Cycle program sends participants across America

Bikes help build strength and endurance

Factoid:Cycle Across America takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 on Racquetball Court 8 in the Recreation Center.

While the disco classic, Hot Stuff by Donna Summer blared across a dimly lighted racquetball court in the Recreation Center, Kim Gill pushed herself to her limit during a Cycle Across America session Tuesday night.

It was a great workout. I normally don’t sweat and it really challenged me, said Gill, a graduate student in interactive multi-media from Pekin.

The one-hour program includes exercises such as standing up on the bike while bending backward and leaning forward, while pulling arms behind the back and stretching.

Gill was among six other participants who performed the various exercises, which the instructor, Anna Green, called from her microphone headset.

I felt the teacher really challenged us to work harder and I learned more ways to use the bike than just sitting down and pedaling, Gill said.

Green, a graduate student in accounting, said the program differs from the typical spinning cycle training because it emphasizes weight training.

It’s a great complement to other workouts, particularly for a lot of runners, Green said. A lot of times people feel they are in great shape and get on the bike and are like, Whoa! This is really hard.’

The participants in the program perform the exercises on the Star Trac bicycles, which contain steel wheels and resistance knobs that are turned to maintain a tempo and control the wheels.

When you start pedaling, [the wheel] will keep spinning; that’s how it advances training and forces you to work at your ultimate level, Green said. Spinning cycle programs are more about keeping the wheel going at a constant tempo.

Participants gain a point each session they attend, as they attempt to finish an imaginary trail from New York to San Diego. They earn small prizes after reaching each destination along the path, and bigger ones, after completing the trail. The program trail is based on the actual hours between cities, by way of bicycle.

A sign, which read, Roads … Where we’re going, we don’t need roads, a quote from Back to the Future’s Doc, hung on the wall for encouragement.

Joe Schmit, the chairman of the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine, left the cycling session with his white T-shirt drenched in sweat.

He said the high-resistance exercise, which participants close their eyes and pretend to go up a hill, was the most difficult.

[The climbing sequence] helps add climbing power and will probably add to your endurance as you work on it, Schmit said. This is the closest [exercise] bike I have ever been on, that’s like being on a real bike.