July 4th Ride music

I do a July 4th theme ride every year. Since it's only a few days away, I thought I'd post some of the music I've used before or that I've collected in my July 4th folder (or that I've gotten off Pedal-On). I don't know yet what I'm going to do for a profile, but often it's based on the music I end up choosing, whether it feels more like hills or flats.

I also like to do theme rides on other nation's independence days every now and then, like Cinco de Mayo. Bastille Day is July 14th and it's during the Tour de France when I'm already playing a lot of fun French songs, so I cover that anyway. For my foreign readers, you may want to throw in a couple of July 4th tunes this weekend, but if you have playlists of your own country's songs that you might play on your country's holiday, please share!

There are your typical sappy America the Beautiful songs below, but not all these songs paint the good ole USA in a nice way. We as a nation are far from perfect, so take us warts and all. A significant freedom gained on July 4th, 1776 is the ability to challenge ourselves, our actions and our leaders. And that's American.

If you're into country music (which I'm not), you'll find lots more patriotic tunes. I have a few listed below. I don't know how "spinnable" some of the more sappy or country ones are - they may be better for warm-up, cool-down or pre-class mood setting music.

• Frank Sinatra, America the Beautiful
• Celine Dion, God Bless America
• Ray Charles, America the Beautiful
• Willie Nelson, America the Beautiful
• Les Greenwood, Proud to be an American
• Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA (not a happy song)
• Bruce Springsteen, American Land
• Neil Diamond, Coming to America
• James Brown, Living in America
• Chuck Berry, Back in the USA
• Linda Rondstadt, Back in the USA
• George Thorogood, American Made
• George Thorogood, Anytown USA
• George Michael, Freedom
• BoDeans, Closer to Free
• BoDeans, Freedom
• Nicole Mullens, Freedom
• The Guess Who, American Woman
• Madonna, American Life (funny lyrics about the typical American dream, but the only version I have found has expletives, maybe there's a clean version somewhere)
• John Mellancamp, R.O.C.K. in the USA
• John Mellancamp, Ain't That America
• Big Jack Johnson, It's the Fourth of July (great blues song)
• U2, The Hands that Built America
• U2, Walk On (America A Tribute to Heroes)
• U2, Bad (Wide Awake in America)
• ELO, Calling America
• Styx, Miss America
• Prince, America
• David Bowie, Young American
• Steve Miller Band, Living in the USA
• Don MacLean, American Pie
• The Offspring, Americana
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Born on the Bayou
• Dave Matthews, American Baby
• Tom Petty, American Girl
• Leny Kravitz, American Woman
• Counting Crows, American Girls
• Kim Wilde, Kids in America
• Grateful Dead, US Blues
• Everclear - This Land is Your Land
• Agent Orange, America (fast paced)
• Bigood 20, America
• The Catholic Girls, Rock'n America (driving rock song)
• Johnny Cash, I've Been Everywhere
• Depeche Mode, Route 66 (Beatmasters Mix)
• Beach Boys, Surfin' USA
• Fury in the Slaughterhouse, Down There (slow song, cool down)
• Safri Duo feat Michael M, Sweet Freedom
• Melissa Etheridge, Christmas in America
• Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man
• Paul Simon, Graceland (hey, what's more American than Elvis Presley and Graceland?!)
• Generation DJ, California Dreamin
• Royal Gigolos, California Dreamin (Clubhouse Extended Mix)
• The Ramones, California Sun
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama
• Tina Turner, Proud Mary
• Toby Keith, American Soldier
• Toby Keith, Courtesy of Red, White and Blue
• US Coast Guard Band, Armed Services Medley (parade music)
• The Flaming Lips, The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
• John Mayer, Waiting on the World to Change
• Labi Siffre, Something Inside So Strong
• John Lennon, Give Peace A Chance

If you didn't already overload your students with Michael Jackson tributes this past week, it would be perfect to throw in a couple of his songs as an American Pop Icon.

Where to get some of this music? Try eMusic for some of the older or more unusual songs. (Don't yet have eMusic? Click on that icon on the left of my blog to get 25 or 50 free downloads). Then check the usual suspects like iTunes.

Anymore suggestions, please list them in the comments!

EDIT Later: I've got a great idea! As I am putting together my own playlist, I have just had a good laugh. Here in Vail, Colorado during ski season, several of the bars in town have Apres Ski celebrations and parties every single day, with a live singer/guitarist playing fun sing-along drinking songs. Everyone (everyone, including the singer!) is doing shots or chugging beer. Not that I ever really Apres much anymore (yes, we've turned it into a verb), but back when I taught skiing, we'd go sometimes after the day on the mountain ended, or take visiting friends. There is not a single Apres Ski entertainer that doesn't include Don MacLean's American Pie in his repertoire - because everyone knows the words. Even just walking down the center of Vail you'll hear the song floating from the bars.

So I plan on playing it this Friday about halfway through my ride. I'm going to have to come up with a joke about doing shots. I think I'll get a shot glass and an empty bottle of Jaegermeister and fill it with dark brown-colored water, pour myself one and throw it back while on the bike during that song! Then I'll ask if anyone else wants one. Think I'll get a few amazed looks at 6 am?? I'll let you know how it goes! :-)

[The challenge: where to find an empty Jaegermeister bottle? I don't drink that crap! Yuck. I guess I can use another liquor, but Jaegermeister is such the "In" thing in the mountains after skiing. Maybe a local bar will be kind enough to save me an empty bottle...which means I'll have to start calling around now. Sheesh, now that I think about it, this practical joke may be more work than it's worth. Man, the things I do to keep my students entertained!!]

Goodbye Farrah

Celebrities pass away all the time. It's sad, we remember their movies, their scandals, their awards, but since I don't know these people except through the characters they play on screen, I usually don't cry. But I find myself very, very saddened by the passing of Farrah Fawcett a few hours ago (though inevitable), and was even surprised at the tears I shed.

I wanted so much for her to win this battle with cancer; not only for herself, that she recover from the pain and misery of this insidious disease, but I was hoping that through a full - though doubtful - recovery, she'd become the Lance Armstrong of celebrities, a symbol of hope and strength for others out there suffering.

Farrah put up such a valiant fight. I didn't watch her documentary about her struggles last month but I heard a lot about it. We don't have TV but I plan to try to watch it online the first opportunity I get. I have never been star-struck. I hate celebrity magazines, I barely know the names of many actors and actresses people talk about all the time. I just don't get what the fascination is with celebrities and their every move, divorce, birth, new fashion, latest faux pas, whatever.

But when I was in my teens, I loved Farrah Fawcett. I had the "doo" in high school and carefully flipped back my hair with my curling iron every day. (I think Farrah was responsible for more curling iron sales than any other model!) I loved Charlie's Angels that first year (didn't care as much for Cheryl Ladd). My brothers had that famous Farrah poster with her big hair and big toothy smile up on their walls for most of my high-school years. Even back then I was wondering what she was doing with that Lee Majors guy.

So when I heard the news this morning that she lost her fight, I couldn't stop the flow of tears. Me? I don't cry when celebrities die!

I follow the Fat Cyclist blog, a very funny blogger (when he's writing about cycling, that is) whose wife Susan is in the midst of a painful battle with cancer. When he talks about their travails with the cancer, he holds nothing back when he describes her pain, her doctor's visits, her ups and downs, the impact on their lives. As a result of his posts and willingness to bare his life and soul, I (and tens of thousands of other readers) know more about the horrors of cancer than I ever thought possible (without having a close loved one go through it). My grandmother recovered from breast cancer surgery in the late 50's before I was born (back when they took out ALL the lymph nodes when doing mastectomies), and suffered pain all her life. I've known others, but not people very close to me.

So until it hits someone close, or *gasp* us, we often fall into the "it'll never happen to me" syndrome. Don't get me wrong, I don't condone worrying about cancer, or focusing on it, because I believe in the Law of Attraction. What you focus on you attract. But that doesn't mean we can or should remain ignorant or indifferent, or that we can eat willy-nilly anything we want or put products on our skin that might be carcinogenic. But we can all participate in the efforts to find a cure for cancer, by using the Law of Attraction, your prayers (however you personally define them and utilize them), as well as our wallets.

Give, give, give to organizations that are working towards finding a cure. Support legislation to fund cancer research and care for patients and families. My efforts in the Giretto were for the Lance Armstrong foundation (3 of us raised over $10K using grass roots efforts!), and I'll be doing more rides and events in the future if you're looking for a place to donate! ;-)

Better yet, sign up to ride or run in one of the Livestrong Challenge events, or create a Spinning event around finding a cure for cancer.

When we all continue to work together, I know finding a cure will happen in our generation!

EDIT 5:00 pm

I guess I need to add a goodbye to Michel Jackson. It wasn't cancer, but an alleged cardiac arrest. Now, at the risk of dating myself even more here, those of you who have been involved fitness since the 80's like me (and if so, you either had the same Farrah haircut or had a sister/friend who did) will also fondly remember how Michael Jackson's music influenced not only the world's dance floors, but the aerobics industry as well. Ah! I wish I had photos of me in the teal unitard with the fuscia thong, and the legwarmers and headband, high kicking and grapevining to Michael Jackson's Thriller or Beat It!

Although you won't find much MJ in my Spinning playlists these days, it's safe to say that there's not a generation out there that won't start taping their fingers when a classic MJ song comes on. If I were teaching tomorrow (I've got a sub since I'm flying to Philly for a Spinning training weekend) I'd certainly do an MJ dedication. Maybe I will in next Wednesday's class. Stay tuned...

EDIT again...

Just read the following on my nephew's Facebook page:

Michael Jackson's not dead. He's just preparing for his last concert. He's gonna perform Thriller as an ACTUAL ZOMBIE!

The purpose of my last post - to reach beyond the choir!

As you have discovered from my last post, I am on a mission!

Sometimes we as Master Instructors feel like we're preaching to the choir when we are teaching our Continuing Education sessions or presenting at conferences on the proper, safest and most effective way to create and teach Spinning profiles. Often the instructors that need the education the most are not the ones who are willing to pay for or take the time to attend CED or conferences, or even read books on physiology or coaching.

I am quite sure that the Master Trainers in the other indoor cycling programs (Schwinn, RPM, etc.) feel exactly the same way. I've even heard from some of them who support this effort 100%. I include any "brand" of indoor cycling when referring to safe and effective classes. There is no philosophy difference when it comes to employing proper training principles, having a good knowledge of biomechanics, and understanding the mechanics of pedaling a bicycle, especially a fixed-gear bicycle with a heavy flywheel that impacts the way we ride indoors.

My last post is an effort to reach beyond the choir, get past the converted, and access the universe of indoor cycling instructors of every ilk.

I read on the forums, in emails I receive, or hear it in direct conversations with instructors how they are some of the only ones at their facilities not doing unsafe aerobics-type classes and CI moves, yet they don't want to challenge their peers. Or perhaps their program director also does hovers, pushups and high-speed cadences with low resistance and doesn't support them in their plea to clean things up.

I also know that often the safest, most effective and best taught classes are not the highest attended. How many of you teach at facilities where the fullest classes are the ones where the instructor employs the most CI moves? (This is where the students also need to be educated).

I can totally understand why you don't want to make waves! You just want to teach your class and leave, hoping to make an impact on your small group of followers.

This is where I come in. Use me. Let me be the 'bad guy'. Send them (instructors, directors, students) the link*, and let me teach them (or at least, try to) the reasons why it's so important to not resort to aerobics-on-a-bike to be 'popular'.

Others have started to write similar blog posts and linking to this post, so this grassroots movement is gaining momentum (I'll share with you the bloggers who have done so later in the week). My blog hits were up by 68% the past few days according to Google Analytics, so it's starting to work, but I don't want to reach hundreds; I want to reach thousands of instructors out there who can learn from this blog, from these posts, from these profiles, from guest bloggers/instructors who have had an impact on their students, and from the resources provided (most of them free) such as the other blogs, podcasts and forums I've linked to.

There is sooooo much information for the taking, so much learning to be had, so much great stuff to share, if we can get it into the right hands!

And I can only do that with your help. Continue to spread the word and to leave your comments. As usual, I am very grateful for all my blog readers!

* I suggest sending the permalink to the last post ("Just Don't Do It") by clicking on the post title and copying and pasting the entire URL that has the blog post title included.

Just Don't Do It in your indoor cycling classes!

Don't think this stuff happens out there? It not only happens, it's actually prevalent in some places! Sorry, I have to take off my normal diplomatic hat and get downright indignant here. The contraindicated stuff just won't go away, and as such, I just can't/won't shut up! The shananigans in these Youtube videos are not only contraindicated, they're just plain stupid.

I mean, isn't a properly conducted Spinning, or any indoor cycle class, hard enough without goofy moves that take away from actually riding the bike? And this class in the first video is only doing some of the most egregious moves; perhaps it saves the others for the next song, the hovers, squats, & isolations. The second video, I'll leave you to comment (er, gag) on the "Spingasm" hovers, gyrations, hip thrusts and backbends of Angela's Joyride.

I'm slightly relieved to see that these aren't real "Spinner" bikes and is not my beloved "Spinning" program. But that doesn't make it OK or give it credibility. There is not a single indoor cycling program certification worth its salt that condones these outrageous types of class formats. It is bad to a ridiculous degree. These are instructors who are not certified and/or they are making up stuff because they don't know how to ride a bike and they think their students need to be entertained by erroneous fluff. They don't trust that their students are smart enough to know the difference (or maybe, dare I say it, their students aren't smart enough to know when something hurts it's not good for you). These instructors feel that every one of their students has a bad case of ADD and cannot sit for more than 15, 30 or even 60 seconds and just pedal a bike correctly, without having to flap their arms. They probably watch The Biggest Loser and get their class ideas from Jillian. They don't understand physiology, biomechanics, or the mechanics of pedaling a bike (even if it doesn't go anywhere, it's still a bike)!

Common sense would preclude this from taking place, but we've all heard that common sense isn't very common anymore...

Tell me, who will pay for the dental work for that woman in the back when she slams her face into the handlebars in the first video? Or the chiropractor visits many of these students will need over time, from either of these classes? Actually, maybe the students don't have the sense to put two and two together that it was their cycle class that threw their back out (except that backbend in Angela's joyride would be a sure culprit for most people in touch with their bodies).

It is my hope that eventually this blog post makes its way around the country until it actually reaches instructors who teach like this so they see the error of their ways. Hey, maybe it will even make it to these particular clubs. The first one is in Italy and the second in Los Angeles not far at all from the Spin Fitness HQ (I guess only in Los Angeles would you find an orgasmic Spin experience!)

Well, maybe that's a pipe dream that they'd suddenly convert from the dark side...

But I can try! :-)

I need your help to take this viral. Do me a favor; send this to every instructor you know, every club manager, even to your students, and have them send it to every instructor or club manager or fellow Spinning enthusiast that they know, with the message "Please! Don't let this happen at your club!"

Maybe we can have just a little effect and clean up indoor cycling around the country, maybe even the world!

Remember to Keep it Real in your indoor cycling classes!

(Oh, and if you haven't see my post from last year on numerous other horrible-yet-kinda-funny aerobics-on-a-bike Youtube videos, check these out!)

My mission: to use the power of Web 2.0 to help clean up Spinning/Indoor Cycling around the world. I'm using Twitter, Facebook and online forums to help spread this as well.

ARE YOU A BLOGGER (especially in fitness/indoor cycling, but really, any blog that will reach potential enthusiasts)? Please link to this post on your blog and then let me know about it!

FREE MUSIC!! Woohoo!

As IC instructors, nothing gets us more excited than getting free music legally (well...few things do)! ;-)

I recently found out about this link (thanks to Twitter) where you can sign up for a daily newsletter with one or two free songs a day. http://rcrdlbl.com/

Register as a member and get the daily newsletters with free mp3s. The genres run the gamut from pop to hip hop to indie to electronic and trance.

Yesterday's song Everything Up by Zero 7 is awesome! Great for a steady climb. Today's song by Colette, Think You Want It, is a little "popee" for my tastes, but I think my students will like it. (Don't think "popee" is a word, but you get what I mean!)

Last week was a new Moby song.

Some I've deleted, some have been great. But it's all free! Enjoy!

HIT Intervals - interesting observation

I did some HIT intervals this morning in class called "Over/Under Intervals", fashioned after a workout I got from a Trainright newsletter (Chris Carmichael's training company). They were definitely hard to very hard. And yes, I took myself to that intensity as well, because my students know and trust me, I know each of them very well, I had no new students, and I didn't need to be off the bike coaching (if any of the latter weren't the case I would recommend that the instructor not push him/herself as high in order to coach accordingly).

My interesting observation is that although I did work very hard to the point of breathlessness, I didn't sweat nearly as much as either of the two aerobic rides I did in yesterday's classes. I mopped my face a lot with a towel as usual (it's hot in there) but my litmus test is my jersey. After class I usually have to take my jersey off right away because it's so soaked (I HATE soaking wet fabric against my skin and I immediately get cold because of it) and replace it with my long-sleeved jersey. This morning, yeah it was wet, but not requiring immediate removal like both classes yesterday.

In yesterday's profile, I spent 5 minutes a few beats below LT, and the rest of the time in various increments lower than that. Today, I spent a total of 18 minutes a few beats below LT and 9 minutes 4-5 beats above it. That's up there...

I guess sweat isn't always an indication of intensity, and aerobic efforts can produce as much or more sweat than higher efforts.

Oh BTW, I'll be sharing this Over/Under interval profile and playlist with you in a week or two. But coming up shortly is a very interesting study I want to write about on using heart rate monitors. I'll be asking for your help in that study.

Also, even if you read yesterday's post on the HR Pyramid, go back and reread it because I edited it with additional comments after the second class I taught in the evening.

Thanks as usual for reading!

Subbed a class this morning

I had to sub a 6am class this morning for an instructor who had to take her dog to an oncologist in Denver today. :-(

Since I am doing some HIT intervals tomorrow at 6, and many of these people come 3-4 days a week, I decided to keep it aerobic and did my stalwart go-to profile of a HR Pyramid.

Ah man what a fantastic workout! Nothing too hard, but amazingly effective. I had them take their threshold (most have done the LT field test with me), or 85%MHR if they didn't know it, and round it down to the nearest multiple of 5. So in my case, my LT is 157, so I rounded it to 155. That was my ceiling. Then I subtracted 30, to get 125, and that was my floor. And then we raised it 5 beats every 5 minutes, for 6 increases.

Half the class had HRMs. For the others, I used descriptions of what they should be feeling, asking them to be very subtle in their increases, and to maintain control of their breath. As we got 15, then 10, then 5 beats from the ceiling, I told them to make sure they had room to increase, knowing they didn't want to go to the point of a burning sensation in the legs. The ceiling, just below LT, is a solid sensation of effort without the burning. We are producing lactate at a high rate now, but we are still able to flush it from the system. Any  higher, just a few beats higher, and that lactate would accumulate, the increased acidity would be felt as that familiar burning sensation. Don't go there! It's work, it's breathing, but it's not breathless. At the top two levels, you are very aware of heart rate in your chest. 

This profile, more than almost any other that I teach, really shows how much control one has (or doesn't have) over ones intensity. It requires a lot of focus, and it requires a lot of time seated in the saddle, so your students must trust you. It also shows that "aerobic" doesn't have to be easy. As we crept up the pyramid, the work effort increased. Everyone was sweating. Everyone was breathing, but in a manageable way. But by staying below LT, we were staying predominantly aerobic, using fat as our fuel source.

Novice riders, or ones who are new to using HRMs, may not have as easy a time keeping the HR stable, or increasing it incrementally at first. This takes practice, and is a wonderful benchmark for controlled pacing.

Try it. It really opens some eyes, and light bulbs go off as they become aware of subtle intensity increases. This is a good one to lend a HRM or two out to students to learn how effective they can be.

EDIT this evening:

YUM YUM! I taught this same profile for the second time today in my regular 5:30 p.m. class. I only had two guys in class and both had their heart rate monitors. They both enjoyed the ride, and I loved it even more the second time around. It's such a delicious intensity range, that's the best way for me to describe it! I was sweating profusely, and felt pleasantly worked without ever feeling a burning sensation or feeling like I had to slow down. My legs never felt heavy during the ride, which is what you're trying to get your students to buy into - it's not necessary to go anaerobic (above LT) to have a great workout.

At the ceiling intensity, just below LT, I told them this would be the intensity that someone would do a century ride (100 miles) and strive for a very good time (5-6 hours). 10 beats below LT would be a century pace for someone working diligently, but not trying to break any records, maybe a 6-7 hr pace. And 20 beats below, maybe an 8-hour casual pace with friends, so you could talk the whole time with your riding partners with the goal of just finishing. At the base intensity, you'd be picked up by the sag wagon because it got dark before you finished!

I had a harder time getting my heart rate up to my base level at the beginning, having to put some effort out just to get to 125 bpm. But once I was sufficiently warmed up (20 minutes into class), I nailed each level much better than this morning, especially the higher three levels, holding them within one beat either side.

Both of them commented how much they learned about their own intensity and their ability to control it. Bingo!

Benchmark

Wow, this blog hit 50,000 hits overnight! Kewl. Maybe someday that will be 50K unique visitors! Spread the word, and sign up for the weekly updates so you don't miss anything (and get all my WSSC profiles and handouts for doing so).

FYI, tomorrow I am posting a fun new strength profile. I did it this week and it kicked my butt. Or who knows, maybe it kicked my butt because I've not been as healthy as I usually am (don't want to say the 's' word!), but I'd like your feedback on the profile once it's posted. Ride it at home and let me know what you think.

In HEALTH! :-)

Jennifer

Product Review: John's Red Pedal Tool

If you're a listener of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast, you might be familiar with John Macgowan's cool new device he's created that will make life easier for any club or instructor who works at a facility that has the triple link Schwinn pedals, the red ones that have SPD on one side, and Look clips on the other, and cages that clip into the Look cleat for regular shoes.

We don't have them at my club, but I've traveled to numerous facilities around the country when doing orientations that do have them. The cages are a big pain to take off, often resulting in pinched fingers, bruised knuckles, broken nails and frustrated students. If you have them, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

You the instructor probably wouldn't purchase this tool, but your club may be interested. It would be a godsend for instructors and maintenance crews. Check out this short video to see how much easier it is to remove the cages with  this cool tool. Please forward this video to whoever makes these purchase decisions; it just might make your life as an instructor that much easier!

He's making his initial order next week.

Oooops! Operator Error on my part - fix coming soon!

I promised those who were already set up on my mailing list that you'd automatically get the WSSC links in an email. I'm having my hand held through this process, and I didn't actually learn how to do that yet (I'm learning how to use Aweber to manage email lists), thinking it would be automatic. I already had one glitch when I first set this up late Monday night (so for those who tried to subscribe early on but were unable to, please try again).

Please bear with me. I hope to send it out by tomorrow. This will mean however, that you NEW subscribers from WSSC will probably receive a duplicate. Sorry about that!

Thanks to those who let me know - either through a comment or email. 

If you haven't signed up for my mailing list, do so now in the box at the top left to receive the 10 items listed in the next post from my WSSC sessions. Free!

EDIT Thursday 6/10: Thanks to John Macgowan of ICI Podcast who is helping me out with this, it's all fixed. Anyone who has signed up for my mailing list should have received  the info. If not, email me at jennifer@vivatravels.com.

I have so much to give you from WSSC!

Whether you went to WSSC or not, I have much to give you! Profiles, music, cueing, resources and more. Some handouts may have already been posted from past conferences, but almost everything is recently updated. In order to receive all of the following documents (all free), please join my SageCycling network by signing up below. After you sign up, you will receive an email asking you to validate your email. This step is important - if you do not receive an email asking for verification, please check your spam folder. (Note: if you are already on my mailing list, you will automatically receive everything, no need to rejoin).


Once you verify your email the following is what you will receive via email. If you only attended one or a few of my sessions - take what you like and discard the rest (although I have a feeling you'll find it all useful):

1. Music List for all six sessions, including where to find the tracks.
   
2. Triple Threat powerpoint handout.
   
3. Triple Threat profile for our ride at WSSC, as well as several other interval profiles using the Triple Threat concepts.
   
4. Lactate Threshold Field Test powerpoint handout.
   
5. Suitcase of Courage - description of stage racing strategy, how to cue attacks, breakaways, leadouts and sprints in a Spinning class, and a verbal description of our Suitcase of Courage profile at WSSC. Includes links to a whole slew of metaphors and colorful comments used by Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen in their Tour de France commentary that you can sprinkle into your classes.
   
6. A glossary of bicycling and racing from Bicycling magazine (helpful for anyone putting together a Tour de France program).
   
7. The Tour de France powerpoint presentation as a handout (minus some photos to make the file size manageable).
   
8. My verbal dialogue used in the Alpe d'Huez ride, One Rider's Journey from Pain to Triumph as he finishes the final mountain stage of the Tour de France
   
9. How Big is Your Why. How to find your deepest WHY, and why this is so important in achieving your goals. I give a detailed example of my own personal why behind a recent challenge I put before myself (my little "secret" behind why I did the Giretto). Includes the profile for the Core Movement Medley, our ride which was the perfect metaphor for setting and achieving goals by establishing a compelling WHY. Verbal cueing and coaching is given for each round in the profile.
   
10. The powerpoint presentation for It's a Chain Reaction, the biomechanics of the pedal stroke.
    

Join my network and receive all of the above pdfs. You'll be on the SageCycling mailing list for weekly updates for my blog posts and information about future products that will help you become the best indoor cycling instructor you can be.

On this blog, there are already many resources that can help you. For those who took my Moving Mountains session, I have numerous posts on how you can teach this class at your club, complete with the nine componenets of Flow, and my verbiage and motivational techniques. Click here to find all the posts under the label "Mind-body" and scroll down to the first Moving Mountains post on September 4, 2008. There are 5 posts that you can cut and paste and copy for your own use. Please use this information to create your own MM ride, and let me know when you do! I have received several very inspiring emails from instructors who have taken the leap and taught this most amazing ride at their clubs. In virtually every case, they have been very successful and overwhelmed at the wonderful reception by their students.

One of these instructors, Charles, explained to me how he taught it at his club and his director told him he was "the real deal". Incidentally, this is why I picked Charles to ride with me up on stage for my Moving Mountains session last weekend in Miami. I am always impressed with anyone who will take this very motivational and inspirational material and share it with their own students.

If you took my Tour de France & Alpe d'Huez session, and seek examples of ways to teach various Tour de France stages, simply click on Tour de France under "Labels" on the left side of this blog. You'll find everything from flat stages, to time trials to rolling stages to the major climbs. Make sure to keep checking this July - I'll have more from this year's Tour.

If you're interested in more music suggestions, click on "Music" under labels for tons of music ideas, especially my favorite climbing songs. You will also find here past music lists from other conferences. Some songs remain the same from year to year for the more "iconic" rides such as Moving Mountains and Alpe d'Huez, because though I've tried, I cannot improve on some of the songs that have become so much a part of these profiles. I almost always return to my most favorite songs because of the mood they convey. With other profiles, I try to change the music from year to year, but chances are most attendees have not been to that session in the past. However, I must say, I am always amazed and honored when someone tells me they return to my same session year after year because of the impact it has had on them (usually MM or AdH). They don't seem to mind if the music is the same!

Make sure to join eMusic and get your free downloads by clicking on the icon on the top left of this blog page.

Once again I want to tell you all how much I appreciate you for not only attending my sessions, but for your friendship, your emails of support, and when you share with me how meaningful these rides have been for you. For those of you who frequent my blog who I have yet to meet either at a conference, or in a Spin class somewhere, or perhaps on a bike climbing a mountain in France or Italy...I look forward to our encounter where we can Move Mountains together.

Ride on!

Photos from WSSC World Spinning and Sports Conference

here are just a few photos while you're waiting for me to post all my "stuff" from my sessions...

I gave my fancy SLR camera to Sarah Ness, my presenter assistant, to take pictures during Moving Mountains. I barely know how to work the thing, and I didn't know it was set on an automatic slow shutter speed, resulting in some very cool shots. 

This is an interesting shot of me on stage, perhaps trying to get into FLOW after having some microphone issues (had to switch from a headset to the boom mic - but it made all the difference in the world). I love the shimmery effect of the water bottles.

This was the view from stage when there was too much sweat in your eye... 

Finally got the camera working for the Triple Threat ride. This was my team onstage, left to right: Charles from TN, Kate from KS, Deb from NY, and Gabriel from Venezuela. They were selected to ride onstage, either due to a very compelling answer to my question "Why do you want to ride onstage?" or because I picked names from a hat when I had too many fantastic answers to choose from. Gabriel actually called me from Venezuela before he left for Miami to find out if he was chosen...and that burning desire (in addition to his great email response) gave me cause to select him. 

Below is the gang from Pedal-On, which was very well represented this year. What a fun and friendly group of people! I'm sure we even missed some Pedal-On-ers who didn't know about this photo (I only happened upon it by chance)!

More coming soon...

Back from WSSC Miami

I'm back from Miami and recovered from my recovering. As the photo shows, everything was kind of a blur!

This was a phenomenal WSSC, in some ways better than last year, and in others almost as good as last year (2008 for me was over the top amazing). So that makes for a pretty awesome conference! I always return energized and empowered from my contact with such fantastic people. Spinning really attracts a beautiful crowd. I mean that in every sense of the word (lots of eye-candy there), but primarily I mean people with beautiful hearts and souls. I've met some of the most compassionate, caring souls whose greatest desire is to empower others to achieve great heights with their fitness. 

My schedule this time around was more difficult than it's ever been. I had several sessions back to back, and I won't let anyone do that to me again when scheduling conferences. Boy is that difficult, cleaning up from one room, talking to people quickly afterwards, changing rooms, hooking up the computer and doing visual and sound checks, changing from wet bike clothes to dry ones, and most difficult, switching my mental focus from one session to the next. But I survived, and it all turned out well.

I also taught an extra session for a presenter who could not make it due to illness. It was something I am very familiar with - the biomechanics of the pedal stroke, but I still had to create my own power point at the last minute. Seven sessions in three days is a lot, especially when so many of mine are so mind-intensive. That's not counting the pre-con by the way, the four-hour Cadence, Profile Design workshop I taught on Thursday. I felt like I existed in a constant state of sleep deprivation (not from partying, mind you)! So if anyone reading this tried to talk to me and I was rushing off somewhere (maybe to take a nap) and couldn't talk, please accept my apologies.

I promised all my participants that I would send out information on the sessions as soon as possible - power points, music list, auxiliary documents, etc. This is my goal this week. Last year it took me about 10 days. After Can Fit Pro in August I lost my email lists (but found them after ECA); and then post ECA I admit that I didn't fulfill my promise to send them out due to personal issues (losing ALL my bike tour clients in February/March - basically losing my job - due to the economy, and other caca than I'm still working out). I still intend to follow up on that promise; better late than never.

So, my biggest goal is to  fulfill these promises by the end of THIS week (WSSC, ECA AND CFP)! I will be posting it all on this blog, so those who did not attend WSSC make sure to check back soon. Those who did attend and know that I have your email address, you will be receiving notice as soon as everything is posted. If you did not give me your email, please contact me now so i can include you on the update. Note: if you were pre-registered for any of my sessions, I have your email address that you gave Spinning. I did receive about 20 returned emails from the ones I sent early last week so if you didn't hear from me, contact me.

jennifer@vivatravels.com

Check back soon!