Hilltop Flats - Cyclebar Virginia Beach

Most people in Virginia Beach own bicycles. Not many of those bikes have gears. Beach cruisers are the preferred mode of transportation because, by and large, the area is flat. Most hills here are man made. Either bridges or Mount Trashmore, a former landfill that has been made into a park, and worth a visit.

The highest point near the shore is in an area known as Hilltop. There's a large shopping center and ample parking for people in low lying areas to store their vehicles when hurricanes hit.

Hilltop has a relatively new Cyclebar, having opened in January 2019. We reviewed the one on Columbia Pike in Arlington recently but this one is different enough to rate it's own article.

I thought about trying a class there the last few weeks and, feeling guilty about a lazy Saturday, decided to sign up for one Sunday morning.

These are independent studios, from what I can tell. My login for the one in Arlington wasn't recognized in Hilltop so I had to create a new account. Another difference is this first time class wasn't free. It was $10 and included a water bottle, normally $5.

I had no trouble finding the place and it's about three minutes from my house. Hilltop shopping center at 9:15 AM on a Sunday is pretty easy to navigate. Plenty of parking as well.

Walking in the door I found several people to greet me. It turns out a few others were trying classes that day and we all had our own adviser. Mine was April and she's quite friendly. In fact, she helped with every aspect of the class short of taking it for me.

April took me through the quick sign-in process by the shoes. They didn't have shoes ready for me like they did in Arlington, but she explained the different sizing they use. Because they're European sizes they have half sizes only. The 10 1/2 fit me great.

She walked me to the lockers where I was pleased to see I had one less decision to make. I imagine the locker surfaces are dry-erase, otherwise I guess this will always be my locker and bike.

April explained the amenities and gave me my water bottle. I brought my own, so it went with everything else in the locker.

She led me into the cycle room and introduced me to Meg, impossibly lean and fit Jessica, the instructor. Also very nice.

April spent a good amount of time making sure I was familiar with the adjustments on the bike as well as how to read the display.

I also had a bit more instruction on clipping in this time. I was glad to learn this trick. Those things are a pain, and if you don't get it right you can end up with a cracked sternum. Just ask Lisa.

I'll not go in to the class details again because it is similar to the other Cyclebar review. Suffice it to say, it is low impact, high cardio. It's challenging without being dangerous for someone who is not in the best shape.

The challenges build up so you never feel like you're jumping straight into high gear. After the class Cyclebar emails your results and how you ranked in that session, and I ranked 3rd of 14 overall. I tend to be slow to warm up but then peak later in my workouts, especially in a group setting. The longer it goes the more I bring.

The exception is long distance running when I'm too heavy. I can make it nine miles but then my legs fall off. My heart and lungs have plenty left, but my legs cramp into into something resembling Gandalf's Staff.

The Wheelers are dorks wen it comes to obscure and geeky references, but we embrace this about ourselves.

Back to the spin class. The display was good, but a bit quirky. They said the tension reading was Bluetooth and may take a moment to read on the display. So, if you start off flat, maybe a setting of four or five, you can read that on the display under the gear looking thing. (I didn't take a pic of my display so I lifted this one online. )

The resistance didn't seem consistent to me. I would set it as instructed but then, as we increased our RPMs, it seemed to increase as well. The pedal resistance stayed the same, but the number went up. After a while I went by feel more than what I read on the display. The RPMs looked correct, but I have to assume the power reading was off since I believe it uses the resistance in the formula. I may be wrong. I hope so because I came in 3rd with those readings!

This picture doesn't show it, but the display has an area for your heart rate. While I was taking the class I wore my Garmin heart rate monitor paired with my watch. The readings showed up on the display without me doing anything. I'm not certain they were mine (they may have been a neighbor) but when I manually checked my heart rate it seemed accurate. I'll share my Garmin readings below, just for grins.

We had more of a stretch and cool down at the end of this class than last time but it was only a couple of minutes and it was beyond the 45 minute class time. It was nice to not feel rushed to get out. The classes are well spaced out.

Jessica provided words of encouragement on my way out and April came by to see how I liked it. No hard sales pitch, just guidance and encouragement.

The rest of the day I felt great. My legs were a little rubbery on the stairs, but I had more energy than if I had stayed home.

My legs never felt sore. I rested Monday and did some kickboxing Tuesday afternoon and never felt the cycling. It's as low impact as it gets. I got great cardio but didn't overtax my muscles or my joints. I attribute a lot of that to having the bike properly adjusted.

Classes like these aren't cheap. There's a lot of overhead involved. But for people who need low impact cardio that isn't intimidating, this is the way to go. Knee replacement surgery in Virginia Beach is booming, so there is a need for low impact cardio like this.

I hope folks here check this place out because it's a good studio, in a good location, staffed by good people.