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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View Comments
My most painful trainer session was while watching The Last Waltz. Fuckin great rock n roll documentary. It's a good thing I love The Band.
Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones or anything else by the Ramones for that matter
@Steampunk
Ovaltine kept dissolving my denture adhesive.
And get the hell off my lawn!
@Pedale.Forchetta
Are we brothers? Albert King, Otis, Allman Bros...SRV was king. Marko and I have shared some great times and good beer listening to that guy rip it up. Not my favorite musician, but definitely my favorite guitar player - and, to me, the best that ever lived. Have you heard Tightrope off the boxed set? Live? Not only is the playing unbelievable, but his tone has never been matched.
@Otoman
Welcome. Good question. depends on the mindset. Obvs suffering sucks. If it didn't, we would call it something else, like "sex". But suffering can feel good just because you know the good you're doing to your body. Like eating vegetables. But mostly it sucks, but then after you overcome it and finish, you feel fantastic afterward. Truth be told, a song might be ruined for me if I quit. But never if I push through. Regardless of the result. That's Rule 5: independent of results, how hard did you push? Beyond what you thought you could do? Beyond where your brain and body told you to stop? Then good on ya and I can always be happy about it. But if you bail and back off, then yeah, I suppose it might ruin the song. Except I'd just be furious and insist on a rematch.
Have I mentioned I'm riding Haleakala again in about two weeks?
@Cyclops, @xyxax
Stop! My side!!
@frank Have I mentioned I'm riding Haleakala again in about two weeks?
Gensis - Dance on a Volcano (off A Trick of the Tail).
@frank
That sums it up nicely. ... Listening to great music you hardly hear your body begging for mercy.
Good luck for Haleakala! And if you are looking for a bigger challenge, try Paso Chungará to Tambo Quemado in the Andes (240 km and 4660 m to climb with road being completely tarmaced).
@Cyclops
Happy Birthday and good luck with the State Champs!
@Cyclops
Happy birthday champ! (State champ...)
@TheBuoy
Yep. I have about a half dozen Ramones tunes on my training mix. "Surfin' Bird" does it for me.