Here are some tips on how to keep that positive energy flowing:

 

Please be respectful of your fellow riders.  

 

If you're a seasoned rider you've felt it.  If you've ever walked by a cycling class in progress, you've seen it.  It's the positive energy generated by people in the room.  You won't find it in any other class.  We feed off it.  It makes us work harder. When you are focused and in that zone, that last thing you want is a distraction. It changes the atmosphere in the room.

 

 

No talking during class.

 

Encouraging the class to work harder is great.  Having a "private" conversation with your neighbor during an intense hill climb is not.  If the instructor can hear you from the front of the room over the blaring music and a mic, imagine how loud your conversation must sound to the person sitting in front of you.  Remember, if you are supposed to be pushing breathless, if you can have a conversation with your neighbor, you can work harder. 

 

Keep the cell phones, blackberries, iPhones, etc. in your locker, or turned off. 

 

Unless you are expecting an emergency phone call/text, when your phone lights up or rings, it distracts those around you.  Answering your phone - well that should be obvious. 

 

Arrive on Time.

 

We have all had those situations where you leave yourself enough time to get to your destination early, but the inevitable happens: we get stuck in traffic; you forgot your shorts at home; the bus is late, your child is clinging to your leg, holding on for dear life as you try to walk out the door; your spouse can't find his/her whatever it is that they cannot live without for the next couple of hours.  We have all been there.  It happens.  However, when you enter a class already in progress it affects the flow of the ride.  If you are late, please slip in quietly, get yourself set up as fast as you can and start riding.  Put your shoes on outside the studio, take your jacket off, make the transition onto the bike a smooth and quickly as possible.  If you have to leave early, please do so quickly and quietly. 

 

Make sure you sign up at the front desk.

 

Sign up is available 60 min before each class starts.  If you've forgotten to sign up or you sneak in late without signing up, please give up your bike to a rider who is on the sign-up list if the class is full.  You know if you're not on the list.   It takes between 5 and 10 minutes for an instructor to go through the list to make sure those that have signed up have a bike.  If we start late, we finish late. 

 

Please wipe down your bike after you finish

That includes the puddle under your bike. This is particularly important when there is another class coming in afterwards.  Sweat on the floor makes it very slippery. 

 

Back the tension right off.

 

Backing the tension right off allows the leather pad to dry between cycling classes. If it stays wet, you may experience the tension suddenly coming on or going off in mid ride!

 

Help your fellow riders.

 

Do you remember your first cycling class?  It takes a lot of courage to step into that studio for the first time.  Before you started riding, how many times did you look into the room and think, "there's no way I could that".     

If you are a seasoned rider and the person next to you is struggling to set up their bike, give them a hand or help flag down the instructor. 

 

Report any problems you have with the bikes. 

 

Mt. Pleasant probably has the best conditioned bikes in the GTA.  However, things happen, part break.  If you notice a problem with your bike, even if you think it's trivial or it was the way in which you were riding that day, let us know.  Tell the instructor or write down the bike number and problem on the board at the back of the room