If we liked breathing stale, recycled air, we’d all take up a sport like wrestling or indoor fly-fishing. But we love the feel of a gale on our faces. We cherish the smell of cow manure filling our nostrils with its almost tangible grittiness. We hold scared the privilege to breathe in diesel fuel while doing hill repeats up l’Alpe d’Huez.
But such whimsy is not for every day. Occasionally, we find ourselves faced with the prospect of an hour of solitude upon the wind trainer or rollers, where our sport is transformed from a glorious experience of powering ourselves along with only Nature for company to one where a ride of 30 minutes is barely tolerable, 45 seems like a lifetime wasted, and 60 minutes is more than most of us can even consider enduring. 60 minutes on the trainer at a leisurely pace or a 4 and a half hour death march up a barren, heat-riddled climb? I’ll take the 4 and half hours every time, thank you very much.
We all have to do it, and there are even some redeeming qualities to be had. You get better at Rule #5, for one. You develop a more magnificent stroke, for another. Whatever the redeeming qualities, we all have our way of coping. Jeff in PetroMetro returns with his view on how to make it suck just a little bit less.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
—
Either due to life-threatening weather or poor scheduling of life’s lesser priorities (see Rule #11), we Velominati spend a little time each year riding indoors. Whether one enjoys a ride on rollers or a trainer, and no matter if one methodically spins (as all good recovery ride specialists do), grinds out intervals, or practices ways to improve one’s magnificent stroke (scrape the mud off your shoes, scrape the mud off your shoes…), death-by-boredom is always a possibility. I’m not one to go for videos, or read books, or hook up to a computer. Call me old fashioned. I like to meditate on the V with only the voices inside my head screaming for mercy from the pain of a complete lactic acid meltdown.
Or, sometimes I like a little music.
Back in the Dark Ages, I used the yellow (sweatproof) Sony Walkman to play my favorite homemade training cassette tapes. But in our modern days of inexpensive digital storage, and with the brilliant invention of the “shuffle” command on my iPod Nano, I have some seven hours of musical motivation to keep my indoor sessions lively and loud.
I thought I might start a little conversation regarding favorite training tunes. Now, I know ALL of my fellow Velominati strictly adhere to Rule #62 when riding outside. And of course, we prefer strict adherence to Rule #9, but, as I stated above, shit happens.
While I have eclectic taste, I don’t fancy Al Green, Buck Owens, or Duke Ellington when loving a Rule #5 beatdown. No. I tack to the loud and fast. My preferences are punk and “classic rock”. (It was just rock when I first heard it.) So here’s a little flavor of my indoor training selection, in no particular order.
Hate to Say I Told You So“”The Hives””from the album “Your New Favourite Band”
Tick Tick Boom“”The Hives””from the album “The Black and White Album”
American Idiot“”Green Day””from the album “American Idiot”
The Rock Show“”Blink 182″”from the album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”
I Fought the Law (Live)””The Clash””from the album “The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium”
Batman Theme“”The Jam””from the album “In the City”
Communication Breakdown“”Led Zeppelin””from the album “Led Zeppelin”
The Real Me“”The Who””from the album “Quadrophenia”
Rock Around the Clock“”Ten Pole Tudor””from the album “The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle”
Of course there are many, many others. But I offer these few picks-to-click to perhaps start a little discussion and get some musical ideas for my next indoor shopping spree at the V and Dime.
A-Merckx
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@frank
Agreed. I had the pleasure of seeing Soundgarden on a side stage at the 'Mayors Ball' here many moons ago (and many times since). Those were the days. Fuck Justin Bieber.
howdy everyone. long time lurker.
best music for rollers?
MINISTRY-in case you didn't feel like showing up (live)
RAMMSTEIN-herzelied (or sennsucht)
KMFDM-naive (& i dare you NOT to go balls out during "liebslied")
NIN-pretty hate machine
[the trick during these sessions is to grind up to a high cadence, but only during the choruses, then ease back during the verses/bridge, then back up again]
if you want some 'psycho-delic/noise/space-out' mixes, look up podcasts from 'spartacus roosevelt'. not bike-related, but "This podcast is recommended for aging goths, Terrence McKenna wannabes, dada-ists, Stockhausen freaks, ex-ravers with sizzling synapses, fetishists, beat revivalists, moody hip hoppers, record store geeks, pagans, subgenius, former hardcore kids, hippie burnouts, the intellectually pretentious, the partially deaf, doom metallers, piercing devotees, and lovers of machine noises."
also check out a great work-out-mix site called 'podrunner', it's got a huge collection of right at an hour-long set of mixes that takes techno from 120bpm to 180bpm.
as for falling off rollers & shooting forward, yup, i'm here to tell you it's happened to me. fortunately i only crashed into a desk in a small efficiency apartment.
@actor1
I like the way you rock actor1. Nothing like some good industrial beatdown to get the HR up. Actually though my tastes run the gamut from classic rock to punk to speedmetal: A little (pre-Turbo Lover) Judas Priest or Tool for some tempo, a little Slayer from Hell Awaits for some high cadence/power work, a little Refused, Rise Against, or Boysetsfire to get aggro with. I like when the iPod on shuffle mode drops in the occasional Crumbsuckers or Kreator, or Wehrmacht too. \m/ Oh, I guess I would need a little Tad - Infrared Riding Hood in there to keep Frank happy.
BTW, I turn 50 tomorrow and I'm still rockin' in the free world!
@actor1
Welcome dude (or dudette). As I believe Redranger told me a few months ago when I started posting here, let your boss know that your productivity is about to plummet. And more bandwidth would be nice.
@actor1
welcome, and great choices, will check'm out
All this talk about playlists reminds me that I really need to take the time to design one with songs that have the correct tempo/length for intervals and rest periods. I keep meaning to do it but never get around to it. Now that I have Spotify though it should be rather easy...
@Cyclops
Feliz Cumpleanos!
Pretty inspiring discussion :)
And I forgot to list:
Life of Agony "Bad Seed"
Lowrider "Dust Settin'"
The Mark of Cain "Shadows" and "Battlesick" (our friends from Down Under may know)
Melvins "Revolve"
New Model Army "Orange Tree Roads"
Pantera "Shedding Skin"
Pennywise "Every Time"
Tom Waits "Walk Away"
Truckfighters "Fortyeight"
Nine Inch Nails "Dead Souls" (Joy Division cover)
I should mention that I spent a lot of time on rollers and spinning bikes in the past. But since I got my IF Planet-X Ti more than two years ago I prefer to train in mud and snow during the dark season. Therefore, I continue violating Rule #62 and enjoy listening to music while riding outdoors.
Haven't read every post but did not see "Flogging Molly" anywhere. They are FUCKING awesome, esp "Black Friday Rule" and "Devil's Dance Floor." Say them live about 6 months ago and it was soooo amazing!!!
I ride the Green Machine a bit, actually quite a bit, when I do not get a chance to ride in daylight with work and family having their due. I watch old Paris-Roubaix or Flanders dvd's from WCP. I have about 30 now, to include a bunch of tdf's and Giro's and the LeMonster set.
But, all that being said, Zep absolutely rules my i-pod! :)