Friday, February 19th, 2010
Goni & Bob – Bike Setup for the Tough Customer
By Tom Scotto
All of us at times has had a rider in our class that is not setup correctly. You’ve tried to approach them about their position (without cringing). Maybe their seat is way too low as if they were riding a BMX bike. Possibly their seat is too high as they appear to tip-toe through your [...]
Friday, January 15th, 2010
They Were In Shock – The Adventures of Creating an Indoor Cycling Certification
By Tom Scotto
You don’t want to continually warn people how hard your certification testing is because it always sounds like you’re just trying to hype things up. That was never our intention. We just wanted to give folks a heads-up that this may not be what they’ve experienced in the past. Despite the warnings and [...]
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Apparently Bicycles are Rare
By Tom Scotto
My biggest issue for this post is bike fit. Is it that stinkin hard to find a real bike somewhere in the world to model these indoor bikes from. Come on!
Friday, January 1st, 2010
Cross Bike, 700×32 Tires and Snow Mobile Trails
By Tom Scotto
2010 has arrived and, as is the Scotto tradition, we are in Rome, NY visiting Carla’s parents. Because of this, it has become my tradition to do my first ride of the year in Rome, NY. The temperatures are often colder than Boston and there is a ton snow.
The key to a successful [...]
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Who Moved the Finish Line?
By Tom Scotto
What are those guys doing?!?! As we come out of the final turn at full tilt, two guys standing at the finish line grab the poles holding up the finish line banner and pull them out of the ground. They then start running down the road, carrying the banner over their heads. We fly past the original locaton of the finish line and continue to chase them, desparately trying to to bring this race and brutal sprint to a end. We finally catch them. I didn’t win.
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Coked Up!
By Tom Scotto
Well, some of you may or may not know that one of the “sports” drinks of choice, particularly during a criterium, is Coke. Yes Coca Cola. We often would not start with Coke in our bottles but would grab a hand-up in the feed zone.
Friday, September 25th, 2009
A New Concept: Recovery Makes the Workout Harder
By Tom Scotto
A few weeks ago I taught an explosive power workout composed of various types of sprints. We started with a 15-minute gradual warm-up followed by 4 sets of sprints of different lengths. Recovery was provided between sprints and between sets. During a 60-minute class we spent only 15 minutes at sprint intensity leaving [...]
Friday, September 18th, 2009
Nice Feedbag
By Tom Scotto
This was followed by an excalating discussion/argument over functional vs. French Press coffee.
Friday, September 11th, 2009
5:15AM and a Mouthful of Water
By Tom Scotto
I teach a few early morning indoor cycling classes in and around the Boston area. When weather permits (based more on emotion than on weather forecasts), I prefer to cycle to class. Over the last few weeks both the temperatures and available daylight have been changing (diminishing) so my emotional decision of whether [...]
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
How to Safely Launch a Sprint on an Indoor Bike
By Tom Scotto
As Jennifer Sage (IndoorCyclingInstructor.com) and I were discussing Jumps and the safety and movement of the body, another discussion started concerning sprinting in the indoor studio. Here is Jennifer’s questions that prompted this dialog and article:
“With the lack of side to side movement in the indoor bike, you wouldn’t condone the same relative side [...]
Friday, September 4th, 2009
I Stole This Guy’s Bike!
By Tom Scotto
A few weeks ago I biked downtown Boston to teach one of my indoor cycling classes. As I’m locking my bike to the rack in the parking garage under the health club, I take notice of this nice new red Trek mountain bike in the rack. I believe it was a Trek 4300 hardtail. [...]
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Jumping in the Indoor Studio
By Tom Scotto
Recently I responded to an article by Jennifer Sage on IndoorCyclingInstructor.com titled “To Jump or Not to Jump: That is the question”. We joined in to add a USA Cycling coach’s perspective taking into consideration some of the limitations of the indoor bike, safety and purpose.
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Gun Show, Air Drumming and Some Cycling
By Tom Scotto
A number of my clients have been telling me about this “insane” indoor cycling class and instructor. This morning I decided to check it out (eventhough it caused me to get up early on a morning I don’t teach myself).
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
6..ish
By Tom Scotto
During class the instructor is yelling “seven”. My wife, uncertain to what this means, asked the rider next to her. They don’t know so my wife yells out to the instructor “what is 7?” The instructor replies, “you know….4..5..6..7″.
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
One would have thought I was watching a football game!
By Tom Scotto
OK, I’m watching stage 16 of the Tour de France live and I’m on the edge of my seat pumping my fist, cheering on Armstrong. Yelling at the TV. What a blistering acceleration by Lance!
With a few kilometers to the top of the Cat 1 Col du Petit Saint Bernard, Andy Schleck, his brother Frank, [...]
