This photo of and quote from the great Eddy Merckx hangs in a frame behind the spinning instructor’s bike at Revolutions in the Cayman Islands.
As I sit writing on a wet Sunday morning nursing a sore Achilles tendon, I’m missing my regular Sunday morning ride and would love to have got out on the bike, even on a wet day. After all, cyclists say “there is no bad weather, only bad clothing!”.
I’m also reminded of this Merckx quote, and, quite sometime after I left Cayman for London, today I will reflect on the lessons I learned from spinning at Revolutions and from that thought from Merckx and distil this to one thought on the value (in the right circumstances) of consistency over innovation.
About nine years ago I tried an indoor cycling class for the first time. I was instantly hooked and rode three times per week at the same studio for about nine years. If you love spinning and visit the Cayman Islands, the team of Jérôme and Cathy Ameline established Revolutions as the first studio in Cayman well over a decade ago. Go visit!
Oh, and in full open-ness, as a coach and someone who believes in having a sounding board, I model that belief by having several sounding boards I invest in for myself. One of them I work with remotely to this day is Cathy, who when she is not spinning, is a world-class counsellor of more than twenty years standing.
So, when I first started spinning, I was so full of enthusiasm, I’d keep making offers to help them with their business, and even with their classes. I sent them music suggestions and even offered to qualify as an instructor and help with classes. They were so polite and did even incorporate one or two of my ideas, but mostly they gently declined my ideas to innovate and change what they felt was a winning formula.
I’m also reminded of the image above of Eddie Mercx. In the literally hundreds of times I saw that photo, I never really thought too much of the meaning beyond the relevance to spinning. After all, some days I would feel fresher, stronger than others, but I rarely ever missed a class. As Eddy said, I did ride.
So, what simple lesson do I take from both the team of Cathy and Jérôme and the great Eddy Merckx?
Consistency over Innovation
In business and leadership, we laud innovation so much that sometimes we forget the value of consistency. In the right circumstances, it can truly be better to choose a focus on consistency rather than seeking to innovate.
After all, as I wrote about in an earlier post: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Will Durant.
Eddy Merckx is absolutely one of the absolute greatest cyclists of all time. He wasn’t innovative in his approach, he decided how he would ride to victory and simply trained for it and executed it time after time after time. Consistency.
Cathy and Jérôme decided to bring a focus on spinning that was very much about replicating movements on a bike rather than some of the “fancy” styles of soul cycle and others. They also chose a business model that supported their work:life balance. They’ve stuck with this for many years and have been a rock, a model of that word again. Consistency.
To riff from the Will Durant quote, if you want to witness excellence in a spinning studio and establishing a true lifestyle business, Cathy and Jérôme have modelled this through being what they repeatedly do. Consistency.
Now, to close, and as a tribute to the lasting influence of Cathy and Jérôme for me, three photos from my time with them.
Revolutions at Pirate’s Week, our float of crazy spinning folk in the midst of the Pirates !
This one dates back to about 2011. Love that I found it on the Revolutions site. I’m on the far left in the white shirt, chatting to the lady in grey to my white, Virginia Czarnocki. At that time she was a lawyer. We met at spin class and one day at spin class she asked me to coach her around what was next for her. Happy to have played a small part in the journey of “Coach V” as she is now known across Cayman. On my testimonials page, she wrote:
“With Tom, you get a smack-in-the-mouth dose of reality. He opened my eyes to possibilities and challenged me on so many fronts. I wouldn’t be where I am now, doing what I’m doing, and loving life, had I not worked with Tom.”
Thanks, V, you inspire me and so many others!
I remember this time vividly, sometime around 2012 as I sported a replica Giro winner’s pink jersey. Jérôme had just bought this tiny bike for their gorgeous daughter Madison. So cute!