WHY go cycling in the rain when you can enjoy a sunny workout in the Alps? Jenny Cornish, of Craven District Council, tries out a 'virtual spin' session at Craven Leisure.

SPIN cycling has become a huge craze over the last few years – celebrities like David Beckham, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez have all been hopping on the saddle to get their sweat on.

The basic idea is simple; you sit on a spin bike and pedal, often to music, changing the resistance and speed according to a set programme. It’s one of the most effective forms of exercise, with the average spin class burning between 400 and 600 calories.

The sport has become so popular at Craven Leisure that it can be a battle to book a space on one of the instructor-led sessions; which is one reason why the centre has now introduced ‘Virtual Spin’ classes. These are available for non-members as well as members of the centre, and they’re cheaper than instructor-led sessions, at £3.50 per Virtual Spin session compared to £5.30 for instructor-led classes.

So what is ‘virtual spin’? It doesn’t mean that the machine does all the work for you. Far from it. However, it does mean that you get to imagine you’re cycling along a beautiful road in the Alps, or taking on a stage of the Tour de France, all to the sound of pumping music and an encouraging voice.

For those who ask ‘why would you want to pretend you’re in the Alps when you have the Dales on your doorstep?’…. well, you might have noticed that it rains a lot in Yorkshire. Nothing can beat the Dales on a glorious sunny day, but unfortunately it’s not always like that. And cycling in the rain is not one of life’s most joyful experiences.

To get started with virtual spin, first you need to take an FTW test. No, this doesn’t mean ‘For The Win’ but rather ‘Functional Threshold Wattage’. You don’t really need to know how this works. All you need to know is that you sit on a bike and cycle harder and harder for about 20 minutes until your legs give up. Then the instructor will give you an FTW score.

When you go to a class, or a virtual spin session, you then input this FTW score into the spin bike, and then it knows how hard you should be working to really push yourself. Yes, you could trick the machine by taking it easy on the FTW test, but what would be the point of that?

At Craven Leisure they recommend that you attend an instructor-led class first, before attempting to go it alone with virtual spin. This is probably a good idea, as the bikes take a little bit of getting used to. They are really easy to use, but a tiny bit of practice means you will be hitting the right intensity zones a lot more smoothly. Also, don’t try to stand up out of the saddle without adjusting the resistance first. You’ll look like a fool.

The instructor-led class I attended was packed full of eager athletes, happy to be out of the pouring rain. A friendly instructor guided us through the programme, patient with the incompetent newcomer (me) and encouraging us to greater efforts. The ‘coach by colour’ technology means that it’s impossible to slack off – this is a really great workout. Nobody seems to mind too much when I hit the ‘STOP’ button by mistake and start yelping. Everyone is too busy focusing on their own workout. That’s the great thing about these spin bikes – the personalised FTW score means that everyone is working just as hard, based on their own level of fitness. If you’re sweating and gasping, so is everyone else.

The virtual spin class seems slightly more chilled after this – perhaps it’s the sweeping views that give the feeling that you’re breathing mountain air.

Like the instructor-led sessions, here you’re working to hit colour zones, but also cadence, which is great training for road cyclists. The programme simulates a real ride – so you cane along the flat and then have to increase the resistance and pump hard up the mountain paths. Without a ‘real’ instructor you might think you’d be more inclined to ease off, but there’s something compulsive about trying to hit the right zones, adjusting your resistance and cadence to make sure you are tackling the climbs just right. It’s very much like playing a computer game, using your body and the spin bike to achieve the best score.

One of the most fun parts is that you’re encouraged to pedal madly while zooming downhill; in ‘real life’ on descents like these I would be hanging onto the brakes for dear life and attempting not to go tumbling over the handlebars. Here you can go hell for leather, although the graphics are so good I’m still wincing as I take corners too fast.

Currently you can’t select the routes personally; the virtual workouts are scheduled automatically by the centre and are updated every month. The centre is also trialling the virtual times and sessions to see which are most popular with customers. They’re also trialling lunchtime virtual sessions of 30 minutes which are easier for customers to fit into lunch breaks.

Neil Harrison, assistant manager (Fitness) at Craven District Council, says the spin bikes have been a huge hit since they were introduced last December. “Our new spin bikes are so easy to use, easy to adjust and give the customer great feedback on their workout,” he says.

“The on-board computer can give feedback to the customer on calories, distance, power and heart rate during their workout. It also has 100 levels of magnetic resistance making it easy to see and adjust your intensity. Coach by colour technology makes the intensity of the workout specific to the individual customer but allows the class to all work as a team together in the same exercise zone.

“We’ve introduced the virtual spin classes to give customers more choice and flexibility and we hope they prove really popular too.”

To find out more about virtual spin at Craven Leisure (Craven Pool and Fitness Centre, Skipton), visit the website cravendc.gov.uk/cravenswimmingpoolandfitnesscentre