Indoor cycling is viewed by many cyclists as a good alternative to riding outside in the worst winter weather. In fact anyone who has spent a long winter, training in the basement on an indoor bike trainer will normally be suffering from mild cabin fever, by spring and the big thaw and straining at the leash to hit the open road again! Here we are in June, the sun is shining and you might be forgiven for thinking why are we talking about winter weather now?

Most cyclists love the feel of the sun on their backs, muscles feel better when it’s warm, the tan lines are developing nicely and indoor cycling may be completely off the radar! Surely this is the best time of year to be a cyclist and get outside? Yes, but you know the old expression you can have too much of a good thing? You can get too much sun, too much heat and if it’s mixed with high humidity it actually stops being a good thing at all and can make riding outside miserable! Now indoor cycling in a cool air conditioned environment sounds like a good idea again!

I was reminded of this yesterday morning while walking the dog! Even early in the morning, the humidity was bad, not a good morning to be a long haired dog, and not the type of weather that motivates me to go outside and ride! Luckily I was scheduled to visit one of the RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studios, MultiSport Fitness in Mt Bethel, PA.

It was so nice doing their “PowerRyde” workout (a great combination of indoor cycling, toning and yoga) in an air conditioned studio, with the cooling breeze from the big ceiling fans!

Trust me, you will definitely still sweat, but it’s not like that debilitating humidity where your body cannot clear the heat effectively robbing you of your energy and power.

For details of “PowerRyde” and their other indoor cycling classes, plus other useful information about MultiSport Fitness – just click their logo.

Track down a RealRyder facility near you and try out our stationary bike it will probably be the closest thing you will find to riding a real bike and don’t just look at indoor cycling as a winter activity! Indoor cycling in summer actually makes a lot of sense, you can control your workload and your environment and get a great workout without having to deal with adverse weather!

We wrote about the importance of using different cadences to keep your indoor cycling varied and get different training responses and how some interval sessions are best done on an indoor bike. Now there are some types of session that are not only ideal to do indoors, but are best done on a RealRyder stationary bike.

Simulating climbing indoors can be tough to do and an indoor trainer or bike trainer with your own bike on it will give you a good seated workout, but this set up is just not stable enough for out of the saddle efforts where you are using a bigger gear or higher resistance. A rigid stationary bike or spin bike will allow you to do more “out of the saddle” work, but does not give a realistic feel, because the handlbars are in a fixed position and won’t turn.

This is where the improved design of the RealRyder, really shines through! The articulating frame on our stationary bike, will react much more like a real bike when you stand and climb. You can rock the bike from side to side in a controlled way, pulling on the handlebars to work against the resistance, exactly as you would on a steep climb outdoors. You can also pick up the cadence out of the saddle, again with high resistance, to simulate a surge or acceleration on a climb. Apart from the ability to tilt and turn, the RealRyder stationary bike is also fitted with a wide steel base, which makes it very stable, to give you the confidence to do these type of workouts, without the risk of the bike falling over! This combination of features really is unique to our tilting stationary bike and there simply isn’t any other indoor bike or trainer set up which would enable you to do all of these things safely!

There are two particular climbing drills I love doing on the RealRyder that really take advantage of our stationary bike’s ride characteristics.

Alternating Standing and Sitting

On longer climbs it is a good idea to alternate between standing and sitting, you can generate more force out of the saddle, but will be more economical seated. So it is important to train to be comfortable with both. As you are simulating a climb the resistance should be turned up and pedal at your natural climbing cadence (around 80 to 85 rpm is good). It is also good to practice accelerating or picking up your cadence, in both positions without dropping the resistance.

You can do this drill on your own or as part of an indoor cycling class and focus on maintaining your form and pedaling smoothly.

Strength Endurance

This is staple for competitive cyclists and will help you improve your  leg strength. Done correctly this workout will feel more like weight training than spinning.  Typically each interval would be 10 minutes long and done seated with a heavy resistance and low cadence (around 60 rpm). This is a training session, so is not meant to simulate how you would normally ride and the artificially low cadence is intended to build leg strength that you can use when you are riding normally.

Two 10 minute intervals with 5 minutes recovery (easy spinning) in between, will give you a good workout and produce good results. Due to the specific nature of this session, you may prefer to do this training on your own, but you can also do this type of work in an indoor cycling class on a two or three song climb, just remember to keep the low cadence thoughout the interval.

This session is tough on the legs and should only be done once or twice per week and probably not by anyone who has had knee issues.  Whenever you are making your training harder or more specific, always make sure you have a good base of regular steady training, before increasing the volume or intensity and always warm up properly before getting into the harder efforts.

The RealRyder stationary bike’s movement will help you focus more on balance and coordination and in addition to the training benefits that you will feel in your legs you will develop a more stable, stronger core and find your pedaling is getting smoother and more efficient.

Who could benefit from using the RealRyder Stationary Bike?

With some pieces of fitness equipment you can see they are clearly aimed at particular sectors of the market.

There is now a booming market for home fitness equipment, but some of this equipment would not stand up to the heavy use it would get in a fitness club. Then there is commercial grade fitness equipment, very well engineered, but often too expensive or bulky for home use.

Nowhere is this “specific” approach more apparent than with cycling related fitness equipment (exercise bikes, stationary bikes, spinning bikes, bike trainers, rollers etc).

For example a set of rollers would be a great choice for a serious cyclist, but completely inappropriate for a beginner to indoor cycling. Also the rollers and bike trainer can only be used by someone who already has a bike or plans to buy one.

Equally a typical exercise bike is unlikely to appeal to a real cyclist as the fit and adjustability, is just not good enough to replicate the correct position of a real bike or simulate a high intensity ride.

Now let’s look at the quality issue. As with all fitness equipment, this varies enormously and at the lower end, some stationary bikes will only be able to handle very light home use and would certainly not cope with the frequent use they would get at an indoor cycling class.

So that brings us full circle to the RealRyder ABF8 Stationary Bike:

• Our stationary bike is commercial grade fitness equipment AND suitable for long term home use (We don’t make a lower quality “Home” Version like some other manufacturers!).
• It also provides a more complete workout than any other stationary bike or spinning bike, due to the movement and the use of upper body and core muscles.
• We have received positive feedback from riders of all ability and experience levels, complete beginners, experienced spinners and elite cyclists.
• Last, but not least everyone who rides our stationary bike says it is more fun!

So who could benefit from using the RealRyder Stationary Bike?

Well, let’s be honest: EVERYBODY! So if you haven’t ridden one yet, track down a RealRyder facility near you and try the stationary bike which is revolutionizing indoor cycling for yourself!

Steve had heard that a gym in Morristown, NJ had the RealRyder bike and went up to have a look for himself.  He rides casually with a local cycling club, but his office hours often dictate that his workouts are early in the morning or late at night, even on the most beautiful days. So a stationary bike is definitely in the cards. Here were his first impressions:

I’ve got a rig in my basement which I park my bike in for workouts. It gets so boring that I plug my iPod in, and run old race videos on the television, and have the newspaper on hand just to keep it interesting.

The first time I saw the RealRyder, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Okay, a stationary bike that moves…so how much can it really move?

I have to say, on first look I was impressed by the solidity of the thing. It’s rock solid and appears to have more solid construction compared to some other kinds of stationary bikes I’ve seen. I immediately had the sense that the RealRyder was something quite different. When I gave it a push from the side, I was floored at how it moved. A friend had tried to describe how it works, but when I saw it in action, I realized it’s not as simple as leaning left to right.

The way they have the thing set up, it actually moves very much like a real bike. It’s moving on two axes. I never would have expected this.

I stopped by the gym up there on my way to other meetings, so I didn’t have any shoes to clip in with. I was kicking myself for not bringing my shoes. But just seeing this bike and studying the movements of it was enough to realize that I am simply going to love getting a solid cardio workout on it.

Basement riding is boring me to tears on my current rig. The RealRyder will definitely spice up my basement workouts. A trainer at the gym said it’s also good for working more of the core muscles that a stationary bike misses.

Living in the Northeast, one never knows if the weather forecast is right and I’m certainly ready to have a better backup plan. The RealRyder looks like a good bet.

So, if you’re looking for a stationary bike that will help keep your workout regimen interesting, you can do no better then RealRyder. Check out our facility link on the right  and give it a try at a gym near you.

I have been a cyclist since the 80s and have tried most forms of indoor cycling over the years, bike trainer, rollers, stationary bike, spinning bike and track bike (that still counts as indoor cycling if the track has a roof!).

It always surprises me that a lot of “real cyclists” still feel that spinning classes or indoor cycling classes are not really proper cycling and can be quite dismissive about this form of training. I know other serious cyclists who regularly do these classes or even teach them and recognize that done the right way they are a great form of training.

Having spoken with Colin Irving the inventor of the RealRyder on this topic, I know this was something he wanted to address in the design of our stationary bike. To make it more like the real cycling experience and to win over more of the outdoor bike riders.

That was the intention, but it is always good to get recognition from cyclists, so when we heard this great story about a group of cyclists who had been won over by training on RealRyders we had to share it with you.

Ed Cashin is one of the owners and trainers of Hampton Tri and both Ed and his wife Caroline compete successfully in local, national and international bike races and multisport events.

This is what Ed told us:-

“Team Hops was created about six years ago for local mountain bike racers and triathletes to compete in local, regional, national and international races.

Typically, winters on Long Island, NY are long, cold and dark. Team Hops usually took advantage of that time to gain weight and lose fitness. That changed after we were introduced to B-East RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studio in Amagansett. Most of the members were leery of “spinning classes” and thought it impossible to get a serious workout indoors.

I can attest that after the first class using the RealRyder stationary bike, the feeling was unanimous that not only did the ride kick our butts aerobically but our abdominal and other upper body muscles were screaming after just a few switchbacks!

We were all amazed and excited by the workout that we were able to get indoors and knew that the upcoming racing season was going to be a great one for us!

With the springtime here and the racing season starting, our team has agreed that we will continue to attend our RealRyder indoor cycling classes @ B-East to keep us strong and in racing condition all year long.”

So there you have it, competition cyclists are recognizing the value of RealRyder indoor cycling classes as part of their training programs. This is why we are relentless in hammering the message that you should ride our stationary bike, because everyone who does seems to come away impressed by the workout and how much fun it is to ride.

Ed and Caroline both now teach classes at B-East, as we said in the heading Real Indoor Cycling for Real Cyclists!