Category Archives: Cycling

Related to spinning classes and workshops

RoadSpokes 2014 with Onion River Sports

April 16, 2014

RoadSpokes will begin, weather permitting, May 6^th and 7^th. For the season Formerly Cycling 101, RoadSpokes is the same concept with a different look.

This year RoadSpokes is a club. Visitors are welcome, but in order to receive additional benefits, riders have the option to join. See below for details.

Riders are encouraged to purchase a RoadSpokes jersey (beautifully designed by Carrie at ORS), to train for all or part of the Onion River Century Ride on Saturday, July 26^th, to form friendships and find compatible riding buddies for rides other than midweek and to observe responsible cycling practices at all times. Remember; when you ride you demonstrate what is best about the cycling community in Central Vermont. You represent RoadSpokes, Onion River Sports, and, in fact, all of us.

A well-maintained bike, sufficient emergency equipment, spare tube and tire repair items, fore and aft lights, RoadID, water bottle, and, of course a helmet are strongly recommended and/or mandated.

As you will read below, RoadSpokes 201 will meet from 5 p.m. at Montpelier High School on Tuesdays. Following discussion and training tips or plans for the evening’s ride, bikes will roll out at 5:30. As we work with daylight hours, traffic, and our improving conditioning throughout the weeks, these rides will vary a bit, but will mostly follow Route 2 to 100B to Moretown, perhaps over the Duxbury Gap or out Route 12 towards Elmore. Each ride will be designated in advance.

RoadSpokes 101 is a gentler ride, a training hour or so dedicated to the less experienced or the timid, the rider who wisely choses to add a modest ride to his or her weekly schedule, a cyclist who is rehabbing an injury, or for those who are not geared for a road bike – yet. The timing is the same: arrive 5-5:30 pm., MHS. Training begins at 5:30.

I will be present for both 201 and 101 as will a staff member from ORS. We stand by our “no drop” policy and will leave no one on the road. (The penalty for stopping at the Creemee Stand is that you must buy us a creemee too.) ORS will assist with maintenance issues that can be performed on the road, but we urge you to have your pre-season tune up and any subsequent necessary maintenance done by the staff in the shop at ORS.

All riders must sign a release before first ride.

Registration forms are to be made available in the shop (ORS on Langdon Street) by the end of April.

If you have any further questions, please contact me by emailing linda@lindafreemanfitness.com, or speak with any staff member at Onion River Sports, 229-9409. See you soon! Linda

Linda Freeman Fitness

NOTES FROM ORS 2014

Onion River Sports’ Road Cycling Club open to everyone who rides a bike. We strive to get more folks comfortable cycling on the road and help them improve bike handling skills, group riding skills, and fitness while offering the opportunity to meet other local folks who love to ride.

What you get: a 10% discount on cycling accessories and clothing at Onion River Sports and the best price we can manage on bikes, discount on a club jersey, free clinics, group rides, and weekly emails with training info from our ride leader, Linda Freeman. If it all works well, we’ll throw in a celebration at the end of the season, too!

What it costs: $15

Group RoadSpokes Club Rides

Onion River Sports offers 2 weekly group rides for RoadSpokes club members. These rides are your best source of information and a wonderful place to grow your cycling skills in a friendly, supportive environment. Rides are fully supported by an Onion River Sports mechanic and are led by Linda Freeman.

Weekly rides are offered for individuals whose skills run from beginner through those comfortable riding a paceline. A season’s group ride series includes instruction, goal setting, bike maintenance advice, and information about training for an event. Our rides use the Onion River Century Ride on Saturday, July 26, 2014 as a training goal.

RoadSpokes 101 – Wednesdays beginning May 7th, weather permitting, through July 23

Used as either an introduction to cycling on the road, or as a relaxed ride for anyone who chooses to meet, RoadSpokes 101 is appropriate for all levels and for all bikes. These rides are supported and include instruction on many things that make riding more fun, comfortable, and easier, including: how to care for your bike, what to wear, safety on the road, how to fix a flat tire, and tips to improve your fitness with targeted training.

RoadSpokes 201 – Tuesdays beginning May 6^th, weather permitting, through July 22

These rides are for individuals who are already comfortable on the road with road bikes recommended. (Don’t let the type of bike stop you, but riders on road bikes will be able to ride faster and target their training more effectively.) Rides will start at an appropriate pace and will increase in distance and intensity as we train for the Onion River Century Ride on July 27. We start from the same place and end at the same place, but riders spread out along the way to ride at their chosen pace, alone or in groups. Again, we honor our “no-drop” policy.

SEE LINDA’S POSTS ON THE NEW I LOVE SPINNING® WEBSITE

http://ilovespinning.com

Check it out – the new Spinning® website. You might want to return to this site now and then to read what is being said about you and your community and to compare notes with others across the nation and around the world.

Please comment. Your feedback is valued and is an opportunity for sharing in the greater Spinning® community.

Below are links to two posts you might enjoy. The first is about our local experience and the second is about the sense of community, using the 2014 Pedal to End Cancer as an example of what works best even in small places.

Later you will find posts about issues that concern us here in Vermont that connect us with those in studios everywhere.

Athletes in Spinning^® Class: A Level Playing Field

How Spinning® Classes Create and Perpetuate Community

COMMUNITY OF ATHLETES

Active individuals collectively form a community of athletes irrespective of sport, fitness, skill level, competitive ranking, gender, age, socio-economic background or address. If you move deliberately, train purposefully and do so regularly, you are an athlete. You may run a marathon or walk a 5k; ride 100 miles or participate in a weekly time trial; paddle rapids, race or meander about in coves; tour through the woods or bump down steeps.

Some are gym-based athletes lifting, running, stepping and dancing within four walls. Here in Vermont, most are outdoor athletes at some point during the year if not all year round participating in a variety of sports appropriate to the climate and conditions of each season. But all are athletes.

Pedal to End Cancer

A web definition of community is: “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”

That, friends, is exactly what brings together cyclists, runners, hikers; friends, neighbors, families and strangers – all within a shared, athletic community.

This week the new Spinning® website, ilovespinning.com, launched. I was privileged to be a part of this new beginning. (http://ilovespinning.com/athletes-spinning-class-level-playing-field/)

Writing the Spinning® blog post made me stop to consider the value of community. High school and college team sports often segue into individual sports. Individual sports trained in a vacuum run the risk of burn-out. There are, of course, times when one can speak eloquently of the value of solitude and silence. Perhaps solo and ensemble are necessary. Community promotes safety, motivation and progress. Conversation enlightens, shared effort sustains. There is an intimacy that occurs among athletes who lay down the miles together, a closeness that adds new meaning to the work as intensity transcends struggle to reach achievement.

Today I met with a beautiful person who is an equally beautiful runner. Without sentimentality, but with strong emotion, she spoke of her Boston Marathon experience 2013. Her story will appear in ActiveVT, Rutland Herald/Times Argus Sunday edition 4-20-2014, the day before the 2014 Boston Marathon. Over and over she spoke of her running community, as both local and universal. From her friends at work to her running club to the thousands upon thousands of marathoners who run, she is supported by her community. She is never alone.

This year she will return to Boston, not physically accompanied by her running partners, but as part of a larger-than-life group of like-minded individuals striving for the same goal. Her running community will be within her.

If you do not have a group with whom to engage, make one. Call a relative, email a friend, ask them to bring another along and voila you have a community. Like everything else, it takes initiative, but it’s worth it. Once a part of that amazing community, you will never run (walk, hike, ski, paddle, ride, etc) alone.

MARCH NOTES

Spring Sledding

Mid March and the snow blowers are blowin’ while the skiers are skiin’! Though for some this week’s snowfall has been problematic, and I’m sorry, it sure has been a boon to recreational athletes. (Photo-Sledding in Hubbard Park, Montpelier. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur)

But it is, however, mid March – even in Vermont. It is time to take stock of the changing seasons. Last week we startled our systems by springing forward into daylight savings time. Just as families were returning from school break vacations, life resumed at a different time of day and now, more school closings. We know, it won’t last.

This is the time to transition. As the snow sports slowly come to an end, it is important to check through all sports equipment, make repairs, and pack gear safely – good to go next fall.

It is also the time to dig out our spring “toys” and be sure they are in working order. Cyclists, it’s time to get that spring tune up. Many bike shops (like Onion River Sports) are offering specials right now. It’s good to get this done before the cycling season bursts into action.

I am a strong proponent of professional bike fittings. These take time. Scheduling early (like now) is helpful to all concerned. Because I am located in Central Vermont, I am headed to Fit Werx for a thorough assessment and bike fit. In a future post I’ll let you know how it goes and what I learn.

While you’re at it, pull out your calendars and note events in which you’d like to participate. Now is the time to define your goals, strategize your training, and put your dreams into action.

Finally, an update on our Pedal to End Cancer event. Donations are accepted for this event through the month. At this point, we are grateful to our many contributors. We have reached 90% of our $7,500 goal! Thank you all.

Denise Palmer of Ameriprise Financial flexed her creativity muscles when she provided seed packs for schwag bags, P2EC. Great idea, don’t you think?

POST RIDE SAUNA

P2EC 2014 – Achieving Goals

I had the best seat in the house. On Sunday morning 3/2/2014 I was seated on my Spinner® flanked by my good friends and fellow instructors Mark and Mark, facing a studio full of riders who had committed to a cause, an event, a Pedal to End Cancer, and to community. I saw discomfort, friendship, authenticity.

Cancer has touched us all. Every one of us. Those pouring their energy and their resources into this ride refused to sit by helplessly. They did something, made a statement against victimization. It might be only a drop in the bucket, but enough drops will ultimately overflow.

Fitness, sports, athletics, competition, wellness, performance – whatever your focus – give us reasons and tools. Spinning®, for example, is so much more than sitting on an indoor bike. It is about skills and training, about learning to manage strength, energy, intensity, power and recovery.

Whatever our sport(s) of choice, we do best when we are informed, practice and then use what we are working for. I always encourage setting goals – not just abstract euphemistic ideals, but real, definable, measurable goals with a date and a distance. Knowing what lies ahead is enough to put aside an excuse to skip class or training, enough to bond with others on the same journey, enough to give us pre-race jitters and then enough to wash over us with exhilaration when the goal is achieved, the event completed.

Dig deep. You might surprise yourself. And, you know that oft repeated advice to “be in the moment?” Consider this: live for the moment, sustained by the past, and optimistic about as yet unknown future possibilities.

In the midst of challenge, we dig deep in other ways too. Ellie Stubbs posted this on Facebook just after her ride:

“Post ride sauna, feeling good after an amazing 3 hour ride this morning at the Pedal to End Cancer event. In 3 hours there’s lots of time to reflect on the purpose of the ride, to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Time to be thankful for family and friends who are cancer survivors and time to be mournful of those who lost their battle with cancer. This is my third year participating and I’m thankful for the support from those who donated for my ride, my friends who helped organize the ride again, especially Linda Freeman and Scott Hess, my partners on the road, and to the many local businesses providing donations. I hope all of our efforts help to make cancer a disease of the past.”

This is community at it’s best. This is what it feels like to go outside our comfort zones, to reach for an attainable goal that is, in fact, a reach – and then to achieve that goal. This is about caring and empathy, not about offering words of wisdom, but about saying I’m sorry for your pain and I’ll do something, I’ll offer my own discomfort in hope, I’ll grieve with you and I’ll celebrate what is.

**********************************************************************************

Thanks to a team of dedicated volunteers led by Ellie Stubbs including: Scott Hess (also our leading fund-raiser by far), Linda Freeman, Kate Harbaugh, Frank Partsch, Sherry Goulette, Deb Raymond; Kathleen Burroughs and “kids” for memory flowers.

Thanks to Mark Bates, Linda Freeman and Mark Simakaski for leading the rides.

Huge thanks to all participants!

Thanks to friends and family who helped support each rider and each team

with financial contributions and encouragement.

Thank you to our sponsors within the Central Vermont community:

FIRST IN FITNESS

ONION RIVER SPORTS (MUSCLES NOT MOTORS)

HUNGER MOUNTAIN CO-OP

National Life Group

Artesano

Sarah Bothfeld, Massage Therapist

Community National Bank

Farrell Distributing for vitamin waters

FitWerx

Steve McKinstry, Personal Trainer

Morse Farm Sugarworks

Denise Palmer and the staff at Ameriprise Financial

Road ID

Stowe Kitchen, Bath & Linens

Three Penny Taproom

Twin City Subaru

Pedal to End Cancer 2014

Be inspired by those facing cancer and experience the benefits of indoor cycling a whole new way as you raise funds to support the life- saving programs and services of the American Cancer Society. Cycle for the entire three hours, or form a team and take turns.
The Spinning® program at First in Fitness in Montpelier will once again host the 2014 Pedal to End Cancer. This three-hour ride gives us each an opportunity to DO something in the ageless war against an unspeakable disease that respects no one. Perhaps it is safe to say that everyone is touched by cancer – self, family, friends, neighbors. Won’t you join us either for the event (which is also tons of fun and chock full of goodies and prizes) or to support a participant, team or simply the cause? For more information, to register, or to donate, go to the Pedal to End Cancer Website. Thank you.

Space is limited – Register Today!
Pedaltoendcancer.org
1.800.227.2345