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!
We can draw our inspiration for indoor cycling from many sources, but for me watching the battles in the mountains of the Tour de France is the best inspiration there is for any type of cycling, indoor or outdoor!
Even when the route for the 2010 Tour was announced the Pyrenees were marked by many as likely to be pivotal in deciding who would ultimately win the overall in Paris.
One mountain in particular stood out, the Tourmalet; which would be climbed not once, but twice on different days.
This mountain may be the ultimate indoor cycling inspiration and has featured in the Tour many times and was included on Stage 16 when Lance Armstrong got in the break and again on Stage 17 with the finish on top of the mountain!
Stage 17 today did not disappoint, with the two strongest riders, Schleck and Contador going at it “mano a mano” through the mist on the historic Tourmalet!
By the end these two were alone and barring any major shocks Alberto Contador should seal the overall in the final time trial, despite the brave efforts of Andy Schleck to drop him on the Tourmalet!
It was also nice to see the sportsmanship and respect of these two great riders, after the “chaingate” spat a few days back! Contador did not sprint for the stage win, after gaining time on Schleck, when he had lost his chain on an earlier stage.
Jumping back a few days it was great to see Lance Armstrong in the breakaway in his last Tour de France.
Lance has inspired millions to get on a bike or take an indoor cycling class and although his Tour has been dogged by bad luck, half of America seemed to be routing for him to get one last piece of glory, before hanging up his wheels! Twitter lit up while this stage was on and I would love to know how many people were on spinning bikes that evening or hitting the early morning spin class the next day!
So if you are looking for something to inspire you, something to motivate you to take a spin class or spend more time on the stationary bike, watch these epic stages through the mountains! You will see great riders rise to become champions and others just suffering to get through it. We can draw inspiration from both!
When you are in your next indoor cycling class and your legs are burning, your heart rate is maxed out and you are breathing through your ears, think of these guys and be inspired!
Is it just me or do you get more motivated to ride when the Tour de France is on? It doesn’t matter whether it’s on the road or indoor cycling, I always seem to find that inspiration to ride more when the Tour is on!
Checking around the country a number of the RealRyder Indoor Cycling Studios have also been tapping into this inspirational energy source! Take a look at the RealRyder Facebook page to see who is running Tour de France based indoor cycling classes!
One of the biggest challenges for indoor cycling instructors is keeping their classes fresh and stimulating. And no we are not talking about some of the odd “non-cycling” moves that are creeping into some spin classes. We do not advocate doing weight training, suspension training or extreme body positions during an indoor cycling class! Before or after your ride, fine, but NOT on the bike! We believe in sticking with proven training principles, not gimmicks or fads that increase the risk of injury (especially with newcomers to indoor cycling), without any clear training benefit.
From the feedback we get it is clear that using a RealRyder stationary bike is one of the best ways of making an indoor cycling class both fun and challenging, without having to resort to gimmicks or circus stunts! The main reason for this, is that you will naturally be moving much more to lean and steer a RealRyder stationary bike, than you would be on a traditional spinning bike. The idea behind the articulating frame was to try to make indoor cycling more realistic and feel more like riding a real bike.
So it follows, that if you want to ride “with” the top professionals during an indoor cycling class and match what they do in the Tour it helps to have a better bike simulator. You already have a motivational piece of fitness equipment and now you are adding that extra inspiration.
A great example of this came from Sweat Therapy in Tallahassee and if you click their logo it will take you through to their Facebook page.
Read the link and blogpost from Kiki Cecchetti. Kiki is a Sweat Therapy client from Belgium who clearly has a passion for cycling and brilliantly captures the spirit of what a “Tour de France Indoor Cycling Class” is all about!
The Sweat Therapy team even keep the riders supplied with drinks and food, like the best Tour domestiques! This really is as close as you can get to the Tour de France while indoor cycling! Great inspiration – can you smell the sunflowers?
Looking for some extra inspiration for your indoor cycling?
Yesterday we were in Italy today we are in France, for surely the ultimate inspiration for cycling; the Tour de France!
The Tour starts tomorrow in Holland with a 9km Prologue through the streets of Rotterdam and then goes through Belgium and on to France.
Three weeks and 3,642 kilometers later the overall winner will pull on the final Maillot Jeune or Yellow Jersey in Paris!
The eventual winner will have endured mountains, bad roads, crashes, extreme heat, cold rain and the attacks of his rivals to arrive in Paris with the lowest aggregate time.
A true test of endurance and determination, surely this must be the ultimate inspiration for your indoor cycling!
Not convinced? Let’s look at some typical “Tour Stats”, to give you an idea of what’s involved! A Tour rider needs to eat approximately 9,000 calories a day (over three times the normal!) just to get through the race! They will cover an average of more than 100 miles per day and the winner will have averaged close to 25 miles an hour for the whole 2,263 miles, despite riding through the Alps and the Pyrenees!
It makes our 45 minutes or one hour indoor cycling class sound easy!
Still not convinced? OK, no time outs, no substitutions, if you crash you get back on the bike or you go home! Every day there is a time cut, if you miss it you go home! That’s just to survive the race and to make the finish in Paris is a real achievement, but to win takes even more!
You cannot afford any bad days, whether you are tired, injured or just unlucky, you have to finish near your competition as the lead is based on overall time!
So, good inspiration for our indoor cycling classes? Are you really too tired for an hour of indoor cycling? Come on, get on that bike and start pedaling!
Whenever the Tour is on you will see more people riding bikes and some indoor cycling studios even running Tour coverage during classes!
For me watching the hard mountain days is the best inspiration you can get for riding a bike outdoors or indoors!
So get motivated, and hit those indoor cycling classes hard! The only way you get legs like the HTC riders below is by putting in the hours and the intensity and if you want some extra inspiration for your indoor cycling tune into Versus everday and watch the Tour!
