Have you ever wanted to ride a bike in the water?
People now have a chance at the Newton Wave Pool.
The City of Surrey has introduced Hydro Cycle and Hydro Circuit — spin classes in water — at the pool.
Maggie Smolski, the community services co-ordinator at the Newton Wave Pool, said the class was created out of a need to try something new.
“We’re very good at our aquafit classes. We do a really good job in the City of Surrey, I feel.”
But she added that there hasn’t been anything new with aquatic fitness classes.
“They’re fairly similar. They stay in the shallow water or we’ve done some deep water classes as well.”
Smolski, who has been in aquatics for a while, said she’s always looking to see what’s happening in the industry and what’s new and exciting.
“I always bring it forward to my managers when I want to bring new, cool things here to where we work.”
So when Smolski found out about hydro cycle, she said she started her research. With the city, she said, she’s required to do market research to see what’s out there, price the bikes out, see which municipalities already have the classes and what’s working well or if there are any challenges.
Carleen McDowell, recreation operations manager at Newton Recreation Centre, said the cost was $1,960 per bike and they were purchased as part of the aquatic innovation “with (the) potential to share between the six pool facilities in the city and to attract new and different clientele to our aquatic facilities.”
Thirteen bikes were purchased with one for the teacher and the remaining 12 for participants.
A press release from the city said the bikes are made in Italy out of marine-grade stainless steel.
Angie Baumgartner, the instructor, said the reaction was really good after the first class a couple weeks ago.
“The ladies seemed to really like the equipment. It was more of a try-it-out sort of atmosphere as opposed to, ‘OK, we’re going to get right into business,” Baumgartner said.
Baumgartner said they went over how the bikes work and how to set them up.
“It was just a lot of exploration during that class and the feedback was really good. It was really positive,” she said. “Hopefully the people that come again will know how to set up the bike and have a better understanding of what felt comfortable last week, what didn’t feel comfortable and correct it for this time.”
One of the challenges, Baumgartner said, is getting people to come to class earlier to help set up.
“They don’t have to roll bikes out, but the setting up of height and comforts, that was encouraged,” she said. “Once the bike gets in the water, it’s really hard (to adjust). You need goggles and a good set of lungs.”
The 45-minute classes also include floaties and resistance bands for an added upper-body workout, said Baumgartner.
City Coun. Bruce Hayne, who is the chair of the parks and recreation committee, said while these classes are kind of a pilot right now, if they prove to be popular, they could be expanded into some of the city’s other pools.
“It’s a bit of a trend right now to be doing water-based fitness program, and certainly, we’re exploring all of the other options that are there,” Hayne said.
Hydro Cycle classes run Thursdays from 6:15-7 p.m. and Hydro Circuit classes run Saturdays from 8-8:45 a.m. at the Newton Wave Pool. People are asked to arrive 10 minutes early for bike set up.
The classes, which are drop in, cost $7 for adults and $5.25 for seniors.
lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com
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