But now people can do it all in just less than an hour.

The Connect18 program uses specialized educational video courses designed to be watched while riding a stationary bike.

As physical exercise instruction takes place, participants begin to chisel away at their physique with real motion video moving them along roadways to provide new information.

Connect18 sessions run for either 45 or 50 minutes with interactive travel segments interspersed with virtual stops and educational material.

Riders tour different regions of the world and take in a variety of knowledge on the area’s culture, politics and history.

Viewers see real motion video—not computer graphics—moving along roadways and paths in different geographic contexts.

During a virtual tour stop, the exerciser will have the opportunity to visit a place, view walking footage, see interviews and learn more from the provided educational content.

On one particular beginner’s Spanish language tour, cyclists can find themselves riding through rural Mexican villas while learning language, culture and history.

Exertion levels during travel segments are unrestricted while a certified instructor determines the amount of energy spent in a group setting. During the tour stops, the exertion level is targeted at the moderate aerobic or fat-burning level.

Connect18 features proprietary technology that can change the speed of the motion video playback contingent upon the exercise rate of the instructor.

Thus, as the exerciser or instructor works harder, the person pedaling will also move faster through the terrain—this allows participants to progress to higher stages of development the more time they spend with the program.

It’s this kind of cutting-edge technique that may just be the next big fitness craze.

That might come as soon as this spring when Connect18 launches a group of cycling rides at the Bay Club San Francisco followed by a campaign to spread the program across the nation by the conclusion of 2007.