So I thought that my last post was rare; a true “rant” of quasi-psychotic proportions, and would leave that genre behind. But here it is, on my very next post, I feel the need to vent yet again. This time however, it’s to a group of which I am a member – fitness facility owners & managers. The phrase “penny wise and pound foolish” immediately come to mind. Of course, the phrase cheapskate sons-of-a… well, I better be careful here, I do need to keep this a family blog.

The issue is air flow in the Indoor Cycling / Spinning® rooms. First of all, let me get this off my chest – BUY SOME FREAKIN FANS! YYOOOIIII!!!

When I took Global Ride’s virtual cycling DVDs on a 15,000 mile nationwide tour last winter, we premiered the DVDs to sold-out cycling rooms in 11 major cities across the US. In only 3 clubs did I encounter more than 1 fan in the room. It was like I was in Spinning® hell, but I bet the Devil isn’t even that mean.

More recently, I’ve read some exchanges on two different forums that were like night and day. The one forum is dedicated to training with power. These are cyclists who race or who at least are fanatical about power and power meters. They understand the importance of airflow, and spent gads of time discussing how to buy, then position their individual fan in front of their single trainer. Discussions were insanely detailed about how big the fan should be, how critical it was to have good airflow, etc.

The other forum is dedicated to the indoor cycling / Spinning® instructor. In this forum, there were incredibly similar stories among members about the fights in their class between members regarding… are you ready… how they position the fan.. THE fan – that’s singular, as in NOT plural, as in NOT more than one, stinkin’ FAN. Consistent with my experience last winter, these places think they’ve done their duty by throwing ONE fan in the room. I just want to shake someone!

Here are a few quotes from that recent discussion:
“The Group Fitness coordinator also teaches a cycle class and she made an announcement in her class…which is that the fans are not for personal cooling…The expectation in a group exercise class is that one will sweat.”

“Just today before class there was a confrontation regarding which way the fan should be facing. One member moves it, the other moves it back”

“WOW, I can’t believe that I stumbled on this thread. This is EXACTLY what is going on in our club. I love what SpinBob says about members acting like children…I must pass that one along to management. There was an incident that happened in my class recently — this member was soooo disruptive before the beginning of class over the personal cooling/placement of the fan”

Then on Twitter, I got this tweet “Just finished a class with the insane instructor who shuts the fan OFF when she starts class because she wants everyone to sweat!”

If you don’t have some way to keep your body cool, you can’t use your energy to perform work – the real way to get fit and lose weight. Instead, you’re wasting energy cooling (or at least trying to cool) your body. Click here for more behind the physiology and a video with Dr. Lim from Garmin-Chipotle cycling team

The problem here is that you don’t have to understand training, physiology or foundational principles in heart rate training, or the cardiovascular system to own or manage a fitness facility. Owners and managers are not the only ones who don’t get it. Few certification programs for instructors also include this fundamental knowledge base. Consequently, there is a prevailing notion (along with other silly ideas like the 220 minus your age formula for calculating your max heart rate), that the more you sweat, the harder you are working. That kind of logic then leads those misguided souls to think that the more you sweat, the more weight you are loosing. The ultimate, and most heinous conclusion this leads some to, goes like this “They don’t need fans, they want to work hard and lose weight, and that’s what they are supposed to do… sweat!”.

In Cycling Fusion Fashion, We Must Unite!

If you’ve already spoken to management about this, and you are still working with just one fan… or even if they have broken down and gotten you one more for a grand total of two fans, do NOT settle for this kind of treatment. You pay good money, and deserve better. My strategy is this: shame them into doing the right thing. Get a dozen or so of the regulars together, have them each buy a cheap fan, and have them bring it to class every time they come. Have them explain to everyone that stops them in the halls with that blank look on their face, that you have been FORCED to bring your own fan because the club simply refuses to provide proper air flow in the Spinning® / Indoor Cycling room.

Here’s a link to a battery operated fan that can be set right in front or on the side of your bike. It’s small, but it’s also cheap – $19.95. In fact, it’s so cheap, you might even consider getting two of them. Even if management at your club is too stubborn to see the error of their ways (you should also share the article reference above with them), at least you’ll be cooler and you’ll get a more productive workout.

If you’re wondering what would be proper airflow, it really is about one fan per rider, or at a minimum, per every 2 riders if the fan oscillates. We have 8 fans for 21 riders in our facility. These are regular fans we built special ceiling mounts for, in order to facilitate maximum air dispersion. In fact, at Global Ride, we are still considering adding 3 or 4 more this year if our attendance increases.

This by the way, is a perfect example of why I want to build an online directory of all the Spinning® / Indoor Cycling facilities in the nation, so we can report to the world, just how every club is equipped and conducted. It’s one of the goals of Cycling Fusion – to pressure facility owners and managers into providing the right environment for us. After all, we are one of the few rooms that still generate additional revenue above membership, and probably account for our share of new memberships as well. So, if you want to remind management how important you are, just start your own fan club – and maybe they’ll jump on board.