It's not necessarily all about the bike. Here are essential elements that every cycling studio should consider to create a memorable member experience.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system, causing motor symptoms such as tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with movement. It is a chronic and progressive condition that affects millions of people worldwide. While there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, there are several treatments available that can help manage symptoms and improve quality of life. One of these treatments is indoor cycling.
Indoor cycling is a low-impact aerobic exercise that involves pedalling on a stationary bike. It has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its numerous health benefits, including improved cardiovascular fitness, increased muscle strength and endurance, and weight loss. However, can it help with Parkinson's disease?

In a study published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, researchers found that cycling can improve motor function, balance, and quality of life in people with Parkinson's disease. The study included 128 participants with Parkinson's disease who were randomly assigned to either a cycling group or a control group. Those in the cycling group participated in 30-minute cycling sessions three times a week for eight weeks. The results showed that the cycling group had significant improvements in motor function and balance compared to the control group.

A time trial is basically a fast flat, but more intense, and has more shape to it:

• It imitates the training effect of a timetrial on the road.
• A timetrial is where you’re maintaining your highest power for the duration of the interval.
• Whereas a road timetrial has a fixed distance over a fixed route (eg 45km), the studio timetrial is a fixed time (eg 4minutes).
  
• Why you might want to use it: it’s great for muscular endurance and also good for building aerobic capacity, burning fat (although I wouldn’t use it in a class where you tend to get new people, because it’s intense and quite intimidating).
• How to instruct it:
  • Let riders know how long it is and the cadence
    
  • Tell them that they should be riding with (depending on the capability of your bikes) maintaining the highest level of resistance they can for the duration or the highest power output (FTP) or get them to reach a particular heartrate target, eg 84-86% and then keeping the resistance level where it is (due to cardiac drift, their heartrates will increase a little from this point as their muscles tire, but the challenge is to keep the same level of resistance right the way through).
• Where to put it in your session: usually you’ll want it in your second half or towards the end of the session as it’s a hard challenge and you wouldn’t normally want to tire them out early. You might want to tire them out if you’re wanting to build anaerobic capacity, but most riders don’t really need this.
  

To get the best results from indoor cycling, skipping any ‘upper body exercises’ while on the bike and concentrating one pedalling technique with an appropriate level of resistance (intensity) and cadence (footspeed) is the best thing to do - and will burn a good number of calories. Obviously calorie burn is determined by several factors including

It's just pedalling and talking, right?

A good instructor will make it look effortless (except for the sweat), but what makes a good instructor, and how can you be one?

What makes a great indoor cycling instructor
All instructors should be able to deliver safe and effective classes, which means they should understand and be able to apply principles of anatomy, physiology and sports science to help riders get the most out of their sessions. This knowledge is essential to avoid injury - but effective workouts don't just happen.

'Immersive' fitness is becoming more of a thing. Most people are familiar with the traditional studio setup where there is a group of bikes in a studio space and riders follow directions from an instructor. The immersive element is the addition of more tech.

Some studios now have large screens which may feature CGI rides or cinematic rides and the class follows along - often with an instructor as well, but not always. Much progress has been made to make indoor cycling more effective and so modern studio bikes tend to be better equipped and have metrics such as heartrate and power on them, and by using a heartrate strap you can track the intensity of your ride.

You'll be pleased to know that you don't need any!

Why?

Personal preference
Although some studios will provide these shoes, it's not common practice (for good reason, as you'll see) - and there's a risk there's that 'bowling alley' experience where actually sliding your feet into some secondhand already-sweated-in shoes is just what you don't need after a tough day at the office when you're ready to unwind (and sweat). OK it's not as bad as borrowing someone's toothbrush (sorry), but it's not far off.

New riders
When new riders arrive, they're frequently low in confidence, and it might be years since they were last on a bike (if at all) and probably they've heard horror stories of indoor cycling (they're as prevalent as childbirth horror stories, due to low quality instruction).