Sophie Radcliffe has spent the last few years taking part in some awesome endurance events, which she writes about at www.challengesophie.com.  Sophie loves Cyclebeat, and Cyclebeat loves Sophie, but before they live happily ever after, she’s going to blog regularly for us, telling us how Cyclebeat is helping her to hit her goals.

In life we need goals. Sometimes we scream our goals from the rooftops, write them down in huge block letters and tape them to our computer screens. Other times, we keep them quietly ticking over in the back corners of our minds.

Some days, our goals pop into our heads the moment we wake up in the morning and provide us with reason and drive for us to do things, anything. Other days we wake up and feel as though we don’t know what we want, where we want to go or how we can achieve something. Sound familiar?

One thing is for certain, we struggle to live a meaningful life without goals. Love them or hate them – they ARE the reason we get out of bed in the morning.

I realised a few years ago that life was too short to just watch it pass by, so I decided to set myself some interesting goals.  I started to participate in exciting physical challenges, which I write about on my Challenge Sophie blog.  From cycling to Amsterdam to mountaineering in the Alps – if it sounds like fun (in a tough test of physical endurance kind of way) then I’ll have a go.

Cyclebeat is a big fan of goals and helping us Beatniks achieve them.  Inspiring us to make small changes that build up to make a big difference in our lives. When I was first drawn to Cyclebeat, my goal was my first Ironman. The race (which I’m about to take part in at the time of writing) involves rather a lot of cycling (112 miles) and a lot of hills with the race being in Wales. Cyclebeat offered me the chance to get myself in the best possible shape to take on this challenge whilst also maximising my time spent training. It’s an opportunity to get fit, fast.  I’ll let you know how I get on.

I’ve found Cyclebeat to be ideally set up to ensure I can fit rides into my busy life, and get the maximum training benefit in the minimum time.  Otherwise it would take me 45 minutes to cycle out of London to just to find a good training route.  Their instructors are fantastic, the Beatboard is a real motivator, and receiving ride stats after every ride is a dream for anyone who is serious about hitting their goals, because you can really measure your progress.

Cyclebeat’s mantra is “Whatever your goal, you can Cyclebeat it!”  Whether your goal is to get fit, lose weight, do your first 10K run, triathlon, get in shape after having babies or to live healthier and feel great – Cyclebeat is the place to get cracking on your goals.

It’s amazing to be in the studio and see people of all backgrounds in there sweating it out side by side. Even if I’m not in the mood when I arrive, the music, the instructor and the group energy combine to give me such a lift.   I hope to share that great feeling in class with you soon.  Happy riding folks.

I’ll let you know about how I’m getting on with my challenges.  Meanwhile, I’d love to hear from you about the goals you are working towards. Please leave a comment below or get in touch on Twitter.

Meet Jo – she’s a hockey playing mum who’s discovered the perfect way to keep in shape during the close season.  It turns out that regular rides at your favourite cycling studio are a great way of keeping toned and ready for the season ahead.

Jo’s big thing is hockey.  She captains her side Cheshunt HC, and spends every Saturday from September to April pounding the astroturf with her girls.  But since having a son 4 years ago, Jo has found it harder to stay in shape, especially when the hockey season is over.

“I was moaning to a friend how unfit I felt in the hockey close season and she mentioned the 20 days intro offer that Cyclebeat had introduced. She egged me on until I booked my first session.”

Jo has found Cyclebeat to be transformational.  After completing her intro offer, she took out a monthly membership and now rides at least 3 lunchtimes a week.  She’s a particular fan of Paddy’s hill rides, and says,

“I love the fact that I can leave work, do a 35 minute intense work out (that works) and be back in the office within an hour. I have never been more enthusiastic about a gym. I always try to get a bike at the front so that I can see the determination in the instructors face and draw on it when I find myself flagging.”

Jo’s first target was to drop two dress sizes for a family wedding.  Having succeeded, and feeling amazing for it, she is now concentrating on reducing body fat, improving muscle definition, and maintaining her fitness.

Jo is an inspiring example of somebody who has set herself a goal, and Cyclebeaten it.  Nice work Jo, and good luck in the season ahead – you’ll be fighting fit, that’s for sure.

Tom is another of our early adopters – he has been with us since we first opened.

Tom is signed up to take part in two big cycling events in the next few months –  first, he’s going to ride l’Etape du Tour, an amazing cycling experience which recreates a stage of the Tour de France while the Tour is on.  It’s a monumental effort – 130km in the Alps, including two climbs of well over 1000m each.  And later this summer, Tom’s taking part in the inaugural Ride London 100 mile ride. 

These are big hard rides in anyone’s book, but the extraordinary part is that Tom only took up cycling a year ago.  He actually bought his first bike 18 months ago, but it was a truly stationary bike for the first 6 months, sitting neglected in his living room.  Since then, though, Tom has been catching up big time, starting off by commuting to work, and then turning his attention to increasingly ambitious cycling events.

Tom heard about Cyclebeat from a work colleague, and figured that riding at Cyclebeat would be a great way of preparing for all of his cycling events.  And sure enough, his cycling has been transformed.  As Tom explains, “Fitness has definitely improved as has the strength in my legs. I feel like I can push myself harder for longer.”

You’ll have to get up early to ride with Tom – he’s at it first thing, preferring to frequent morning rides with Andy, Paddy and Laura.  And he may be new to this cycling lark, but now he’s soaring, from the living room to the Alps in an amazing year.

That’s Tom’s Cyclebeat story – what’s yours?  It doesn’t need to be a big cycling event – whatever your goal is, we want to hear about how you’re going to Cyclebeat it.  Just email us and tell all.

The room was dark and silent. You could smell the tension. Beatniks had gathered from all over EC3, racing legs at the ready, preparing to give their all for glory, for victory, and for a bottle of bubbly. Each of us understood that however strong we were collectively, in the end there could be only one.

Or rather two - Cyclebeat Race Night has separate male and female categories. Our host instructor Carl pushed, cajoled and encouraged everybody to extraordinary performances. Race night includes a series of sprint races, and an overall victory for whoever finishes top of the Beatboard. This requires some tactical decisions – whether to go flat out for the brief glory of a sprint win, or to hold some in reserve in pursuit of the championship.

In the end, it made no odds, because Adam Willans and Heather Low reigned supreme, sweeping up all the sprints and overall victory. Really brilliant riding guys. Great effort also from Graham (@Mr_Gmo) who pushed Adam all the way. 

     

We saluted our winners, and drowned our sorrows in muffins and cupcakes (M&S finest – mmm!)

To the victors the spoils. To everyone else, the knowledge that Race Night will be back next month at an earlier time, with a month more training under our belts. See you then!

We are big on setting goals at Cyclebeat.  This is the first in a series of regular articles about setting, and achieving, goals - in fitness, and in life.  Many of you will have wisdom and experience in this area.  We aim for this to be a collaborative exercise, and would love to hear your thoughts.

“Don't go changing...” sang Billy Joel many years ago. And I must stress, fellow riders, that we do indeed love you just the way you are.  But you may well want to change something for your own benefit – everyone wants to change something. Maybe you want to get fitter and healthier. Possibly you want to take part in your first 10k charity run.  Or perhaps you feel that now is the time to get down to writing that novel which has been jumping around in your head for most of your life.

But how to start?  The problem with most big challenges is that while we very much want to have achieved them, the prospect, in advance, seems so immense that we simply don't know where to begin. And so, overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, we put it off until another day.  And that day never comes.

There is a way of making it happen though.  I can't offer you an easy solution – no significant change in our life habits is ever easy.  But what I can promise is that it is simple.

Just make one tiny change, and do it for the next week.  That's all – no huge ordeal, no sweeping changes to the way you run your life.  Just that one little thing.

So skip the packet of crisps which you normally have with your lunch.  To get yourself on the road to that 10k, just jog and walk for 10 minutes.  And hey you, budding novelist, write 50 words. That's right, just 50 words!

Do it every day for a week, and see how you feel at the end.  It's a rewarding feeling, hitting your targets, however modest they are, so at the end of that week, up the target a little.  And make a deal with yourself that you will keep it going for 30 days.

Trying to make huge changes overnight leads to inevitable failure and giving up.  Change comes slowly, the key is to form new habits.  Gradually integrate the desired activity into your life and before you know it, it's simply what you do.

Start small, and start today.  

So what do you think?

You guys love the Beatboard!  It turns out the good folks of the City of London have a bit of a competitive streak.  Who knew?

The Beatboard adds an element of of fun competition to each Cyclebeat ride, and more importantly, it gives you something to aim for.  During each ride, you can try to catch up with the person just ahead of you, and over time, you can aim to increase your power. 

The Beatboard is pretty simple, but we thought a quick guide to the numbers would help everyone to understand what the data means, and what you need to do to move up the rankings.  So we hereby present a bluffer’s guide to the Beatboard:

Rank – That’s how you’re doing.  Your place on the board, based on the energy exerted (see below).  Don’t worry about where you rank overall, bigger people have an advantage, and stronger cyclists have an advantage.  But why not use this as a motivational tool – can you stay ahead of the person behind you, or catch up with someone just ahead.  That, fellow riders, is the joy of the Beatboard.

Bike – That’s your bike number.   Easy.

Power – This tells you how hard you are working at any given moment.  Power is measured in watts, and is based on a combination of your speed and your resistance.  So you can increase your power either by cycling faster (i.e. increasing your RPM) or by increasing your bike resistance (using the red lever on your bike – resistance ranges between 1 and 24).

During a ride, look at the power level that you can comfortably maintain.  From one ride to the next, push yourself to very gradually increase that figure.  If your average power goes up,  that means you are getting fitter and stronger.  And you will move up the Beatboard.

RPM – That’s the rate at which you are pedalling.  Increase your RPM to get that flywheel spinning faster.

Energy – That’s the overall work that you have done so far during the ride.  The higher your average power, the more work you have done.  Whoever notches up the highest energy score rules the Beatboard.   Your energy score is measured in Kilojoules, and is not a measure of the calories which you have burned (more about that in next week’s blog post).

Coming soon:  We are going to colour code the Beatboard, to separate the guys from the girls.  So you’ll have the chance to be Queen, or King, of the hill.

Next week we’ll have a look at the results you receive by email and online, and we’ll explain why the person who heads our online leaderboard is not always the same person as the one who heads the in-class Beatboard.  

So how are you all doing on the Beatboard?  And let us know if you have any more questions about it.

Greetings, riders.                                                                

Cyclebeat opens on 11th February. We think you're going to like it.

Until then, we will have to content ourselves with telling you a bit more about what's in store, and bringing news of our quite extraordinary launch offer.  Follow the Beatblog to make sure you are one of the first to get news of all our offers (just add yourself to our mailing list at the bottom of this page and you will start receiving our newsletter). 

Over the next month we’re going to run a virtual countdown towards CB Day, the grand opening of Cyclebeat, during which period we’ll let you know how we are getting on with creating our spectacular new indoor cycling studio, as well as posting various articles which we think will interest you.

Cyclebeat is a brand new indoor cycling studio which will be located in Lombard Court, in the heart of the City of London here.  As I write, the builders are in, converting what was until recently an old pub into a very special cycling space. In its place will be a smart reception, spacious changing rooms and a studio equipped with top notch Keiser M3+ bikes and a fantastic sound system.

Best of all, Cyclebeat will be pay as you go, so you simply book online and turn up when you fancy it.  No expensive long term contracts, no paying for something you’re not using.

We’re incredibly excited about this project, and we really hope you will join us on this big ride.  The journey starts here.

See you soon

The Cyclebeat crew