these for a couple of weeks
  • testing – yeah, wait…
  • mixed workouts will work best: in and out of the saddle, speed & resistance variation
  • long endurance tracks (around 7min) are great though giving enough time to settle into a pace and resistance

5. MUSIC

No, you will not please everyone but my advice would be to choose music with clear beat even if you have bikes with consoles showing RPM. Keeping an eye on the console and on you at the same time may be too much to ask. If you always teach with the beat they can keep an eye on you.

Choose your music wisely – get some instrumental track giving you space to explain stuff.

My warm up always have a flat fast track first to cue the form. Then there is a slow hill to cue the standing form. Don’t get into a standing run straight away.

The remaining 5 tips coming up next.

 

 

 

 

 

I really hope he did get it this time

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I thought I was going to update you on the story that I have described here and the dilemma I faced as an instructor. It’s about that gentleman that insists on riding every single class out of the saddle. Full 45min. Only gets off maybe once to refill his bottle.

I would only see him once every few weeks as I was sharing this class with another instructor so it really almost felt like a cover class. Which links well with yesterday’s post which you can read here.

Long story short: the guy is over 50, has had blood pressure and weight problems. The only class he likes is spin but he doesn’t want to sit even for a second as it hurts his bottom hence from warm up to cool down he would be standing. I could accept it if his technique was good but it was really bad: straight elbows, straight knees, not much resistance. As a result he was not achieving his goal which was cardiovascular workout as he wasn’t even getting breathless.

He wouldn’t accept my advice so against all my professional instincts I simply ignored him. I stopped correcting him. I focused on the rest of the group.

Then today was my last class at that place. The gym was empty – only two people on the floor. 5 people taking Bodypump class. Then when I got into the studio to set up, it tuned out it was only me and the aforementioned gentleman.

I had to revert to plan B: there was no point trying to do any speed work or intervals so the only choice was hills. I also moved my bike next to him so he had a mirror on the left and me on the right. I didn’t bother with the mike and turned the music a bit down too.

Now 1:1 class has happened to me before and it’s a great chance to put that person through their paces but it wouldn’t work here so I suggested something else: “How would you feel if we did 2 songs on the bike and then to give your legs a break we would do some core work on the floor?” He agreed. Yes!

I won’t walk you through the class step by step but I hope it was an eye opener for him. I was on the bike next to him doing what I was asking him to do and huffing and puffing with my legs getting heavy but his breathing was stable. I was gently trying to coach him and motivate him to add resistance but after years of “switching off” in classes and just doing between 55-60RPM on little resistance regardless of the music, it wasn’t going to change.

But! When I got him to do some planks, Russian twists, screen wipers etc on the floor, boy did that HR change! It looked like getting on the bike was to get some rest…

The 45min flew by and he enjoyed it. He worked up some serious sweat and his breathing finally was challenged. It’s a shame there isn’t a mixed class like that on a timetable.

It also proves that people sometimes think: cycling is a cardiovascular exercise so if I get on that bike REGARDLESS  of what I do and how fast I pedal and where my resistance is, it’s a CV workout. If only they listened, switched on for once and tried something different to get that penny dropping moment.

The message will not get across when you talk to them though, they have to be willing to do the work your way to FEEL and EXPERIENCE the difference.

Confessions of a Cover Girl

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I came across this picture on FB today. In the UK we say “cover” rather than “sub”, at least in the world of group exercise. There was a question to go with that picture:

Do you think our students in a cycling class sometimes do the cycling version of this with a sub? “When she says stand and climb we’ll all sit and sprint, pass it on!”

Covering classes has many aspects. I will just mention 4 here.

WHY DON’T THESE PEOPLE FOLLOW?

Thankfully I have never had a whole group completely ignore my instructions but it’s very common for a few people do it especially in the first few minutes of the class.

Reasons for people doing their thing in the warm up? They are used to their regular instructor and just like I do mobilisation and warm up routine without thinking, so do they. They are on autopilot. And or they know what they normally do works for them and they may not know where you are going with yours.

Why do people do their own thing later? You say speed endurance in the saddle, they go for a standing power interval etc.

Ok, if you are covering and your class seems to be going in a completely different direction to where it normally does people who are stuck in their way, or to put it politely like to keep their routine, want to do what they normally do.

I always say before we start what they class is about, what the focus is etc. I say that we will have 4 rounds of… or it’s all about form and speed today or it’s hills today. I think it gives you a clear picture what you will be getting and what you want.

It can be a double edged sword 🙂 In one of my classes I said: “Today we will be focusing on form and endurance so no sprints today”. To which came a very angry response from the front row: “What? Why? How can you not have sprints?!”

When you cover a class you need to pick your battles: do you have enough information what the group is used to? Enough time to explain how you can get fitness benefits from endurance work? What if the regular instructor says to go all out every time?

I go with my plan and then if someone is interested I have a conversation with them about my reasons behind the class structure.

PEOPLE LEAVE THE STUDIO AS YOU ENTER IT

I mentioned it in this blog already on other occasions: I have done it myself not giving a second thought to the instructor’s feelings.

Story from last week: every Tuesday I have a 6:45am class then go home and do whatever I need to do then I teach a double class in the evening. But last Sunday I got an e-mail from a desperate instructor who contacted 52 people on the cover list for a gym and nobody could help him on Tuesday lunchtime with a double class. So I said I would do it. Making it 5 class Tuesday…

First class went without drama. 15min to the start of the second one. The door to the studio was made of glass so as I was walking around chatting to the first 3 people in as they were setting their bikes I can see a couple of guys walk up to the door, then look at me and see their faces fall followed by a look of consternation. I could hear what they were thinking: Oh no! It’s not Sandro. WTF… Should we go and do some weights? I waved at them, walked towards the door and as they hesitantly opened it I said: “Guys, don’t knock it until you try it. It will be fine. Sandro trusted me enough to ask for cover so trust me I will do a good job”. They were not convinced: “But last week he asked someone and it was shit! Oh man… Is it going to be the same style as Sandro’s?”. I said: “Give me 10min. And if you think this is shit, you leave. Deal?”. They agreed. It was a risk as my warm up track was 8 min… 🙂

Long story short – they stayed to the end and gave me good feedback. I was asked by a couple other people if I teach a regular class at that gym but it wasn’t all trumps and funfair. A couple of guys left 15min into the class. I didn’t take it personally. It was a strength endurance class – not everyone’s cup of tea. Which leads me to the next point:

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE YOUR CLASS PROFILE FOR A COVER?

I will teach the hardest class ever. I will show them what a bad ass instructor I am! Right? Not necessarily…

Do you ask the regular instructor what they normally teach? Ask about the sound system, mike and bike type but also what type of group that is. Do people ask me? Not often. Do you always teach intervals? Do you ever play long tracks like 7min? What music do you play? Still it’s always better to be prepared with plan B.

I was recently told that the place I was to cover at had bikes with consoles, My Ride software and it was mainly cyclists. I got excited and prepared a good VO2 max intervals profile. Then as I arrived (thankfully much earlier) it turned out the consoles only showed RPM and HR. There were 3 people in the group of 25 who had cycling shoes and looked like could be cyclists but when I mentioned thresholds, VO2 & power they looked at me like I was an alien. Then I had 2 complete beginners who have never been on the bike and came 30sec before the class started and about 10 people who didn’t seem to have much clue about RPM.

Such a diverse group is normal but I knew that my planned profile was out of the window. Thankfully I always have with me 3-4 others suitable for various levels that I know like the back of my hand and can use them as and when.

HOW MUCH DO YOU CARE ABOUT PARTICIPANTS IN THE CLASSES YOU COVER?

This is tricky. I always do care about people I teach even if I think I may never see them again. If they have a really bad form I will correct them, I always go through the bike set up etc. but…  I covered a class a year ago. I did that on 3 consecutive weeks. People in there had no clue about bike set up and their postures have clearly never been corrected. I was horrified. But I ended up practically criticising them for 45min…

I realised at the end of the class that nobody was smiling and I was exhausted. And a week later when I came into the studio one woman was already there and greeted me with: “Oh no!” and left. That was a tough lesson in letting go: you cannot correct a lifetime of bad habits in one class and if you correct too much you will put people off.

Anything you want to share?

“Don’t call me baby.You got some nerve, and baby that’ll never do”.

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There is so much to think about when you are a group fitness instructor: you create a class profile, scour iTunes for music & make sure it all makes sense. Then there is the practical side: remember your kit, your shoes, iPod, back up CDs, mic shields, every type of batteries under the sun, water bottle, beginners’ hand outs, pens etc.

You arrive at the gym and two bikes are broken and the class is fully booked, mic is not working, you find the electric fan DOA. Life happens 🙂 I am not complaining. Nobody made me do it.

But only once you start teaching the class, that’s when the REAL challenge begins. You are facing anything between 1 to 50 people. All individuals with different expectations.

We have all heard the famous: “you cannot please everyone” and it is true. Not with your musical taste, class structure etc. But I want to focus on something else today: client/participant approach.

Say what? Well, how do we refer to the people who came to take our classes, how do we come across? Are we aware of that? Do we ask for/get any feedback?

Today I had a girl in my class whom I have never seen before. She came 15min early and she was very clear and vocal: “I take 4 classes a week. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. But not on Wednesday. I cannot stand the teacher. She keeps calling me “sweetheart”! I told her my name is Georgia and I am not her sweetheart but she kept doing it!”

It can be a struggle to be friendly and approachable but not condescending. Especially if you are not sure if people didn’t hear your advice or just decided to ignore it. And if they did – was there a reason for it?

That is why trying to develop a rapport with your groups is so important. I know, I know: what about the places where you get new people every class? I make it a point to be at the studio and set up 15min before a class. If I teach on a weekend it is sometimes 30min.

This gives me the precious time to walk around, give 121 attention, get people’s attitude sussed out: are they going to be receptive or they already know it all? Will they laugh at a joke?

I also try and stay there for 10min after a class for the same reasons. And believe me, walking around the studio during the class helps too. Sometimes you keep repeating a cue: “Shoulders down. Elbows in.” but the person you are directing it to doesn’t react. But when you go by and gently tap their elbow or shoulder – they do.

I personally don’t like when people I don’t know call me honey, sweetheart, babe, whatever. I do my best to avoid it when referring to people in my classes.

I also tend to say before the start: “If you hear me say NO BOUNCING for the 15th time and you feel like you may throw your bottle at me if I say it again – I am fully aware of how many times I have repeated it. There is a reason for it: someone is still bouncing. Look around: if you can see nobody bouncing – IT IS YOU!”

I also have my feedback forms that I give to people about once a year where I ask about my catch phrases, any pet peeves etc. Then I sit down with a glass of wine and go through them andI know what needs work. The forms (even if e-mailed) often work better that face to face conversation as people won’t always tell you in your face what negative points they find in your teaching.

How do you get your feedback? How do you refer to your participants? Are you good with names? How well do you know your regulars? Do you ever meet socially outside the gym as a group? I would love to hear from you.

 

 

 

Why Cycling Is Simply The Dog’s Bollocks

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It is with heavy heart that I have to tell you: I am back in the freezing London after 2 weeks of what can easily be called trip of a lifetime (at least for me and at least so far). After two weeks of cycling across the stunning Costa Rica in hot temperature and extreme humidity, two weeks of having rice and peas at least twice a day and staying in some breathtaking places left me close to tears on the last day. And that wasn’t only because of the 5.5hours of delay in Houston, courtesy of United Airlines, which meant camping at the airport from 6pm until 2:20am the next day.

If I were to give Costa Rica and the amazing trip and people I met over the last two weeks justice, this post would take days to write and read so I decided to approach it differently and make it a sort of advertisement for outdoor cycling – as if it needed one 🙂

Flora & fauna in Costa Rica

I have never been anywhere like it! Wherever you turn you see birds of every colour, size and type. There are all kinds of herons, egrets, hawks, vultures, stunning and loud macaws and the amazing toucans. Unfortunately I only had my iPhone with me and that was not good enough to capture the birds but I have seen them all.

Some places like Tortuguero can only be described as butterfly madness.

Plants? Flowers? Don’t get me started on that. From all kinds of gingers, cocoa, oil palms, pineapple fields, sugar cane, coffee, banana plantations, star fruit, palms, the list is never ending…

I was gobsmacked with all the colours and wonders around me. I had a big grin on even when I was in my room on my own.

Yes, there were creepy crawlies like the massive spiders outside some of the cabins. Or the big squashed tarantula on the road which gave me the creeps. Or the slithering garden snake outside one of the rooms in Tortuguero but we also saw a sloth scratching itself high up in the tree, we saw capuchin and squirrel monkeys, we were woken up by howler monkeys on more than one occasion.

There were iguanas we saw in the branches on our boat trips but there were also a few massive ones in the trees in a local park where we stopped for a short rest. You know, the way you see squirrels in London. You look up and there is a huge iguana chilling in the shade.

Not to mention that on one of the first days we saw these:

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We also saw a little crock from a little bridge on a river that we were cycling through. It was all a bit surreal. And our guide was fantastic at spotting all these wonders.

Sights

Indescribable.

Hidden gems along the
Not a bad breakfast view
chilling out in the pool after a day’s ride
Having a go at painting a traditional ox cart

 

Food in Costa Rica

If you are a cyclist you know that if you face a long ride or a short but hilly one it’s important to fuel up beforehand. We all know about the benefits of slow energy releasing porridge etc right? Wrong. I have been converted: RICE AND PEAS rule! We had breakfasts and lunches the Costa Rican way. That means loads of fruit, yes. Great coffee, yes. Juices – especially the fresh fruit frozen in portions and then put through a blender with some water – mhmmm… But also rice and peas (black beans) at least twice a day. And eggs. Huevos. Scrambled huevos. And plantain. This is like rocket fuel people! And my IBS didn’t mind it either 🙂

Don’t get me wrong: you can get burgers, pizza etc but “casados”: rice and peas + chicken/beef/pork/fish, are the staple. And plantain. Boiled or fried. Loads of it.

You also get to taste bananas, watermelon and pineapples that were picked RIPE and not green and RIPENED AT HOME. What a difference. And a welcome refreshment midmorning when you are on the road. especially when the bus driver takes them out from the cooler.

Oh, and you can drink water from the tap. Everywhere. Yes, it tastes like water from the tap but the point is – it’s safe to drink it.

Weather.

I just came back yesterday so 21st of November and we got there on the 7th. It is almost the end of the rain season which meant hot but dry (as in clear skies but humid in most places) until 1-2pm. Then generally the downpours start. They are very warm though but can be torrential and last for quite some time. Not fun to cycle through. But the rains finish in December so that is something to consider.

Temperature? It was about 25 to 30-something degrees all the time. Apart from the high altitude places in the mountains. Hot hot hot! You can take waterproof jacket for hikes but believe me – you will boil wearing them so it is better to get a bit wet…

Accommodation

I went out there with Exodus who I went cycling with before and it has proved again to be a company worth recommending. You can check out their offer here. There were people in my group who have done 20 trips with them and have never been disappointed.

Costa Rica is a poor country and when you look at the houses as you pass by through villages and small towns you can see people live simple life – even though they all have smart phones 🙂 The accommodation we were put in over the two weeks though was incredible. There were couple of basic places especially in big towns like Fortuna where the room looked more like a motel room but all the remote location were dreamy.

Warning: little lizards you can sometimes find on the walls in your bedroom? Harmless and eat all the mosquitos. Use loads of bug repellent anywhere you are. Nights in the jungle are very noisy: insects, frogs and some very annoying birds. Then the howler monkeys. Sometimes bats fighting with birds on your roof. Sometimes things running on the deck of your cabin? You may want NOT to check what that is. Just use earplugs 🙂

Cycling in Costa Rica

We spent two weeks on these beauties:

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These were really MTBs with suspension but they were perfect as we had a couple of days off road. Same gearing as my beloved Pinnacle Hybrid made it very easy to ride. And when caught up in rain or on gravel etc they give you a great grip. We spent a few days cycling on the PanAmerican highway with loads of traffic, big lorries, buses and four-by-fours. They are noisy and fast however the road is really wide so you don’t feel squashed and you soon get used to the noise etc.

The bikes we were provided with had the Cat’s Eye odometers and then I used Strava to document our rides.

My baby
It was hard to say goodbye
Lunch break followed by a transfer
Final mileage

Costa Rica is made for cycling. In some parts the hills are crazy difficult and the heat makes it twice as hard to climb them. And the altitude. Then the descents are deadly in places because of all the tight turns and oncoming lorries. I managed to record a little over 40mph downhill which is a record for me.

Unfortunately I got into a bit of health problems right before the day when we were to face the hardest 8km climb and all I could do was to be the team photographer:

Guayacan
I was still riding on this beautiful road
Top of the bitchy hill in Guayacan
Guayacan

Who is this type of trip for?

EVERYONE! Man, you would not believe the fitness and determination of my team of 16 🙂 Were they pros? Nope. Apart from Brendan who was nothing short of a tank on that worst hill and climbed to the top even before the tour guide 🙂 Elaine only started cycling outdoors 3 months ago.

I didn’t ask everyone for their age but I know the youngest in the group was 34 (the mechanic was 19 but he’s a Paralympian cyclist – yes, you have heard that right) but there were people in their 50s, 60s and maybe more than that.

One of us (I hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning it) is even a Parkinson sufferer who keeps fit by cycling around the world with his wife. We all had one thing in common though – the love of cycling and the great outdoors.

Our guide Memo and Dionisio (our mechanic) took turns at leading and closing the group and we could all cycle at our own pace which was fantastic. And having the bus with us all the time meant that when I got into trouble I could just follow everyone from the bus. A couple of times when the temperature soared a few more people chose the bus for a part of the day too.

At the end of each day though we all smelled just as bad as each other regardless of age and profession, we were all just as hungry as each other and we could not wait to cycle again the next day.

There were a few swingers in the group
Before the last ride
Cycling along the Pacific beach
Clearly enjoyed myself
Hafway through the tour

 

I could not have asked for a better group of support team in Costa Rica. I think my next trip may be this one (the one I thought I had booked all along):

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Have you been on a cycling holiday? Would you recommend it? Did you organise it alone or used a tour operator? I did a few long weekends with family and friends like Amsterdam or Norfolk  or West Sussex using just Airbnb accommodation. If you have any questions about my trip just drop a line in the comments.

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The crazy Canadian Lindsey and Guillermo the guide.

I say goodbye and you say hello! (just for 2 weeks)

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Just a few lines. Suitcase packed – 3kg over and cannot make it different regardless of what tactics I use 🙂 Oh well! Tomorrow I board a plane for New York then change for another one to Costa Rica for 2 weeks of cycling holiday. I can’t wait!

Not sure if I will be able to post anything when I am there – or if I have enough time for that but expect a nice looong post when I am back on 21 November.

I will leave you with a few snaps from my photo shoot for the upcoming website:

session

And keep up the good work challengers! First week is behind us. If you want to join us – you can still do it! Check out what the challenges are all about here. Keep sharing your comments and photos of the green smoothies here and on the Smart Fitness FB page here.

Ride on!