The week's free music Friday is actually two tracks that I can hear stitched together to make a great long climb. Have I ever mentioned that I love longs climbs in my classes? Cycling to me is all about endurance and that means enduring the effort until you get to the top/end/finish/summit/puke point.
The band is Phantom Kicks and they just released these two new tracks:
Cut From A Different Clay (Feat. Cameron Spies) - 72 RPM. I would use this first to get the gearing correct and HR solidly in the middle of Zone 3 / 95% of Threshold
Phantom Kicks
"Cut From A Different Clay" (mp3)
from "Tectonics EP"
(Glass Box Records)
More On This Album
Eyes Familiar - 78 RPM. Transition to a faster, yet manageable, cadence. If your student are doing it right this additional leg speed should have them up near threshold for the remainder of this climb.
Phantom Kicks "Eyes Familiar" (mp3)
from "Tectonics EP"
(Glass Box Records) More On This Album
Based in San Francisco, Phantom Kicks took its roots from disbanded local indie favorites Raised By Robots, incubating their first group of songs in practice spaces, lofts, bedrooms and the occasional live show, as ideas were traded on hard drives and in sketches before the band”™s lineup solidified. Tanner Pikop and Phil Pristia share guitar and vocal duties, with additional keyboard work from Pikop, and Mike Rieger on drums.
So fire up MixMeister and see what kind of climb you can create with these two free tracks. Cut From A Different Clay has a bit of crashing drums at the end that you may want to remove when you are mixing these together.
UPDATE: I've done this for you. Here is the mix 6:48 long - Right Click > Save File As. I over lapped the beat matching more than normal so now at 3:08 it transitions from 72 RPM to 78 RPM - enjoy 🙂
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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Nice selections and love the idea of stitching together!
Thanks Keith – everything I know I learned from you 🙂
thanks john but unfortunately i can not save this as sent as i have a mac. any other options. renee
Renee I think Control-Click does the download and save thing on your mac. You mac users can jump in anytime.
I like this but I have found that my class doesn’t like instrumental-only music. I was bummed when I thought I had put together a great mix of instrumental (from the 210 top song list) and recognizable radio music and someone afterwards told me they only like the radio songs. I also heard this from another member. I know we can’t appeal to all tastes but have others heard the same?
Nobody is going to love all your music all the time. It helps if your students understand that the music has purpose, it’s not just there for entertainment. Remember that you teach the class and set that purpose. I don’t like trying to talk over vocals and I do need to instruct my class, so I always warm up to an instrumental and distribute them through the class. I think constant hammering vocals are tiring for many people.
Also, your students love suggesting songs to use in class. Give them a way to email or bring you requests and use them as you can.
Nice songs John. Good mixing job.
Hi john,
i’ve tried control-click on my mac and still not saving. any other help? thanks
John and Amy –
Thanks again for all the free tunes, and providing suggested uses.
Renee –
I used the control-click to download the file, then, clicked the downloaded file which loaded into my itunes. Hope that helps!
Marsha –
I prefer playing instrumental with little to no vocals, for the main intention of students focusing on form, technique, heart rate, and cadence. However, I do mix up music profiles every few classes to include vocals, generally, my favorite music, not necessarily known by the audience. I usually get good feedback too. It all depends on who’s in the class. Most of my students are near my age, ages 40 to 60+.
I suggest always using music that supports the objective of the ride.
Cheers to all –
FlyWheeler Dave
I also have mac and i just went to the “open in itunes option”, when you right click, and it downloaded the song to my itunes list.