We were delighted to get New Jersey State Champion, Greg Cordasco to try RealRyder Indoor Cycling and share his thoughts on our unique stationary bike.
Indoor cycling is something a lot of cyclists associate with the winter, when conditions are too bad to get out and ride on the road. Obviously, indoor cycling or spin classes go on all year and we have looked at a lot of reasons why they make sense even in the summer – high humidity, heavy rain, bad roads to name a few!
For all those cyclists who ONLY consider indoor cycling when they can’t ride outside, there are millions who love spin classes and NEVER ride outside, in fact many of them don’t even own bikes! So who is the RealRyder stationary bike for? The real outdoor cyclists or the indoor cycling/spinning crowd? The short answer is both!
Many spin class fans and instructors have already endorsed the workout they get on a RealRyder Stationary Bike. They recognize that they get a full body workout and burn more calories than they would do in a spin class on a traditional “fixed” spinning bike.
We don’t hear enough from the cycling community and this is something we want to address, in particular the view that some cyclists have that a spin class is somehow not real cycling, not proper training. That is why we were very keen to hear what Greg thought of the RealRyder, he is a very successful bike racer and cycling shop owner and not a huge fan of spin classes!
Some interesting comments about “recruiting the core”…… “activated the whole time” and how this “full body workout” is ideal for anyone “crunched for time”. The other thing which is very noticable is how comfortable Greg looks on the RealRyder stationary bike, he literally set the bike up, warmed up for 5 minutes and we started filming. It feels much more like a real bike than typical spin bikes, but you don’t need to be an expert bike rider to enjoy riding one!
More on Greg Cordasco
Greg is the owner of Liberty Cycle in Basking Ridge, NJ and runs one of the most successful racing teams in New Jersey with multiple State Championships over recent years.
Greg has won over 25 of the main races in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and several championships himself. He was the New Jersey Points Race Champion on the track in 1995 and won the Masters Cycle Racing Association Series Champion in 2003.
He made New Jersey cycling history in 2008 by winning two Garden State Cup Championships in the same year. The Garden State Cup is a series of races run from April to September and Greg won both the 35+ and 45+ Cups. A first in New Jersey cycling! (These are the orange jerseys in the video and pictures) This was after coming back from a bad back injury following a crash on the track.
We filmed the RealRyder Indoor Cycling video on a Friday and on the Sunday Greg added the 2010 45+ New Jersey State Masters Criterium Championship!
This completed a sweep of the 35+, 45+ and 55+ for Liberty Cycle with team-mates Mark Light and Curt Hurst winning the 35+ and 45+ respectively.
Again this has never been done before in NJ racing history!
We knew the bike had appeal to spin class regulars, but here you can see and hear that a competitive cyclist who balances running a business and family life sees real value in training on our indoor bike.
Not bad from someone who admits he has never been a fan of indoor cycling classes!
As Greg said himself at the end of the ride “Where there’s a RealRyder, I will absolutely go to an indoor cycling class now!”
So for all you “real cyclists” a RealRyder stationary bike is a great alternative to the bike trainer or the rollers!
Check the facility link for a RealRyder Studio near you and try our version of indoor cycling yourself!
We were running the popular RealRyder Indoor Cycling Classes at Dallas MANIA recently when Tracey Yukich of Biggest Loser fame came by to try our stationary bike!
We have been at all the SCW Shows this year, and have been blown away by the enthusiasm for our version of indoor cycling on the unique RealRyder stationary bike. At all the MANIA locations the classes have been sold out and many hardened fitness industry veterans have gone away buzzing about how indoor cycling is more fun and a better workout on our bike!
We have also written before about using indoor cycling for weight loss and one of the advantages of using our bike is that the full body workout actually burns 20% more calories than a “standard” non-leaning spinning bike! Indoor cycling has been an important part of the program for the Biggest Loser contestants so we were particularly interested to hear what Tracey thought of the RealRyder. Check out the video!
For those who don’t follow the Biggest Loser here is a little more background on Tracey Yukich and the amount of weight she lost.
Looking at Tracey’s “before and after” pictures the transformation is amazing!
Tracey dropped a total of 118lbs and although these are dramatic numbers the secret to effective weight loss is really very simple, decrease your “calories in” through a healthy diet and increase your “calories out” through exercise.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
It’s not – the challenge for most people who struggle to lose weight is having a plan and sticking to it and it requires some big lifestyle changes.
A big part of the challenge is making changes that you can stick to, both with eating and exercise.
Earlier in the year we saw Elise Marmon losing over 50lbs of weight using RealRyder Indoor Cycling Classes as her main cardio workout, so there is no doubt indoor cycling generally and RealRyder specifically is a great way to burn calories.
One of the other benefits Elise talked about was that the classes were a lot of fun which made it easier to stick to the plan.
So whether you are interested in losing “Biggest Loser” amounts of weight, improving your cardio fitness or toning up, indoor cycling on a RealRyder will help you achieve your goals. Track down a RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studio near you using the facility search link on the right and make those first pedal strokes on the road to a fitter, happier you!
The challenge with our stationary bike was to come up with a design for an indoor bike that more closely resembles a real bike. Colin Irving the designer of the RealRyder Stationary Bike was always disappointed with existing designs, which all have the same limitations. They don’t move and they don’t lean!
This lack of movement with other spinning bikes and stationary bikes, stirred Colin’s imagination and he started thinking of a more dynamic design, to recreate the fun of riding a real bike!
The key to the RealRyder design is the articulating frame, which enables our stationary bike to tilt and lean.
Apart from making the bike more fun to ride there are some additional benefits in riding a stationary bike that moves like this!
You will recruit your core and upper body muscles much more than on a traditional spinning bike and because of this you will also be burning more calories than you would on a completely stationary bike.
Our stationary bike was designed to feel more like riding a real bike, but you don’t have to be an expert to ride one! Learning to ride a RealRyder is a quick process, most people find the movement a little different, but usually start feeling comfortable after about ten minutes. By the end of your first class you will be feeling confident and really enjoying the different feel!
It’s not just the bike that moves, a lot of people who have ridden a RealRyder have been moved to! Our stationary bike always draws attention, it looks cool and different which gets people interested, but it’s the ride they fall in love with! You may also have seen the RealRyder on television or magazines, as it has become a regular in the media creating a huge buzz since it was launched! Our stationary bike has also been a regular at Trade Shows here in the USA and Europe; we even had bikes at the recent Giro d’Italia and The Velodrome!
The reaction is always the same, people are curious and the curiosity quickly turns to wanting a test ride. Once you ride a RealRyder you will be hooked, it really does feel different (in a good way!) and much more fun to ride! The amazing thing is we get this reaction from all groups, the spinning guys, instructors, celebrities, mountain bikers, recreational cyclists, racers and even complete beginners! The appeal of our moving stationary bike really is universal.
So when Colin set out to design a moving stationary bike that could lean he really started something.
The cool looks and novelty value only get you so far, what is far more important is what people think of the ride and how they enjoy their workout.
This is why feedback is so important to us at RealRyder it proves the value of our unique indoor bike! This is what the design is really all about.
So if you haven’t already tried the RealRyder and experienced the stationary bike that is revolutionizing indoor cycling, check out the Search Facility for a RealRyder Studio near you or look out for us at future trade shows. We hope our stationary bike will move you to!
