What inspired you to become a Certified Spinning® Instructor and then a Master Instructor?

I started cycling when I was 17. I spent my first college scholarship on a new road bike, a white Peugeot, it was $700, which back in the '80s was a lot of money! I decided to get certified because I was a cyclist, and loved the sport, and I was also a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I thought it was the best of both worlds for me and I know I would love it! My dreams of being a Master Instructor began in 2006 when I finally made it to my first WSSC Conference. I took a ride with Elsa Storm. It was at that moment that I knew I was destined to be an MI.

What do you love about teaching Spinning® classes?

To watch people transform and know that my class helped them identify a part of themselves they’d forgotten about. When I teach, I tell my students that a Spinning class is more than how many calories you burn, how many miles your ride or now how many watts you generate. That the class is about a feeling, a connection an ability to tap into energy and shift thought. It is seeing a student have this ah-ha moment that drives my love of teaching.

What makes Spinning® such a great workout?

A Spinning^® class is an experience and deep journey into yourself. I tell students that when there is no word to describe what a Spinning class is, then you still haven’t discovered what it can be. You sweat, you use your muscles, you use your heart and your lungs…but you use your emotions and your mind and that’s what Spinning is! Having an emotional response as you recognize how amazing you are is so much more than a workout. I love the fact that the program is simple and based on science. There are specific movements, with specific cadence, heart rate and power parameters, which give students a baseline of real numbers to use and go by to see their improvements.

Share a memory from your experience as a teacher/coach/presenter that embodies the value of being a Certified Spinning® Instructor or Spinning® Master Instructor.

I had been teaching for about 13 years. After teaching for 10 years at a club, I moved to another club across town. After teaching there for about a year, I heard someone calling my name from across the room. When I turned around I recognized one of my students from the previous place I had worked. I remembered her face because she was always in my Saturday 9 am class. On this day she told me she’d been looking for me for the last two years. She grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye and told my class saved her from her cancer. That all those years she drove an hour just to take my class and that the words I spoke gave her the courage and belief that she could beat cancer. She never told me she had cancer back when she was a student, I had no idea she was battling a disease, I had no idea how important that one hour class meant to her until 12 years later.

What other professional certifications in health and fitness do you hold?

I am certified through ACE, AFFA, SPINPower® and USA Cycling.