Class #73 Cycling Friday 8:45 a.m. (Lisa D.)

This is my 19^th bike class so far on the quest but still there were several ‘firsts’ today. For instance, it was the first bike class that went longer than an hour (75 minutes), it was the first with no lights on at all in the room (apparently what the class likes) and it was the first to have three gift certificate winners – I’ll explain in a moment.

All of these firsts are courtesy of this morning’s teacher, Lisa Duke. Lisa has a smallish frame enveloped by a sheath of sinewy muscles, the whole package powered by a Porsche engine and jet fuel. To complete the perfect storm, Lisa hasn’t worked out in a week and she is ready to GO!

Fortunately for me, regular blog follower, Bryan Davis, who often takes this class has warned me that sometimes Lisa extends class on Friday mornings (there’s no class in the studio immediately following her class). For that reason, I’m mentally prepared when she asks the class if they “want to go longer” today. Naturally I don’t vote and since the only feedback is “sure” or “why not” she tells us we’ll be finished by 10 a.m. while giving her blessing to any in class who needs to leave early.

Since I know this is going to be my only class of the day – I’m fine with the extended session and look forward to seeing how my energy holds up. I’ve also got my new Polar watch to provide feedback and keep me company.

Lisa gives a fun class with plenty of work and lots of variety. For instance, we do sprints with a partner (a neighboring rider who’s name we learn and use) - where we alternate riding all out while our partner cheers and recovers. On another drill, Lisa plays the song Beat It by Michael Jackson and instructs us to raise our gear each time he says the words ‘beat it’, which is a LOT (fortunately she also lets us take some gears off at times – thank goodness) anyway it’s another fun wrinkle. Along the way we do plenty of climbs, sprints, jumps and interval training – no worries, there’s plenty of time to get it all in.

Lisa Duke with family

For the last 15 minutes (all overtime compared to a normal bike class) we do an “endurance” ride. This is in a way an extended cool down where our heart rate is a little bit lower but still elevated – for me it stays in the 120’s.

The class begins with about 12 riders but one by one folks have to leave and at the end there are just four of us left. Lisa wants everyone remaining to achieve the marathon distance of 26.2 miles on our Keiser bike readout. At about 9:54 a.m. the final rider crosses that threshold as the rest of us cheer her on. I typically go about 17 miles in a class and today I’m it’s nearly 28. I also note that I’ve burned 673 calories and have maintained an average heart rate of 129 for an hour and nine minutes. It’s been a good workout.

It seems only fair to me that the three riders who stayed all the way to the end should each get a gift certificate – they’ve earned it. Those three are: Marilyn Meyer, Mary Shenker and Mitzi Miller. Good job everyone!