Tiger Spin: Play Lists and Profiles for Spinning® Instructors

Dancing On A Volcano

2011-12-14T15:56:00.001-05:00

I compiled a 75 minute ride playlist with artist suggestions from my spinning colleagues David Means and Ashley Robinson. From that original playlist, I spun off 60 and 45 minute rides. Enjoy!

Song   Profile   Time   Artist   Album (75 minute ride)
Hard Times   Warmup   5:16   The Roots and John Legend   Wake Up!
Family Affair   Warmup   4:28   Mary J. Blige   Family Affair (EP)
Owner Of A Lonely Heart   Standing climb   4:28   Yes   91025
You Can Call Me Al   Standing climb   4:40   Paul Simon   Graceland
Oil And Water   Seated climb   3:49   Incubus   Light Grenades
Put The Game Down   Standing climb   5:36   Hockey   Mind Chaos
Higher Ground   Seated climb   3:22   Red Hot Chili Peppers   Mother's Milk
All At Once featuring The Calder Quartet   Standing climb   5:16   The Airborne Toxic Event   All At Once
Standing O   Standing climb   3:29   Wilco   The Whole Love (Bonus Tracks)
Calamity Song   Standing climb   3:48   The Decemberists   The King Is Dead
Terror!   Seated flat   2:54   The Rakes   Capture/Release
Whipping (2011 Remaster)   Seated flat   2:34   Pearl Jam   Vs. & Vitalogy (Box Set, Bonus Tracks)
Thunder On The Mountain   Seated flat   5:13   Wanda Jackson   The Party Ain't Over
Black Night   Seated flat   4:22   The Dodos   No Color
"Contemplate This On The Tree Of Woe"   Seated flat   3:00   Dillinger Four   CIVILWAR
Makes No Difference   Seated flat   3:10   Sum 41   Half Hour Of Power
Helplessness Blues (Album)   Cooldown   5:03   Fleet Foxes   Helplessness blues
El Camino   Cooldown   4:02   Amos Lee   Mission Bell
Fire And Rain   Cooldown   3:22   James Taylor   Greatest Hits
Poison & Wine   Cooldown   3:39   The Civil Wars   Barton Hollow

Song   Profile   Time   Artist   Album (60 minute ride)
Hard Times   Warmup   5:16   The Roots and John Legend   Wake Up!
Family Affair   Warmup   4:28   Mary J. Blige   Family Affair (EP)
You Can Call Me Al   Standing climb   4:40   Paul Simon   Graceland
Oil And Water   Seated climb   3:49   Incubus   Light Grenades
Higher Ground   Seated climb   3:22   Red Hot Chili Peppers   Mother's Milk
All At Once featuring The Calder Quartet   Standing climb   5:16   The Airborne Toxic Event   All At Once
Standing O   Standing climb   3:29   Wilco   The Whole Love (Bonus Tracks)
Calamity Song   Standing climb   3:48   The Decemberists   The King Is Dead
Whipping (2011 Remaster)   Seated flat   2:34   Pearl Jam   Vs. & Vitalogy (Box Set, Bonus Tracks)
Thunder On The Mountain   Seated flat   5:13   Wanda Jackson   The Party Ain't Over
Black Night   Seated flat   4:22   The Dodos   No Color
Makes No Difference   Seated flat   3:10   Sum 41   Half Hour Of Power
Helplessness Blues (Album)   Cooldown   5:03   Fleet Foxes   Helplessness blues
El Camino   Cooldown   4:02   Amos Lee   Mission Bell
Fire And Rain   Cooldown   3:22   James Taylor   Greatest Hits
Poison & Wine   Cooldown   3:39   The Civil Wars   Barton Hollow

Song   Profile   Time   Artist   Album (45 minute ride)
Hard Times   Warmup   5:16   The Roots and John Legend   Wake Up!
Family Affair   Warmup   4:28   Mary J. Blige   Family Affair (EP)
You Can Call Me Al   Standing climb   4:40   Paul Simon   Graceland
Oil And Water   Seated climb   3:49   Incubus   Light Grenades
Higher Ground   Seated climb   3:22   Red Hot Chili Peppers   Mother's Milk
All At Once featuring The Calder Quartet   Standing climb   5:16   The Airborne Toxic Event   All At Once
Standing O   Standing climb   3:29   Wilco   The Whole Love (Bonus Tracks)
Whipping (2011 Remaster)   Seated flat   2:34   Pearl Jam   Vs. & Vitalogy (Box Set, Bonus Tracks)
Thunder On The Mountain   Seated flat   5:13   Wanda Jackson   The Party Ain't Over
Black Night   Seated flat   4:22   The Dodos   No Color
Makes No Difference   Seated flat   3:10   Sum 41   Half Hour Of Power
Helplessness Blues (Album)   Cooldown   5:03   Fleet Foxes   Helplessness blues
El Camino   Cooldown   4:02   Amos Lee   Mission Bell
Fire And Rain   Cooldown   3:22   James Taylor   Greatest Hits
Poison & Wine   Cooldown   3:39   The Civil Wars   Barton Hollow

Spin Ride to 1968 top hits

2011-12-08T15:07:00.001-05:00

I used Billboard's Top 100 Hits in 1968 to build this playlist from Music Outfitters. I'll try it out this weekend. Enjoy it! I've not profiled it yet.

Song    BPM    RPM    Artist    Time

Warm-up

Magic Carpet Ride    Warm    Warm    Steppenwolf    4:27
Revolution    Warm    Warm    The Beatles    3:25
Think (LP Version)    Warm    Warm    Aretha Franklin    2:18

The Ride
Jumpin' Jack Flash    137    69    The Rollin Stones    3:42
Born To Be Wild    145    73    Steppenwolf    3:30
Harper Valley PTA    122    61    Jeannie C. Riley    3:14
People Got To Be Free    128    64    The Rascals    3:02
Dance To The Music    128    64    Sly & The Family Stone    2:58
I Thank You    120    60    Sam & Dave    2:57
Mony Mony    130    65    Tommy James & The Shondells    2:54
Midnight Confessions    138    69    The Grass Roots    2:48
Judy In Disguise    166    83    John Fred & His Playboy Band    2:51
I Wonder What She s Doing Tonight?    138    69    Tommy Boyce    2:42
Cry Like A Baby    133    67    The Box Tops    2:31
Nobody But Me    154    77    The Human Beinz    2:20
Lady Madonna    220    110    The Beatles    2:18
Bend Me Shape Me    128    64    American Breed    2:10

Cool-down
Classical Gas    Cool    Cool    Mason Williams    3:31
Stoned Soul Picnic (Digitally Remaster 1997)    Cool    Cool    The Fifth Dimension    3:26
Hurdy Gurdy Man    Cool    Cool    Donovan    3:15
The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde    Cool    Cool    Georgie Fame    3:14
Scarborough Fair/Canticle    Cool    Cool    Simon & Garfunkel    3:12
Angel Of The Morning    Cool    Cool    Merrilee Rush    3:11
Love Is All Around    Cool    Cool    The Troggs    3:01
Spooky    Cool    Cool    Classics IV    2:55
The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)    Cool    Cool    Manfred Mann    2:51
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay    Cool    Cool    Otis Redding    2:45
Grazing In The Grass    Cool    Cool    Hugh Masekela    2:37
Slip Away    Cool    Cool    Clarence Carter    2:32

Ever Start A Ride With Cornelius Brothers ...

2011-12-02T11:53:00.001-05:00

Well here's your chance. Here we go ...

Start your warmup with Fuego by Bomba Estereo (4:32); finish the warmup with Rubberneckin' (Original Version) by Elvis Presley (5:20) (this one can be found on Rhapsody the Oakenfold Remix album).

Now for the ride; there are several pieces in the playlist that give the impression of charging up a hill. So in that vein, I'm starting this one with Treat Her Like A Lady (2:44). It's an oldie with a good starting beat, which should easily bring the class out of the saddle into a standing climb.

I'll slow the tempo down with Creeper (3:15) by Islands; the idea here is to slow the tempo down and add resistance, as in seated climb.

From this point on to the end, it's a climb at varying tempos. To get the point across I used My Companjera (3:22) by Gogol Bordello. Most know what happens here, on the raucous chorus of "My companjera ...", I ask the class to come out of the saddle in a standing climb -- the charge in on. Come back to the saddle, and do it again on the next chorus -- charge!

We'll slow down the tempo again with Dengue Fever tune, Family Business (3:38), continue to climb in the saddle with more resistance. The LA group combines elements of Cambodian rock, rock, psychedelic, surf and indie.

Next, we make a standing climb charge to LCD Soundsystem's Watch The Tapes (3:55). Most of you are familiar the LCD's sound -- enough said.

Back to jumps again from seated position to standing climb jumps to Disko (friends of Boban Mix) (4:40) by Shantel featuring Boban Markovic Orkestar, the Balkan Brass Band.

By now everyone is well warmed up, it's time to get serious about our climb; participant choice, seated or standing climb or combination to Us V Them (8:29), another strong LCD Soundsystem tune. We are very serious now, stay relaxed, all the muscles in your face should be slack, the rest of the body will be the same way. Charge!

We'll pick up the pace a bit in a seated climb position to Death (5:01) by White Lies. Don't let the title scare you, the song has a strong beat and the lyrics in places are uplifting.

Two songs to do in this non-stop ride; Miss Kittin's Pollution Of The Mind (5:16) will give us the last push we need to reach the summit in a standing climb position.

The finale is Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien (4:26). Take this one in the saddle and pick up cadence in the 80-90 rpm range and finish strong.

The cooldown starts with Cowboy Junkies's Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis) (4:28). The rest of this splendid cooldown includes, I'll Take You There (4:45), The Staple Singer, Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (5:00), Elton John, Won't Back Down (5:09), Mat Kearney, Blue World (5:10), The Moody Blues and Losing My Head (Album Version) (5:10), Clan of Xymox.

Hot Chip's Over And Over

2011-11-29T11:29:00.001-05:00

I like to use Over And Over as a warmup tune because it is at the bottom of the climbing scale (120 bpm) and the chorus/refrain "over and over ..." and "under and under ..." lend themselves well to alternating standing climbs for the first half of the chorus and standing flats for the second. In between, I have the group do upper body stretching. Oftentimes I like to start with Over And Over and follow it up with something a bit faster like Kiss You Off by the Scissor Sisters.

Adirondack Park Take five

2011-11-14T15:36:00.000-05:00

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118289038719855637691/albums/5655627258568485873

Moose River Plains Road 290 Bike Tour Album, August 19-22, 2011

2011-08-24T13:35:00.000-04:00

Thank Goodness It's Wednesday, Opus No. 2

2011-08-16T15:55:00.002-04:00

Lots of climbing in this one. Climbs can be in the saddle, standing climbs, running with resistance or combinations. Interpret the music, each ride is different. Enjoy!

P.S. If you didn't notice, songs in order of longest to shortest in duration.

Song   Profile/RPM   Time   Artist

The Warmup
Rolling In The Deep   Warmup   3:48   Adele
Mental Hopscotch   Warmup   3:16   Missing Persons
Let's Stick Together   Warmup   2:58   Bryan Ferry

The Ride
Milan   Seated flat/83   8:52   Karsh Kale
Blue Monday    Climb/65    7:24    New Order
Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head   Climb/63   4:06   Kylie Minogue
One Love (Featuring Estelle)   Climb/63   4:01   David Guetta
Talking In Your Sleep   Climb/65   3:53   The Romantics
No More Words   Climb/66   3:52   Berlin
Speaking In Tongues (Featuring David Byrne)   Climb/73   3:52   Arcade Fire
Destroyer   Climb/71   3:47   The Kinks
Master And Servant   Climb/64   3:47   Depeche Mode
Black Sheep   Climb/64   3:42   Suckers
Burn It All Down   Climb/63   3:37   VHS or BETA
Twisting By The Pool   Seated flat/91   3:36   Dire Straits

The Cooldown
Tantos Desejos (Nicole Conte Remix)   Cooldown   6:36   Suba
Scarborough Fair   Cooldown   5:44   Another Fine Day
Lift Me Up   Cooldown   4:33   Kate Voegele
This Mess We're In (Featuring Thom Yorke)   Cooldown   3:57   PJ Harvey
Coconut   Cooldown   3:52   Harry Nilsson

TGIW at Dealer.com

2011-08-09T17:09:00.001-04:00

Thank goodness it's Wednesday ride at Dealer.com on Wednesday, August 9, 2011, 6:30am. It represents a new playlist for a 75 minute ride. There is some good music here. I'm partial to Human and Soul Wars. For instructors and riders both, there is lots to like. Enjoy!

Song    Profile, RPM    Artist    Time

The Warmup
The Magnificent Seven    Warmup    The Clash    5:34
The Sound    Warmup    The Rapture    4:26

The Ride
Bulletproof    Climb, 62    La Roux    3:25
Chicken Fried (Album)    Seated flat, 85    Zac Brown Band    3:57
Drugs Are Better Than U    Climb, 73    Pittbull    2:42
Edge Of Glory (The)    Climb,64    Lady Gaga    5:20
Godfather (Original Mix)    Climb, 64    Ajapai    4:04
Hey Mama    Seated flat, 90    Mat Kearney    2:57
Human    Climb, 67    Killers (The)    4:05
I Like To Dance    Climb, 66    Hot Chelle Rae    3:00
I Wanna Go    Climb, 66    Britney Spears    3:30
Miss You Being Gone    Climb, 76    Band Perry (The)    2:55
Moves Live Jagger featuring Christina Aguilera (Studio Recording From the Voice Performance)    Climb, 64    Maroon 5    3:21
Mr. Saxobeat (Radio Edit)    Climb, 64    Alexandra Stan    3:15
Noticed    Seated flat, 84    Mute Math    4:30
Party Rock Anthem featuring Lauren Bennett, GoonRock    Climb, 65    Lmfao    4:23
Soul Wars    Seated flat, 96    Awolnation    3:37

The Cooldown
A Bird Without Wings    Cooldown    Celtic Thunder    3:59
Arms    Cooldown    Christina Perri    4:21
Good Life    Cooldown    OneRepublic    4:13
Heaven    Cooldown    Lee Aaron    4:37

Yoga Therapy May Help Prevent and Treat Orthopedic Problems - NYTimes.com

2011-08-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

Yoga Therapy May Help Prevent and Treat Orthopedic Problems - NYTimes.com

Thunderstruck 75 Minute Ride at Dealer.com on Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 6:30am

2011-08-02T16:01:00.003-04:00

(Profile Key: 1=seated flat, 2=standing flat (running), 3=standing climb)
In addition, a 1 represents an increase in resistance. Enjoy!

Song Profile Artist Duration

The Warm-up
Thunderstruck Warm up Birmingham 6 5:18
Abracadabra Warm up Steve Miller Band 5:08

The Ride
Whirl-Y-Reel 2 - (Folk Police Mix) 1,2,1,2,1 Afro Celt Sound System 5:28
E Talking (Jagz Kooner Black September Vocal Mix) 3,2,3,2,3 Soulwax 5:02
Meftuh' 1,2,1,2,1 Rachid Taha 5:04
Beautiful Day (Sunburst Mixshow Edit) 2,3,2,3,2 Matt Darey 5:12
Pollution Of The Mind 1,2,1,2,1 Miss Kittin 5:17
Tribulations 3,2,3,2,3 LCD Soundsystem 4:59
Buffalo Dreaming 1,2,1,2,1 Gabrielle Roth 5:13
Push That Knot Away 2,3,2 KT Tunstall 3:46
Uprising 3,2,3 Muse 5:04
Bad Romance 2,3,2 Lady Gaga 4:54
We Will Become Silhouettes 3,2,3 Postal Service 5:00

Cool-down
I Say Grace Cool down Hayley Westenra 5:40
Beauty of Uncertainty Cool down KT Tunstall 5:10
If Wishes Were Horses Cool down Lucinda Williams 5:33
And I Was A Boy From School Cool down Hot Chip 5:01
Masters Of War Cool down The Staple Singers 4:35

Dengue Fever Ride

2011-04-22T15:41:00.003-04:00

Introducing this ride at lunch time today. As you can tell from the BPM, it is a climbing ride. Leg strength is the order of the day. I build the playlist starting with the artist Dengue Fever and went from there. Intentionally included songs from The Band and LCD Soundsystem. Bain sult as!

The Warm-up
Song    Time    Artist
Fuego    4:32    Bomba Estereo
Going Back To Memphis    4:59    The Band

The Ride
Song    BPM    Time    Artist    Profile/Notes
Mama's Boy    73    2:11    The Ramones    Start in saddle, jumps to standing climb on chorus mama's boy
The Electric Version    83    2:53    The New Pornographers    Seated flat
Creeper    61    3:15    Islands    Standing climb
My Companjera    77    3:22    Gorgol Bordello    Standing climb, nice pace; standing flat on where are you now my companjera and instrumental
Ubicu te    77    3:37    Magnifico   Standing climb, again strong pace for standing climb
Family Business    63    3:38    Dengue Fever    Seated climb, add resistance as that heart rate drops
Watch The Tapes     77    3:55    LCD Soundsystem    Standing climb, another strong climb out of the saddle
Harmony    64    4:01    Clinic    Seated climb
Disko (friends of Boban Mix)    63    4:40    Shantel featuring Boban Markovic Orkestar    Seated climb, stretch out legs to a standing climb at various places (there easy to find)
Us V Them    66    8:29    LCD Soundsystem     Standing climb

The Cool-down
Song    Time    Artist
Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters    5:00    Elton John
Won't Back Down    5:09    Mat Kearney
Blue World    5:10    The Moody Blues
Losing My Head (Album Version)    5:10    Clan Of Xymox

Celebrate

2010-12-08T11:10:00.002-05:00

Here's my Celebrate ride. No special reason for the name except that I like the second warmup song. I also like the last cooldown song. There is nothing fancy to this ride. Could be done at an endurance level or could push on the standing climbs to make it an interval. Anything is possible. Enjoy and celebrate the day!

Warmup
1. Invisible Light - Scissor Sisters
2. I Just Want To Celebrate (Mocean Worker Remix) - Rare Earth

Ride
3. She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult : Standing climb
4. Creeping Death - Apocalyptica : Seated flat
5. Jumpin' Jack Flash (Live - 2009 Re-Mastered Digital Version) - The Rolling Stones : Standing climb
6. Pass It Around - Grand Funk Railroad : Seated flat
7. The Lamb's Book Of Life - Sinead O'Connor : Standing climb
8. Supernaturally (Paris 1) - Nick Cave : Seated flat
9. Written In Blood - She Wants Revenge : Standing climb
10. Everlasting Arms - Fontella Bass : Seated flat

Cooldown
11. Indigo Blues - The Smithereens
12. Three Marlenas - The Wallflowers
13. Under the Milkyway - The Church
14. So Cruel - U2

Muse

2010-11-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

I mulled over the events of the week and put together this playlist. We'll ride to it tonight. Will let you know how it goes. Enjoy!

Halloween Interval

2010-10-30T20:11:00.001-04:00

Sure everyone is putting together a Halloween spinning playlist. I've got one that does the trick for those wanting an interval. Seven intervals separated with one minute recoveries. The longest recovery is 1:24. It's the last one between Antichrist Television Blues and The Time Warp (Remix 1989 Extended Version). The intervals start either 2, 3, 1 or 3, 2, 1 (2 is for standing flat, 3 is for standing climb and 1 is for seated flat). The first minute of a song is spent standing flat, the next minute standing climb and the remainder is in a seated position. You can set up your own pattern. As always have fun and enjoy the playlist. There is no trick here as the interval is the treat!

P.S. Yes, I know the warm-up is 47 minutes long. I'll get there early and set the tone. When the class starts I'll steal 10 minutes from the track regardless of what's playing.

Sea Wolf

2010-09-20T16:05:00.003-04:00

Playlist of the week at spinning.com
This playlist starts quickly and if done right, participants can stay and maintain a high intensity level. The BPM for the music drops or stays static as the training session progresses allowing for participants to continue to add resistance and maintain the intensity, with the benefit of working on leg strength. Good luck and best wishes!

Progressive Disco

2010-07-22T17:24:00.000-04:00

I put together a disco ride. I know everybody says, "oh no not disco"! Well I tried it and it works. I call it progressive because the tempo (rpm, cadence -- whatever you want to call it) progresses from slow to fast. In terms of my philosophy, nothings changed since my last post. I'm not about exhaustion, it's all about getting energized. There is a point in this ride where you can maintain a good amount of resistance, increase the cadence as imperceptible as it is from song to song, stay aerobic and feel that you are having an intense ride. Today I used the line, "high intensity, low heart rate." So now you know where my head is at. Here's the playlist. Enjoy it! You can give me grief all you want, but it works.

The Warm-up (I keep it at 60% of max)
Song/Artist/Time
Fly Robin Fly/Silver Convention/4:59
Le Freak/Chic/5:31

The Ride
Song/Artist/Time/RPM or Cadence/Profile/Comments if needed
HotShot/KarenYoung/8:48/@61/Seated climb
You Should Be Dancing/Bee Gees/@62/Standing climb -- when was the last time you had the courage to play some Bee Gees, eh!
YMCA/Village People/4:43/@63/Start seated climb, standing climb on chorus, you know when that is!
My Friend Jack/Boney M./4:30/@64/Standing climb
Born To Be Alive (Original Mix 79)/Patrick Hernandez/3:08/@65/Seated climb/a real nice spinning song. Keep it in the back of your mind for future rides. He has a nice voice too!
African Queens/Ritchie Family/4:35/@65/Standing climb
Night Time Fantasy/Vickie Sue Robinson/6:23/@66/Seated climb
She Works Hard For The Money/Donna Summer/4:33/@68/Standing climb/I saved the "Diva of Disco" for last.

The Cool-down (I use lots of songs for cool-down. In this case just to throw people off, no disco)!
Song/Artist/Time
Lady Godiva And Me/Grant Lee Buffalo/5:02
Gone Baby, Don't Be Long/Erykah Badu/4:39
29/Gin Blossoms/4:20
Schooldays/The Kinks/3:32
Troubled Land/John Mellencamp/3:20
The Sounds of Silence/Simon & Garfunkel/3:06
California Dreaming/The Mamas & The Papas/2:41

Eleven Minute Climb Anyone?

2009-10-22T15:03:00.003-04:00

There are all kinds of things going on in this playlist. First, the music is arranged by time, from shortest to longest. You guessed it -- I used a tune by the Ramones, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue". We finish with an 11:30 minute rhythmic seated climb to "Leave It" by The Field. I also experimented with the warmup sequence with good results. I sandwiched a Mika tune between two Scissor Sisters numbers. We start with "Filthy/Gorgeous" to warm up our legs at road resistance or a bit more so that class participants can run and/or do standing climbs. Use "Grace Kelly" by Mika to warm up and stretch upper body. Then finish the warmup with more leg work to "Music Is the Victim". Let heart rates climb to say 120, then with one minute left slow things down to set the stage for the main training session. Have fun! Enjoy the playlist!

Kiss You Off, Blasphemy, You Blister My Paint ...

2009-10-22T14:33:00.003-04:00

... Those are some of the titles in this interpretive and interactive playlist. I used music that contains lines that give riding instructions. The best example is the song "You Blister My Paint". In it are lyrics that urge riders to go up and down. Very good for jumps from seated to standing climb. Lots of fun and you can call out on class participants to lead. Pure fun! Enjoy the playlist.

Be "Careful" or say simply "I Don't Care"

2009-10-05T22:35:00.001-04:00

This one is great for working on leg strength. The tempo progression from top to bottom for standing climbs is fast to slow (77-62 beats per minute). The standing flats are slow to fast (82-110 beats per minute). Enjoy!

Song Artist Profile Time Year

Alive Black Eyed Peas Warmup 5:03 2009
I Ain't Hiding The Black Crowes Warmup 5:54 2009
Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon Standing climb 3:23 2008
Everything A Cursive Memory Standing climb 3:21 2008
She's A Lady Forever The Sickest Kids Seated flat 4:00 2008
There's More To Me Than You Jessica Andrews Standing climb 3:46 2003
I Don't Care (Single Version) Fall Out Boy Standing climb 3:34 2008
Careful Paramore Seated flat 3:50 2009
Fever Cascada Standing climb 3:20 2009
Disturbia (Rihanna cover) The Cab Standing climb 4:01 2009
About A Girl The Academy Is... Seated flat 3:39 2008
Mama's Always On Stage Arrested Development Standing climb 3:25 1992
She Got Me (When She Got...) Masters of Reality Seated flat 2:47 1993
Your Decision Alice In Chains Cooldown 4:43 2009
You're Not Sorry Taylor Swift Cooldown 4:21 2008
Come Pick Me Up Ryan Adams Cooldown 5:18 2005
Quiet My Heart Brooke Barrettsmith Cooldown 4:06 2008

"Jim Dandy" of a Ride Take 2

2009-07-31T11:59:00.005-04:00

I made changes to the previous post after riding it. I stayed in the saddle for the entire ride. Added resistance a the beginning of each song and stopped somewhere half-way and let the tempo changes take over. The playlist is arranged from slowest to fastest cadence. As a result you get to a point where you can let the tempo of the next and succeeding songs do the work of increasing heart rates without any further resistance increases. I changed the two warmup songs and substituted tunes by Information Society and Spandau Ballet. Enjoy!

Song Profile Time Artist
Yeah Warmup 4:53 Chickenfoot
Freeway Jam Warmup 4:58 Jeff Beck
Genetic Engineering Climb 3:37 Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark (OMD)
Lay All Your Love On Me Climb 3:41 Information Society
Ready For The Floor Climb 3:55 Hot Chip
Route 66 (Pcm Stereo) Climb 4:10 Depeche Mode
To cut A Long Story Short Climb 3:20 Spandau Ballet
Bad Connection Climb 3:21 Yaz
What If You Were Right The First Time? Climb 3:02 Arctic Monkeys
Cheating On You Climb 2:36 Franz Ferdinand
Porte Y Meneo Climb 3:33 Parada Joven
Everything Is Average Nowadays Seated flat 2:42 Kaiser Chiefs
Made Up My Mind Seated flat 2:58 Savoy Brown
Jim Dandy Seated flat 2:39 Black Oak Arkansas
The Abbess Of Kildare (Bridget O'Malley) Cooldown 4:44 The Paul Haslem Consort
Pilgrim Cooldown 3:10 Enya
Mr. Therapy Man (Courtesy of Coalition Entertainment Records Inc.) Cooldown 3:34 Justin Nozuka
Hold On Cooldown 5:31 Tom Waits

"Jim Dandy" of a Ride

2009-07-29T12:46:00.003-04:00

With this playlist I plan to climb and climb. We'll get to a point where we say "no mas", start backing off on resistance and pick of the tempo. When profiled "Climb" I plan to mix and match with seated and standing climbs as well as running with resistance. On the "Seated flats" I plan to mix it up with seated and standing flats. Enjoy!

Song Profile Time Artist
All The Way Down (Single Version) Warmup 5:33 Etta James
I Miss You Warmup 4:44 Ann Peebles
Genetic Engineering Climb 3:37 Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark (OMD)
She Blinded Me With Science Climb 3:42 Thomas Dolby
Ready For The Floor Climb 3:55 Hot Chip
Route 66 (Pcm Stereo) Climb 4:10 Depeche Mode
Bad Connection Climb 3:21 Yaz
What If You Were Right The First Time? Climb 3:02 Arctic Monkeys
Cheating On You Climb 2:36 Franz Ferdinand
Porte Y Meneo Climb 3:33 Parada Joven
Everything Is Average Nowadays Seated flat 2:42 Kaiser Chiefs
Made Up My Mind Seated flat 2:58 Savoy Brown
Jim Dandy Seated flat 2:39 Black Oak Arkansas
Miyoko Seated flat 3:41 Youssou N'Dour
The Abbess Of Kildare (Bridget O'Malley) Cooldown 4:44 The Paul Haslem Consort
Pilgrim Cooldown 3:10 Enya
Mr. Therapy Man (Courtesy of Coalition Entertainment Records Inc.) Cooldown 3:34 Justin Nozuka
Hold On Cooldown 5:31 Tom Waits

Cyclists Cutting Back on Pollution

2009-07-27T12:31:00.003-04:00

Green: How five bikers are cutting back on pollution in Vermont. Listing of the carbon dioxide being saved

Bike Tour Into Quebec's Eastern Townships

2009-07-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

Spent Canada Day, July 1 through July 3, touring with friend David Means in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. We crossed the border at Richford, VT and proceeded north through Sutton, Lac Drome, Waterloo, Mont Orford National Park, Magog, Sherbrooke, North Hatley, Ayer's Cliff and Stanstead, Quebec. We camped in Mont Orford National Park and a private campground in Ayer's Cliff at the southern edge of Lake Massawippi. We re-entered the USA at Standstead, QC and Derby Line, VT. Once in Vermont, we took Route 105 through Newport and climbed Jay Peak. The descent was intense in the rain. We arrived back into Richford like we left it, under sunny skies. Enjoy the photo album.

May Blackflie Tour in the Adirondacks

2009-07-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

For Memorial Day week this year, I took a six-day tour with friend Lyman Ross in the Adirondacks. Lyman has chronicled this trip nicely at crazyguyonabike.com. I'm providing a separate photo album of pictures I took during the tour. The highlight of the trip was an 80-mile ride from Stillwater Reservoir to Cranberry Lake. The "rescue" pictures are for the benefit of one of daughters who runs on a rescue squad. I will admit to needing her on the first day -- too much weight and steep climbs! Enjoy the pictures and Lyman's story.

Around the World With 14 Songs

2009-07-12T17:40:00.003-04:00

I put together a diverse array of music using the National Geo Music site including Afro-Peruvian and Klezmer genres. Elijah Rock by the Klezmatics is particularly effective as a warmup entry. I arranged the music so that the faster tunes are at the beginning in order to finish with a nice slow steep climb (seated or standing of course). Enjoy the playlist.

Song Profile Time Artist
Elijah Rock Warmup 9:13 The Klezmatics with Joshua Nelson
Nienafing Seated flat 3:36 Rokia Traore
International Dangdut Climb 5:07 Sabah Habas Mustapha
Westbound Seated flat 3:02 Blou
Peligro Climb 4:38 Aventura
Bitter to the South Seated flat 4:08 Bhundu Boys
Rxis Climb 4:02 Cheikh Sidi Bemol
Festejo De Ritmo Seated flat 3:38 Peru Negro
Mala Mujer Climb 3:36 Aurelio Martinez
Paper Cut Seated flat 3:21 Saucetone
Relentless Climb 4:54 Paul "Snowflake" Taylor
El Nino Del Guiro Cooldown 3:56 Jose Gonzalez & Banda Cri
Echoing Cooldown 7:33 Essev Bar
Africans Unite Cooldown 3:42 Baaba Maal

Big Light -- Costello to the Rescue

2009-05-13T14:14:00.005-04:00

I've put together another playlist that seems to have that road-ride feel to it again. I won't know till I try tonight. The songs alternate between seated flats and climb (seated or standing, your choice of course). Some of the seated flats also lend themselves nicely to standing flats, particularly the catchy Jazz tune Jump, Jive, An' Wail. As you progress through the playlist, the tempo slows. Have fun and enjoy the playlist.

P.S. While jumps and standing flats are possible on Jump, Jive, An' Wail they are taxing. If you want to keep your class aerobic, then encourage them to stay in the saddle.

Song Profile Time Artist
Honky Cat Warmup 5:13 Elton John
Bohemian Ballet Warmup 5:14 Deep Forest
The Big Light (Live In Studio) Seated flat 2:33 Elvis Costello
Guilty Partner Climb 4:49 New Order
Bomber Seated flat 3:40 Motorhead
Pressure Climb 4:40 Billy Joel
Jump, Jive, An' Wail Seated/standing flat (chorus) 3:30 Louis Prima & Keely Smith
Evil Climb 3:35 Interpol
Keep The Car Running Seated flat 3:29 Arcade Fire
Archetypal Blues No. 2 Climb 4:30 Watermelon Slim
Wang Dang Sweet Poontang Seated flat 3:15 Ted Nugent
Hair Of The Dog Climb 4:09 Nazareth
Elvis Imitators Seated flat 2:20 Jimmy Buffett
He's Misstra Know-It-All Cooldown 5:35 Stevie Wonder
Let Us Love Cooldown 5:19 Bill Withers
Sunshine On My Shoulders Cooldown 5:11 John Denver
This Had To Be Cooldown 5:08 The Brothers Johnson

Road-ride Feel

2009-05-08T09:56:00.004-04:00

This one has a real road-ride feel to it. All riding positions are possible -- seated and standing flat, seated and standing climb, and running with resistance. With judicious increases and decreases of resistance in response to tempo changes, riders can easily stay aerobic. It is quite easy actually to stay at the high range of one's aerobic zone. The playlist is also applicable to all energy zones. Have fun and enjoy the ride and playlist.

Song Profile Artist Time
Learning To Fly Warmup Tom Petty & The Heartbreaks 4:02
Corazon Espinado Warmup Santana 4:37
Lick It Up Climb KISS 3:56
Hold Me Climb Fleetwood Mac 3:45
Wade In The Water Climb The Staples Singers 2:58
Same song Seated/standing flat The Sadies 1:27
Gravity's Gone Climb Drive-by Truckers 3:33
Lay Down Sally Seated flat Eric Clapton 5:23
Tongue Of Flame Climb Transglobal Underground 6:15
Armatage Shanks Seated flat Green Day 2:16
Talk To Me Climb Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes 3:59
Big Mouth Blues Climb Gram Parsons 3:52
Disconnected Seated flat Face To Face 3:28
In My Own Mind Cooldown Lyle Lovett 5:36
Romeo Is Bleeding Cooldown Tom Waits 4:52
(Just Like) Starting Over Cooldown John Lennon/Yoko Ono 3:56
Summer Of My Fall Cooldown Nathan Moore 3:47
Tomorrow Night Cooldown Bob Dylan 3:43
Promise Cooldown Butch Walker 3:01
I Love How You Love Me Cooldown Paris Sisters 2:07

Fast and Furious

2009-04-24T12:23:00.003-04:00

I put together a fast paced one for this week. It takes everything you've got to stay aerobic. On Wednesday I tried it with the first five songs, which were profiled as seated flat and finishing with four standing climbs. The intensity was apparent. For Sunday, I interspersed the standing climbs more evenly. Should still be a challenge that is more manageable. Have fun, good luck and enjoy the playlist.

Song Profile Time Artist
Obsession Warmup 5:37 Animotion
I Hear You Dreaming Warmup 5:39 Cottonbelly
Showdown Warmup 4:55 Electric Light Orchestra
In Love This Way Seated flat 2:32 Descendents
Working Man Blues - (previously unreleased) Seated flat 2:37 Lone Justice
Under Influence Standing climb 5:33 Loop Guru
So Long Baby Goodbye Seated flat 2:24 The Blasters
Chaos In The heat (Last Transmission) Standing climb 4:48 Bill Laswell
Congo Square Seated flat 10:39 Sonny Landreth
In Between Days Standing climb 2:55 Ben Folds
The Metro Seated flat 4:11 Berlin
Memorabilia Standing climb 5:20 Soft Cell
Shadowboxer Cooldown 5:24 Fiona Apple
Matrimony: Maybe You Cooldown 4:38 Maxwell
Falling Into You Cooldown 4:18 Celine Dion
Sound The Alarm Cooldown 3:41 Thievery Company
Azzura Cooldown 7:57 Paco de Lucia

MacMaster, Williams, Thorogood

2009-03-09T16:29:00.002-04:00

Intriguing title, eh! This week I'm attending three concerts: Natalie MacMaster, Lucinda Williams and George Thorogood & The Destroyers. Each one is represented in this week's playlist. Don't look for Move It On Over or Bad To The Bone. From George, I am going with Nadine. As for Natalie, award-winning fiddler from Nova Scotia, Canada, I selected Get Me Through December (with Alison Krauss) for a the first cool down song. Can't Let Go from Lucinda gets the nod. Have a great week and enjoy the playlist. P.S. Climb in the profile simply means that you can make it a seated or standing climb or even running with resistance.

Song Profile Time Artist
Miami Warm up 5:01 Counting Crows
Been Around The World Warm up 5:02 Cracker
Congo Square Seated flat 10:39 Sonny Landreth
Mekseline Climb 9:10 Arkin Allen
Senegal Fast-Food Seated flat 4:19 Amadou & Mariam
The Fields Of Love (Original Club Mix) Climb 6:28 ATB
Can't Let Go Seated flat 3:28 Lucinda Williams
Dog Eat Dog Seated flat 3:10 Adam & The Ants
Nadine Climb 4:04 George Thorogood
Get Me Through December (With Alison Krauss) Cool down 6:31 Natalie MacMaster
Times Like These Cool down 2:20 Jack Johnson
Beauty Of Uncertainty Cool down 5:01 KT Tunstall
Reason Why Cool down 5:07 Rachael Yamagata

Winterval Followup

2009-03-05T12:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's Winterval ride worked well with two exceptions: Looking For Love and My Wheels Won't Turn did not work as well as I originally thought. They were too fast or simply did not sync well. I have substituted Devotchka's Basso Profundo and Real McCoy's Operator respectively. The new playlist looks as follows. I will use it this Sunday. As always, have fun and enjoy.

Song Profile Time Artist
I Just Want To Celebrate (Mocean Worker Remix) Warmup 4:59 Rare Earth/Mocean Worker
I Hear You Dreaming Warmup 5:39 Cottonbelly
Pursuit 1,2,3 Interval (1:40, 3:20, 5:00) 5:55 Cirque Du Soleil
La Derniere Minute Recover 1:02 Carla Bruni
North American Scum 2,3,1 Interval 5:26 LCD Soundsystem
Piccola Radiolina Recover 1:00 Manu Chao
Basso Profundo 3,1,2 Interval 5:13 Devotchka
Little David Recover 1:00 James Taylor
Pollution Of The Mind 1,2,3 Interval 5:16
Bass & Drum Solo Recover 1:06 The Brothers Johnson
Operator 2,3,1 Interval 5:26 Real McCoy
Interlude 1 Recover 1:14 Vermillion Lies
War (King Britt Mix) 3,1,2 Interval 5:13 Edwin Starr/King Britt
Interlude 2 Recover 1:10 Mark J. Saliba
Antichrist Television Blues 1,2,3 Interval 5:10 Arcade Fire
Tennessee Waltz Cooldown 6:44 Rene Marie
Sonata No. 14 In C/M (Moonlight Sonata) (Pcm Stereo) Cooldown 5:36 Depeche Mode
Are You Alright? Cooldown 5:18 Lucinda Williams
Miami Cooldown 5:01 Counting Crows

Winterval

2009-03-04T12:42:00.005-05:00

Today's ride is called Winterval. The 1,2,3 designation under profile refer to riding positions. I've profiled it so that riders are in each position for 1 min: 40 sec during the five minute plus songs. The remainder for the interval song is tacked onto the short musical pieces lasting at least a minute for recovery purposes. For argument sake, it is a three zone interval; for example, start at 114 bpm and add 10 heart beats in the first minute/forty seconds. Then add another 10 heart beats during the second minute/40 and then another 10 beats for the last minute/40. Basically we'll be working with 30 heart beats. In this example, recover back to 114 and the high is 144. Enjoy and have fun!

Song Profile Time Artist
I Just Want To Celebrate (Mocean Worker Remix) Warmup 4:59 Rare Earth/Mocean Worker
I Hear You Dreaming Warmup 5:39 Cottonbelly
Pursuit 1,2,3 Interval (1:40, 3:20, 5:00) 5:55 Cirque Du Soleil
La Derniere Minute Recover 1:02 Carla Bruni
North American Scum 2,3,1 Interval 5:26 LCD Soundsystem
Piccola Radiolina Recover 1:00 Manu Chao
Looking For Love 3,1,2 Interval 5:27 J. Geils Band
Little David Recover 1:00 James Taylor
Pollution Of The Mind 1,2,3 Interval 5:16
Bass & Drum Solo Recover 1:06 The Brothers Johnson
My Wheels Won't Turn 2,3,1 Interval 5:21 Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Interlude 1 Recover 1:14 Vermillion Lies
War (King Britt Mix) 3,1,2 Interval 5:13 Edwin Starr/King Britt
Interlude 2 Recover 1:10 Mark J. Saliba
Antichrist Television Blues 1,2,3 Interval 5:10 Arcade Fire
Tennessee Waltz Cooldown 6:44 Rene Marie
Sonata No. 14 In C/M (Moonlight Sonata) (Pcm Stereo) Cooldown 5:36 Depeche Mode
Are You Alright? Cooldown 5:18 Lucinda Williams
Miami Cooldown 5:01 Counting Crows

World Fusion This Week

2009-02-24T10:55:00.006-05:00

Using National Geo Music Listen to the World, I put together a playlist from a wide variety of genres. Most is World/Reggae with some Rock/Pop, Alt/Punk, New Age, Soul R&B and Classical sprinkled throughout. The ride seems ideal for the Endurance Energy Zone. Some riders could even push themselves and explore the ceiling of their aerobic threshold. Have fun and enjoy the playlist.

Song Profile Time Artist
Gibo Warmup 5:34 Aja Addy
Neem 02 Warmup 5:01 Moseh Naim
Congo Square (Live) Seated flat 8:50 Sonny Landreth
Mi Negra Standing climb 4:13 Kad Achouri
Ken Moussoul Guiss Li Seated flat 4:34 Africando
Sere Standing climb 5:46 Abdoulaye Diabate & Koutiala Orchestra
Maffay 'la Cartel (Live) Seated flat 4:33 Cartel & Peter Maffay
Mekseline Standing climb 9:10 Arkin Allen
Ciocarlia (Live) Seated flat 3:41 Carl Carlton & George Angelescu
Doina (Live) Cooldown 5:15 George Angelescu MonteOro
Nessaja (Live in Nurnberg-Frankenhalle, Dez. 1998) Cooldown 5:31 Peter Maffay
Deniz (Sea) Cooldown 5:25 Aziza A
Somewhere Only We Know Cooldown 4:57 Milk and Coffee

World Music

2009-02-17T13:32:00.005-05:00

I came across National Geographic's World Music site. You might be able to use to explore a whole new range of music to incorporate in your playlists and classes. Here's my playlist for this week. It works well as an endurance ride allowing participants to stay in their aerobic wheel house. Have fun!

Song Profile Minutes Artist
Diary (Hani Mixshow) Warmup 5:13 Alicia Keys
It It's In My Mind, It's On My Face Warmup 5:10 Seal
Senegal Fast-Food Combo: Seated & standing flat 4:19 Amadou & Mariam
Thunderstruck Climb 5:18 Birmingham 6
Eight Steps Seated flat 5:01 Electrelane
Keep Hope Alive (There is Hope Mix) Climb 5:42 The Crystal Method
Everlasting Arms Seated flat 5:02 Fontella Bass
The Fields Of Love (Original Club Mix) Climb 6:28 ATB
Basso Profundo Climb 5:13 Devotchka
Coulibaly Seated flat 3:18 Amadou & Mariam
Cinder And Smoke Cooldown 5:44 Iron And Wine
Campera Cooldown 5:28 Strunz & Farah
If Wishes Were Horses Cooldown 5:40 Lucinda Williams
I Say Grace Cooldown 5:10 Hayley Westenra

Interval Wednesday

2008-12-17T10:08:00.005-05:00

I am going with an interval tonight. We'll warm to I Just Want To Celebrate (Mocean Worker Remix) and Oh, Susannah. For the training session, I've set it up with seven 4-6 minute songs interspersed with six one minute interludes. For example, we'll start with a two-minute interval on Funky Junky, take a minute to recover in the middle of Funky Junky and finish with another interval in the last two minutes of Funky Junky, followed by a recovery to a true one minute interlude. Follow the pattern throughout. Here is the playlist and profile. Of course the profile is suggestive only. Enjoy!

Hot Chip Pursuit

2008-12-05T09:30:00.005-05:00

Hot Chip and Cirque Du Soleil are the signature artists for this training session and playlist. I might even add LCD Soundsystem but you get the picture; lots of energy. Think of yourself as a lioness on the hunt. Add a level of resistance every time you return to the saddle and change riding position every minute. Enjoy the pursuit. Siku njema!

Song Profile Artist Time
One Reason Warm up Tea Leaf Green 5:09
Feel For Your Love Warm up Air Supply 5:21
Sugar (Jagz Kooner Mix) 3,2,1,2,3 Ladytron 5:28
Whirl-Y-Reel 2 - (Folk Police Mix) 1,2,1,2,1 BT 5:28
Beautiful Day (Sunburst Mixshow Edit) 2,3,1,2,3 Matt Darey 5:12
Living On Video (Speedbreaker Remix) 3,2,3,2,3 Lazard 5:15
Pollution Of The Mind 1,2,1,2,1 Miss Kittin 5:17
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House 3,2,3,2,3 LCD Soundsystem 5:20
Pursuit 1,2,1,2,1 Cirque Du Soleil 5:55
S.O.S. (Stonebridge Remix) 3,2,3,2,3 Energy 92.7 5:13
When It Falls Cool down Zero 7 5:33
Love & Pride Cool down Ror-Shak 5:28
Hallelujah Cool down Leonard Cohen 4:38
And I Was A Boy From School Cool down Hot Chip 5:18

Key to profile: 1=seated flat, 2=standing flat, 3=standing climb

Facebook | My Photos - Adirondack Bike Tour September 2008

2008-11-07T11:11:00.000-05:00

Facebook | My Photos - Adirondack Bike Tour September 2008

Leg Strength Varietal

2008-10-24T16:41:00.004-04:00

You can pretty much do anything with this playlist. I've got it profiled as starting with a climb (15 minutes), seated flat, another 15 minute climb and ending with a seated flat. You can incorporate all three movements in the climbs (seated, running with resistance, and standing). Enjoy the playlist.

Spirited Retake

2008-10-20T14:11:00.004-04:00

Following the warmup we'll spin up to our first climb. Then get off our high horse and spin again. For any of the seated/standing climbs you can also incorporate jumps to standing flats or running with resistance. Everything is possible in this spirited ride. I tried this ride for the first time on Sunday (October 19) to rave reviews; class participants called it a "chick" ride. It was too bad for the lone guy in the group; however, he also liked it. For Wednesday's class, I dropped Bruce Hornsby's "Gonna Be Some Changes Made" for Rodney Crowell's "Earthbound". Enjoy the modified playlist. Siku njema!

Spirited

2008-10-17T11:56:00.003-04:00

Resurfacing

2008-10-15T10:01:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted anything since July. It is time to get back at it. I've been re-cycling playlists. This week I've been using one that works for well for participants. They get to work on leg strength and as well as speed. My training sessions are all about finding the right tempo and resistance (I call it marrying tempo and resistance to find the sweet spot) while at the same time staying aerobic. Although I'm a big LCD Soudsystem fan I do try to mix it up so that I don't pigeon hole myself into a predictable genre or sound. Have a good day and enjoy the playlist. Siku njema (have a good day in Swahili).

Meditative Power of Climbing

2008-07-16T11:11:00.005-04:00

Don't get me wrong, I like a flat road and a vertiginous descent like the rest of you. Nevertheless, when you have to climb, you gotta climb and putting yourself in the best frame of mind is the best way to go. Therefore, the purpose for tonight's ride is to climb by staying quiet, regardless of the intensity. We are going to try to ride that thin ridge between 80-85% of capacity for about 30 minutes. I used Spin Doctors as the lead group to identify music to feed this playlist. "Genuine" is the one Spin Doctors tune I could use but opted against it because it is too "noisy" and broke the flow. Enjoy!

Update: "Shine" by Collective Soul really did not work. I replaced it with "Time Zones" by Widespread Panic.

Nothing Flashy

2008-07-07T14:31:00.005-04:00

Nothing flashy yesterday, simply asked the class to stay aerobic and work on leg strength. I organized the music from slow to faster tempo. In terms of positions, we alternated between standing climbs and seated flats. When appropriate, particularly during "Philadelphia Freedom" and "Taxi Taxi", we came up in a standing flat position during choruses and instrumentals. The training session started with a standing climb ("Philadelphia Freedom") and finished with "Lust For Life" by Iggy Pop in the saddle. Enjoy the playlist. Siku njema!

Wind Power

2008-06-17T10:47:00.004-04:00

I am all for wind power, as long as it is to my back. It doesn't always work that way. Nevertheless, when riding into a head wind with others don't hesitate to work together. I rode a century this past weekend with a good south wind. Four of us rode a nice pace line to battle the wind with each of us taking turns every mile. I've always been a fan of pace lines regardless of the sport; on foot or on wheels.

No wind in the spinning studio but you can still work together by sharing your camaraderie and your experience. Above all, keep the momentum going indoors or out. This week I am featuring two climbs separated by a powerful seated flat to Man Versus Man by John Powell. Not counting warm up and cool down music, the ride lasts 40+ minutes. Each climb features 8-10 increases of resistance. We finish with The Texas Tornados version of 96 Tears alternating between seated and standing flats. Enjoy the playlist and siku njema!

Faithless Thread

2008-06-11T12:15:00.005-04:00

I followed the Faithless thread this week. The inspiration is God Is A Beckham (The BBC World Cup Them) from their Outrospective/Reperspective: The Remixes album. The song has been very popular when I've used it. I built in twelve increases throughout the ride. That number is flexible depending on the mood and fitness in the room. Enjoy! Siku njema!

Song Artist Album Duration
Blue Rock T.D.F. Retail Therapy 05:26
Sakarya Banco De Gaia Arabian Travels: A Six Degrees Collection 05:45
Recharched Charly Records Presents Pilates: The Healing Power Of Harmonious Music 05:00
White Lies Paul Van Dyk In Between 05:36
James Bond Theme (Moby's Extended Mix) Moby The James Bond Theme (Digital Version) 05:51
Storm 3000 Leftfield Leftism 05:44
Rendez-Vu Basement Jaxx Remedy 05:45
Olympic Flame Tiesto Parade Of Athletes 05:38
God Is A Beckham (The BBC World Cup Theme) Faithless Outrospective/Reperspective: The Remixes 05:27
Big Ideas LCD Soundsystem 21: Music From The Motion Picture 05:43
Triple Concerto - Ludwig Van Beethoven William Orbit Pieces In A Modern Style 05:32
Lynne’s Song Llewellyn Pilates 05:22
Riva Del Fiume Audio Lotion Recordings Presents Lounge Music For Pilates Workout 05:06
Revival The Reflections Pure Living: Pilates 05:11

The playlist with profile is available from Google Docs as an Excel spreadsheet.

Hot Chip Pursuit

2008-06-04T16:01:00.005-04:00

I created this play list by following music like the group Hot Chip. I pursued that direction because of my liking for Over And Over (nice You Tube version too!). I test ran this on Sunday and kept the group very busy and aerobic. I call for a resistance increase when a position change is back to the saddle in a seated flat (i.e., a 1 in the profile). I substituted one song from Sunday's version. I took out Sweetness by Fischerspooner. While Sweetness might work in other ways, it was a tad fast; thereby interfering with the goal of staying aerobic. In addition, it also did not seem to flow with the rest of the music. Enjoy na siku njema!

Song Profile Artist Duration
One Reason Warm up Tea Leaf Green 5:09
Feel For Your Love Warm up Air Supply 5:21
Sugar (Jagz Kooner Mix) 3,2,1,2,3 Ladytron 5:28
Mercury And Solace 1,2,1,2,1 BT 5:07
Beautiful Day (Sunburst Mixshow Edit) 2,3,1,2,3 Matt Darey 5:12
Living On Video (Speedbreaker Remix) 3,2,3,2,3 Lazard 5:15
Pollution Of The Mind 1,2,1,2,1 Miss Kittin 5:17
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House 3,2,3,2,3 LCD Soundsystem 5:20
Mais Pourquoi? 1,2,1,2,1 The Pinker Tones 5:23
S.O.S. (Stonebridge Remix) 3,2,3,2,3 Energy 92.7 5:13
When It Falls Cool down Zero 7 5:33
Love & Pride Cool down Ror-Shak 5:28
M'aidez Cool down Sneaker Pimps 5:13
And I Was A Boy From School Cool down Hot Chip 5:18

Key to profile: 1=seated flat, 2=standing flat, 3=standing climb

First Bike Tour

2008-05-28T11:42:00.003-04:00

I completed my first bicycle tour over Memorial Day weekend with my friend David. Folks, there is life after 50. The tour was a 200 mile trip in the Adirondacks. Took the Charlotte ferry south of Burlington, VT to Essex, NY. From Essex south we proceeded through Westport and then to Port Henry. At Port Henry, took a right towards Moriah in the direction of North Hudson. From North Hudson took Blue Ridge Rd. to Newcomb (lots of climbing here). We camped at Harris Lake. Day two had us going through Long Lake and Tupper Lake. At Tupper, went East on Rte. 30/3. At Rte. 30/3 junction, took a left on 30 North in the direction of Square/Fish Creek Ponds.We camped at Little Green Pond near the fish hatchery. Day three was glorious. The ride took us through Bloomingdale (great diner there), Jay, Wilmington, Clintonville, Ausable Forks and finally Port Kent to grab the ferry back to Burlington. I'll post pictures soon.

Tonight's Spinning® ride is an altered playlist that was inspired by music from The Band. Enjoy!

Leg Strength

2008-05-07T11:15:00.008-04:00

I am continuing to work on leg strength. Profile is somewhat different this time than the last one. Really, there are numerous approaches and interpretations; that is the beauty of Spinning® is it not? The "standing & seated climbs" are up for the first two minutes, down for the next two minutes and back up for the last minute with an increase in resistance every time the rider changes from seated to standing climb position. One level of resistance is removed midway through the seated flats. Enjoy! Here is another approach: add resistance every time a participant returns to the saddle.

Song Profile Artist Duration
Take Me To The River Warm up Talking Heads 5:04
Undone Warm up Will Dailey 5:12
Pants Standing & seated climbs Orbital 5:44
Modern Love Seated flat (decrease resistance at 2:30) David Bowie 4:51
Possession (Rabbit In The Moon Mix) Standing & seated climbs Sarah McLachlan 5:54
She's A River Seated flat (decrease resistance at 2:30) Simple Minds 5:31
20th Century Man Standing & seated climbs The Kinks 5:58
Straight Cold Player Seated flat (decrease resistance at 2:30) Lenny Kravitz 4:23
Shock The Monkey Standing & seated climbs Peter Gabriel 5:29
Everlasting Arms Seated flat (keep resistance on) Fontella Bass 5:03
Hallelujah Cool down Leonard Cohen 4:40
Still Learning How To Crawl Cool down Tom Langford 5:56
Good Day Cool down Luce 4:15
New Kind Of Cool Cool down Adrianne 5:02

More Resistance Play

2008-05-03T17:48:00.004-04:00

Consider playing with resistance in another way. After the warm up, start the training session with Blue Monday. Start in saddle with a resistance increase, then alternate between standing climb and saddle every minute; adding some resistance when back in saddle. With the next song, Modern Love, decrease resistance twice in the first and second minutes. The next standing climb, Original Sin, add resistance every minute. Follow the pattern till the end. Enjoy!

Song Profile Artist Duration
Smooth Warm up Santana 5:01
Maggie May Warm up Rod Stewart 5:46
Blue Monday Seated climb, standing climb (add resistance when seated) New Order 7:30
Modern Love Seated flat (remove resistance during 1st & 2nd minutes) David Bowie 4:51
Original Sin Standing climb (add resistance every minute) INXS 5:19
Everyday Combat Seated flat (remove resistance during 1st & 2nd minutes) Lostprophets 5:14
20th Century Man Standing climb (add resistance every minute) The Kinks 5:58
Straight Cold Player Seated flat (remove resistance during 1st & 2nd minutes) Lenny Kravitz 4:23
Video Killed The Radio Star Standing climb (add resistance every minute) The Presidents Of The United States of America 3:27
Everlasting Arms Seated flat (remove resistance during 1st & 2nd minutes) Fontella Bass 5:03
Everybody Knows Cool down Leonard Cohen 5:34
Heroin Cool down The Velvet Underground 7:13
Red Right Hand Cool down Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 6:11

PS. For some Everyday Combat is a bit on the hard rock side!

Keep the Resistance On

2008-04-29T23:16:00.005-04:00

Adding resistance and keeping it on is the name of the game with this one. Work up to road resistance through warm up. No backing off on the resistance added during the standing climbs. I am planning to suggest small increases every minute with an emphasis on small increases. By the time the last song arrives, the resistance load should be good and heavy! Good luck and enjoy the playlist. Siku njema!

Song Artist Profile Duration
Tie Up My Hands Starsailor Warm up 05:49
I Feel Love Donna Summer Warm up 05:53
Night Of Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky Regrooved) Jay Atwood Standing climb 05:14
Lust For Life Iggy Pop Seated flat 05:14
E Talking (Jagz Kooner Black September Vocal Mix) Soulwax Standing climb 05:01
A Gypsy's Kiss Deep Purple Seated flat 05:12
Tribulations LCD Soundsystem Standing climb 05:02
Block Rockin' Beats The Chemical Brothers Seated flat 05:14
God Is A Beckham (The BBC World Cup Theme) Faithless Standing climb 05:27
Tell Me Billie Myers Seated flat 05:05
Won't Back Down Mat Kearney Cool down 05:10
Inside Vertical Horizon Cool down 05:22
Counting Blue Cars - Acoustic Version Dishwalla Cool down 05:41
Soldier (Demo Version) Anna Nalick Cool down 05:18

New Music Discovery Tool

2008-04-21T10:47:00.004-04:00

My daughter Siobhan turned me onto a music discovery site called Musicovery. You select your mood, positive or dark along with tempo variations and the site returns musical selections in lineage fashion -- it seems anyway. Not much information comes with the site. You can also change your selection window to select tempo combined with more or less dance style in music. It is a fun way to discover music and intersections between artists and songs. Siku njema!

Natural Interval

2008-04-20T18:03:00.004-04:00

I love it when a playlist comes together. Earlier this week on Wednesday (April 16) I had sequence of eight songs that really clicked. There was just something about it that evoked one class participant to say that "he did not feel that he was working that hard." Now that is music to my ear. I almost had a similar situation this morning. Nevertheless, being the self-critic than I am, I felt one song was out of order. Actually there was a couple! It is an interval and I've made that one song change. Enjoy the newly arranged playlist. I combine the first two songs for an eight minute interval. Later in the session I combine another two songs Should I Stay or Should I Go and Honey White for a six minute interval, then recover to Jailhouse Rock before bringing it in hard to Temple of Love.

Four by Four

2008-04-12T18:24:00.005-04:00

We've been climbing all week. Just turned out that way. I am going to keep it fast tomorrow with four seated flats separated with four standing climbs. The last time I put together a ride like this it was "Edgy and Intense". I took the edge off, but not the intensity. The tempo will be quick right out the gate to Cirque Du Soleil's Pursuit. The real "pièce de résistance" is the song by Apocalyptica titled Creeping Death; four cellos, a real nice sound. Enjoy the playlist.

P.S. Creeping Death did not really work that well. The sound is good but not that well suited for Spinning®.

Climbing With a Purpose

2008-04-06T10:28:00.004-04:00

My first road ride for 2008 occurred last Friday (4/4/2008). Yes, in Vermont riding starts late. I'm going out today under Vermont's brilliant sun. The theme for my first Spinning class since my return from Tanzania is "climbing with a purpose". If you can climb at 160 beats per minute, let's back it off to 130. It's still early in the season so be good to yourself. As usual, I use eight songs with duration of five minutes or more but less than six for the heart of the training session. We'll climb early and level off towards the end. The reward is cooling down to Hayley Westenra, Tracy Chapman and Sara Bareilles. Enjoy the playlist. Siku njema!

On Hiatus for Six Weeks

2008-03-02T15:52:00.005-05:00

I am away for six weeks. Off to Tanzania for training and consulting at the library of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). I leave on Wednesday from Boston with a stop in London and then to Dar es Salaam, TZ.

My last two classes were yesterday and today; both intervals. Here are the playlists for the Saturday and Sunday rides. I broke down each ride as follows. I used eight songs with duration of at least five minutes or more. I encouraged the class to stay about 10-15 heart beats (more if they wanted) below their 80% during the ten minute warm up. Once in the training session started, base camp is 80%. With two minutes left in each song I encouraged them to stay with the tempo and add resistance to add about 10 more heart beats to reach their 85% of max. With one minute left in each song, stay with tempo, add resistance and add another 10 heart beats in order to reach 92% of max. With the beginning of the next song, regardless of position (seated or standing) they were encouraged to recover back to 80% and then start all over again. See you in six weeks. Enjoy!

P.S. Many class participants liked the Seal tune "If It's In My Mind, It's On My Face".

ABC Alike

2008-02-25T14:33:00.005-05:00

I've prepared a new playlist using music that is like the band ABC. I liked ABC's "15 Storey Halo", which I used in a U2 inspired training program. I ended up with another eclectic mix of artists from Adam Ant to Yaz. I am particularly fond of the two warm up songs, "Christine" and "Situation" by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Yaz respectively. The meat of the training session features music from The Fixx, Pet Shop Boys, Bow Wow Wow, The Psychedelic Furs, The B-52's, Adam Ant, The Call and Romeo Void. Enjoy!

U2 Inspired

2008-02-23T16:29:00.005-05:00

I am in Montreal this weekend playing in a hockey tournament in the town of Kirkland located on the western part of the island. I had some time to kill, as a result worked on a playlist for Wednesday. I used U2 as my starting point. I am using U2's "City of Blinding Lights" midway through the training program. The other artists in the playlist include Level 42, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Seal, INXS, Steely Dan, David Bowie, The Police, ABC, Duran Duran, Keane, David Gray and The Verve. "If It's In My Mind, It's On My Face" by Seal and "15 Storey Halo" by ABC seem to lend themselves naturally to standing climb and seated flat respectively. I also like "Devil Inside" by INXS as a seated climb, with standing climbs on chorus. Enjoy!

Finding May Solve Riddle of Fatigue in Muscles - New York Times

2008-02-13T10:55:00.002-05:00

Scientists are reporting that they have determined why muscles get tired and devised, for mice, an experimental drug that can eliminate fatigue. >>> more

Going Long

2008-02-12T13:37:00.008-05:00

I am scheduled to lead a two-hour spin this Wednesday to help participants preparing for the 8th annual 6-Hour Ride for a Reason benefiting VT Special Olympics. I resisted the impulse to create a ride exclusive using rock music. In a previous ride I used some Afro Celt Sound System music, specifically "Whirl-Y-Reel - Folk Police Mix" to which I received positive feedback. My forays into music lead me to the works of Cirque Du Soleil. I also was looking for music with duration of six minutes or more. I organized the music to create a wave effect. As result, five separate waves with a progression from slow to fast. Within in each wave, the same progression is evident. The playlist begins with a 10 minute warmup to a medley from Little Feat. The cool down begins with "Key To The Highway" by Derek and The Dominos. In the middle, you'll find music by Afro Celt Sound System, Alicia Keys, Banco De Gaia, Cirque Du Soleil, Cracker, Levon Helm, LCD Soundsystem and Rolling Stones. Enjoy!

P.S. Three songs did not work all that well -- Distorted, Birimbau and Rondo. Distorted in particular because too much going in the music in order to catch a good beat/tempo. Otherwise, it is a keeper!

Aerobic Training Kicking In

2008-02-09T22:11:00.000-05:00

My attention to aerobic training is paying off. Two weekends past I played three hockey games in two days in the Dorval Oldtimers Hockey Tournament. Last weekend, I finished the Craftsbury Ski Marathon, a 50K classical Nordic event. Today completed a three-hour spin. I was one of the lead instructors today to prepare participants for the upcoming 8th Annual six-hour spin for Vermont Special Olympics. For my one hour segment today, I adapted a previous ride created from music similar to the Rolling Stones. I substituted music from Afro Celt Sound System, Jimmy Somerville, The Escape Club, Edwin Starr and David Essex. Here is the new playlist. The Afro Celt and Edwin Staff pieces, "Whirl-Y-Reel 2 - Folk Police Mix" and "War -- King Britt Remix" are very strong. For my regularly scheduled Sunday ride, I took today's playlist and tweaked it again. New in this playlist are a couple of songs from Rare Earth (I Just Want To Celebrate and Hum Along And Dance), one from Bang Tango (Once Again) and Elvis Presley (Rubberneckin' -- Paul Oakenfold Remix). Enjoy!

Quiet Power With "Collective Soul"

2008-02-04T22:07:00.001-05:00

This week I debut a training session using music similar to Collective Soul. The training session starts with U2's "Do You Feel Loved" and finishes with "Firefly" by Damn Yankees. The Giants have the last word. What's in between is a steady climb alternating between standing and seated positions with progressively decreasing tempo. The outcome should be ever increasing resistance so that before letting loose with "Firefly" participants are tackling the steepest part of the hill to "The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins. The three standing climbs place a premium on leg speed (approximate average speed: 76 rpm/bpm) whereas the seated climbs emphasize strength (approximate average speed: 62 rpm/bpm).

I started with 553 songs. I listened to the first 131 with duration of 5:00-5:08 minutes/seconds. I was looking to put together a playlist with a special "feel". You might expect to see some Ozzy Osbourne here but alas not this time. His sound simply broke the "quiet power" that imbues this session. You'll also find a strong "love" thread in the playlist, which flows well with Collective Soul's latest album Aftwerwords. The longer than usual list of warm up and cool down songs only means that I like to arrive early and linger afterwards. Enjoy!

Reprise Du Jour

2008-01-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

I am recycling an earlier ride with a few changes. If you see the pun, it was intended. I was in Montreal last weekend for a hockey tournament, which cut into my class preparation time. I need to thank my friend David "he knows music" Means for leading my Sunday class. For tonight I am re-using a playlist inspired by The Band. That original playlist and profile included songs from groups that are similar to The Band. In tonight's program, I substituted two songs. One is by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, which I've used in previous sessions. The other is new to me and you'll find it as the second warmup song on the "reprised" playlist. I'm looking at some world beat stuff and I like the Trilok Gurtu sound. Enjoy!

Stones Ride Take 2 Tonight at Six

2008-01-23T13:17:00.000-05:00

I tweaked the previous Stones ride. Again, I felt a few songs in the first version were lacking. This one has more energy. As you can tell, I am partial to Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart". In addition, I like the energy in some of the music by The J. Geils Band. The second warm up song, "Looking For A Love" is probably is little over the top but it certainly will get their attention leading into the training session. The speed theme and energy permeates this playlist. Enjoy!

P.S. I had a change of heart -- no pun intended of course! The J. Geils song "Looking For A Love" really needs to be part of the training session. I switched it with "Lay Down Sally".

Stones Ride Take One

2008-01-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

I never know what the outcome will be when I start following an idea. I spent the week looking for music similar to The Rolling Stones. I started with a list of 300 songs with durations between five-six minutes. Tomorrow's ride is fast and furious. We'll alternate between seated flats and standing climbs, starting with a seated flat to "Sign Of The Times" by Night Ranger. The seated flats progress from 90 to 110 rpm while the standing climbs go from 70-79 rpm. There are no Stones songs in this playlist but they'll show up on later takes. Enjoy the playlist and ride.

Don't Get Knotted Up Over This One

2008-01-15T16:48:00.000-05:00

Last week's NY Times' column on Fashion & Style carried an article on music and fitness. The article led me to playlists from Self Magazine and others. This week’s playlist, which I used on Sunday (January 13), was fashioned from one of the self.com playlists. I continue to develop spinning training sessions with 10 minutes of warmup, 40 minutes of training and 10 minutes of cool down. The meat and potatoes in the middle consist of 8 songs, each of which is at least 5 minutes in duration. Since Sunday, the playlist evolved because I felt a couple of songs were somewhat lacking. I also wanted a song with some transitions to allow jumps from a seated position to standing flats. You'll see the original playlist and the new one so that you can see the evolution. I also feel a need to change it a bit as Sunday riders often show up for Wednesday's class. I classify this one as a strength session starting with "Don't Cha (Instrumental)" as a warmup by The Pussycat Dolls. Take 1 of the playlist was used on Sunday past (January 13). I am using take 2 tonight. In the take 2 version, I like "Take A Letter Maria" for transitions from seated flat to standing flat and for jumps. I also like the energy in Bob Marley's "No Deputy" and Little Feat's "Shake Me Up". The sleeper song in this playlist is "Eight Steps" by Electrelane. For the first 1:40 of it I can urge class participants to push it, knowing that right in the middle the tempo slows dramatically allowing participants tor regain 20-30 heart beats. Then at about 3:10 into the music it picks up again, at which point I urge the class to put those 20-30 heart beats back on. Just when they are about to hang up the tempo slows at about 4:30 giving us a nice finish. Enjoy!

Edgy and Intense

2008-01-11T12:11:00.001-05:00

Intense was the word following my latest training session (Wednesday, January 9). The music was edgy, strong, beat-heavy and fast. I developed it so that participants could stay with one level of resistance, something above road resistance. As they progressed through the eight songs (4 standing climbs, 4 seated flats), the tempo kept climbing. After the warmup, we started with a standing climb to Murderous (instrumental) by Nitzer Ebb and alternated from there from standing climbs to seated flats. We finished with Fire Engine (Luc Van Acker Gumby Mixxx) by the Revolting Cocks. The average rpm for the standing climbs is 72 and for the seated flats 90. Check out the complete playlist and profile. Enjoy!

ELO To Bring In the New Year

2007-12-29T15:49:00.001-05:00

I finished my playlist of music from groups like "Electric Light Orchestra". In summary, the ride includes three climbs progressing from fast to slower tempo so that by the end of the sixth song, participants will be pushing lots of resistance. Then resistance comes off to Chicago's "What's This World Comin' To" with standing flats on the chorus prior to finishing off with a climb to the ominous "Brave New World". The long list of cool down songs is simply other songs I could have used. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Working On An ELO Profile and Playlist

2007-12-19T13:16:00.000-05:00

I am currently working on an Electric Light Orchestra profile and playlist. I hope to use it on Sunday. I've got a working list of 33 songs. You can take a look at that list on google docs at elo_3. Stay tuned for the final cut and profile. Enjoy!

From African Beat to Club Mixes and Back to Rock

2007-12-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

In the past two weeks I've experimented with North African beats and club mixes to good reviews. This weekend I am back to classic rock. I used The Band as my inspiration for the playlist. I have to admit, I simply love it. On Sunday, it will be lively with no time to think. If you find the right resistance and cadence all you'll need to do is micro-manage the resistance to keep yourself within yourself. If you find that space, your eyes will be closed and feeling light as a feather. Remember with colder weather and drier air, it is that more important to stay hydrated. This is a two bottle ride. You'll find the playlist, profile and comments on Google Docs as the_band_inspiration. Enjoy!

Strength Mode

2007-12-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

I am in strength mode at aerobic levels. This one includes three climbs separated by seated flats. Similar to the ride previously posted but the music is different. The inspiration for the music is from the group Soulwax. The selected music at times possesses an unexpected "ebb and flow" feel. The playlist and profile is posted on Google Docs. The thumbnail pictures are from the "Pictures" category of Public Domain Content. Enjoy!

Spiritual and Demanding

2007-12-07T14:41:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw an African group named Tinariwen. They produce a unique sound by "trading their traditional lutes and shepherd's flutes for electric guitars and drums." In researching their music I came across other music that make up this weeks ride and playlist. I mixed up the cadence quite a bit from high rpm seated flats to low rpm seated or standing climbs. I tried to create a situation of light resistance for the fast stuff to work on speed and heavy resistance for the slower cadences to work on strength. Check out the playlist and profile in an excel spreadsheet. I used Spinning® symbols from Mike's Spinning Page. Enjoy!

Burn That Fat Off

2007-11-29T15:59:00.001-05:00

I am completing the Spinning® home study course "Aerobic Exercise / The Secret to Fitness Improvement". I became very interested in the Maffetone approach to aerobic training using the 180-age to determine maximum aerobic exercise level. As a result, I am taking up the challenge of staying at 126 heartbeats for at least the next three months. I will measure my fitness level every three weeks using the "Aerobic Maximum Function" test and record my findings here. In addition, I am taking his "two-week test" to recalibrate my carbohydrate intake. My take on his 180-age approach to aerobic training is simple, if it is good enough for Mark Allen, 6 Time Ironman World Champion; it is good enough for me. Stay tuned for my reporting.

Aerobic Intervals with One Minute Recovery

2007-11-29T12:03:00.001-05:00

This week I put together an aerobic interval ride with one minute recoveries in between. The beginning and ending songs are seated flat at 102 and 110 rpm's respectively. The five middle intervals progress upwards in tempo from 71-78 rpm's. Granted, the middle intervals are fast paced for climbs but doable. Each song begins in the saddle with changes to standing climb or standing flat positions when appropriate to stretch out legs. Enjoy!

Song Artist Profile (rpm) Duration
Pavane For A Dead Princess (Ravel Regrooved) Casey Baldwin
Warmup 6:12
Let It Roll Little Feat Seated Flat (102) 4:31
La Dernière Minute Carla Bruni Recovery 1:02
Planet Claire The B-52's Seated climb (71) with stretches
4:38
Piccola Radiolina Manu Chao Recovery 1:08
The Sound The Rapture Seated climb (72) with stretches 4:26
Anxiety's Moment Chicago Recovery 1:01
Move It On Over George Thorogood Seated climb (74) with
stretches 4:22
Little David James Taylor Recovery 1:00
Monday Morning Pulp Seated climb (75) with stretches 4:18
Mirror In The Bathroom Phish Recovery :58
Never Say Never Romeo Void Seated climb (78) with stretches
5:54
Bass & Drum Solo The Brothers Johnson Recovery 1:06
Got My Mojo Working Jimmy Rogers Seated flat (110) 6:04

Pyrotechnic Ride

2007-11-19T10:39:00.001-05:00

I was in a dance aerobic class the other day and worked out to Voodoo People by The Prodigy. The song stayed with me. Using Yahoo Music Jukebox I created a "Similar Artist Playlist" and began to explore. I ended up with the following playlist. I used it yesterday. I stayed in the saddle for most of it except for coming out of the saddle on the long moderate climbs for a minute at a time to stretch legs. Although the training portion of the ride was at least 43 minutes long it seemed to be over in a flash.

Song Artist Duration Profile
It's No Good Depeche Mode 6:02 Warmup
Spybreak! Propellerheads 6:59 Moderate climb (3 minutes in saddle, 1 minute standing climb, then back in the saddle to end)
As The Rush Comes (Exclusive Demo Mix) - Motorcycle Tiesto 6:46 Another moderate climb (mostly in the saddle but had them stand a couple of times to stretch legs)
Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song) Safri Duo 6:45 Seated flat with pickups (I noticed that class participants like to be out of the saddle on this one; I stayed in the saddle and encouraged class participants to use the ebb in the music to recover and then carry on with the flow)
Tears From The Moon (Hybrid Twisted On The Terrace Mix V.2) Conjure One 7:39 Moderate climb in the saddle (again out of the saddle of couple of times to stretch legs)
Block Rockin' Beats The Chemical Brothers 5:14 Seated flat (spin out legs and use whatever ebb that exists in the music to recover and carry on with the flow)
Cherry Twist The Crystal Method 4:26 Moderate climb (can stay in the saddle or out)
Voodoo People (Pendulum Mix) The Prodigy 5:07 Seated flat (harder to ride to than I realized)
19-2000 Gorillaz 3:31 Cooldown
Virtual Insanity Jamiroquai 5:40 Cooldown

I Feel Love

2007-11-09T21:08:00.001-05:00

This one finishes hot! As a result I will be advising class participants on Sunday (November 11) to temper their pace. Nothing over 80% until it is time to fire up their engines for Jimmy Somerville's I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me. It will be a challenge because there is some strong music throughout this play list from start to finish.

Ten Intervals as in Zipped Up

2007-11-06T15:09:00.000-05:00

For Wednesday's night, I am experimenting with one of DJ Steveboy's Podrunner podcast releases "Emotion in Motion." His podcasts are available weekly from iTunes. To it, I am adapting "The Zipper", workout No. 43 from The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Cyclists, 2nd ed. The workout includes ten intervals to 85% of max heart rate and recovering to 70%. The purpose of the workout is to push that anaerobic zone even further away. "Emotion in Motion" podcast is set at a steady 155 bpm. I will have the class moving in and out of standing flats and climbs. It should be a fast-paced class. The playlist for "Emotion in Motion" follows:

01. Mike Mendoza - Absolutely Divine (Alternative Mix)
02. Jack in da Box - Keep the Faith (Rock Mix)
03. Chris Cargo - Cityscape
04. Cevin Fisher - Like Paradise (Dub Mix)
05. Silversurfer - Big Case
06. Def E - Wipe Your Tears Away (Toolroom - Punkrok Mix)
07. John Askew - Mood Swing
08. John Askew - F**k Private Ryan (We're Dancing)
09. Bootleg Soundsystem - The Cows Come Home
10. Andy Slate - Pleasure On Me
11. Punkrok - Sweet Child (Extended Mix)
12. Angel Moraes - Heaven Knows (Angel's 96 Mix)
13. Danzel - Put Your Hands Up in the Air! (Soho Remix)
14. Lady Miami - The Unknown Lady EP (Big Hook Mix)
15. Fatboy Slim - Song for Shelter

Endurance Ride

2007-10-30T14:54:00.001-04:00

In case you get the impression that all I do are hard rides, I am posting an endurance training session that I designed last spring during tapper week prior to a six hour spinning marathon. I used it again this past Sunday. I alternated the riding positions between seated flats and standing climbs. Participants are encouraged to stay at the top of zone 2 (75% of maximum hear rate). The last four minutes are at zone 4 (92%). Enjoy!

Song / Artist / Duration / Profile
Whoo! Alright, Yeah ... Uh Huh / The Rapture / 3:54 / Warmup
Roll Over Beethoven / Electric Light Orchestra / 8:09 / Part warmup and start session, seated flat
Takin' Care Of Business / T. Rex / 4:53 / Standing climb
Rock And Roll Is King / Electric Light Orchestra / 3:36 / Seated flat
Ave Maria / David Bisbal / 6:13 / Standing climb
L.A. Woman / The Doors / 7:50 / Seated flat
Fur Elise / Skylab2000 / 5:12 / Standing climb
Neutron Dance / The Pointer Sisters / 4:15 / Seated flat
Free Bird / Lynyrd Skynyrd / 9:11 / Rider's choice in position and intensity at end
Le Plus Beau Du Quartier / Carla Bruni / 3:31 / Cool down
None Of Us Are Free / Solomon Burke / 5:27 / Cool down
Somewhere Over The Rainbow / IZ K / 5:08 / Cool down

Birthday Ride

2007-10-24T14:23:00.000-04:00

It turns out that many Wednesday rides end up celebrating someone's birthday. I still keep to a format but I include a song with the name of the class participant celebrating the birthday and follow that song with Birthday done in the style of the Beatles. Tonight's goal is to top out at 90% of cardiac capacity. Following warmup, riders are encouraged to start near their 70% or somewhere in Zone 2. By mid point, somewhere around 21½ minutes, we should reach 80% or Zone 3 and then manage the ride as best you can to top out at 90% or low Zone 4. Here is the playlist and profile for tonight's birthday bash for three.

Song / Artist / Duration / Profile
I'm A Man / Chicago / 5:43 / Warmup
Hung Up /Madonna /5:39 / Warmup
It's Too Bad / Go Betty Go / 3:44 / Seated flat
We're An American Band / Grand Funk Railroad / 3:28 / Standing climb
Say Hello To The Angels / Interpol / 4:29 / Seated flat
Monday Morning / Pulp / 4:18 / Standing climb
Let It Roll / Little Feat / 4:33 / Seated flat
Funky Fire / Aggrolites / 4:11 / Standing climb
Catherine / Fracas / 1:18 Seated flat with three standing flats
Daryl In Spain / Sissy Bar / 3:07 / Standing climb
Karen / The Rip Chords / 1:44 / Standing climb
Birthday / Done Again (In The Style Of The Beatles) /2:39 / Standing climb
I Want You To Want Me / Cheap Trick / 3:44 / Seated flat
Holding Out For A Hero / Bonnie Tyler / 5:49 / Seated flat w/resistance or Standing climb (rider's choice)
Praise You / Fatboy Slim / 5:25 / Cooldown
Red Right Hand / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / 6:11 / Cooldown
White Bird / It's A Beautiful Day / 6:12 / Cooldown
Money / Pink Floyd / 6:35 / Cooldown

Running (Cycling) Efficiency: It’s Good, but How Do You Get It?

2007-10-16T11:37:00.000-04:00

Why some athletes who don't look like winners are. I found this New York Times article very interesting and applicable to athletes in any activity including cyclists. As you will find from the article, economy of movement is a mysterious concept but if you've got it you're expending less energy to accomplish a task than someone else. Researchers hold no conclusive evidence on how to achieve greater output by using less energy. Read on >> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/f ...

Continuting to Stay at The Ceiling of Our Aerobic Zones

2007-10-16T10:24:00.000-04:00

The last two rides and playlists have been successful. For this Wednesday, I substituted a few songs from my last post “Still Pushing the Limits” to keep the cadence high and reduce the resistance somewhat. The outcome again is to simulate a road feel and to urge riders to "lock-in" their rides. I will encourage class participants to make smooth and beautiful transitions between movements. I added one song that lends itself to moving from seated flat to standing flat in five consecutive short bursts in the early going. The goal in terms of output is to continue to stay at or below 85% or Zone 3 for those who like to use that parlance. The standing climbs are used to increase resistance every minute. However, if you find that the class is over-working it, throw in some decreases to get them back to a manageable level and continue to scrap the aerobic ceiling or anaerobic cellar for some. Enjoy!

Profile / Song / Duration / Artist / Album
Pre-warmup / October / 4:09 / Moneyshot / Amped
Warmup / Young Turks / 5:06 / Rod Stewart / The Very Best of Rod Stewart
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / A.G.G.R.O. / 4:24 / Aggrolites / The Aggrolites
Seated Flat (with five movements to Standing Flat, when you hear this song, you'll know where they belong) / Flathead / 3:20 / The Fratellis / Costello Music
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Psychobitches Outta Hell / 3:13 / Horrortops / Hell Yeah!
Seated Flat / Hit Me Up / 3:14 / Gia Farrell / Hit Me Up (Single)
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / 5:20 / LCD Soundsystem / LCD Soundsystem
Seated Flat / Rainin In Paradize / 3:41 / Manu Chao / La Radiolina
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Written In Blood / 5:02 / She Wants Revenge / This Is Forever
Seated Flat / Wake Up Call / 3:24 / Maroon5 / It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / The New Face Of Zero And One / 4:14 / The New Pornographers / Electric Version
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Drag / 3:20 / Placebo / Meds
Seated Flat / We're Coming Home / 3:21 / Rogue Traders / Here Come The Drums
Cooldown / Tennessee Waltz / 6:44 / Rene Marie / How Can I Keep From Singing?
Cooldown / U + Ur Hand / 3:36 / Pink / I'm Not Dead
Cooldown / Candyman / 3:17 / Christina Aguilera / Back To Basics
Cooldown / The Itch / 3:33 / Vitamin C / More
Cooldown / So In Love With Two / 3:27 / Mikaila / Mikaila
Cooldown / I'm Not Anybody's Girl / 3:15 / Kaci / I'm Not Anybody's Girl

Still Pushing the Limits

2007-10-11T13:24:00.000-04:00

I'm still pushing aerobic limits, trying to get participants to stay at or below 85%. This week's training session is structured somewhat differently. I've included almost equal parts seated flats and standing climbs. Throughout the session, the standing climbs start at a slow tempo, 60 beats per minutes (bpm) and work their way up to 75 bpm. The seated flats start fast (100-110) and then slow down to 82 bpm. Resistance increases are on the minute on the standing climbs with a total of 24 sprinkled throughout the session. The problem with this approach is that 2/3 of the way through, riders are maxing out. So I catch them just as they are about to transition from 85% to whatever and begin a series of decreases to get them back to 80%. It's fun because they are so caught up with their effort and then they get to release the pressure. As one class participant said, "you played my heart rate like a fiddle." Unexpectedly, I also created ride that mirrors a "road" experience when your heart rate changes more dynamically with plenty of latitude in manipulating the output.

The playlist appears below. I plan to substitute a song or two for Sunday's training session (I just listened to some Placebo and there are some good candidates).

OK, here are the details for this ride. After the warmup period, I use the standing climb songs to increase resistance every minute. However, somewhere in the middle, it became clear that any further increasing makes the session very difficult to sustain 85%. So I incorporated some judiciously applied decreases in resistance and that worked. Heart rates went back to 80% and then we were to stabilize and get ready to attack the final hills and push to the end. Enjoy!

Profile / Song / Duration / Artist / Album
Warmup / October / 4:09 / Moneyshot / Amped
Warmup / Young Turks / 5:06 / Rod Stewart / The Very Best of Rod Stewart
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / E Motion / 4:20 / Various Artists / Cyber Dances
Seated Flat / Got Ma Nuts From A Hippy / 3:14 / The Fratellis / Costello Music
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Psychobitches Outta Hell / 3:13 / Horrortops / Hell Yeah!
Seated Flat / Hit Me Up / 3:14 / Gia Farrell / Hit Me Up (Single)
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / 5:20 / LCD Soundsystem / LCD Soundsystem
Seated Flat / Rainin In Paradize / 3:41 / Manu Chao / La Radiolina
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Soul Spaceship / 4:35 / Meshell Ndegeocello / The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams
Seated Flat / Wake Up Call / 3:24 / Maroon5 / It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / Written In Blood / 5:02 / She Wants Revenge / This Is Forever
Standing Climb (increase resistance every minute) / The New Face Of Zero And One / 4:14 / The New Pornographers / Electric Version
Seated Flat / We're Coming Home / 3:21 / Rogue Traders / Here Come The Drums
Cooldown / U + Ur Hand / 3:36 / Pink / I'm Not Dead
Cooldown / Candyman / 3:17 / Christina Aguilera / Back To Basics
Cooldown / The Itch / 3:33 / Vitamin C / More
Cooldown / So In Love With Two / 3:27 / Mikaila / Mikaila
Cooldown / I'm Not Anybody's Girl / 3:15 / Kaci / I'm Not Anybody's Girl

Sustaining at 85%

2007-10-11T13:02:00.001-04:00

Last week I exhorted class participants to sustain an effort of 85% for the entire class. Of course, we were good to ourselves and took at least five if not ten minutes to get to 85%. Once there though, the task was to maintain the effort. It was on them to manage their ride as best they could. The playlist that I used on Friday, October 5, 2007, is listed in a previous post. I changed it for Sunday's class (October 7) because I did not feel that Crawling Through the Wreckage and Weird Science did the trick. I substituted Hold On Tight and Rock And Roll Is King by ELO and Nutbush City Limits by Tina. The new playlist appears below. Enjoy!

Song, Artist, Album, Profile/Comments, Duration
I Love Music, Dave Edmunds, Plugged In, Pre-warm up, 5:13
Over And Over, Hot Chip, Over And Over, Warmup, 5:52
Mas Tequila, Sammy Hagar, Red Voodoo, Seated Flat, 4:12
Never Say Never, Romeo Void, Warm In Your Coat, Standing Climb, 5:54
Hold On Tight, Electric Light Orchestra, Strange Music: The Best of ELO, Seated Flat, 3:06
Just Let Go (Thin White Duke Remix), Fischerspooner, Just Let Go (Thin White Duke Remix), Standing Climb, 4:14
Blanco Y Negro, Desol, Desol, Seated Flat, 3:46
My Way, Los Lonely Boys, Sacred, Seated Flat, 4:26
Happy, Fischerspooner, Odyssey, Standing Climb, 4:04
Rock And Roll Is King, ELO, The Essential Electric Light Orchestra, Seated Flat, 3:45
Nutbush City Limits (90's Version), Tina Turner, Simply The Best, Standing Climb, 3:42
War (King Britt Remix), Edwin Starr, Motown Remixed, Seated Flat, 5:14
Mambo Sun, T. Rex, Electric Warrior, Cool down, 3:40
Stars Are Blind, Paris Hilton, Stars Are Blind, Cool down, 4:00
Medley (Yell Help, Wednesday Night, Ugly), Elton John, Rock of the Westies (Remaster), Cool down, 6:15
Monday For Nothing, Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms, Cool down, 8:27

It Is All About the Heart

2007-10-05T09:09:00.001-04:00

Today's class reminded me about maximum heart rate. Many students in my class do not know their maximum heart rate. In response, I devised a chart to give them numbers and training zones in which to work. I use the highest recorded heart rate a rider has achieved in a Spinning® class. I know it is not the max that would be obtained from a controlled test but it is certainly a number that puts them in their anaerobic zone. For example, if someone’s highest recorded heart rate in a Spinning® class is 180 then I can work with that individual and provide him or her with numbers that puts her in safe zones for training purposes. Therefore at 180, the zones are as follows: Zone 1- Recovery: 50-65% (90-117), Zone 2-Endurance: 65-75% (117-135), Zone 3-Strength: 75-80% (135-153), Zone 4-Interval: 65-92% (117-166). Training in these zones, this particular student will be able, over time, to change 180 to 185 or even higher, thereby stretching her zones and her capacity to work smarter and gain more fitness.

All About Sustainability

2007-10-04T15:38:00.000-04:00

I am preparing a ride for tomorrow morning. I am subbing for my colleague Allison. On Wednesday last I created a ride to help students sustain a level of output for 40 minutes. It does not matter what zone students choose, the goal is to sustain whatever level selected for the whole period, but with one caveat, stay under 85% of max. This is more for those who are fitter in the class so that they stay right in that rarefied zone between aerobic and anaerobic. Breathing needs to stay unlabored and in and out through the nose. I used a different playlist on Wednesday than the one I am using tomorrow morning. Wednesday's was too repetitive and uninspiring. Here's the plan for Friday, October 5th.

Song, Artist, Album, Profile/Comments, Duration
I Love Music, Dave Edmunds, Plugged In, Pre-warm up, 5:13
Over And Over, Hot Chip, Over And Over, Warmup, 5:52
Mas Tequila, Sammy Hagar, Red Voodoo, Seated Flat, 4:12
Never Say Never, Romeo Void, Warm In Your Coat, Standing Climb, 5:54
Crawling From The Wreckage, Dave Edmunds, I Hear You Rockin', Seated Flat, 3:06
Just Let Go (Thin White Duke Remix), Fischerspooner, Just Let Go (Thin White Duke Remix), Standing Climb, 4:14
Blanco Y Negro, Desol, Desol, Seated Flat, 3:46
My Way, Los Lonely Boys, Sacred, Seated Flat, 4:26
Happy, Fischerspooner, Odyssey, Standing Climb, 4:04
Weird Science, Oingo Boingo, Best O'Boingo, Seated Flat, 6:06
War (King Britt Remix), Edwin Starr, Motown Remixed, Seated Flat, 5:14
Mambo Sun, T. Rex, Electric Warrior, Cool down, 3:40
Stars Are Blind, Paris Hilton, Stars Are Blind, Cool down, 4:00
Medley (Yell Help, Wednesday Night, Ugly), Elton John, Rock of the Westies (Remaster), Cool down, 6:15
Monday For Nothing, Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms, Cool down, 8:27

Last Sunday's (9/23) 75-92% ride

2007-09-29T11:34:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday (September 23) I encouraged the class to push themselves across the higher heart rate zones. I broke down the training session into four 10 minutes segments. After the warm-up, class participants worked their way up to 75% of capacity. The next ten minutes to 80%, then 85% and finish the last quarter to 90-92%. Again, this is all about sustainability. Class participants are the best judges of their output and if they can stay relaxed and sustain output then their fitness level is improving and the spread between aerobic and anaerobic is widening. Below is the playlist and profile. Bahati njema (good luck in Swahili)!

No. Song -- Artist (profile and comments)
1. Bitter Sweet Symphony -- The Verve (Warm - up)
2. Free Bird -- Lynyrd Skynyrd (start in the saddle, when tempo picks up with a little more than four minutes to go, standing climb; participants should have no problem reaching 75%)
3. Hold On Tight -- Electric Light Orchestra (this one straddles first of two segment; start in the saddle, two standing climbs on the chorus; by the end of this one, class in above 75% but below 80%)
4. All Right Now -- Free (for this one, standing climbs on lyrics and instrumentals, in the saddle on the chorus, and still at or below 80%)
5. Blanco Y Negro -- deSol (with this one, three standing climbs on chorus, transition from 80-85%)
6. Tightrope -- Electric Light Orchestra (strong focus required here as we do standing climbs on lyrics and instrumentals and in the saddle on chorus while staying at or below 85%)
7. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet -- Bachman-Turner Overdrive (continued strong focus to stay at or below 85% with three standing climbs on chorus; towards the end begin to make transition beyond 85%)
8. Every 1' A Winner -- Hot Chocolate (now we are beyond 85%, start in the saddle with standing climbs on chorus; there is some improvisation here depending on group energy and experience)
9. Sultan's Of Swing -- Dire Straits (the hammer is coming down now; start in the saddle and come up in a standing climb on a strong instrumental with about three minutes left; back in the saddle with two minutes for an all out push)
10. One Headlight -- The Wallflowers (Cool down and stretches)
11. My Sweet Lord -- Marie O'Brien (Cool down and stretches)
12. Clocks -- Coldplay (Cool down and stretches)
13 1979 -- Smashing Pumpkins (Cool down and stretches)
14. Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen (Cool down and stretches)

Note: play with resistance as appropriate; stress the sustainability of training and to delay reaching the ceiling of each zone in order to have fuel at the end so that participants can feel their engines work efficiently and effectively!

Push It!

2007-09-17T13:39:00.000-04:00

This week I am asking class participants to pick it up a notch. After the warm up, I ask them to press the pace to 80% of max heart rate. Once there, they push the pace even further to 92% (roughly adding 20 heart beats from a base of 80%). At 92%, I ask the class to lose 20 heart beats back to 80%. When 80% is reached, then it is back to 92%. Repeat as many times as you can in a 40 minute class. Good response from Sunday's class on this classic and proven interval. I used fast-pace music to allow for jumps and standing flat movements. I also included one song for climbers. Bahati njema (good luck in Swahili)!

Song/ Profile/ Duration
Roll Over Beethoven/ First 5-6 minutes for warm-up; remainder push pace to 80%/ 8:10
My Wheels Won't Turn/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 5:25
Macarena/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 5:07
Sabre Dance/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 4:56
Got My Mojo Working/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 4:37
Let it Roll/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 4:31
The Sound/ Start in saddle with three standing climbs on chorus/ 4:26
I Wanna Go Out/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 3:48
Dog Eat Dog/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 3:07
Goody Two Shoes/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 3:28
Rockaway Beach/ Start in saddle and push it to 92% and recover to 80% and repeat/ 2:08
Diaraby/ Cool-down/ 7:25
Fountain of Sorrow/ Cool-down/ 6:53

Introductions

2007-09-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

I've been a spinning instructor for almost one year. I teach two classes a week at Shelburne Health & Fitness in Shelburne, VT on Wednesday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m.). I switched from running to spinning and cycling -- much easier on my knees. For my classes I typically arrive early and start some music and talk with participants. Tonight for instance I will play some of the top songs from The Clash (for example, Train In Vain and Should I Stay or Should I Go). Tonight's ride is called "Afterburner". I got the name and idea from The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Cyclists by Sally Edwards and Sally Reed. Here's the play list and profile. The ride includes a deliberate warm-up and cool-down with a sustained effort in the middle at 80-85% of max heart rate. It's a good calorie burner and if riders stay just below that anaerobic line, their bodies will repay them in time by further stretching their aerobic zone. Have fun!

Title	Artist	Time	Profile/Comments
Rocky Mountain Way	Joe Walsh	5:39	Warm-up to 60% of your max heart rate.
Philadelphia Freedom	Elton John	5:24	Start in saddle, standing climb on chorus (3 times)), add enough resistance to reach 70% by first 2 minutes.
My Way	Los Lonely Boys	4:26	Start seated, then standing climb on chorus (3 times) to bring yourself to 80% of your max heart rate.
Supernaturally	Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	5:16	Seated, stay between 80-85% of your max heart rate.
Do Ya	Electric Light Orchestra	3:44	Start seated, then three interspersed standing climbs on chorus stay between 80-85% of your max heart rate.
Sabre Dance ‘94	Dave Edmunds	4:56	Stay in saddle, high cadence, adjust resistance to stay between 80-85% or max heart rate.
The Sound	The Rapture	4:26	Start seated, then three standing climbs on chorus, continue to stay between 80-85% of max heart rate.
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting	Elton John	4:55	Start seated then three standing climbs on chorus cued by piano flurry and continue to stay between 80-85% of max heart rate.
Success	Duran Duran	4:06	Start seated, then two standing climbs on instrumentals, begin to bring heart rate down to 70% of max heart rate.
La Grange	ZZ Top	3:56	Stay seated and bring your heart rate down to 60% of max heart rate.
Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock & Roll	Muddy Waters	3:36	Cool-down and try to bring heart rate down as low as you can.
Baby Hold On	Eddie Money	3:30	Continue cool-down and stretches
Oh Susanna	Taj Mahal	5:28	Continue cool-down and stretches
Taxi Taxi	Cher	5:07	Continue cool-down and stretches

Three-segment Interval Spin

2007-09-09T12:44:00.000-04:00

Today's training session included a three part interval with one minute interlude in between each segment. I know it's not much of a rest but the point is to try and manage your resources as best you can. During the first segment, the class worked to 80% of max output. The second one, they worked to 85% and the third up to 92% of max effort. Increases in resistance are inherited in segments two and three and class participants are asked to keep the resistance for the duration of that segment. For the programs that design, I always try and include 40 minutes of work, preceded by at least a five minute warm up and followed by a cool down period with time for upper and lower body stretching. My playlist and profile appear below. Enjoy!

Profile Song Title Duration Artist
Warmup Dialogue (Part I & II) 5:01 Chicago
Seated Flat Ain't Going Down (Till The Sun Comes Up) 4:34 Garth Brooks
Standing Flat Matchbox 2:11 Carl Perkins
Standing Climb Night On Bald Mountain 5:14 Jay Atwood (resistance increases every min.)
Seated Flat Veni, veni, venias 0:53 Carl Orff (remove resistance to just below road resistance)
Standing Flat Hurt Me All The Time 2:21 Joe Diffie
Standing Climb Kiss Of Death 7:02 New Order (resistance increases every min.)
Seated Climb Flirtin' With Disaster 5:01 Molly Hatchet (keep the resistance on)
Seated Flat Were die werlt alle min 0:55 Carl Orff (remove resistance to just below road resistance)
Standing Climb Samurai (Fire of Love) (LP Version) 6:58 Futurhythms / Jungle High (resistance increases every min.)
Seated Climb Karma Chameleon 4:08 Culture Club (keep the resistance on)
Running with Resistance Can't Buy Me Love 2:22 Shenadoah (keep the resistance on)
Seated Flat Invention In C Minor 1:00 Billy Joel (remove resistance to just below road resistance)
Cool Down Hold You In My Arms 5:06 Ray LaMontagne (no resistance here)
More Cool Down Autumn Leaves 10:56 Cannonball Adderley Quintet (no resistance here)