To say my oldest loves CycleBar would be putting it mildly. She is on first-name basis with just about every instructor and nicknames with many others. They seem to love her positivity and upbeat vibes while cycling and that makes me happy. Her enthusiasm for health, strength, and fitness has given me new inspiration as well, so much so that I decided to risk a stroke in the CycleBar facility by joining her for a ride.
This time, however, I opted for the 30-minute ride rather than the 45. Those 45-minute classes are intense. Honestly, all of them so far have been intense, more so than anything I have done on the Peloton. One notable exception was a Power Zone Max ride with Olivia that made me want to tap out and required being out of the saddle for more time than I would like to admit.
As much as I like to say I am not competitive, I am coming to grips with the fact that I am. When I signed up for the class, I made sure the toggle was set to “on” for adding my name to the leaderboard. One thing I love is that the leaderboard is not visible the entire time, only available in short flashes at the whim of the instructor. This means for the most part that I just work and don’t worry about it. When the leaderboard pops up, I quickly scan for my name and then look to see who is around me and by how much. This tells me if I need to keep my foot on the gas or if I can ease up just a notch. There have been some folks with pretty powerful legs in these classes and I never expected to hold the top spot the entire ride, but I did.
When we walked out of the class, one of the guys stopped me and said, “I just couldn’t catch you.” He was smiling and that kicked off a fun little conversation. I can see why my oldest loves it there. It is entirely customer-focused and the people are generally very polite. That part is much easier after the ride when all of the positive endorphins are flowing.
I enjoyed this so much that I took advantage of a special they were running and bought 5 classes to mix in with my other training. I only want to go when my oldest goes because that is far more fun than going by myself. I enjoy this so much that I would probably join if we did not already pay for the monthly Peloton membership. Given that I have a bike with on-demand classes at home, I want to take advantage of those as much as I can. Having the option to hop in on a CycleBar class once every week or so is something I am looking forward to.
I found that I push harder in these classes than at home. The environment is a big factor as is the leaderboard. I also feel that the out-of-the-saddle work is tougher than the Peloton rides. My next ride is tomorrow, another 30-minute ride, and I am hoping to ride the top of the leaderboard again.