Magical in December – not so much in April. That's all the farther John got last night.
It’s John’s fault….spring simply will not arrive here in Minnesota because he bought a new bike! Kind of like when you wash your car, it is certain to rain…
So, in the meantime we are preparing for the killer potholes in the roads when it finally dries out and the temps rise above 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here is a flat I’ve been using after a series of four climbs that focus on lifts (i.e. the pothole story). At 82 rpm, and 3:23, it offers participants a ‘breather’ before we go right back into the potholes again. I describe this flat as a little spot where the DOT paved a smooth road for us.
A few great voices have come out of the Disney franchise and Bridget Mendler is another one. She has a great range and voice purity that is wonderful.
Enjoy ‘Love Will Tell Us Where To Go’ from Bridget’s Hello My Name is…..album:
Here's a fun acoustic version for your free track.
If you are a group fitness instructor my discovery could save you some money.
My ACE cert is due for renewal this Summer and I need .6 ACE continuing ed credits, and quick. I looked at the ACEfitness.com site for some online CECs and found two courses that I thought would be interesting; Nutrition Strategies for Fitness and Performance $59.95 (.3 ACE CECs) and Flexibility Training Specialist$69.95 (.4 ACE CECs) $130.00 total.
The weather is supposed to be crappy this weekend. I figured I would hunker down and go through these two programs so I could have the privilege of sending ACE more of my money and keep teaching for two more years.
I asked John for our business credit card so we could expense my training. He looked over his readers and asked; “why would you pay for CEC's when ICG has them available for free?”
Good question. I wasn't aware that ICG had free CEC's and it turned out that they offer 12 different online courses that are approved by ACE. I found two similar courses that would get me my .6 CECs. Total cost will be ZERO.
Spotify is a lot like Facebook…
– You can see what your friends are listening to
– You can follow your friends
– You can spend a lot of time on it
– Sometimes you have no idea how your ‘time travels’ landed you where they did!
That’s how this week’s Friday Favorite happened…I found myself listening to rhythm and blues/ gospel and found a great 4:05 flat road at 88 rpm’s. It fits well as the second or third road in as you describe the profile for your class and give them time to wrap their minds around the challenges ahead. Eyes On The Prize
I wasn't able to find Eyes On The Prize as a free track – instead you may enjoy this cover of Bob Dylan's; Gotta Serve Somebody by Mavis Staples. A great flat at 96 rpm.
Continuing with the two themes: ‘zippy’ and ‘a good flat road can be challenging to find’, here is flat road song (the jackpot really, because this band’s top 5 hits on Spotify are ALL excellent flat roads ranging from 85-88 rpm’s. I am going to use all of them!)
This group originally formed to write songs for haunted houses, but thankfully found the masses appreciated their music and went on to write mainstream stuff.
You may recognize Chairlift — Bruises from their SOMETHING album, as it was used in an iPod commercial. It clocks at 4:00 and 92 rpm’s. I have been using it as a quick little mid class speed play.
Having coffee with a dear friend and ICI/PRO member last week, we discussed the challenges of finding good music at 84-100 rpm’s. There seems to be a plethora of great stuff in the 60-70 range for climbing, but not so much in the flats. So, in the next few weeks, we will put forward some great tunes for flat road riding we hope you will like and find useful in your profiles.
This zippy 3:27 little tune offers up great motivation with 10 seconds coaching time at 1:07 to 1:17, so you can get a few quick words of wisdom in. At 90 rpm’s, we will put our riders right in the flat road sweet spot.
I couldn't find a free version of Never Look Back (another great reason to get started with Spotify) but here's another track from Graffiti6 — Stop Mary at 85 rpm that's equally as “zippy”.
