My Swet Ride Review

A few weeks ago Swēt Ride opened it doors to hold a special class for my Moms Run This Town group. Even though it was bitter cold and I still needed to pack for my vacation, I made the time to check it out, because I love indoor cycling, and Sue had given it good marks in her Swēt Ride review. 

Our instructor, Kate, still pumped at the end of the ride!

Swēt Ride is located in a cute storefront in the Del Ray section of Alexandria, Virginia, in between the Caboose Cafe and Cheesetique wine and cheese bar, and catty-corner from the Dairy Godmother frozen custard shop–not that I’ve been to any of these other places. 😉

Swēt Ride summarizes their philosohpy on their website: 

Our studio is pronounced Sweet (swēt), but you can also expect to Sweat (swet) and Tone Up in every class.  Our swēt rides are 50 minutes and focus on Sweet Spot Training (SST).  SST is a method to improve your endurance performance and make you a better rider for better results.  You will work around 80-90 percent of your lactate threshold and hit a cadence/rhythm in your workout.  And then we take it up a notch with sweet beats, our selection of music guaranteed to power you up hills, in jumps, through sprints, and more.  Our Cycle Techs take you on a physical and musical journey that will systematicallly Tap In to your inner athlete.  Our rides aim to make you stronger, leaner, and faster both on and off the bike.  We want you to focus on your health and erase life’s worries with every heart pounding ride.  

Swēt Ride was founded by Kathryn Zajac and Amy Barnes Morgan, who were both so gracious during our visit. You can tell that they love what they do, and love sharing that passion with the local community! 

The bikes were similar to the bikes I am used to, with pedals for SPD clips that fit my cycling shoes. While it took me a while to get comfortable clipping in on my road bike, clipping in for indoor cycling has all the advantages without the risk of bloody knees! Riding clipped in makes your pedaling more stable, and lets you get more power from each stroke, since you can push and pull with both legs.

One thing the Swēt Ride bikes have that was new to me is this little computer. 

The display shows your watts, RPM, and–big bonus!–your heart rate if you are wearing a heart rate monitor.

This is the data from my Garmin Vivosmart–the long warm up is before class began. While I like analyzing the data later, it was nice to see my heart rate in real time on the bike computer. 

Kate led us through a full workout, varying the target RPM range and perceived level of exertion. I know I tend to favor resistance over speed, and found that I really had to work to reach even the low end of the target RPM range. Kate kept us going with fun music and words of encouragement, but she really won me over when she gave each of us a cool, damp, eucalyptus-scented towel to cool off with at the end of class. Now that’s a swēt touch. 🙂

The pricing at Swēt Ride is similar to other indoor cycling studios, but cheaper than the most trendy places. For example, a 10 class package is $220 ($22/class). Also, they don’t charge for shoe rentals, so if you don’t have your own, you won’t have to pay more to borrow theirs. To learn more about Swēt Ride, check out their FAQ page for new riders here.

For the next few weeks I’m focusing on my spring races, but I definitely will be going back to Swēt Ride. 

Don’t forget to check out my MealEnders review and giveaway via FitApporaoch!

[Tweet “Indoor Cycling — Motivated By The Numbers”]

Do you like to see numbers when you workout, or would you rather go by feel?