Songs available on iTunes:

Last night’s class was a fun mix of a Cadence Revolution workout (#168) and some of the songs I’ve gotten from “Pedal-On’s Favorite Songs.” All wrapped up to be a pretty fun ride. The profile is an Endurance Energy Zone (EEZ) Ride of the best kind — its a simple plan that can be the backbone to some great imagery. The music that goes with it on CadRev is perfect for keeping the heart rate in that perfectly aerobic zone for good base building. Mwah! I was not such a patient monkey, though. I picked some energetic music, a little more energy than I realized, and found that we were really doing a Strength Energy Zone (SEZ) ride. I couldn’t help but modify as we rode it in response to what I was observing in my students and how I was feeling as well. But there were a couple of other changes I made on the fly based on my observations. They weren’t pedalling well. It was downright ugly on a few folks, so we did pedal stroke drills during the first long flat. It was a great way to spend those 7 minutes. After that, they really needed a saddle break, so we stood for a minute. The climbing was great. I gave them the option of going harder than an endurance heart rate. No surprise, most took that option, but then again… so did I! Seeing they were up for something tougher, we did cadence drills during the second flat road (Rockafeller Skank). Pedalling at 85 rpm, 95 rpm, 105 rpm, 95 rpm, 85 rpm back up and down for about 20-30 seconds each. Adding resistance as we went through… Was tough! The final climb was hard not to push over the limit when The Great Defector came on. What an infectious song. We went all out and found it hard to push any further for the final portion (Starting Over). Was an interesting exercise in learning the value of “saving up for the final push”. In fact, I believe I even said something to the effect of “If you’ve already spent your wad, you might have to scrounge some change off the floorboards to get through this…” All in all, I was very pleased with how it all came out. And my tank top was completely drenched, so what more of an endorsement do you need?
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Songs available on iTunes:

Songs availble on iTunes:

Songs availble on iTunes:

(This list is 4 pages long — Happy Listening!)

There is a really looooooong thread over at pedal-on.com called “Favorite Song of the Week” Since January 2009, instructors have been adding their favorite tunes and awesome finds and sharing them in what has turned out to be a pretty incredible list. I’ve been collecting them and I keep them in a separate playlist that I turn to when I want to find something different to use in a class or just to sample for myself. It is really fantastic.

A fellow pedalonian requested a compilation of the thread, and for good reason — it is huge!!! So, I’ve gone back and collected as many of the songs as I could (thankfully I’ve saved a bunch!) and I put them into order based on where in the thread they fall. It will take me a while to get through the entire thread, if I even DO get through the entire thread. But, here is the progress I have made so far. I will also prioritize putting newer posts into a playlist before older posts, so prepare to see these posted out of order.

I started at the end of the thread so you get the newest songs first, and am working backwards. I’ve split the playlists up so that they won’t have more than 40 songs each. Even 40 is quite a bit, so I might keep em even smaller in the future. I have put them into iTunes and published the mixes that you can peruse there at your leisure. Not every song that was suggested is available on iTunes. This means you’ll have to do some of your own homework if you want to have the entire list in your collection. But I’ve listed those songs separately with any links or clues that were provided as to where the song could be found.

Okay, that is the method to the madness. Now, onto the music….

• Pages 55-58
• Pages 58-62
• Pages 63-67
• Pages 68-71
• Pages 72-75