Chris Roche is a fitness professional with more than fifteen years of experience. He belongs to an elite group of fewer than 60 Schwinn Master Trainers worldwide and is certified by CanFitPro, the American Council on Exercise, and the American Academy of Health, Fitness and Rehabilitation Professionals (among others). He is also a Master Trainer for Tabata Bootcamp. (You can find a more detailed bio here.) Chris and I sat down to chat on December 10 via Skype.
My questions for Chris are reproduced in bold. Where the question comes from a reader, I’ve indicated his or her name. Where no name is listed, the question is mine. Chris’s answers are listed below each question. I took notes as we talked but I didn’t record the interview, so I’ve paraphrased and condensed his answers rather than offering direct quotes. Any direct quotes I do use are enclosed in quotation marks.
What are the secrets for taking on a class and growing it to maximum capacity? How do you fill the last few bikes?
Chris: I think the key is to develop a rapport with the class. Greet them at the door. Learn everyone’s names. Circulate off the bike. Refill water bottles. Talk to everyone. If I think someone will be okay with it, sometimes I’ll check in mid-class: “How are you doing, Barb?”
Stay in touch. I create a contact list and ask riders to give me their e-mail addresses to receive updates. I also use Twitter and Facebook. I explain the next month’s ride in advance (usually at the end of the previous month). Typically I focus on the training intensity, so people can choose whether to come out based on how it fits into their training.
“I allow for personal feedback by having them email me suggestions of comments (like, don’t like., want more of) and especially about music suggestions. If I email ‘Lisa’ and tell her I put her favourite song in my play list and even found an incredible REMIX of it, AND I’m using it for a hard hill climb,I know two things. ONE: she is showing up to class and TWO: She will kick butt on that hill! :-) (and she will tell people I did that for her!)”
I encourage people to bring a friend to class. I also encourage people doing weights to come on in for the warmup, or just the initial part of the class. Often, they’ll stay for the whole thing.
From Ann: How do I ensure my class is challenging for athletes but still welcoming for beginners? I end up saying, “push yourself! a little faster! a little harder! but if you need to stop, that’s okay!”
Give riders complete permission to have fun – it’s their ride, they’re the boss. If people like you, they’ll come back.
I also make a point of introducing beginners to a regular in my class.
Every instructor wants to see people lined up out the door for their classes. What are the common attributes of the instructors who generate this kind of following?
Chris: First, these are people who’ve been working at their craft for years. They’re involved. They know their riders and make them feel confident. Always create an environment for success. It shouldn’t be intimidating.
Arrive early and help with set up. Plan your classes well in advance – not as you’re walking from your car to the studio. [Cynthia: None of my readers do this, right?] Arrive with a fully planned class and playlist in hand.
My motto is: “focus on the fun, the fitness will follow.”
I pick up regular riders with some frequency. I’ll see them every week for a long time, but after 6-12 months they’ll drift away and I’ll only see them occasionally. Is this just the way of things or is there something I can do to keep them?
Chris: There is attrition over time. Keep saying hi when you see them, check in with them from time to time via Twitter or Facebook. Just stay in touch in a friendly way.
My classes are made up of about 50% regular riders and 50% drop ins, so I almost always offer an interval ride. Is there a way to incorporate some elements of periodized training into my classes?
Chris: I plan my classes monthly. Every class I do that month is the same profile with the same music. My regulars know what to expect and can alter their training accordingly. I offer choices to drop in riders: “Can you work harder?” If not, that’s okay. [Cynthia: See Ann? You're not the only one!] I start in January with an endurance class to build a strong base. February moves into higher-intensity training and in March, I use an interval class. Using the same class for a month allows riders to focus on their progress.
I don’t find that people ask for more variety. Other exercise and nutrition programs don’t change weekly.
From Marianne: How do you motivate riders to push each other forward?
Chris: Have riders high five the person to their right and left to encourage each other.
Another thing I do is put the riders into teams of three and ask them to choose a team leader. First interval: everyone works hard. Second interval: The two teammates cheer on the leader, who goes breathless. I’ll choose a winner from among all the team leaders. Later in the class both teammates will get a chance to go breathless while the leader cheers them on and I’ll ask each team leader to choose a winner. [Cynthia: can't wait to try this one!]
From Kate: What are some encouraging things I can say to motivate my class to give their best performance? From Ann: Do you have any advice for coaching a heterogeneous group of riders (high school to mid-80s)? They don’t use heart rate monitors.
Chris: I try to motivate people individually. I describe intensity via confidence: “if you know you can complete two minutes easily, add more resistance until you’re not confident you can complete.” I will say, “How do you know if you don’t try? Find out by doing it!”
People will work harder if they know an interval is short. I always tell them how long an interval will be.
Sometimes I’ll hold up a hand and ask everyone to do the same. “I say, “NOW ..DON’T PUT IT BACK ON THE HANDLE BARS….PUT IT ON YOUR RESISTANCE DIAL,” and say, “I can’t make you turn it, but if you can – try.”
I use a game where I split the class into five groups. Each group goes hard for 30 seconds at a time. If someone in the group slows, they lose a point. At the end of the game, I declare a winning group. [Cynthia: I get motivated just thinking about this one!]
From Marianne: Are you willing to share one of your profiles (using the Schwinn protocol for zones and stages?)
Chris: Yes! I’ll send one along to Cynthia. [Cynthia: Here it is (in Word format): Chris Roche Ride and as a PDF (header cut off): Chris Roche Ride].
How much time do you spend in each of the Schwinn intensity zones? [Zone 1 = easy, warmup; Zone 2 = moderate, comfortable challenge; Zone 3 = hard, uncomfortable challenge, race pace; Zone 4 = breathless, anaerobic.]
Chris: I think it’s important to know your riders. Beginners need lots of permission to do their own thing. I spend most of my classes in Zone 2 and Zone 3 – mostly Zone 2. If you use Zone 4 too much you need lots of recovery time.
The latest thing in exercise is high intensity interval training (HIIT). How would you incorporate HIIT into a cycling class?
Chris: In a true Tabata class, you do only one set. I’d start with a really good warmup for 10-15 minutes using differing intensities and positions. To incorporate high intensity intervals, you could do 20 seconds of hard work followed by 10 seconds off. Repeat eight times for a total of four minutes, then recover.
Giving appropriate recovery is the most important thing. If you’ve gone anaerobic, you usually want to offer at least a minute of recovery, but there’s no rule of thumb for how much recovery time to use. You might plan to use two minutes and then modify as you go. I like to ask my riders, “Are you ready to work again?” How can you be confident they’re ready if you don’t ask?
The rest of the class would involve only Zones 1, 2 and 3. You can ask people to hold Zone 3 for 1-2 minutes, followed by recovery. (Some people can sustain 3-5 minutes in Zone 3 without going breathless.) Ask “how long can you go and still have a sprint in you?” You could design a whole class around the concept of ‘peak and sustain’.
High intensity intervals aren’t appropriate for everyone. You can suggest that people skip one or more of them if they don’t feel ready to do them all. Anaerobic is a window of opportunity, not a unit of time. Riders should push for as long as they can, then back off. The interval is as much as they can do.
From Kees: What music do you use?
Chris: I get music ideas from several places. The Schwinn Facebook page is great. I’m best friends with Shazam. I’ll listen, Shazam, then find the song on iTunes. Rdio has differing subscription levels. Indoorcycleinstructor.com has subscription-based and free content. The My Fitness DJ Pro app loads music and coaching cues that will scroll as the music plays. [Cynthia: downloaded this one - thanks Chris!]
From Marianne: Are you on Spotify? What’s your handle?
Chris: I am not on Spotify. Unfortunately it isn’t available in Canada yet. (I live in Toronto.) [Cynthia: there are multiple on-line rumours that Spotify is coming to Canada in 2013 but no firm announcement yet.]
How do you choose music for a ride?
Chris: Totally by feel. Be brave. Go past top 40, the stuff everyone is playing. Go past your own musical tastes. Find a unique remix, explore a different genre. Try something totally experimental. My friend Ava uses polka music in her classes and wins instructor of the year. If I tried that, I’d be strung up. Listen a lot and Shazam everything.
Having a signature musical style will definitely draw people to your classes, but eventually even those who love your genre will want a change.
When I plan rides, they don’t change much but the music does. Sometimes I’ll use the same ride with completely different music a year or more later. You can recycle a previously planned ride with new music and the ride will feel different.
“Re Organizing Play Lists: Pretty much here is the deal: Aside from special presentations etc I need only 12 playlists so no big deal. My playlists are always on my ipod and in itunes. I feel we try to save wayyyy to many play lists for some ‘just in case” reason that may never happen. At the end of the year, and sometime even before that I delete playlists from my itunes and ipod. (I have even deleted RIDES from my documents. Some are saying,, OMG what? Is he crazy?? Find a new road!) The songs are still in my library and I can make another list. This “encourages” me to be creative again and not fall back on what was. It’s my musical way of ‘burning the boats’.”
“BIG QUESTION: Why are you keeping allllll those playlists anyway? If you haven’t used it in 3 months, delete it. Move on! BE BRAVE! HIT THAT DELETE BUTTON! Just like clothes,,, you have to do a purge once in a while. You will feel soooo good when all those lists are gone. So don’t be a play list pack rat! Say NEXT! and have fun PURGING!” [Cynthia: O, I am not brave enough...yet.]
What’s your favourite indoor cycling song?
Chris: A remix of Silver Strand by the Corrs.
Do you have any tips for assisting with bike set up?
I trained one of my regular riders and now she helps me do bike fits at the outset of class.
From Marianne: If you are subbing a class and you see some contra-indicated moves, do you correct people, or just explain why you’re doing something a certain way?
Chris: I will comment to the class as a whole, or ask everyone to check some aspect of their form. I get off the bike and wander around. I’ll make eye contact, maybe touch someone or wink at them. When I get back on the bike, I’ll say, “If I touched you or winked as I walked around, I noticed something about what you were doing [that you could improve on.] What was it?”
The other thing I’ll do is call out people for doing something right. I’ll get everyone to look at how they’re doing it.
You must get asked the same questions again and again. What are the top three things experienced instructors want to know more about?
Chris: The #1 thing experienced instructors want to know about is class design. They want to make their classes more interesting. Often, I’m trying to get them to simplify their classes. I want them to bring the outdoors in. It doesn’t have to be fancy. People don’t jump up and down on the treadmill – they just run. There is no wrong way to design a class if the recovery, intensity and cadence are all appropriate.
The #2 thing I get asked about is contra-indicated moves, things like hovers, pushups, jumps. I think the easiest answer is that if left alone, the biomechanics look after themselves. If I have to tell you where to put your hands, it’s probably not going to work. [Cynthia: I love this common sense approach. Our bodies know what to do.]
The #3 thing I get asked is, “Does this ever get any easier?” I think you just get better at doing it longer – it becomes second nature to coach without losing your breath. “For those reading this that are lovers of cycling and new to teaching, ESPECIALLY those who have been teaching for years then add cycling to their skill set….BEEEE PATIENT! Coaching is a skill and can also be just as much fun BUT all skill takes time to develop. So, final answer…BE patient, courageous, safe and Focus on the fun!”
“Thank you so much for asking me to do this. I love love love the blog and I am totally happy to reply directly to or through you to whomever has any addition questions.”
Thank you so much Chris, for taking the time to share your expertise with us. I’m going to bet that every single instructor who reads this interview will take something new from it that they can implement in their classes. I know I did. Want to follow Chris on Twitter? Find him at @TdotChris.
Everything about this post, including ALL the comments, questions and replies has been incredibly helpful. Both as a refresher to some basic principles and a highlighter of educational bits that will certainly help both instructor (moi) and riders. Thank you Chris Roche and Cynthia for bringing all this to the table. I think you could give out CEU’s for all the education bits packed in here! :)
With gratitude,
Jen
Thank you for taking the time to write Jennifer. I sincerely appreciate your kinds words.
Make sure to check out/like the Schwinn FB page and contact me directly any time at fitnesseducation@rogers.com
Happy pedaling and be well!
Chris
In case you’d like to try some of these music choices…. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Yu70GedcE
Happy Pedaling!
Chris Roche sent me his sample ride and I edited this post to add links to it in Word and PDF formats. The delay is mine – Chris sent it to me on January 12 but I just got around to posting it now. I’ve been using some of his suggestions and enjoying them. I thought I should comment on the edit so those who subscribed to comments on this post will get the update.
Hi Cynthia, I don’t see the ride you edited from Chris. I looked under comments???? Am I missing something??:-)
Marianne
Head back to the interview to where Chris says he’ll post a ride. I’ve added a remark from me with links to the ride in Word and PDF formats. I tested them and they both work.
This was awesome..a few things that came up recently in a class that Im looking for feedback on. I was certified through Spinning, which states cadence ranges for flats are about 80-110 rpm..when I was talking about sprints and how you push yourself as hard as possible you should be close to that top 110 rpm range…if you are WAY above it you have way too little resitance on the flywheel..some people (avid outdoor cyclists/triathletes disagreed with me on this staying they go much higher than 110).
Also, I do a lot of perceived exertion and visualizition to guide them on what they should be doing…some people ask “all the other instructors say ‘give me 5 turns on” which i rarely do that b/c 5 turns can be very differet for different ppl so i try to do universal cues. Anyone else have this problem or can offer suggestions on how i can better articulate what i want.
Lastly… I have done cadence checks, talked about the need for resistance when sprinting…discussed the possiblity of injury and still people are flying out of control…do i actually go to their bike and make them turn the dial? I dont think i can be more clear…
Annie — I was recently attending a class where the instructor tried to hold us at 110-120 the WHOLE class. I got some helpful feedback from Schwinn Indoor Cycling’s facebook page about this — at least clarifying that I wasn’t wrong in thinking that this was incorrect! I’m not sure if a lot of the new people will ever try an indoor cycle class again! I have a few participants in my class as well that feel they are only getting a good workout if they are flying along well above 100 the whole time. It’s frustrating, I know.
Hi Annie
Something useful to know is that cadences at the extreme ranges of HIGH (110 and up) or LOW (about 55 and less) produce less results.
(Burn less calories) Why? We can’t hold them as long if we are using a worthwhile amount of resistance. In order to hold them we lower the resistance = less calories burned!
Consider 50 – 55 rpm: First of all, no one typically CHOOSES to pedal this speed. You END UP there because the terrain is too challenging and you have used all your gear options to make it easier to pedal faster. Second, if all I could manage was 50 rpm, I’d rather get off my bike and walk! :-)
On the other end of the spectrum, if you can sustain over 110 RPM (Let alone 120) for any worthwhile amount of time) how much work are you really doing? If a cyclisit pedals faster than 110 it is usually for a short period of time and all they can do to get more bike speed is pedal faster. (Think of track bike..or a fixed gear bike…if you want speed all you can do is pedal fast).
The point here is that if in cycling these extreme cadences are used, it is uaually for a short period of time. (Slow, the last and hardest part of a hill, 30 seconds?? and 100+ in a sprint,,with a very hard level of resistance.) Sometimes riders even go from 100 to 90 to sprint but the really gear up. 90 HARD is a faster bike than a 100 rpm sustainable effort. And lastly,,,remember what a sprint is: It makes a road bike move fast,,,,not just fast pedalling. So, find 85-90 rpm, make it feel hard to hold then try and pedal faser for 45 seconds to a minute. THAT is a sprint!
In an indoor cycling workout 50 rpm is just hard when you “feel it” and over 110 rpm can look intimidating. I say we keep it where everyione can participate and be successful and have fun! Good luck!
Find me on FB
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=account§ion=username
and join Schwinn of FB for more! Tell them Chris sent you!
https://www.facebook.com/SchwinnIndoorCycling?fref=ts
HI Annie.
Straight up,,, never touch someones resistance. That is like putting more weight on their bar in the middle of a squat!
Talk about how their legs should feel.
“Right now riders this should be all about the legs moving. make sure you have the BIGGEST EASY GEAR you can handle”. Let’s speed up a little for 30 seconds,,, if you start to feel yourself bounce in the saddle add resistance slowly until the bounce goes away.
Eventually the feeling is,,, “everything you are doing right now riders should feel like a little bit of work but nothing that makes your legs BURN.
Or maybe: Riders within the next two minutes your legs should go from a simmering feeling to a noticable BUT susatainable burn, nothing that makes you feel you need to back off. That burn is what you want! It tells you that you are burning calories and in the right place.
(Nothing melts fat better than heat, so burn baby burn!) Yes, I have said that, with a smile! :-)
Good luck!
Hi Chris, when are you going to post your schwinn playlist?? I can’t wait to see it!
BTW, your interview with Cynthia was terrific. You remotivated me! I turn to Julz Arney, Denise Dtruce and Shannon Fable for great ideas also.
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As I’m still a new instructor I’d like to get some feedback on a couple of things. I sometimes find that the participants don’t think they need a proper warmup and transition/cool down. They want to get after it right away. As good of shape as they may be in, they still need this and I sometimes think that they are bored waiting for the main ride to begin. They don’t seem to have any patience. Do you think it is a matter of getting used to my style of training? On a positive note, I found some excellent advice regarding searching for the upper edge of Zone 3 in the second half of the warmup . I think it has benefitted quite a few to actually learn what a flat feels like compared to a climb!
Also, I can only say so many things in the intro or during an endurance section and wonder if any of you struggle with “dead noise”? I don’t want to chat the whole time but I also sometimes feel uncomfortable with not saying anything. I feel like they are expecting me to talk. I don’t want to constantly say the same thing class after class. Thanks for any advice/info you can offer.
Hi Kelly,
These are fantastic questions! I am really curious about finding the upper edge of zone three – can you tell us more?
On warmup/cool down: I devote about 10% of the class to warm up and cool down, so for 60 minutes about 5-6 minutes to warm up. If I start with a shorter song, I will always make the first working drill one where riders can ease into things – no sprints. Lots of riders come early and if they’ve been riding easy for 5-10 minutes before class starts, they don’t really need much more. I know some instructors don’t welcome (and may even turn away) latecomers; my own practice is to welcome anyone who wants to come in but I always make a point of saying, “come on in and join us! We’re just [whatever we are doing.] Take the next song to warm up and then join the ride.” Then because I am watching them, I think they feel like they have to do it right.
For cool downs, the most recent research emphasizes the need to just keep moving. So I coach riders who have to leave early to take 5 minutes before they go to cool down, regardless of what we are doing, but really, if they don’t, as long as they don’t go sit down, they’ll be okay. Moving to the locker room, showering, changing and walking back to office or car will do in a pinch.
In terms of talking, I find following your own personality works best. Two of my all-time favourite instructors had dramatically different styles: one was gentle and witty and chatted about anything and everything (I used to love his stories); the other extremely intense and when she wasn’t coaching, said nothing. I was a regular in her class for more than a year and I know absolutely nothing about her life – it was all business.
If you’re comfortable with it, sharing something of yourself can be an incredibly effective tool for building your classes. For an example of someone who struck exactly the right personal balance, check out the late professor Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture on Youtube. (Warning: it will probably make you cry. He gave it for his children after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.)
I am always looking for health and fitness tips and I try to give one at some point in every class. I subscribe to Women’s Health and regularly peruse other fitness magazines like Fitness and Shape and read Alex Hutchinson’s Jockology column in Canada’s Globe and Mail (available online) and Gina Kolata’s work in the New York Times (she’s a huge fan of Spinning) for ideas.
If you’re a quieter type, don’t despair. Sometimes the uber-chatty instructors miss out on the mind/body component of indoor cycling. I always try to have one song per class where it can be each just the rider and the bike in silence.
Other instructors, what do you think? Weigh in please!
More great advice and suggestions! Thank you. “Finding the Edge” is something that I came across at ideafit.com, when looking at an article written by Shannon Fable titled “Indoor Cycling Sample Class: Explore Your Zones”. It really helps develop a frame of reference for riders’ workouts.
Hi Kelly, You are right on track and are experiencing things I am asked about from time to time.
Here is a basic truth about warm up: The better you prep the better you perform and the hard stuff is handled much better than if you did’t warm up appropriately. My typical warm up is never less than 5 minutes and can be as long as fifteen (pending class length and intensitites used). The down side is that if you are not using some type of measurement (such as watts/power) then it is hard to show how the warm up helps. That being said, all the physiological things we know about warm up make for a better ride. Would you drive your car with no oil? Of course not, so why would you ride hard before your joints have time to build up the synovial fluid around the knee, and all other joints? Did you know that the warmer you are the easier oxygen is released from the blood into the muscle? Imagine all the endurnace benefits they are missing out on becase they don’t get all the oxygen they could from their blood.
In getting riders to take a little more responsibilty for their warm up, once you have given them 4-5 minutes of your own warm up tell them you now have some homework for them. Assuming they are pedaling at 80-90 rpm you say:
“Riders, you know have the next two minutes to SLOWY add resistance until you feel you need to slow your pedals down and then in the last thirty seconds feel like you NEED to get up to keep the pedals moving.”
THEN: DO NOT make it so you need to get up in the first thirty seconds and don’t wait for the last thirty to crank your resistance so you get up.
Do it gradually as if this road was slowly getting steeper.
FINALLY: Don’t wati for me, I WON’T be the first one up, one of you will.
Then you coach them by telling them how much time is left encourange changes that their legs feel, not only the feel of the dial moving. “you should start to feel like you don’t want to pedal as fast any more..one minute left, how close are you to gettting up…should be close but not quite ready,,,,,30 seconds, don’t get up because there is thirty seconds left, get up because the resistace says you need to! etc.
ENDURANCE: I can’t say for certain but it might just be you that feels they want you to talk. I have gone over 10 minuted without a word to my class. It’s been my experience that it is more “us” that feels they want to hear from us that much. Why say anything just to say something.
I’d encourage you to join the Schwinn FB page, lots of stuff there!
http://www.facebook.com/SchwinnIndoorCycling?ref=ts&fref=ts
Long reply eh? :-) I hope some of this helps! Happy Riding!
Chris
Thank you to both of you for your replies. This is all really useful info for me!
Thanks so much….I teach a 5:15 a.m. cycle class and we named ourselves the “Crack of Dawn Riders”! The class inspires me to perspire…really appreciated the interview.
Beth! So great to hear from you. I am inspired that you get up that early to teach. I am not a morning person. I’ve subbed a few 6:30 a.m. classes over the years but I’m not normally even awake before 7:30 (which is a miracle for someone with a toddler – but I think she isn’t a morning person either. My husband, on the other hand, is at his desk by 7:00 most days. I remain in awe.
Thank you!!
Thank you Chris and Cynthia for this interview. It was great to be able to “ask” the questions and read the answers. I will refer back to his answers frequently. I so appreciate having this chance to learn more to develop my skills to create a great fun experience for riders! Just reaffirms my love for cycling!! :-)
Great interview…many helpful take-always. Thanks for sharing!
Great interview, thanks Cynthia and Chris! I have a tardy additional question, for Chris and/or Cynthia (or any other instructors out there who’d like to share): How do you organize your playlists? do you hand write them on paper? type them up? use some sort of program or app?
I’ve been teaching 6 years. I used to be very organized about inputting each playlist into Excel with time elapsed & ride notes, etc, then printing them out, adhering to notecards and laminating to protect from sweat. But, I find the longer I teach, the faster I become bored with my playlists. Since I now like to rotate music more frequently, I haven’t had time to keep up with the previous method of organization. My gym bag is a disorganized mess of paper notes, many sweated on blurring the directions, etc. I need to find a new way!
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
- Lisa
Lisa – I recently asked Cynthia this question because I’m a new instructor. It sounds like you’ve already done all the things that you “should” be doing to keep organized and now have gotten away from. I’ve written or typed my notes for my profiles and placed each of them in a sheet protector, so they don’t get ripped, etc. I keep them all in a folder in my gym bag so that I have everything in one place. It was actually quite handy, as the other day I was planning on doing one ride but changed my mind and switched to another, which I had in my folder. I have all my profiles named and they match the playlist name on my iPhone.
Hi, I am organising the playlists in iTunes and I always put the information into the song info comment field. You can print the playlist as a cover directly out of iTunes. But to be honest, after a while I knew what to ride on which songs. So I don’t do this any more.
But I have one big help now. I am using Djay on the iPad for my classes now. One help is the automatic fading feature between the songs, the other help is the waveform and BPM display. When I am preparing my classes one important thing to choose songs is the BPM, but when I am in the class itself, the waveform is a great help deciding WHAT to ride :-)
Roland
Thanks Roland – I have never taken my iPad to class but this sounds like a great idea. We have a stereo to the side of the instrutor bike and it is the perfect height for resting notes/water/iPad on. I am guessing that many readers will appreciate your tip just as much as I do.
Hi Lisa,
I remember being in awe when you told me about your laminated profiles. But you know, I agree with you – the longer I teach, the more I tend to fiddle, swapping out three or four songs for something else after I’ve used a playlist only a couple of times. (I confess- sometimes I do this by sticking a post-it note over the previous song. How low tech is that!) I have a plastic covered 8.5×11 inch notebook and hand write each profile on a single page. I take the notebook each time I teach. (A couple of times I’ve forgotten it and ended up printing my own playlist from the blog.) I usually decide on the ride early in the day but sometimes I change my mind – say, if a regular comes in after a while away and I know they love a particular song or type of music.
What about a small binder with a three-holed plastic cover sheet instead of lamination? Then you could just print out your ride and put the one you’re using in the plastic cover. Easy to change. I really liked the idea of putting the cues in the comments section on iTunes – then every song would have the cues attached (or even multiple ideas) and you could mix and match at will.
Thanks for all the feedback. Cynthia — I have done pretty much exactly what you mention, except that I bought a smaller notebook (5×8) so it can fit on the handlebars (sort of). Still, the handwritten notes, which by definition are unique copies, are susceptible to being lost and not easily shared. It seems so inefficient! I’ll do this for a while. But, I’m waiting for some entrepreneur to put out a useful, simple app for us instructors. I don’t want anything to complicated to learn or use. Just basically a place to import a playlist, show time elapsed and music notes/cues. It should be able to be viewed on an iPhone and iPad, print out nicely, easily posted to an email or FB or wherever for sharing. Another nice feature would be to tag songs with their RPM or category (hill, flat, etc.), so that you could sort, and quickly pull together playlists that way. Any programmers out there listening?? :-)
I’ve seen something called “Class Builder” referenced on Cycle Fusion, but I haven’t been able to find it on iTunes for some reason, and last I looked it was kinda pricey, and perhaps more complicated than I needed. Still, I’ll look for it again. It may be all I’m looking for! Does anyone out there use it??
“focus on the fun…and the fitness will follow”. love this. so key!
I agree! Will behave to post that on Facebook and mention it in class!
Thank you! USE IT!! :-)
Chris