My road bike is none too happy with me right now. There’s a good chance yours is a wee bit ticked at you, too.
After a summer of sweet togetherness (long weekend rides along the coast and happy jaunts up the block for ice cream and a sunset), it doesn’t feel good to be abandoned to the basement for months at a time, traded in for skis and snowshoes and other implements of snowy adventure.
I’m not proud of giving my bike the cold shoulder, but it’s winter for chrissakes. Or nearly winter. And this fair-weather rider doesn’t love wintery roads. If only it were possible to ride a bike and not have to deal with the frigid wind, the icy terrain, the spray of slush from passing automobiles, and the darkness of 4 p.m. in December.
Oh yea, that exists. It’s called indoor cycling and it’s everywhere.
Kennebunkport Bicycle Company started offering indoor cycling classes a couple of winters ago. This bike-shop-by-summer has found a way to lure us fair-weather riders in even in the winter. And while you ride, you’ll get to gaze upon all the road bikes and mountain bikes and cruisers in the shop and fantasize about all the outdoor riding you’ll do in the spring.
Classes are offered Tuesday 6 a.m. & 8:30 a.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m., Friday 9 a.m., Saturday & Sunday 8:30 a.m. Drop-in is $20. Check the schedule or sign up via mindbody.com
Classes are led by instructor Lindsey Heard, who’ll offer up a challenging workout that’ll have you going up hill and then up hill and up hill again. At least that’s how my quads experienced it.
The music was wonderfully loud and strings of blue lights gave the space a cool feel (even though I was sweating my brains out).
The new Spinning brand bikes are sweet, too, with computers that track your cadence, heart rate, speed, and distance, among other things.
And while our road bikes might be miffed at us, indoor cycling classes are chance to exercise our cycling legs, so we’ll be ready for those outdoor rides when warmer weather gets here. And hey, if you hate riding outside anyway, indoor cycling give you the perks of bike riding without having to worry about traffic, poor road conditions, or getting lost.
Indoor cycling at Kennebunkport Cycling Company
34 Arundel Rd, Kennebunkport
Classes are offered Tuesday 6 a.m. & 8:30 a.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m., Friday 9 a.m., Saturday & Sunday 8:30 a.m. Drop-in is $20. Packages also available (5 for $70; 10 for $149; 20 for $280).
Sign up via mindbody.com, through the Kennebunkport Indoor Cycling Facebook group or by calling the shop at 207-385-4382.
NOTE: The post was first published Jan. 18, 2017
