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
@frank
Is Gianni DS'ing again? Video? When do we get a Part Deux article with appropriate over/under gambling for V-gear? And are you a sub-four this year?
@frank
Ahah, brothers indeed!
@Cyclops
even if I'm late, happy b/day!
@scaler911
during the intro to 'annihilate this week', hank intro's the song w/ what is VERY apropos to this discussion of pain on the rollers: "this next song is about killing yourself to live, it's called 'annihilate this week'". were you the dude yelling "let's hear it!"
@Cyclops--don't know you, but happy birthday anyway, my man.
I tend to go with one artist at a time, and just put the whole library for that artist on shuffle. I've got a few go-to artists, depending on my mood or the type of workout.
For self-induced torture sessions: Greenday. Always Greenday. I've got every album, and there's maybe five songs in the whole library that don't make you want to kick ass and lay down the V.
To get me going on those early winter mornings: The Pixies. Or maybe The Smashing Pumpkins (but only Gish, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie; not the later stuff).
For mindless spin sessions, the one and only Johnny Cash. I've got over 20 hours of Cash on the Ipod, including the five albums he did just before he died with American Recordings, which I think may actually be the best/most interesting work of his career.
When I want to amplify my mid-January depression: Death Cab for Cutie. Although, their newest album is comparatively rife with optimism, so we'll see how that plays out.
Oh, I forgot. A little bit of Social Distortion goes a long way, too. (You can tell what decade I went to college in, right?)
@G'phant
Ha! Very appropriate. I was going to throw in some Genesis (The Knife from Genesis Live, 1973) but with the intervening 30 years of prog rock backlash, I feared being banned.
Good luck on that beast.
@actor1
No, not me. My buddy (we both still think, who knows). I wasn't living in Portland yet, and we had driven up from the little town in northern California (Yreka) where I grew up, to see the show. We were seniors and did the 5 hr drive, saw the show, and drove back home. Those were the days.
@The Oracle
Just saw those guys again last fall I think. Man are they getting old! But then, so am I.
@G'phant
Oh wait, you were quoting Frank. Good luck Frank on your Misty Mountain Hop!
Diana Ross and the Supremes: "Ain't no Mountain High Enough"
@The Oracle
ha! i think several of us could be categorized as a brother from another mother. i was in college(s) through the late 80's/early 90's...
as for social d., agreed! also for more aggro/tight harmony/short bursts of rage:
AGENT ORANGE
RAMONES
MISFITS
T.S.O.L.
MINOR THREAT
CIRCLE JERKS
STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH (S.O.D.)
CRO-MAGS
THE EXPLOITED
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
J.F.A.