I Think I Got Saved in Cycling Class!

Hey there! Hope all is well. Today we are hanging out at The Dailey Method in Fort Worth. I have to tell you about this amazing experience I had in my first cycling class. It is a fitness workout that I’ve been interested in for a while but never pursued it. While scrolling Instagram one day, I ran across a post by an old friend, Nikela. She shared information about a free open house where you could come and trial their cycling classes. I knew this would be the perfect opportunity, but unfortunately after being called from the waiting list I could not make it that day. However, I stayed in touch with someone and was able to secure a date the following week.

I asked my son’s girlfriend Caren (pictured above on the left) about going with me, so she also signed up for the class. We were informed that we needed sticky socks because the class we would be attending was 40 minutes of cycling and 20 minutes of barre. I had never heard of barre, but I was excited to try something else new. I found some sticky socks on Amazon so we were both ready for this new experience.

This class was on a Friday at 930AM. We arrived about 20-25 minutes early since we didn’t know what to expect. Upon arrival, we had to sign a waiver and get checked in. After that you have to get fitted for the cycling shoes. Typically they will say go down half a shoe size, however, there were no size 6 shoes available so I wore my normal size 6.5. They were slightly bigger, but not enough to cause a problem during the ride. I would highly suggest you wear the socks with the cycling shoes because you immediately remove your shoes and go into the barre room where the sticky socks are required. They are a little thicker than regular socks and have grip on the bottom, so it will help fill out the shoes more. Once we’d chosen our shoes, we went inside the cycling room to select our bikes. Of course being new I was NOT trying to be anywhere near the front of the room and Caren agreed, so we chose bikes on the third row.

Once you have chosen your bike you have to stand next to it to get the seat at the proper height. You place your hand near the boniest part of your hip and that is where you want your seat to stop. From there you have to make three more adjustments to other sections of the bike which include the distance from the handles and the seat, the height of the handles and display screen and the space between the handles and the display screen. The next thing to do is get your shoes locked into the pedals. I will say, this is a little tricky. There is an opening in the center of the shoes that connects to the pedal on the bike. To get locked in you have to place your foot on the pedal and while in the position of a pointed toe, you glide your foot towards the ground until you hear it click. Next you pedal forward and repeat the same steps on the opposite foot. Now that you are locked in, it’s time to get set. You turn your display on, or wait to be instructed to do so (especially when you’re new to this). There are a few different numbers that appear on the screen. It’s two rows with three columns of numbers. There are RPMs which are your revolutions per minute or pedal speed and how the pedal stroke is measured. Another set of numbers are the watts. It is a measure of power per unit time or a measurement of the workload you’ve done independent from speed, the gear you’re in and resistance you’ve applied to the ride. Now that you have the basic understanding of preparation, let me tell you how this ride went down.

One thing I’d like to add is that I had a preconceived idea that this wasn’t going to be so hard. Not being cocky, but rather confident that I could handle this. My thoughts were I’ve been a dancer, plus I already knew how to ride a bike and I have rhythm, so when the right song starts and the beat drops, I was going to be ready. However, I also had enough common sense that this was my first time so regardless of what I thought I was capable of, I’d better hold back and do more learning and watching. I did exactly that!

So Nikela begins her class and she is already pumped. As we get started she explains the numbers on the display screen and then we get to work. She wasted no time getting us warmed up. We were up and down, in and out of the saddle. She had us changing between gears 1, 2 and 3 and already tapping right to add resistance. She had the room jumping and the energy level was through the roof! Every so often she’d hit us with an “AYE! AYE!” In my head, I was right there with her, but on the outside I was just calm and trying to keep up with the pace. About fifteen minutes into the class is when I really recognized my place. That whole “you’ve got this attitude” went out of the window. I felt like I was caving. My bad knee was giving out and my thighs felt like they’d fallen off. I thought to myself how in the world am I going to be able to do this for another 25 minutes? Thank goodness I made it through and class swiftly came to an end.

Nikela then spoke through the headset that meditation was coming up. When she first announced that the next to the last song was meditation, I had already decided that I was going to take in the moment. She started out by telling us we could do whatever we chose to do during that time. We could pedal at whatever speed as long as we kept the watts number at a certain level. At the time I was feeling like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I WAS EXHAUSTED! I felt like I didn’t have much more to give, but on the other hand I wasn’t going to quit and I definitely did not want to appear weak. (The pride was at an all-time high, lol). At this point, I’m not giving a lot on the RPM scale. I was averaging about 85-90 RPMs, but keeping a steady pace. Once that mediation song began, I closed my eyes and let God speak to me through her and this experience. Then something amazing happened to me, something I wasn’t expecting at all from a fitness class of all places!

She was facilitating that meditation portion like it was a Sunday morning worship service! She was walking through each of the bikes and it was as if she was speaking life into us. She never said anything about God or used religion in any type of way, but the believer in me heard from God. I’m not sure whether the others received anything from it, but I sure did! It was so much encouragement, inspiration, motivation and uplifting words spewing out of her lips. After class, I stayed past time to tell Nikela that I’d given my life to Christ a long time ago, however, during meditation she made me feel like I was a born-again Christian. It’s as if I were standing at the altar ready to give my all to God. I wanted to dismount my bike, remove my shoes and just lay with my face flat on the ground. I told her how her words were so motivating. She said she was basically speaking to herself, but I told her she was also speaking to the masses. Hopefully, the others in attendance were equally inspired, but if not I knew that I would be sharing this experience. This moment was definitely going to be passed along so that others would be motivated to use their voice at its fullest potential.

During this moment, I was speaking to God. I was saying things like Lord, whatever you will have me to be. Whatever is meant for me to achieve in this life. However I’m supposed to interact with others and for any and everything that’s going wrong in my home, if there’s something that needs to be corrected or changed on my behalf please have your way and let your will be done. In that same moment as I’m saying these things in my head, Nikela is giving life to my thoughts. I can’t quote her verbatim but she said things like, “Let your voice be heard. Use your voice for its intended purpose, to get out and connect and touch people.” At that moment there was a connection beyond anything that I could explain. I’m thinking you are in a workout class, so what are you doing? After meditation was over, we had one last song. I believe it was a Lil Wayne song and it was LIT! I was so into it. I knew then that although I was exhausted, it was so exhilarating and invigorating and I WANTED MORE!

Immediately from there we were told to drop our shoes in the basket and were instructed to head to the studio for barre class. As a first timer, I must say that disconnecting from the pedals is almost as challenging as it is to connect. We asked for assistance and Nikela explained that we needed to twist out of the pedals as if we were trying to click our heels like Dorothy trying to go home. She gave us a perfect analogy that worked. We had issues getting into our locker to switch to our sticky socks, hence the reason I strongly suggest you wear them for cycling also. Class had begun because we could hear Nikela over the intercom telling them to lay down and then giving instruction for different stretches. It was a mixture of yoga and smaller pulsating exercises. Again, another moment of thinking this won’t be so bad. They used small weights, which is nothing compared to my usual workouts on my own. Also, I’ve seen and experimented with yoga so I was ready. However, this was a bit more advanced than what I’d experienced. It was intense. It stretched you, your mind, your flexibility and your limits. The small movements with the weights were even more challenging than I expected. The feeling of pushing yourself further than your normal limit was intense and amazing at the same time. Although we finished cycling with a fast paced song, as barre class went on I noticed that the aura in the room with the soft music playing and the aroma they had going was keeping me on that meditation high.

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Now I’m not one that’s easily influenced. I don’t get attached to things quickly nor rush to sign up and pay for the latest and greatest trends, but I knew after trialing this class that I was going to do it again. I absolutely loved it and would totally recommend it to anyone that can handle high intensity movements. After all was said and done, I WAS HOOKED! I immediately signed up for a new member’s special. It was unlimited classes for 21 days. I did sign up for the other classes they offer, but honestly my first love was cycling. All of the instructors I had were great, but I will say none stood out like NIKELA! She has THE JUICE! I made sure to sign up for EACH one of her classes that I could attend.

The location is very nice and clean and everyone is so hospitable. If you have been like me and wanted to try cycling, this is a good place to start. PLEASE BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR NIKELA’S CLASSES!

Now let me leave you with this…If you find inspiration in unlikely places, don’t ignore it just because it didn’t come from something expected like a motivational speaker or a millionaire. Know that you can be inspired by anyone, anywhere and at any time. When you have found motivation be sure to receive it, take it all in and then apply it to your life. Allow it to fuel and build you up so that you can pass that inspiration on to someone else.

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