Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!  Hope y’all have had a great start to 2015, and if you’re an instructor, I’m sure you’re in the midst of the busy “resolution season!”  While gyms are a little more crowded than normal, it is fun encouraging new faces and cheering people on toward their goals.

I have a new playlist for you — based on feedback from my class this morning, I think it’s a good one.  A lot of heavy climbing, with a couple of flat road sprints/surges mixes in.  Here is the spotify link, enjoy!  cyle tunes 1.12.15

• hogni – bow down (2:41) : warm up, stretching
• florence + the machine – dog days are over (4:12) : i haven’t played this one in a while, but a couple of easy hills to get things started
• guns n’ roses – sweet child o’ mine (5:56) : this is the beginning of over 8 minutes of climbing.  here is the first half.  i started with one solid peak to the top over the course of this song, four increases to the top.
• 3OH!3 – back to life (3:46) : finishing up the climb here.  slight downhill and then a steep increase at the end
• wolfmother – woman (2:56) : quick flat road here to recover from the climbing, approx 70% of max resistance, quick pace
• katy perry – this is how we do (3:24) : I can’t help it, this is one of my favorite songs and I continue to add to my playlists.  time for some lifts in and out of the saddle
• sia – chandelier (3:36) : surges in the saddle
• avicii – the days (4:38) : time for our second set of hills.  first peak over the course of this song.
• coldplay – a sky full of stars (4:28) : second peak, this is it for the heavy hills!
• mark ronson/bruno mars – uptown funk (4:31) : lifts in and out of the saddle
• calvin harris – feel so close (3:26) : surges in the saddle
• ben howard – keep your head up (4:25) : cool down / stretching

No Pain, No Gain

hi everyone!  new playlist this week.  sort of a hodge-podge of tunes… but i thought it worked well.  here is the spotify link, enjoy!  cycle tunes 1.31.13

• bruno mars – marry you (3:50) : stretch / warm up.  realized i should have saved this one for the valentine’s day ride, but it’s a fun one to use for warmup.
• ciara ft. usher – turn it up (3:09) : usher is not my favorite, but i think it’s a great tune for seated surges on the chorus.
• swedish house mafia – don’t you worry child (3:33) & chris wallace – remember when (push rewind) (3:14) : quick climbs here.  two peaks, surge on each increase.
• christina aguilera – your body (4:00) : sprints.
• r3hab & zroq – skydrop (radio edit) (3:04) : lifts in and out of the saddle. i know you want a break, but just wait for it!
• chris willis – put your hands up (3:30) : surges.
• zz top – legs (3:36) & kings of leon (radioactive – remix ft. west angeles mass choir) (3:29) : final climb, two peaks, heavy.
• jay sean – boom boom (3:17) : final set of lifts.
• pit bull – don’t stop the party (3:26) : standing climb, seated surge on chorus.
• tyrone wells – and the birds sing (3:42) : cool down.

 

Get The Adrenaline Pumping

hi everyone!  hope you are enjoying an extended MLK weekend.  this playlist may be one of my favorites… a lot of endurance work (which relies on the class really pushing themselves on the long stretches of uncomfortable resistance), but a few climbs to break up the ride.  here is the spotify link, enjoy!  cycle tunes 1.17.13

• the script, will.i.am – hall of fame (3:23) : really great warm up song.
• calvin harris, florence welch – sweet nothing (3:33) : quick seated surges on the chorus.
• liquid soul – adrenaline (7:51) : here comes the endurance work.  almost 8 minutes in the saddle.  uncomfortable resistance, but not a direct uphill climb.  can mix it up with one minute out of the saddle, one minute 5 rpm surge, etc.
• icona pop – i love it (2:36) : ok, i really like the pop beat of this song, but there are a few unfavorable words that i had to manually edit.  but it’s so fun!  time for lifts in and out of the saddle.
• chris brown – don’t wake me up (3:43) : surges/sprints.
• golden earring – radar love (3:44) : ok, this song was recorded before my dad was out of high school (love that it’s sandwiched between chris brown and jessie j).  but it’s really great for climbing.
• jessie j – domino (3:52) : surges and/or lifts.
• morgan page – body work (4:00) : another solid endurance push.  can also move into a slight uphill climb toward the end.
• u2 – where the streets have no name (4:47) : feel free to continue with some endurance work (i skipped ahead for the first 1 min or so of song to keep momentum) or move into climbing.
• ke$ha – die young (3:32) : can’t believe i used ke$ha, but i did.  sprints to finish the ride.
• the head and the heart – lost in my mind (4:19) : stretch / cool down.