Harnessing the appeal of cycling Grand Tours for engaging themed classes – that’s just one of boutique operator Digme Fitness’ eye-catching strategies. Fitness industry observer and cycling enthusiast David Minton climbs into the saddle for its recent Tour de France event.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The Tour de France is the most prestigious and possibly the most difficult bicycle race of the Grand Tours: 21 stages over 23 days, just two rest days, and covering around 3,500 km (2,200 miles). Each team has eight riders and the rider with the lowest cumulative finishing times is the leader of the race and wears the yellow jersey.
What’s slightly less well-known is that every year, thousands of amateurs test their overall fitness, cycling skills and nutritional strategy on one of the Tour mountain stages, a few days before the professionals come through. This event is called Etape du Tour and I’ve done two, in the Pyrenees and the Alps. My first Etape in 2005 was in the Pyrenees, where Col d’Aubisque was the main climb: 17km long, with the summit at 1,709m and a maximum gradient of 13.2 per cent. Training for this event taught me that cycling is all about numbers.
Part of the training for this personal challenge took place at Third Space Soho, where back-to-back cycling classes took place on a Friday evening. Although fun in 2005, I couldn’t measure the result as bikes didn’t have the technology and trackers were not common then. So, during the week, I had a real bike on a turbo trainer using the Billats method of speed, distance, heart rate and time in the hypoxic chamber set to 3,000m above sea level. Lactate training optimised my lactate threshold, and over time the 4 x two-minute surges with rest intervals improved my mental toughness and my VO2 max.
At this time, I also completed my indoor cycling certification at the London Central YMCA so I could start teaching, keen to encourage more ‘mature’ riders. I was also keen to get more from my indoor riding experience wherever I was riding, but the product was inconsistent. With Johnny G having devised Spinning in his garage back in 1989, in the process giving birth to the indoor cycling revolution, I therefore took every opportunity I could to ride with him at IHRSA, as well as on his promotional and educational tours.
Going back-to-back-to-back
Given this background of road racing and being hooked on cycling indoors, I was intrigued to read about the Tour de France-themed classes at Digme, the boutique cycling studios in London and Oxford. Digme’s Tour de France event had been running coterminous with the real Tour (see ‘Digme – United in Fitness’ briefing box) and I had the opportunity to join some special riders on the final Sunday at Digme Fitzrovia.
Of course, indoor cycling classes have taken the boutique and general fitness market by storm; the talent for developing new cycle concepts seems never-ending, while over a third of private clubs – and slightly higher across the public sector sites – have dedicated cycle studios.
But what stood out in advance was the length of Digme’s ‘Perform Plus’ Tour de France event. On timetables across the sector, the most popular indoor cycling class is 45 minutes, followed by an hour. Very occasionally, programming provides the opportunity to do back-to-back for 90 minutes – but three 45-minute classes back-to-back-to-back, which was what lay in store at Digme… that will be out of most comfort zones and was a first for me. With instructor change-overs and water refills, that’s around 140 minutes in the saddle.
And so it was that, while the real Tour was riding into Paris, I was at Digme being pushed by Paul, Laura and Gareth – the instructors who shared the load through the back-to-back-to-back rides. Gareth built the final session into a crescendo of profiles which burnt the calories – over 1,500 in total – and gave me ‘des souvenirs’ of the lactate training programme. Gareth and I also had in common riding with Johnny G in the late 90s.
Numbers vs experience
Digme uses Keiser M3i bikes and Spivi screens, which allows for live data to be transmitted from the bike via Bluetooth and displayed to all in the class. This in turn allows for accurate power-based training, whereby each rider in the class can ride to his or her own level based on FTP (Functional Threshold Power). It’s a great way to ensure every rider is pushed equally, whatever their power output, as well as to track progress.
Interestingly, INEOS – the sole owners of the British professional cycling Team Ineos (formerly Team Sky), whose riders came first and second in the 2019 Tour – uses the same bike-data-screen combination at its offices and plant in the UK and Europe as part of its corporate wellness offering… where classes are run by Digme’s Gareth. All the elements were in place for a great event.
However, if I might offer some constructive criticism – and appreciating this is just one person’s view – I felt the heavy focus on data rather overwhelmed the class. Of course, the regulars were aficionados of Perform Plus, which is Digme’s data-centric, performance-based class; I may well be a lone voice here! But even though the Etape du Tour taught me that training is about numbers, when it comes to classes such as this, I come from the school of enjoying the moment.
In contrast, I felt that those around me were so focused on the on-screen data that there was no scope to simply enjoy the ride. And while that might be fine in a normal class, when you’re trying to create a special Tour de France vibe… well, perhaps there might have been scope to do something different with the screen, such as showing Tour de France footage? As someone who has ridden sections of the Tour de France, I would have loved to have been challenged to climb one of the legendary climbs, adjusting my gears to match the incline on the screen in front of me.
As it was, I felt the focus was a little too heavily on data, with not enough to really tie me to the Tour de France itself.
Open your mind
But all that is detail, and as I say just one person’s perspective, and should not take away from what was a very enjoyable event. It was also a thought-provoking one: when I told people I was doing three back-to-back classes, eyebrows were raised, but actually why not? Why not even do four? If you think about it, just one of the big climbs will take you an hour on the road. By comparison, a 45-minute class with just bits of climbing is nothing. Digme therefore has to be praised for this – for opening people’s minds to the possibility.
And Digme delivers all of this in a very achievable way. The Tour de France event wasn’t one long class – it was three separate, back-to-back classes with different instructors, each with their own style. Why shouldn’t other clubs and studios structure their timetables so there are three or four classes in a row, allowing members to do multiple consecutive classes if they wish?
And absolutely, why not tie it all around a theme? There are plenty of other fantastic Grand Tour events to link to; Digme already runs themed classes around events such as the Giro d’Italia. Food for thought for other operators out there.
So, my main take away is this: let’s have more back-to-back programming, and back-to-back-to-back classes at weekends please. Great fun, and thanks for the ride Digme.
This article first appeared in Ride High magazine: https://www.ridehighmagazine.com/the-digme-tour/
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