{"id":18846,"date":"2017-11-01T19:02:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18846"},"modified":"2017-11-01T19:02:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:02:03","slug":"front-porch-perspective-fun-with-cyclefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/front-porch-perspective-fun-with-cyclefit\/","title":{"rendered":"FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE: Fun with CycleFit"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Somerville<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to jog outdoors in the summer to stay in some semblance of shape. Depending on the weather, I may instead run on one of the treadmills or partake in one of the cycle fit classes offered at the Aurora Leisure Complex.
\nOn many Saturday mornings, to give my knees a break from the rigors of jogging on Aurora\u2019s sidewalks, I attend the 8:00 a.m. cycle fit class and it always is a most enjoyable class. On particular class stood out.
\nMore on that particular class in a moment, but for those of you not familiar with one of the best-kept secrets in town, cycle fit is offered most days, with classes either forty-five minute or one hour in duration.
\nMusic is played during the class, and riders go slower or faster, depending on the beat of the music. There is a knob that lets the rider tighten or loosen the tension on each bike.
\nWhat is best about the class is that you get the communal \u201csharing of the pain,\u201d as it were, with the added benefit that the work out really is your own. The person on the bike beside you could be a veteran cycle fit participant who has been doing this class for the past ten years and although you may be a rookie, you can both enjoy the same class, because you go at your own pace.
\nI find that after doing the treadmill at a good clip for say a half hour, my legs and lower back may be a little sore, but working at the same rate on the bike, and after a shower, leaves me refreshed and nothing aches.
\nI also find that it really improved my cardio, because of the varying length and tempo of the songs, so you are induced into a higher training zone.
\nThe instructors at the Leisure Complex are collectively very good. They all use different music and bring varying personalities and routines to the class, and they will push you to get the most out of your class. Heck, I even wonder whether or not Elona, our Saturday morning instructor, is employed full-time as a prison warden!
\nBut without a doubt the best thing about cycle fit is the social aspect. I have become friends with a number of the other riders. I guess a certain bond develops between fellow cyclers attempting to sweat off the pounds.
\nTwo things about your first couple of cycle fit classes. Do pace yourself. The first time I did a forty-five minute class, I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest. And second and most important, unless you have been riding horses all your life or regularly cycle outdoors, your behind will hurt the first few times out. It seems that it takes about four classes for your rump to feel fine.
\nNow, back to that Saturday morning class.
\nWhen I showed up that morning and saw that there were only four other riders signed up for the class, I was not a happy camper. Cycle fit is usually one of those activities where more really is the merrier.
\n\u201cWell\u201d, I thought to myself, \u201cI am already here, so let\u2019s get this exercise over with as fast as possible, and move on with the rest of my day.\u201d
\nAs you can probably tell, I wasn\u2019t in a great mood; I was a little bit tired, and I was not feeling like the most energetic person that morning, but then something happened.
\nElona – our instructor – showed up.
\nShe has so much energy and enthusiasm to share with everyone, that within minutes, I was enjoying myself and conversing with my regular seatmate, Marc.
\nNo matter how many people are signed up for the class, Elona keeps us all motivated and very much entertained.
\nAs we were starting our ride, I asked Marc how his week had been.
\nWe then began commiserating over our respective meals from the night before. I told Marc that I wasn\u2019t feeling particularly energetic or well as I had consumed three large pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken, fries with gravy and copious quantities of coleslaw.
\nMarc laughed and said that he could go one better; he had four pieces of KFC, plus the sides as well as a bunch of the popcorn chicken.
\nWe enlightened the rest of the class as to our gastronomical state and everyone had a good laugh!
\nWith that Elona had us go through a couple of our \u201cfavourites\u201d \u2013 the dreaded \u201ctabata\u201d \u2013 where you do eight sprints for a twenty second period with ten second rest periods in between.
\nWe did two back to back sets!
\nMarc and I could feel the KFC oozing out our glands as we sweated alongside our fellow class mates.
\nThe 45 minute class went too fast.
\nIt was a lot of fun and I also had a great workout to boot. And unlike a run outside or on the treadmill, my knees or ankles don\u2019t ache afterwards!
\nNew cycle fit members are most welcome!<\/p>\n

Stephen can be contacted at stephengsomerville@yahoo.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Somerville I like to jog outdoors in the summer to stay in some semblance of shape. Depending on the weather, I may instead run on one of the treadmills or partake in one of the cycle fit classes offered at the Aurora Leisure Complex. On many Saturday mornings, to give my knees a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4TY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-21 22:17:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}