Last Friday my oldest wanted to try CycleBar. Which meant I would have to drive her and pick her up. I figured I had about a year under my belt on the Peloton, so why not try it, right?
I can say that I now entirely understand the appeal. The transition from pure white cleanliness of the lobby into the dark, dimly lit room where all of the bikes are stationed set the tone right away.
With our bike reservations next to each other, shoes clipped in, and towels in place, all I kept thinking about was how it was only a 45-minute ride and that as long as there were some “flat road recoveries” that I would be just fine.
Narrator: There were no flat road recoveries.
Maybe it was just the instructor, but this felt like an all-out assault, 110MPH nearly the entire time. The instructor also did not keep the leaderboard up the entire time. He would offer glimpses and then take it down again. The first time the leaderboard popped up, I looked for my name toward the bottom of the stack. I didn’t see it. The next time it popped up I looked toward the top and found that I was in 3rd place.
I gave my oldest a look of happiness and tried to shout out to her over the loud music that I was in third place without being so loud that every single person around me would hear it.
Narrator: It was at this moment, he knew he messed up.
Being only 15 minutes into a 45-minute ride and sitting in 3rd place was not the strategy that I had in mind. My HR was up and I had little confidence that I would be able to hang on until the end of the ride. When the glimpses of the leaderboard continued, I saw my name in 4th place with 3rd place firmly out of reach. I would need some type of motor or engine attached to my pedals to get into the top 3. The person behind me on the leaderboard was close enough, however, to keep me from slacking. If I had eased up at all, I would have dropped a spot.
Narrator: Tell me you’re competitive without actually telling me you’re competitive.
When I am on the Peloton and wanting a bit higher score, I usually can ride faster than the recommended cadence or heavier than the recommended resistance. These bikes at CycleBar had different metrics. With me being so old, I had a hard time hearing the instructor so I didn’t always catch the queues. My strategy turned quickly into “just hold on and keep pushing as hard as possible”.
In the end, I finished in 4th place on the leaderboard, but barely.
More importantly, it was one hell of a ride. The metrics there don’t represent the experience accurately. Those 529 power points cannot explain how challenging this 45-minute ride was for me. I was pouring buckets of sweat and felt sorry for whoever had to clean my cycling shoes after I turned them in.
The customer service experience is fantastic. Everything felt like it was set up to make my ride the best possible. It was hard for me to understand the instructor the entire time, but I would not have traded that over the loud music. The playlist was so fast and so loud and so insane and I loved it all. Periodically, I would be hit with a blast of cold air, something that doesn’t happen when I am riding the Peloton in my basement. I am guessing the recent issues with my BP dropping and pushing too hard on this ride were the reasons that walking from the dark cycling room into the bright white lobby nearly caused me to pass out. It took me a second to adjust and at first, I worried I might not be able to drive home. It was such a strange feeling.
When I got in my car and tried to come down off the endorphin high, I was happy to see this email waiting on me:
Had I not been riding the Peloton at home, I can state with relative certainty that this CycleBar class would have most likely ended my life. Or I would have vomited in the first 10 minutes. Or I would have passed out and fallen on someone.
I knew the second my oldest and I walked into that room that she would be hooked. I loved it as well, but the convenience of our Peloton is enough for me. The classes are also top-notch and I still enjoy them enough to keep trucking. My oldest, however, naturally bugged us for a membership. After getting two more free rides with different instructors, she was hooked even more.
In fact, as I type this, she is getting ready and I have to leave in about 5 minutes to drive her up there.