The title and inspiration for this ride came from two sources: a post on the Indoor Cycling Facebook page that many of us follow and a ride I did while out of town last week.
After creating the profile and playlist, I rode it several times on my own before teaching it and each time I got more excited about how versatile it could be.
I coached it as an opportunity for riders to explore/revisit/verify the interplay of cadence, resistance and intensity in four primary conditions: 1) preferred cadence in the saddle, 2) preferred cadence out of the saddle in both hand positions two and three, 3) success with holding cadence steady for the entire cycle of moving in and out of the saddle (Jumps) in both hand positions two and three, 4) holding cadence steady when resistance is added multiple times.
Why I really like this profile – and the riders did too – was the full focus on these common scenarios and making note of the details. For example, it’s super common to establish a baseline RPM, then cue to add resistance x times and hold RPM steady. But fully focusing on what it takes to do that and what the physical and psychological responses are may not be as common to explore. During the ride I took when out of town, the instructor cued RPM then several adds and to hold cadence steady but no reference to intensity. Without that, the challenge could obviously be no big deal or a very big deal. And I really wanted to coach a ride that explored the details and nuance of what it takes to do what we tend to “just do” (or not!) as riders and rote cuing as instructors.
Hopefully this all makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions!
