I've been a cyclist for a long time and a cycle instructor since 1997 and after reading some of the comments here, I thought I'd ask some of the questions that I have regarding participants.

Why would you insist on riding with your hands behind your back, or crossed over your chest, or just hanging by your sides when I caution that you need to keep at leat one hand connected to the bike unless your wiping off sweat or getting a drink? I've seen pedal spindles break at least six times in the last eleven years and it still amazes me that people want to pedal away (sometimes even standing!) with no hands. When it happened again this last weekend I just said, "I understand they're doing great things with dentures these days" and let it go.

What benefit do you think you'll get by pedalling backwards? This isn't for those brief moments before or after class that I see members doing, this is for those people that are really going at it like it's going to enhance their performance in some way. Then, when I caution them against it...it's a personal affront.

And the last, why come to a class with your friend if all you want to do is talk, talk, and then talk some more during the class. I actually had a member tell me that they had to plan a wedding and this is when they had time to discuss it. I pointed to the bikes out on the general aerobic area and said that was where they could do their wedding plans. Yeah...I get a little testy because I know the majority of people (and I know cyclists are among the top end) just want to get their ride, and their training in.

I guess I'm just venting a little after a week of having too many distractions from the "off the norm" participants and not enough actual riding on my part.

Still, I know a lot of you take classes from the instructors that are filling their classes with contraindicated stuff (hovers, push-ups, a gazillion moves just to fill the hour etc.), but I wonder how many of you realise many instructors face the other side; those that want to do unsafe moves (even if they stem from other instructors) that we need/want to correct without alienating the member?