RealRyder® was featured this week on the American Council on Exercise’s (ACE) Certified News. ACE is the largest nonprofit fitness certification, education and training organization in the world with nearly 50,000 certified professionals who hold more than 55,000 ACE certifications. ACE is among the most respected fitness organizations in the industry and a resource consumers have come to trust for health and fitness education.
RealRyder’s Indoor Cycling Certified Instructor Training Program became recognized by ACE as an approved continuing education provider. We were VERY excited to have our education program, led by Douglas Brooks, M.S. (Exercise Physiologist & ACE-certified), recognized by such an incredible organization. Below are a few excerpts from the ACE article, RealRyder: Taking the Training Wheels Off Indoor Cycling.
It has been more than 20 years since Johnny G introduced Spinning® and transformed the stationary bike from a solo piece of cardio equipment into a new group-fitness phenomenon called indoor cycling. The Spinning bike’s design, with the heavy flywheel, chain drive and friction resistance, offered a pedaling experience that mimicked that of an actual road bike. “It was a brilliant design that created the ability to get on top of the gear and keep it rolling,” says Colin Irving, creator of the RealRyder® bike and co-founder of RealRyder® International. Douglas Brooks adds, “Since Johnny G introduced the Spinning bike, there has really been nothing new about the riding experience, until now.”
But beyond the joy factor, it is the quality of the ride that Brooks and other cyclists are referring to when they say that Colin Irving “got it right” when he developed the concept of the RealRyder bike more than 15 years ago. “As a competitive cyclist, I spent many hours training on rollers in the hallway (for balance) and thought how nice it would be to just turn,” explains Irving, describing how he came up with the concept for the RealRyder bike. This led to sketches on training logs, cardboard, paper or whatever was available. “I wanted to create a riding experience, not just pedaling,” he says.
RealRyder is hard at work on its installments featuring studios across the United States that have taken their indoor cycling studios to the next level (see our first installment on Real Ryder Revolution in metro-Detroit Michigan). What is their secret to selling out cycling classes, creating waiting lines and leaving their customers hungry for more? Watch the second part of this installment, featuring Qi Ryders, to learn more about the secrets to their success!
“Every month has been better than the last.”
“In 5 months I’ve never had one class not sell out.”
“Customer retention has been easy. We just put them on the bike.”
“RealRyders provide 100% more benefit – to everything.”
Qi has an incredible story in terms of its business success, but the classes featuring RealRyder® ABF8 bikes have also changed the lives of their participants. Below we have the story of how RealRyder changed the life of one of Qi’s top trainers and their Boxing Director, Nick Spinosa.
Nick has been on his feet for most of his life, growing up working his family’s restaurant in Pennsylvania. As an avid athlete, Nick played many sports – baseball, football, basketball – and continued to play baseball at the collegiate level at Penn State. He also developed a love and passion for boxing, which runs in his family. Nick’s grandfather was a professional boxer.
Nick’s love of sports and time spent on his feet caught up with him. During his collegiate years, while playing both baseball and boxing, Nick had to undergo surgery for damages to his feet, also dealing with arthritis pains from being on so many surfaces. Surgeons had to fuse the bones of his feet together in a series of surgeries. Three surgeries, in fact. Not an easy thing to swallow for an active person. And that wasn’t the end.
Following college, two additional surgeries (for a total of 5 surgeries on his feet!) the newly-minted kineseology grad headed out west to live with his brother in Denver, Colorado. Nick said he could barely walk or bend over when he arrived in Colorado in early 2010. It was time to get back in form. His brother proceeded to introduce him to Chris Lindley, one of the co-owners of Qi.
The two hit it off immediately, bonding over boxing and the Army-style workouts Chris provided at Qi. Enter the RealRyders at Qi. Nick was re-learning to walk when RealRyders arrived at Qi, and with the RealRyder® ABF8′s, he was able to accomplish his goals of walking again, becoming physically active and shedding weight gained over multiple surgeries. Nick is now 60 pounds lighter, teaching at least 13 filled or sold out classes a week and directs the Boxing programs at Qi. Nick’s personal triumph is one of the many stories we are proud to highlight and share. Qi continues to make an impact in the Denver community and on the lives of its participants and employees.
Do you have a story to share? We would love to feature your story on RealRyder’s blog!
Have you heard the buzz about our RealRyder® Indoor Cycling Certified Instructor Training Program? We could tell you about it, but we’d much rather you hear (and see!) a few words from our recent indoor cycling trainings.
2011 is a BIG year for RealRyder, as we roll out the education program, bringing a new level of excitement to indoor cycling with our bikes and instruction. We have over 20 trainings scheduled this year alone, in both the U.S. and internationally. Our Certified Instructor Training Program sets that stage for club owners and instructors to “lead the pack” with one of the hottest pieces of fitness equipment on the market!
The RealRyder Indoor Cycle Certified Instructor Training Program builds on the history of indoor cycling, using a teaching system that eliminates guess work, so that planning intelligent and creative workouts is easy. Join a pack of enthusiastic RealRyder ambassadors and become part of a new era of indoor cycling today!
Have you taken the training or are you participating in an upcoming training at one of our many locations? Please share your thoughts and/or what you’re hoping to learn from the RealRyder® Indoor Cycling Certified Instructor Training Program.
Check out photos from some of our recent trainings at studios throughout the U.S. and Canada! RealRyder Cycling Studio (Los Angeles), Body-n-Mind Ryde (Miami), Equilibria Fitness (Doral, FL), Execl Fitness (BC, Canada)
RealRyder cycling is different. Our indoor cycling program is different. Our bike is different. No other indoor bike has our “Ryde”! RealRyder Cycling adds a level of excitement through innovation that can energize any existing cycling program. There are unlimited programming options for offering a unique riding experience that will be enjoyed by people of all fitness levels, interests and backgrounds.
One of the questions we often receive is from our teachers and studio owners is “How do I find or make the elevation maps for class?”. We enlisted a few of our instructors to answer this question. After putting our heads together we came up with three great sources for inspiration.
Ryde it Real Tool #1: Map My Ride, a division of Map My Fitness
Screenshot: Map My Ride
Ryde it Real Tool #2: Velo Routes
Screenshot: Velo Routes
Screenshot: Velo Routes
Ryde it Real Tool #3: Use Your Favorites Races! 
The major races, like the Tour de France, offer comprehensive imagery and profiles for each stage of the race. CYKL, a RealRyder studio in Canada, simulated the entire Tour de France last year, complete with leaderboards, jerseys, footage of the race, and of course celebratory champagne! Use the tools found on race websites to excite your class participants and offer them an experience they will never forget. Some of our favorites to get you started are the Tour de France, USA Cycling, and here in RealRyder country we have SoCal Cycling.
Tell us about your inspirations for riding indoors! A parting shot from CYKL in Canada, to get your creative juices flowing!
CYKL's Tour de France Leaderboard
Ryde it real. Teach it real. It’s time to take the training wheels off!
There are many different reasons for incorporating stationary bike workouts into your training program. Typically we think of cyclists supplementing their fitness with indoor cycling, but a good stationary bike workout is also great cross training for other sports.
We got a really good example of this recently from Douglas Brooks who heads up RealRyder’s training and education programs. Douglas wears many other hats, including being Director of Athletic Conditioning at Sugar Bowl Ski Academy and has probably forgotten more about fitness and cross training than most of us will ever know!
The following video shows SBA student athletes training and to set the scene here is a quick intro from Douglas who is leading the session to give you an idea of what is going on:-
“About 37 seconds in the video switches from the USSA testing to the SBA training center. This is an afternoon recovery day, as the kids headed to Colorado camps the day after…working at 80, 90 and 100% of lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR)! Off-snow season, we do two workouts per day, mix the strength and power with agility, cardiovascular, anaerobic energetics, regeneration/recovery etc. Our morning sessions are much tighter and hard hitting, but you can see how the RealRyder stationary bikes match to what we’re doing in a big way!”
Two things immediately struck me when I watched this video. Firstly, these kids are obviously having fun! Secondly the fitness equipment choices represent some of the hottest in the industry – TRX, Bosu, RealRyder! Competitive skiers need to be fit and if you go back and read that intro again, the language Douglas uses makes it very clear they are working on ALL aspects of fitness. This makes it more relevant to do the stationary bike workouts on the RealRyder Indoor Cycle to maximize the cross training benefits.
Are Stationary Bike Workouts Effective Cross Training for Skiers?
Clearly the stationary bike workouts are only one piece of the jigsaw, but earlier this year Sugar Bowl Ski Team skiers claimed 9 of the top 15 spots at the men’s Giant Slalom race at Squaw Valley!
We will be looking at other sports where indoor cycling training can help.
Remember to get the full cross training effects from stationary bike workouts; you need to do them on a bike that leans and works your core and upper body.
Only one stationary bike has these capabilities – the RealRyder!
More about SBA – quoted from their website:-
“The focus of SBA’s athletic philosophy is to provide the very best opportunities for each and every individual to reach his/her full potential. By limiting the number of student-athletes enrolled at SBA, we provide a private coaching experience supported by a strong community. We provide a comprehensive, year-round program that develops world class athletes in alpine, freeride, and Nordic skiing.”
