Mostly Speed

Ready for speed and a bit of team fun? Ride in the saddle RPM 90 to low 100s, out of the saddle in hand position 2 RPM high 70s/low 80s with recoveries throughout, then your riders show their skills in the last challenge with 30 second team intervals! Split the class to create teams however…

Your cycle room becomes a velodrome for this ride! Paint the picture for your riders and count down the laps. Challenge them to imagine track cycling – laps and speed. They’ll find and hold tempo (below threshold “Zone 3”) for 1:00 “laps”, then lighten resistance, increase RPM, hold for :30 then increase RPM at :30…

Coach and cue the first seven songs (approx. 25 min), then it’s rider’s time to “chase the road” however they envision it. The only parameter is a moderate (first one) to sort-of-hard (second one) rate of perceived exertion. Why not more? It’s their time, it’s their road. Will they push themselves without your encouragement? After…

This is ride four in my four-part profile series designed to build aerobic and muscular endurance – the perfect combination for improving riding performance indoors or outdoors. This profile maintains the goal of longer Zone 2 efforts to build endurance, but adds progressions into Zone 3 (sort of hard) efforts and gets riders out of…

Ready for something strong and fast? Capture the energy of Spring – three fast flats (FF), two moderate seated efforts and two songs with jumps/movement in and out of the saddle. The stars of the ride are three sets of Sprints with explicit timing for prep. (I’ve seen too many profiles that go from a…

You’ll need to remind riders of the difference between accelerations, sprints and fast flats for this fire starter! (I’ll send a video on the differences and suggestions for coaching.) After the warm-up, you’ll tackle three blocks of three: accelerations, sprints, and steady pace moderate flats followed by another round of sprints, then ending strong with…

What better way to end the year than with a profile and playlist based on speed, i.e. we can’t leave this one behind fast enough!  Sure, not much will really change on January 1, but it’s the idea of change, the hope and possibilities we dream about to keep us going. There are a few…

I used this profile in yesterday’s outdoor cycling class and it was deceptively intense! Last week’s profile focused on identifying a hard RPE baseline, then adding speed and/or resistance to go harder, then hardest. This profile is similar but with a focus on fast, faster, fastest efforts. Read your riders and build in longer refuels…

Required to wear a mask while riding? Here’s a profile that minimizes movement, focuses on breath and pace, and can be coached at intensity levels right for your riders. This profile is about making small changes, feeling the impact, adjusting and enduring. You can easily turn it into an endurance ride and stay in the…

Two words for this ride – fun and challenging! Usually I start to create my profiles with structure (the what) and then apply the music to meet the ride goals. This one started with a playlist and the music begged for movement – jumps in hand position two  and three , standing in hand position…