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.

We love our riders! Schmaltzy? Yep. Sentimental? Undoubtedly.

True? Abso-bloody-lutely.

You lot are amazing, you turn up at the studio, work your socks off, and make Cyclebeat the special place that it truly is. And every one of you has a goal, each of you has a story to tell. We are going to start sharing some of those stories.

Starting with Tom. Why Tom?

It's not because he is an extraordinary cyclist, who has topped our leaderboard on both full months since we opened.

It's not because he is about to take part in the Lanzarote Ironman (though more of that shortly).

No - the reason we're starting with Tom is because Tom has been with us from the very start. He rode in the first ever Cyclebeat class, and he's been riding with us ever since.

Tom's thing is triathlons - he regularly competes in them, and got into Spinning as a form of interval training, which is what brought him to Cyclebeat. Tom says, "I’d previously trained on a turbo trainer on my own indoors but can honestly say I’ve never gotten close to the intensity on a turbo that I’ve managed in the Cyclebeat studio. I’d probably end up in the flat downstairs if I tried."

A big fan of Delvin's rides, Tom has certainly experienced the Cyclebeat effect - "My hill climbing ability has definitely improved. The amount of power I’m generating now compared to when I started has increased massively. Just training 2 evenings and 1 lunch each week has really made a difference."

Tom manages to build up a fine level of intensity, alright - he knocks out some amazing scores on the Beatboard, and has topped our monthly ranking two months in a row. He's now going to take that energy level over to Lanzarote, where he is competing in Ironman Lanzarote on Saturday - that's a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride, and 42.2 km run (yes that's right folks, he finishes by running a marathon!)

We will be cheering Tom on from afar, and hoping that his Cylebeat training helps him motor up those notorious Lanzarote hills.

So that's Tom's story - not everyone's going to compete in an Ironman, but you all have amazing stories of goals that you have set yourselves, and events that you are training for. We'd love to here about them - just email us and tell all.

And remember, folks...

Whatever your goal, you can Cyclebeat it!