January 27, 2014
I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was rather eventful and packed with activities. I am exhausted – in a good way!
Last week I received an email from Ride DC about their Saturday Community Rides. Ride DC is a new indoor cycling studio in my neighborhood (located in the 14th/U Street corridor for those local to DC).
Logo: Ride DC
Because I belong to a gym that offers excellent cycling, yoga, and barre classes I typically do not go to boutique studios. Since this was a free ride I thought it would be fun to check it out (during the week I read Mary’s review of the studio on Active Life DC and it definitely further piqued my interest).
What sets Ride DC apart from other cycle studios in the area is their use of performance tracking software (currently the only cycling studio in DC that utilizes this). According to their website, each bike (Schwinn by the way) is “equipped to monitor clients pedaling speed, calories burned, heart rate, mileage and various other statistics.” I am a data nerd in general – so I had an inkling I would like this studio and it did not disappoint!
After a morning workout at my gym, I headed over to Ride DC.
When I registered for the class I received both a confirmation and reminder email – both of which I appreciated.
I made my way to the lobby and checked in with the front desk. You could stow your belongings in the lobby and you could fill up your water bottle.
When you register for a class online you set up a profile (it is linked to your stats and performance tracking) and sign up for a bike. For Saturday’s ride I was Bike #8, which was in the second row – how cute are the signs! Towels were already laid out on the bikes as well as free weights.
Colin W. was the instructor and he helped riders set up their bikes before class. You can wear sneakers or cycling shoes. Below is a picture of the projector which showed our ranking/statistics throughout the 45 minute class (in your profile you can opt out of showing your stats during class, but your data will still be available on your profile).
Because Community Rides tend to bring in new riders, the first 10-15 minutes or so were spent going over the bike, positions and the software. The remaining 30-40 minutes were spent cycling. In 10+ years of spinning, this class was one of the BEST I’ve ever taken!
- The performance tracking and rankings definitely motivated me to work harder – hello Type A! (I ended up ranked #3 at the end of class – I happened to be sitting next to the #1 and #2 riders, which helped).
- Whenever I exercise I wear a heart rate monitor – so I knew I worked harder in this class based on my HR (plus I was sweating the entire class).
- Because I was able to track my Power and RPM throughout the class, I had a better sense of when I needed to increase or decrease my resistance during climbs or sprints.
- Colin was an enthusiastic instructor and I really liked his playlist (think upbeat music).
- I liked that free weights and pushups (while cycling) were incorporated into the class.
- The staff is incredibly friendly, helpful, and responsive to emails. One of the owners, Zac, spoke to the class after the session was over.
Immediately following class I received an email with my class statistics. You can also track your past performance online!
I really enjoyed my cycling experience at Ride DC and I will definitely be returning!
Have you taken a spin class before?
Do you belong to gym or take classes from a studio? (ex. yoga, spin, barre, dance)
Have you taken a class that utilizes performance based tracking?
Note: I attended this class as part of a Community Ride. Review and opinions are my own.
