What do architecture, being particular, and indoor cycling have in common? Michael Nieminen. So as you know I’m still reeling from my illness and I’m still trying to work my way back into shape, not into fitness, just into shape, that semblance of looking like I actually know what I’m doing. This morning, I decided to cycle again at the JCC. It’s the Thursday am class that I subbed in for last week because the instructor wasn’t able to teach. So as it’s fairly hard to get up and out the door these mornings, I was late, and I felt incredibly embarrassed. I really promoted the Thursday class on Monday when I taught, and we had ten people in that class so I expected a good turnout for this morning. Now ten riders may not sound like a lot but I felt it was a great start to this cycling program and on Monday they were all in there at six am sharp and ready to roll, or well, not exactly ready to roll but almost. About half of the riders didn’t have a clue about how to set up their bikes so we spent the first ten minutes of class with half of them spinning to warm up and the other half waiting for me to go around and make sure they were either not riding like they were on a BMX with their knees in their shoulders, or equally challenging, reaching for pedals that they can’t touch – that only leads to singing soprano for 45 minutes and trust me, the worst comes the next morning when you try to pee. This was entirely my fault as I should have gotten there even earlier to set them up on their bikes before six o’clock.

So where was I? Oh yes, so this morning I figured if the same group was coming, the instructor would probably have to spend a few minutes helping them into their bikes so I probably would be late, but not functionally late. So I ran up the hallway and heard the music playing and peaked my head in to see what? The instructor, complete with cool bandanna and four bikes in front of him, but nobody there. Ouch. My reaction was twofold. One? Was I responsible for this? Did I scare them away with my class? And secondly, I know what it’s like to show up to teach a class when nobody shows up. What you wind up doing is either practicing your class to refine it or just getting in a workout of your own. Michael was doing one of those things. I hurried upstairs, threw on my cycling cleats and made my way as quickly as possible to the class where I apologized again, seriously embarrassed and started riding. He asked who I was and I said “Adam”, to which he replied, “oh so you’re the other instructor”. And there we were, two instructors spinning away for the next forty-five minutes.

To say Michael is odd would be a true comment, but he’s no odder than I am. What makes him odd is his peculiar commitment to knowing the right way to do things. Maybe that’s because he is an architect, a real one, not like I have often described my approach to solving business or people issues. He’s actually quite funny. He told me about his recent certification, being a permanent sub for classes at Equinox and his desire to show up here and have forty people fighting over thirty bikes on a regular basis because they just love to spin. Michael is an indoor rider, he is all about the guy who figured it might be even more fun to be on the other side of the room leading all of those other people on an experience. He’s in his fifties but looks like he’s barely forty. He has a 21 year old son at Syracuse studying, you guessed it, architecture. And it is really apparent that he can ride. He’s one of those technically proficient riders that if he rode outside, you’d really be curious what he could do, but you also know that riding outside would simply be too disruptive to his routine so that’s just not going to happen. In this class his favorite thing seemed to be a standing run, which if done right means that your legs are moving in tight circles under you, while your upper body remains basically motionless. It burns the heck out of your quads and quite frankly this morning, he was much better at those than I. It is a completely useless riding technique because you’d never give that much frontal surface area to the wind, but as a fitness technique it destroys your quads, but in a good way.

So somewhere during our indoor ride/kibitzing session, I realize just how particular he is, which makes him fun to watch because I am the exact opposite – well sometimes. As I’ve written about before, I have ADD/OCD which means I’m all over the place until I land on one thing randomly and then I beat the hell out of it until everyone around me either leaves or cries uncle in despair. This architect personality, however makes for a great ride instructor. Even with me being the only other rider, and knowing I was an instructor – which can be somewhat unnerving – he put on a class that was detailed in every way. He even scotched taped his ride program up on the mirror behind him and it was typed up. He matched cadence with effort, he made sure that he was communicating visually and verbally and that both of those messages were in sync. He shouted out pedaling cadence and was even particular in how he explained pelvic tilt when standing up. You wouldn’t have known that he is only recently certified; you can tell that he rides often and regularly and equally important, he rides with quality instructors. You can toss the lack of credentialed experience out the window because he probably has as much or more indoor riding experience than anyone I know. Why? Because he gets into his routine and that means that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he’s at his regular gym spinning with what he calls the “aggressive crowd”.

Being particular can sometimes mean being so caught up in the details that you can’t see context and rhythm. Not so with Michael. He said something really profound during one extended standing climb. He said that he really enjoys group indoor rides because they are not complicated like the relationships that he has with his family and professional colleagues.  He said that he has made great friends while riding in this group and the reason why they have remained friends so long is because of the simplicity of the relationship. They are all there to ride and sweat. And that’s it. For someone who likes a routine, group indoor rides can be a great way to get that communal support but also know that you can count on what you’re getting. In that, group riding, group running, group workouts or any other type of group fitness activities can be incredibly powerful. The key as with most things is finding the right group.

Cheers,

-Coach Adam