Our first two state-of-the-art interactive cycle studios have gone in at Covent Garden and Westfield London and are now open, ready to take indoor cycling to an altogether new level. It’s experiential fitness like you’ve never experienced it before. We sent in Sophie Kay of Fitology to see is she could ride to the challenge.
A frantic cycle across London is never the best way to arrive at an indoor cycling but it was worth it to try out the Bikes & Beats class at Gymbox Covent Garden, in their spanking new spin studio. Bike & Beats is one of the leading Gymbox spin classes, as it is focussed on working to the beat of the music, with the rhythm which creates a more enjoyable ride (no giggling at the back, please).
The only bike left available was predictably the one in the middle of the front row so I adjusted the seat and clambered on. The instructor bounced in with all of the energy in the world and raised the mood in the class instantly.
We were introduced to our bikes, Matrix IC7 bikes with Coach by Colour, which were the most hi-tech bikes I’ve ever seen. After entering some information including age, weight and number of cardio sessions we do each week we were given a Functional Threshold WattRate (FTW) to which we were instructed to add 20-50 if we were regular cyclists.
The monitors on the front of each bike change colour as you go through the percentages of your FTW from white to blue to green to yellow to red. By increasing the resistance or your leg speed you can go up through the colours.
Explanation over we warmed up to some banging music, stomping out our leg reps to the beat of 90’s RnB anthems. The pace of the class quickly picked up as we were pushed through the colour zones, storming through to red on the sprints and at the top of hill climbs. The colours gave a brilliantly clear illustration of how hard you should be working and because the instructor can see instantly who’s in the wrong zone it drives you to work even harder. Also, the lighting in each studio really helps in conveying the electricity of the atmosphere.
Within a few minutes I was dripping sweat and didn’t stop until after the class. Apart from a couple of recovery sections back to blue the pace of the class was fast with lots of hovering back over the saddle, standing up, sitting down and press ups on the handlebars.
Due to the colour zone monitors and the brilliant sound track this is one of the best indoor cycling classes I’ve been to. As I walked out I felt that I’d worked really hard, achieved something and done some great work increasing my cardiovascular fitness.
If you want a new challenge this would be a good one to keep you cardio fitness ticking along over the cold winter months. Just be prepared to sweat.
Go on, give Bikes and Beats a go – more info right here.