Up, Down, Uppandown

Say hello to this morning's Uppandown Climb Profile! After the Warm-Up, we head right into our climbs.  Bastille starts us off with a standing climb (RPE 4) followed by alternating seated and standing climbs for the remainder of the workout.  Rate of Perceived Exertion and Watts climb consistently, as we increase our gears with every standing climb and don't back off when we drop back into the saddle.   Song #14 is the final standing climb, and I encourage you to have a standing-only resistance level going for this one.  At various points during the workout, we rev up our power with some timed short speed bursts. 

Lots of new-and-never-before-played-in-class on this list...



Warm-Up
1. When It Ends It Starts Again - ATB feat. Sean Ryan
Workout
2.  The Silence - Bastille (RPE 4)
3.  Background - Barcelona (RPE 5)
4.  All the Way - Timeflies (RPE 5)
5.  Land of Opportunity - A Great Big World (Day 19 Performance) (RPE 6)
6.  Surrender - Nine Lashes (RPE 6)
7.  Hot For Teacher - Van Halen (RPE 7)
8.  Don't Stop Levels - Avicii feat. Journey (Levels Bangers Max-Mix) (RPE 7)
9.  Shakin' - Eddy Money (RPE 8)
10.  Alibi - Thirty Seconds to Mars (RPE 8)
11.  Do or Die - Thirty Seconds to Mars (RPE 9)
12.  Loud and Proud - Blasterjaxx and Billy the Kit (RPE 9)
13.  House of Gold - Twenty One Pilots (RPE 10)
14.  Everyone is Gay - A Great Big World (RPE 10)
Cooldown
15.  Love is to Die - Warpaint
16.  Remurdered - Mogwai

If you imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you can dream it, you can become it. (William Arthur Ward)

Seeking Redemption

This is the Redeemer Ride.  It's inspired by two of my favorite news stories of the week:  lighting striking the middle finger of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, and a nun giving birth to a baby boy in Italy. Catholic guilt followed the laughs these stories provided, and seeking redemption seemed the right way to go! 

The workout consists of doing a series of 3 challenging things (Spin Ups, Steep Climb, Attacks).  This series is repeated 4 times with the goal of increasing Watts (power output) each step in the series. Workout begins with a 2 song warm-up lasting about 7 minutes.   The opening video - the brilliant and newest Bad Lip Reading video - helps get the smiles going!  I use body weight as an indicator for tracking Watts.  Having the goal of reaching, maintaining, and exceeding your body weight in Watts works well for most intermediate indoor riders. 



The playlist is...

Warm-Up
1.  Bad Lip Reading NFL (hilarious) Set to Armin Van Buuren's Save My Night (Seated Flat)
2.  I Hold On - Dierks Bentley (Standing Flat)
Workout
3.  Big City Nights - Scorpions (Spin Ups)
4.  Pompeii - Bastille (Big Climb)
5.  Yo No Se - Pajama Party (Attacks)
First Set Complete
6.  We Will Rock You - Queen/Tiesto Remix (Spin Ups)
7.  There Goes Our Love Again - White Lies (Big Climb)
8.  Papaoutai - Stromae (Attacks)
Second Set Complete
9.  Ways to Go - Grouplove (Spin Ups)
10.  Lady - Chromatics (Big Climb)
11.  Stronger - Kayne West (Attacks)
Third Set Complete
12.  Hope - New Politics (Spin Ups)
13.  Black Betty - Ram Jam (Big Climb)
14.  My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark - Fallout Boy (Attacks)
Final Set Done
Cooldown
15.  Your Bones - Of Monsters and Men
16.  My Head is a Jungle - Wankelmut





An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head. (Emil Zatopek)

I Have a Dream Ride

There's a Tabata-esque quality to this I Have a Dream Ride.  Max effort happens for 3 minutes - 5 times.  Recovery in between each of the 3 minutes with a longer recovery at the end of the 5 sets.  Next effort - sustain maximum power output for 6 minutes - just once.  Final max efforts are 1 minute each - 3 times.  This is great training for the body to understand maximum efforts for varying lengths of time - knowing when you're giving too much, and appreciating when and how you can give more.   We can take some lessons from our experiences with short and long-term relationships:  Only with longevity do we understand what we are truly capable of and how much we're willing to both give and sacrifice. Only once we see the truth of ourselves today can we determine how to behave tomorrow.  If being yourself feels like a gift - keep doing what you're doing.  If being yourself feels like the greatest burden on earth - change.   If there's something else there in the middle - screw it.  Being the best we can be cannot possibly involve something as inherently mediocre as the middle. 

Lots of evidence throughout this music video of people believing in their dreams and making them come true.



PLAYLIST
Warm-Up and Workout:
1.  MLK I Have a Dream (Mix House 2011)
2.  MLK I've Been to The Mountaintop (also set to I Have a Dream Mix House 2011)
3. Bring You to Life (Transcend feat. RAS) - Steve Aoki
4.  James Bond Theme - Moby
5.  2000 - Merzo
6.  Wizard - Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway
7.  Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions
8.  Thanks for the Memories - Fallout Boy
9.  Up in the Air (Live NYC) -  Thirty Seconds to Mars
10.  Reload - Sebastian Ingrosso, Tommy Trash, John Martin
11. Castle of Glass - Linkin' Park
12. Harlem - New Politics
13.  Sweet Hell (Live) - Gin Wigmore
14.  My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark - Fallout Boy
Cooldown:
15.   We Are Going to Be Friends (Live Acoustic) - The White Stripes
16.  O Mio Babbino Caro - Holland's Got Talent's superstar 9-year-old
17.  And the Boys - Angus and Julia Stone

Have a great workout!

Zeitgeist Ride

I had a blast making this.



Warm-Up / Workout:
1.  Gov. Christie Traffic Jam (Born to Run Parody) - Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springstein
2.  James Bond Theme - Moby (set to the newst People Are Awesome vid)
3.  2000 - Merzo
4.  Wizard - Martin Garrix and Jay Hardway
5.  I Hold On - Dierks Bentley
6.   Time To Dance (Live) - The Shoes (feat. Pats comeback)
7.  I Want It (Lyric Video) - Viv and The Revival
8.  Want Dem All - Sean Paul (feat. Konshens and GoPro Drone Surfing footage)
9.  Do I Wanna Know - Arctic Monkeys
10.  American Woman - Lenny Kravitz (feat. sick snowboarding)
11. Teenage Crime - Axwell and Henrik B Remode (feat. Dubai's New Year's fireworks that took the Guinness Book record)
12.  Blow- Martin Solveig
13.  Best Day Of My Life - American Authors
Cooldown:
14.  Frozen Medley - Penatonix

Have fun!