Valentine’s Day – Love Stinks

I’ve held off on doing a Valentine’s workout until now.  I didn’t know whether to go with love or breakup songs.  Finally I decided to mix it up with my love stinks workout 🙂  When we’re in love everything moves fast and our hearts are a flutter.  When we’re in a down phase life gets dark and heavy.  Hence hills and sprints – it was a hit!

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Segment	Workout
Gloria Gayner	I Will Survive	4:57	Stinks	Warm-up
The Hooters	And We Danced	3:50	Love	Standing run with pushes
Train	50 Ways to Say Goodbye	4:07	Stinks	Booty Backs
Social Destortion	Ring of Fire	3:51	Love	:20/:10 Sprints
The J Geil’s Bnad	Love Stinks	3:45	Stinks	Seated heavy climb with attacks
Blue October	Should Be Loved	4:03	Love	Sprints on the chorus
Eminem	Love The Way You Lie	4:24	Stinks	Climb – standing heavy climb when Eminem sings, seated relief on other artist
Stephen Stills	Love The One You’re With	3:06	Love	Recovery
Soft Cell	Tainted Love	2:43	Stinks	Increasingly Heavy Hill – Rider’s choice in or out of the saddle
Motley Crew	Kick Start My Heart	4:44	Love	:30/:30 Sprints
Puddle of Mudd	She Hates Me	3:36	Stinks	Start with a heavy hill.  Lighten to a moderate hill and attack hard through it.  Quick break, attack again
Counting Crows	Accidentally in Love	3:08	Love	Fast Run with speed sections
Rhianna	Love On The Brain	3:44	Stinks	Heavy Hill Home
Plain White T’s	Rhythm of Love			Cool-down
Old 97’s	Question			Stretching
Plain White T’s	1, 2, 3, 4			Stretching

Off The Bike

Well lookie here – it’s 2017!  I had a few marathons this month so I had to be off the bike.  My favorite thing to do off the bike?  Index Cards!!!

I have index cards with numbers on them – 15 Seconds / 30 Seconds / 45 Seconds / 1 Minute.  The students pick them and that’s how far we either sprint and recover or if on a hill stand and sit.  On the sprints I take out the :45 and 1 minute once they are drawn.  One class chose the 15 seconds every single one.  We were all exhausted!

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
U2	Where The Streets Have No Name	5:39	Warm-up
Train	Drive By	3:18	Standing run with pushes
Bon Jovi	You Give Love a Bad Name	3:44	Booty Backs
The Airborne Toxic Event	Gasoline	3:21	:20/:10 sprints
Fitz and The Tantrums	The Walker	3:52	Standing fast climb with pushes
Motley Crue	Dr Feelgood	4:50	:30 on / :30 off Sprints
Shinedown	Asking For It	3:31	Climb – heavy intervals with the music
Johnny Cash	Ring Of Fire	2:36	Recovery
Bon Jovi	Raise Your Hands	4:18	Index Card Sprints
Blue October	Italian Radio	3:53
Dave Matthews Band	Crush	8:09	Index Card Hill
David Garrett	Zorba’s Dance	2:34	Increasing Speed Down the Hill
The Killers	Human	4:05	Cool-down
REM	Half a World Away	3:29	Stretching

Broken Mic

We started the year with a broken mic so here’s a quick and easy go with the music workout I came up with to minimize the strain on my voice.

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
My Chemical Romance	Sing	4:30	Warm-up
Train	Driveby	3:17	Standing run with pushes
Aerosmith	Dude Looks Like a Lady	4:26	Booty Backs
Andy Grammer	Honey I’m Good	3:21	Fast Run
Seether	Careless Whisper (Strings Version)	4:24	Seated climb with standing pushes
Lady Gaga	Edge of Glory	5:20	Sprints on the chorus
Bon Jovi	Living on a Prayer	4:15	Seated climb with standing pushes
Creedence Clearwater Revival	Bad Moon Rising	2:21	Recovery
Nine Inch Nails	The Hand that Feeds	3:30	Standing fast climb
Elle King	Good Girls	2:58	Sprints on the chorus
Pink	Just Like Fire	3:39	Seated climb with standing pushes
Papa Roach	To Be Loved	3:02	Sprints on the chorus
Shinedown	The Crow and The Butterfly	4:14	Seated climb with standing pushes
Bruce Springsteen	Dancing in the Dark	4:05	Cool-down
John Legend	All of Me	4:29	Stretching

New Years Eve

Happy New Years!  I wrote a special playlist of New Years Eve this year.  I think most of us can agree 2016 was a brutal year.  So I had us work through it, then blast into 2017.  I handed out noisemakers to my Saturday class at the break.  Let’s say the 2nd half of class was rowdy!!!  They were using them all throughout the 2nd half of the workout, it was hysterical 🙂

This turned out to be a bit of a hard class to teach.  I did my tribute ride before Christmas then George Michael died.  I had come up with what to say during “Praying for Time” and about an hour before the 1st time I taught this Carrie Fischer died.  I told them I had no words for all of this and let them ride in silence.

On a more serious note I used this subbing one day.  A lady I never met before came up to me after class and told me about her awful year.  She said that she had not planned to spin that day but saw me smile at her and decided to stay for class.  She then went on to tell me that this was the most cathartic workout she had ever done and cried through most of it.  Then she gave me a huge hug and said “Thank you, I now have hope for 2017”.  I still cry when I think about it.

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Notes	Workout
Pathfinders	Auld Lang Syne	3:42		Warm-up
Train	This Will Be My Year	3:30		Pushes on chorus
Black Eyed Peas	I Gotta Feeling	4:51		Booty Backs
Emery	The Party Song	3:31	Talk about good things in 2016	Sprints on the Chorus
George Michael	Praying For Time	4:35	2016 took one more from us right at the end	Heavy Sad Hill
Kelly Clarkson	What doesn’t kill you	3:32	And some bad things – but we can come out of this stronger!	Run Sprint Recover
Shinedown	Cut The Cord	3:59	Let’s Cut the Cord from 2016!	Standing Climb
The Grand Tour Intro Song	I Can See Clearly Now	3:51		2 minute recovery into a fast run until 3:25.  Then recover again
Queen	We Will Rock You (Fast)	2:51	Let’s Rock 2017!	:20/:10 sprints
Blue October	Leave It In The Dressing Room	4:05	Shake it Up Y’all!	Hill With Power Pushes
Pink	Raise Your Glass	3:38	Party Time!	Sprints on the Chorus
Poison	Nothin’ But A Good Time	3:42		Climb with Pushes
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Auld Lang Syne	2:04	NYE!	Seated Flat into a sprint – add in every :30
Kid Rock	Happy New Year	3:34		Cool-down
The Head and The Heart	What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?	4:29		Stretching

2016 Tribute Ride

As we near the end of this (insert your own colorful descriptive words here) year I decided to create a tribute ride for some of the wonderful artists who left us this year.  It has gotten rave reviews from all of my classes!  This is a hill and endurance focused ride and it’s tough.  But I loved it every time I taught it and I’ll use it in a few of the classes I sub next week.

Some of the best responses:

“I was going to call you and ask if you could write us a tribute ride, this was perfect!”

“This was the best playlist I’ve ever heard”

(with tears in his eyes) “Thank you so much for this”

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
Prince	Let’s Go Crazy	4:40	Warm-up
Eagles	Already Gone	4:16	Standing run with pushes
David Bowie	Rebel Rebel	4:30	Booty Backs
Emerson, Lake & Palmer	1st Impression – Part 2	4:47	Sprints – :30/:30 or :20/:20/:20s – listen to the song again
Prince	Raspberry Beret	3:31	Climb with Pushes
Eagles	James Dean	3:41	Fast flat endurance Run – Hold the Pace!
Queen and David Bowie	Under Pressure	4:03	Climb – build and release pressure.  Seated 8, standing attacks on the 9s.
Jefferson Airplanes	Somebody To Love	2:54	Recovery
Prince	Delirious	2:41	Endurance Run
David Bowie	Space Oddity	5:02	Super heavy hill – change resistance every 30 seconds- 8-9-10 then stand and do it again.  Sit and finish it.
Prince	I Would Die 4 U	2:58	Endurance Run
Eagles	Hotel California	6:13	Final Hill Home.  8/10 seated, stand and attack on the chorus.  Sit and find your 9/10.  Stand & attack at the chorus.  Sit and find your 10/10 (maximum resistance you can safely push).  Stand and attack.  Final part of the song is up to you – how heavy/in or out of the saddle.  All riders choice.
Earth Wind and Fire	After the Love Has Gone	4:38	Cool-down
Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne	While My Guitar Gently Weeps	6:15	Stretching

Pride Ride Re-Visited

I’ve been getting a lot of likes on the Pride Ride post and it really makes me happy.  I love this workout and get rave reviews each time I use it.  I pulled it out of my back pocket after the election as it helps me feel better on a few levels.  I’ve been playing with it each time and wanted to offer some changes I’ve tried that have been well received.

I have been doing any variety of the following:

• Beginning the workout with Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy.
• The day after the election when I simply couldn’t handle much I changed the last hill to Purple Rain and let them climb in silence.  This is always a powerful one, ever since he passed I can’t even hear it in the car without crying a bit.
• Under Pressure I do a seated climb with standing super heavy attacks.  It’s a killer and awesome.  It’s my new obsession song, I listen to it on repeat while I lift.  It’s so fitting right now.

I’d love to hear any other ideas you have!

It’s been how long?

How long has it been since I last blogged? Way too long! I haven’t written many workouts, but there were a few. The election ride was a ton of fun, unfortunately after that I feel into quite a depression and have just been altering my pride ride (I’ll make a separate post on that one) as much as I can get away with playing it. I’m absolutely obsessed with Bowie’s Under Pressure right now. I’ve repeated a few other rides to take up space and hope to get back to writing classes in 2017.

Previously Unposted Workout #1:

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
Rolling Stones	Sympathy for the Devil – Instrumental	5:03	Warm-up
Blue October	The Chills	3:33	Standing run with pushes
Katrina & The Waves	Walking on Sunshine	3:48	Booty Backs
The Killers	Runaway	4:04	Are you kidding me sprints
The Offspring	The Kids Aren’t Alright	2:59
The Strokes	Last Nite	3:17
Adele	Send My Love (To Your New Lover)	3:45	Hill With Attacks
Metallica	Whiskey in the Jar	5:04	OCD: Failure
Rolling Stones	Not Fade Away	1:57	Recovery
Pink	Blow Me (One Last Kiss)	3:49	:30/:30/:30s with the music
The Strumbellas	Spirits	3:34	Hill With Attacks
Switchfoot	Mess of Me	3:28	Sprints on the chorus
Volbeat	Fallen	5:00	OCD: Failure
Train	Meet Virginia	6:00	Cool-down
Adele	Need You Now		Stretching

Previously Unposted Workout #2:

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
Coldplay	Viva La Vida	4:04	Warm-up
Kenny Loggins	Footloose	3:48	Standing run with pushes
Billy Idol	White Wedding	4:09	Booty Backs
Pink	Raise Your Glass	3:38	Sprints on the Chorus
Led Zeppelin	Kashmir	8:28	Work the clock hill
David Garrett	Zorba’s Dance	2:33	Increasing speed to super fast
Volbeat	Fallen	5:00	The Stairs
Foo Fighters	Big Me	2:13	Recovery
Fitz and the Tantrums	The Walker	3:53	Standing fast climb with pushes
Cage The Elephant	Trouble	3:49	Heavy Hill With Pushes
The Offspring	I Wanna Secret Family With You	3:02	Sprints on the chorus
Metallica	King Nothing	5:28	The Stairs
The Killers	Romeo and Juliet	5:28	Cool-down
Euge Groove	Born to Groove		Stretching

Election Day Fun:

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
Prince	Let’s Go Crazy	4:39	Warm-up
Imagine Dragons	I Bet My Life	3:13	Standing run with pushes
Black Eyed Peas	I Gotta Feeling	4:51	Booty Backs
Bonnie Tyler	Holding Out For A Hero	5:21	:20 / :20 / :20s
Billy Joel	We Didn’t Start The Fire	4:27	Hill with Pushes
Linkin Park	In The End	3:38	Quad Burners!
Tom Petty	American Girl	3:33	Run Down – Rest :30 then run, making each minute faster
One Direction	Kids in America	2:18	Break
REM	It’s the End of The World	4:01	Sprints – :15 – :30 – :45 – 1:00 – :45 – :30 – :15 (8 minutes)
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band;	American Storm	4:18
Don McLean	American Pie	8:32	Rolling Hill – start on a hill.  Then on the chorus they decide if they want to climb or run the next segment.  If they climb they attack on the chorus, if they run they sprint.  Riders choice each time
U2	One	4:30	Cool-down
Guided By Voices	Hold On Hope	3:36	Stretching

Olympics!

The 2nd most watched sporting event in the world (TdF) followed almost immediately by the most watched?  Yes Please 🙂  Those amazing athletes have been and are giving their 100% so in this class we did too.  :30 recovery / :20 at 80% effort / :10% at 100% effort.  They choose how to do this – add resistance or speed or change position or all 3.  It’s all about choices and their effort.  Amazingly hard class, I taught it Saturday and Monday I could barely move my legs!

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
John Williams	Olympic Fanfare & Theme	4:30	Warm-up
Kelly Clarkson	What doesn’t kill you	3:32	Standing run with pushes
Survivor	Eye of The Tiger	4:06	Booty Backs
Haik Naltchayan	The Will of a Man	1:32	Quick Break
Guns N Roses	Welcome To The Jungle	4:34	Sprints :30/:20/:10s
NetworkMusic Ensemble	Born A Champion	1:56	Quick Break
Shinedown	Unity	4:12	Hill :30/:20/:10s
NetworkMusic Ensemble	Salute to Victory	1:52	Quick Break
Rise Against	Savior	4:02	Sprints :30/:20/:10s
Bruce Springsteen	I’m on Fire	2:26	Quick Break
Disturbed	The Light	4:16	Hill :30/:20/:10s
Bryan Adams	We’re Gonna Win	2:27	Recover
Motley Crew	Girls, Girls, Girls	4:30	Sprints :30/:20/:10s
NetworkMusic Ensemble	The Heart of a Champion	2:04	Quick Break
Nine Inch Nails	Head Like A Hole	5:01	Hill :30/:20/:10s
R Kellye	World’s Greatest	4:28	Cool-down
David Cook	We Believe	4:22	Stretching

Post Tour Blues

We’ve got the post-tour blues.  It was so hard to write a workout but I had a few great new songs in mind and came up with this great workout.  Before the last song I pointed out that we had no sprints more than 20 seconds and no hill higher than an 8.  We all agreed we were slaughtered despite those facts 🙂

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Workout
Vitamin String Quartet	Snow (Hey Oh)	5:35	Warm-up
Imagine Dragons	On Top of the World	3:10	Standing run with pushes
Train	San Francisco	4:09	Booty Backs
The Airborne Toxic Event	Wishing Well	3:58	:20/:10 sprints
The Lumineers	Ophilia	2:39	Hill With Pushes
The Killers	Somebody Told Me	3:17	30/20/10/30 sequence – :30 run/ push faster for :20/ sprint for :10/recover for :30 and repeat.
Papa Roach	To Be Loved	3:02
Queens of the Stone Age	No One Knows	4:17	Standing climb with seated pushes
Creedence Clearwater Revival	Bad Moon Rising	2:21	Recovery
Miles Kane	Come Closer	2:58	Standing climb with pushes
Motley Crew	Dr. Feelgood	4:49	30/20/10/30 sequence – :30 run/ push faster for :20/ sprint for :10/recover for :30 and repeat.
Van Halen	Hot For Teacher	4:42
Aerosmith	Living on the Edge	6:06	Climb with pushes, standing run in the middle
Rod Stuart	Maggie May	5:50	Cool-down
Dobie Gray	Drift Away	3:53	Stretching

 

2016 Tour de France: Stage 20

And with this ride our Tour is over.  So much fun, so much work.  I’m exhausted and happy with another tour, each year gets better.  I have some ideas for next year, hopefully I can hash them out and get them working 🙂

Artist	Song Name	Song Length	Tour Profile	Workout
	Rocky Theme Song	4:50		Warm-up
The Killers	Bones	3:47		Standing run with pushes
Van Halen	Jump	3:59		Booty Backs
Papa Roach	Lifeline	4:06	False Flat	Standing fast climb with attacks – teams together
Katy Perry	Rise	2:00	Up	Welcome to the mountains!  1:30 seated 9, final :30 seated 10
Dropkick Murphy’s	Captain Kelly’s Kitchen	2:48	Down	Teams – :20 on / :20 off sprints
Shinedown	Simple Man	4:25	Up	Heavy Hill – seated / attack.  Alternating teams
The Killers	A Dustland Fairytale	3:46	Down	Very slow at first.  Pick up the speed and hold on as music gets faster. Pick up at 1:10, 1:50, 2:50, 3:20 until 3:30
The Ramones	I Wanna Be Sedated	2:31	Flat & Fast
Metallica	Turn the Page	6:06	Long Steep Up	Heavy Hill – seated / stand / attack.  Alternating teams
Andy Grammer	Honey I’m Good	3:21	down -> Flat	Run together
Godsmack	Voodoo	4:38	Steep up	Mostly seated, attack with the music. Teams together
Haik Naltchayan	Monaco	1:35		Intro To The End – winner does a :20 standing attack into a sprint to the bottom
Darude	Sandstorm	3:44	Downhill / sprint finish	Fast – up to the winner when we start sprinting
Tom Petty	Learning to Fly	4:02		Cool-down
John Mayer	Gravity	4:05		Stretching