Taking the Leap

(don’t be too harsh on my photography skills…it’s really really hard to hold the camera steady on a boat)

Why are some decisions so hard to make?  Sometimes there are just so many choices available (sometimes not)…and all I have to do is just pull the trigger and pick one (although I guess, technically, the lack of making a choice is one on its own).  But making a decision (and I’m talking about the big ones here) is scary.  I’m a planner.  I want to know the outcome of my choices.  Where is the manual outlining that if I take option A things will turn out this way…but if I pick option B things will turn out a little differently.  How do you choose?  And what if there is a secret option C that will only reveal itself if you wait just a tiny bit longer.  But how much longer?  And when do you give up on waiting for C?  I want guarantees.  I want a return policy and do-overs.  Wait; hold it just a sec…am I getting serious here?  Let’s put a stop to that right now.  My apologies.  Instead I will try to entertain you with a few (non life-altering) decisions I faced of my own this past week:

1. Should I maintain my “regular” schedule or break it and have some fun with PJK’s brother who was staying with us all last week?  (Forget the schedule…have fun!)
2. Should I decline an invitation/adult beverages/late return home and go to bed early on Friday knowing I have to teach Spinning Saturday morning?  (Stay out, enjoy…that’s what Red Bull is for in the morning, isn’t it?)
3. Should I take care of my weekend chores/errands and skip a boat ride on the Potomac?  (Easy-peasy….boat ride always wins, who cares if there isn’t a pair of clean underwear anywhere to be found on Monday morning)
4. Do I ignore the rumors about the cleanliness of the Potomac & enjoy a swim in potentially fecal-filled waters?  (I took the leap, literally, on this one.  However, the verdict is still out on this decision….if some weird skin infection shows up in the next 7-10 days, we’ll know I clearly made the wrong choice)

Since I was busy having way too much fun and shirking all responsibilities this past week, I ran out of time to create a “new” playlist.  Instead, I picked a lot of my favorite songs that I’ve played before.  Find Saturday’s playlist on iTunes at Spinning Spincycles 8.8.09

Troublemaker—Weezer (2:45)  Warm up

White People for Peace—Against Me! (3:32)  Pick up the pace and start to climb, add ¼ turn every 15 seconds….throw in some speed surges to really increase the heart rate

Middle Management—Bishop Allen (2:44) Drop resistance to a medium effort and jump during the “all right” chorus.  Standing run in-between to keep your heart rate up adding about ¼ turn of the resistance knob after each interval.

What I’ve Done—Linkin Park (3:29)  Slow it down for a heavy standing climb.  Find your focus & hold it there for about 3 minutes, but don’t let your form get sloppy.

Let It Rock—Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne (3:56)  1 minute of recovery.  Then move to a standing jog, add a little more resistance and have a seat in saddle, increase resistance just a bit more, keep your speed to alternate standing and sitting with the resistance

Smooth Criminal—Alien Ant Farm (3:29)  Faster and faster for the chorus using a moderate resistance with short periods of recovery in-between the speed drills.

Joker and the Thief—Wolfmother (4:40) Start in the saddle with light resistance.  Stand for 30 seconds, add ½ turn and have a seat.  Add another ½ turn to stand and run again.  Keep that resistance on the flywheel and have a seat.  Drop the resistance ½ turn for a short recovery & repeat.

Monkey Wrench—Foo Fighters (3:51) Light resistance, but always keeping control.  Pick up the pace fast, faster, fastest in saddle.  Short recovery, add a turn of resistance and repeat standing.

Know Your Enemy—Green Day (3:11)  Heavy resistance alternating between standing and climbing every 30 seconds. 

By the Way—Red Hot Chili Peppers (3:32) Keep that heavy resistance going strong.  Explode out of the saddle to hand position three, increase speed and overcome resistance.  Sit & keep the cadence, drop resistance to recover.

Are You Going to Be My Girl—JET (3:31)  Light to moderate resistance.  Fast jumps with the beat for a working recovery to prepare for our final push to the end. 

Youth of a Nation—P.O.D. (4:17) Hold the resistance from the previous song.  Standing run, increase 1 turn and move to a heavy climb on “we are”.  Finish strong.

Human—The Killers (4:10) Cool down.

The Wrestler—Bruce Springsteen (3:51)  Stretches off the bike.   

**New shoe update(wore them Saturday):  They are AWESOME!

Hey, I put some new shoes on, and suddenly everything is right

Check it out…brand new spinning shoes. 

I’m so embarrassed about my old pair; I’m not even going to post a picture of them.  They are ugly!  I originally bought them because they were on sale…and to make matters worse they aren’t even women’s shoes, (they’re men’s)!  Like I said, they were on sale and the price was right.  But, those have been retired (RIP shoes, you’ve had a long, useful life) and I got to be a whole lot pickier this time around.  I wanted these cute ones with a hot pink sole, but as the salesman patiently pointed out, those weren’t appropriate for spinning class…only racing.  Before my disappointment could set in, he quickly pointed out another equally nice pair.  No hot pink, but compared to my previous shoe, they are beautiful! 

If you are in the market for a pair of spinning shoes and live in the Alexandria, VA area go see the guys at Spokes.  Not only are they hilarious, they are very knowledgeable.  Hell, they’ve almost convinced me join them for their weekly mountain bike ride.  Who knows, I still might!   Seriously though, stiff- soled spinning shoes are the best for cycling.  Soft-soled shoes like running shoes absorb way too much of the pedal force and make pedaling inefficient.  Also, when you are in the standing position running shoes bend over the pedals and can cause some temporary numbness in the feet…and that’s really not good. 

Check out Saturday’s playlist on iTunes iMixes at Spinning Spincycles 8.1.09

Under Pressure—My Chemical Romance & The Used (3:32)  Warm up with an easy seated flat.  

Can’t Believe a Single Word—VHS Or BETA (3:43)  Continue to warm up and raise your heart rate with a seated climb.  Increase resistance with ½ a turn every 30 seconds.  Stand about half way through the song to gain some momentum, then have a seat and keep climbing.

Love Drunk—Boys Like Girls (3:47)  Keep your resistance, grab a quick drink.  Come to a standing climb with hands in position three.  Give me some speed surges on the chorus! (there may be a swear word around 2:14-2:16, but it’s really buried in the music, you might not even notice it)

Hope is Fading—The Well Wishers (4:18)  1 minute recovery, pick up pace and find a medium resistance and then stand  Intervals q 30 seconds: 1)Standing jog 2)Standing run 3)Drop ½ turn for seated recovery Increase resistance 1 full turn then standing jog again, moving into a run for the last minute

Drive Me Insane—Billy Boy On Poison (2:52) Find a heavy resistance in the saddle.   Standing run x 30 seconds, sit and burn it out on the chorus. 

I Want You To Want Me—Letters To Cleo (3:26)  Light resistance, but enough to keep control.  Fast—Faster in seated, standing, seated positions in time with the music.  Increase ½ turn of resistance after each speed surge.

This Is Our Perfect Crime—The Von Bondies (2:57)  Seated recovery, nice and easy to catch your breath.  Add 1 or 2 turns of resistance for standing heavy climb on chorus at 0:48-1, 1:28-1:43 and 2:10-2:51. 

Believe—Yellowcard (4:31)  Let your legs fly!  Drop back to medium resistance and pick up the pace.  Alternating surges x20 seconds with recovery x10seconds.

Stop!—Against Me! (2:33)  Jumps on the chorus, increasing the resistance so it feels like a hill.

Don’t Cry Out—Shiny Toy Guns (4:10)  Find your flat with an easy standing recovery.  Pick up the pace.  Sit and Sprint 1:14-1:34 (on chorus).  Recover.  Sit and Sprint 2:05-2:34, and finally sprint at 3:05 and bring it home in a mad dash.

Cash Machine—Hard-FI (3:43)  Seated climb, increasing the resistance every 15 seconds until you want to stand…but don’t until the last 1 minute

Best of You—Foo Fighters (4:16)  Shake out your arms and grab some water and get ready to finish.  At 0:48 power surge and stay there fast x 10 seconds.  At 1:33 power surge and stay there faster x 20 seconds.  Add 2 good turns of the tension and stand up during instrumental part.  Charge in a climb until 3 minutes….when the music slows take a deep breath and then end strong and fast

It’s Because We’ve Got Hair—Tunng (3:03)  Cool down seated flat

What Sarah Said—Death Cab for Cutie (6:21) S…t…r…e…t…c…h…e…s…

–Want to know why I didn’t make my regular Sunday post and am instead posting on Monday night??  Because my laptop sucks, that’s why!!  Take that stupid computer! And you call yourself a “laptop”…ha…you are so big and bulky you look like you originally belonged to Zack Morris and are of little use to me when you keep showing me the blue screen of death (which is basically my computer’s version of giving me the middle finger).  Whew, I feel better that I got that off my chest.  Now you know my computer’s going to rebel here in a second…I’m anticipating the blue screen of death in 5….4…..3….2……

Spinning On Speed (not to be confused with spinning while on speed)

Whew, today’s ride flew by so fast that I was thinking, if spinning was a person, today he was hopped-up on amphetamines! (though later he would come to his senses & return to his Narconon program**)  In all seriousness though, the class really did feel like it was over in the blink of an eye, before I knew it there was a considerable puddle of sweat under my bike and we only had 3 more working songs left…then it was 10:45am and it was all over. 

Here’s the pulse pounding playlist:

1. No You Girls by Franz Ferdinand Warm up with a seated flat.    

2. Here It Goes by Ok Go  We kick off the ride strong by jumping during the chorus.  It goes like this: seated flat, jump on the chorus, increase resistance to a standing run, jump on the chorus, increase resistance & move to hand position 3/climb.

3. Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge (Clean Version)  Start in a seated climb, progressively adding resistance until you cannot…move…the…pedals…anymore…unless….you…stand up.  Finish in a standing climb.

4. Whoa Oh! By Forever the Sickest Kids Keep the resistance heavy from the previous song, it’s time for jumps on a hill.  I used the chorus as the vocal cue to start jumping. 

5. All The Small Things by Blink 182  According to the band’s website, it looks like the rumors of a reunion are true (excuse me while I wipe away the small tear of joy I shed while confirming that little piece of gossip.)

 Medium resistance, bring it to a standing jog.  Sit & speed up your cadence during “na na na na” (the chorus.)

6. Spaceman by The Killers  I love this song!  Who am I kidding, I love this entire album…but the video for Spaceman is a little odd.  Really Brandon, did you really think a red spandex unitard with football shoulder pads and feathers attached would be a good look for you?  Really?   

Hands in position 3, start at the top of the hill, drop the resistance a bit to stand (hands in position 2) and run on the chorus.

7. Say Aha by Santogold  Try to maintain a steady cadence throughout the entire song.  Alternate between heavy seated flat, to light standing run, to heavy standing run, and back to heavy seated flat.  I think I used 15 to 30 second intervals for this drill.

8. Counting Down the Hours by Pharmacists & Ted Leo  Super song suggestion from Heather…thank you!!  Take a 45 second recovery, and then start to pick up the pace.  We have another set of jumps to knock out.  Jump on the chorus and really pick up the pace in-between. 

9. Tomorrow by Ladytron  This is the first of two climbing songs.  Stay seated for the entire song, increasing resistance every 30 seconds.  When your legs start to burn, hold the resistance & the pace for the rest of the song….move right into the next one.

10. Lights and Sounds by Yellowcard  Stand up!  Your legs are probably screaming at you…let them scream.  Hands in position 3, maintain good form and have your cadence follow the speed of the music. 

11. The ’59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem  Time for the fast-faster drill.  Progressively add resistance & drill this in all 3 body & hand positions.

12. Bouncing Off the Walls by Sugarcult  Jump for the entire song.  (What?!?!?  The whole song?  Don’t worry by the time you get into it there’s less than 2 minutes to go).  Rider’s choice of resistance, but there must be enough on the bike to have control of the flywheel.  Vary the speed of the jumps to match the music. 

13. Helena (So Long & Goodnight) by My Chemical Romance  The last working song;  it’s finally here.  Start with a standing run, about ½ way through the song the tempo slows.  Intensify the resistance and stay in a nice heavy climb until the end. 

14. Wait by Go Set Go Cool down in a seated flat with light resistance.

15. Say by John Mayer Stretch your legs off the bike. 

 Find this playlist on iTunes iMixes under Spincycles 2.21.09!

**By the way, I don’t condone, nor am I mocking drug use.  I am merely personifying the frenzied pace of today’s ride.  Enjoy the metaphor!

Thank you Red Bull!

What a great class Saturday morning!  I felt awesome afterward.  Some of that may have had to do with the giant Red Bull I drank before class, but I like to think it was the energy of the ride.  Here’s the playlist:

1. Original Fire by Audioslave  This is your warm up, make it count!

2. The Resolution by Jack’s Mannequin I did not like this song the first few times I heard it.  Maybe because I had only seen the video & I find the lead singer a bit creepy looking (sorry Andrew McMahon….okay, so I just googled to verify the lead singer’s name & saw all kinds of information about his leukemia diagnosis in 2005….now I feel bad for saying he looks creepy…but he really does, at least in the video he does).  Back to my original thought, after I got away from the video & really listened to the lyrics I quickly changed my original opinion of the song.  And so it shows up here. 

Find a medium resistance while standing to job.  Pick it up to a run.  Keep the resistance, have a seat & pick up the pace on the chorus (“I’m Alive” is the vocal cue.)  Stand to run in-between.

3. Oh Yeah by The Subways  I pulled this song off of the Charlie Bartlett soundtrack.  What a great movie & a fun song!  Keep your medium resistance and say seated until about 55 seconds into the song.  Increase the resistance, stand and run until the song hits the 2 minute mark.  Increase the resistance again, move to hand position three & climb until the end of the song.

4. Salute Your Solution by The Raconteurs  Easy jumps for 30 second intervals alternating with standing run.  For an extra challenge increase the resistance after each interval.  P.S. I love you Jack White

5. Goodnight Goodnight by Hot Hot Heat  Light to medium resistance for a fast seated spin.  Crank the resistance & come up to a climbing stance whenever you hear “so goodnight” and hold it there for the chorus.  Go back to the flat spin & pick up the pace. 

6. Starlight by Muse  This is one of the handful of bands I absolutely adore.  I could create an entire playlist of songs by Muse.  Hmmmm, that’s an interesting thought!  This will be our first true climb of the day.  Start in the saddle, add resistance every 15 seconds until you cannot stay seated any longer, then come to hand position 3 & a climbing stance.  Stay in the climb for the entire song with cadence changes based on the beat of the music.  Add a little more resistance as a bonus challenge.

7. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor by Artic Monkeys  Don’t sit down yet!  Stay in the climb, but decrease the resistance & pick up the pace….feel your legs fly down the other side of the hill.  After a minute or so come out of the climb to stand and run.  Keep a nice fast pace, this should feel great after that long climb!

8. One Week by Barenaked Ladies  I really have to show some self control not to sing along with the lyrics on this one.  Have a seat & drop the resistance for a 1 minute (much needed) recovery.  Let your breathing slow & your heart rate drop a bit.  Then add resistance back on the flywheel and…start jumping on the chorus with a nice seated recovery in between jumps. 

9. Come Sail Away by Styx  Oh how this song triggers flashbacks from camping at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois during college!  Grab a nice drink before you join me because this song is going to be a long climb (6 minutes) meant to challenge your endurance.  Once you are ready, heap on the resistance & tackle this mountain.  Slow and steady at first, picking up the pace to match the beat of the music.  Climb for the whole song!  Stay focused, and resist the urge to slow down…

10. When your Heart Stops Beating by +44  1 minute, or more if you need it, of recovery in the saddle with a light resistance.  While in the saddle, add more resistance so that it feels moderate and start running, short sprint on the chorus.

11. House of Wolves by My Chemical Romance  Bring it to a standing run, make it heavy and challenging.  Hold it there for about 30 seconds.  You know this drill….don’t touch the resistance, have a seat & hammer the legs for 30 seconds.  Alternate these two drills, added or subtracting resistance to keep it physically demanding throughout.

12. Kiss Off by Violent Femmes  It’s almost over!  This is our last true climb of the day.  Find your climb, add resistance to make it a little tougher.  Focus on perfect form: feet flat, butt over the saddle, upper body relaxed, ears away from the shoulders, and give yourself a little sideways sway.  Alternate the cadence to match the song. 

13. Atari by Lucky Boys Confusion  Last working song!  Smile and try to enjoy this Chicago based band’s tunes (second Illinois reference if you are counting).  I mean, really, how can a song with the lyric : I just want to drink beer and play Atari  be anything other than awesome!?!  We are going to apply our “fast… now faster” drill to this.  Have a seat with medium resistance & pick up the pace…now faster on the chorus.  Slow down, add resistance & bring it to a standing run…now faster!  Slow down again, of course add more resistance (make it really difficult) & climb fast…(you guessed it) now faster!  Finish strong!

14. Confines of Gravity by PlayRadioPlay!  Stay on the bike for a couple of minutes to catch your breath and slow your pounding heart.

15. Romeo and Juliet by The Killers Take some time for stretches on the floor during this sweet Dire Straits cover.

Find this playlist on iTunes iMixes under Spincycles 2.7.09!