Had the pleasure of spending time with Coach Rob Teixiera yesterday down in sometimes sunny Southern California. Rob is a phenomenal cyclist, a very talented coach, a firefighter and the father of three. He is also personable and engaging. We filmed another segment for the upcoming Bill Edwards training video series. You are going to like this.
We shot the intros, did a Q&A, filmed the actual applications on the CompuTrainer and after all that had just enough time to film a commercial for the upcoming CompuTrainer Cruise to Mexico. All in his beautiful remodeled garage that now serves as a training/coaching studio. I was a little jealous.
I should have a couple of the tailer/teaser videos up fairly soon to give you an idea of what the big picture vision is. Till then, here are some stills of the day.
I am almost recovered from the return flight and 0530 class. Remember that you can win a great prize by guessing the number one RCVman ALL-TIME spinning song. I gave away some severe hints this morning.
More on the Mexico Cruise here. Quality rack time tonight boys & girls. See you manana.
Pix: Coach Rob T in his studio during yesterdays shoot.
Here we go kids. Part II of the RCVman Top 100 Spin Songs of ALL-TIME. Numbers 90-81. This installment pretty much gets you movin' down the indoor highway. Please remember that the goal here is to get you in motion, raise the intensity, increase heart rate, build stamina, strength and speed. All to a ferociously rocking musical accompaniment.
Heading out in an hour to shoot the Coach Rob Teixiera sessions. We have five precious hours in the studio to get it done, before I begin the homeward journey. I would really like to negative split the return, but I am sure that Southern California traffic, two airlines and the Washington State Ferries will conspire against me, as they did yesterday (more on THAT later).
I should get back in time tonight for two hours of rest before our 0530 Wednesday class. Who knows I might even have time to burn this set list to the iTouch and let 're rip.
Looks as if it might get into triple digits here in Reno today. Finally some serious sun. We shot a fabulous ride this morning with Chad and the folks from Indoor Power. The Garmin had us at 18 miles, 80 minutes of beautiful high desert fun. There were enough climbs and descents to make it interesting but the best part was a series of roundabouts in Sommerset that let us air it out a bit. It was fun chasing in the cam car the strong riders 'round the circles. Little traffic, quite a few other riders out enjoying the warm Sunday morning and spectacular scenery the whole route. If a small enough sampling of the fruit flies found heir way to the lens, we might have a keeper.
Yesterday was long one. Up at 0330 to get in some food prior to the drive to Tahoe City and the X-Terra. As I was doing double duty, (racing and filming) the logistic set-up was a touch more involved than usual. Talk about a perfect setting for an off-road ti! Swim in the Lake (58 degrees) then five minutes outside of town you are in shale and dirt climbing towards the remaining snow and wild meadows lined with sequoia and sage. It was a tough two laps, the vest was hot and without cleats I was at the mercy of the downstroke. The Go-Pro admirably reacted to all this challenge and captured some killer vid. The GPS, however, got a little confused in the tree cover.
After the awards I headed South towards Homewood, where I traded in my Specialized for a Giant, downloaded the video to laptop, re-rigged the vest-cam and did the twelve miles, down and back on their marvelous bike trail. A perfect 45 minutes and I was then heading back to Reno to have dinner with my old pal Barry and his GF. I eventually spent the night at Barry's which left zero processing time. I haven't looked at the vid from the bike trail but I am suspecting it will be a shade of stunning as that defines both backdrop and road surface.
So let's do a little re-cap: Thursday shoot at IP. Friday upload vid and course logistics and race/camera prep. Saturday film race, bike leg complete, 12 miles West Tahoe Bike Train. Sunday, 19 mile RCV shoot with IP group.
I am out for San Diego at 0600 tomorrow. Hope to have some video up Monday night.
And of course, RCVman T100 spin Tunes 90-81. (I even heard numero no this morning on local radio. Whoa!)
So long from the Silver City. It was nice.
Monday Morning Update: Flight from Reno connecting in LA to SD is delayed. Nice. I get up at 3:45 to get to airport and the delay causes a massive chain reaction with connection, rental car, commute, meeting, shoot. When I asked the HORIZON rep if she thought that might warrant a $20 bag fee waiver she looked at me like I was speaking Greek. Casual agent: Crew rest. Evidently this is the first flight ever from Reno to LA and they haven't quite got all the scheduling bugs out. Sometimes travel is a test.
Pix: A pre-race zen moment on Lake Tahoe. Try to find a better spot for a X-Tera finish. Chad and the Indoor Power group about to head out for a Sunday ride in Reno.
We have a break in the action so I am posting some stills from this mornings shoot at Indoor Power. As nice a CompuTrainer Multi-Rider set up as I have come across (and I have come across many). The diverse six person group went through a quick set up and calibration and then got right down to business. As expected Chad had designed a tailored program to maximize time and value, meaning, of course, that the session was going to be a tough one. We grabbed some decent video despite the darkened room and I even managed to get some juicy quotes from the riders, their background, history, training, the benefits of structured indoor sessions and goals. We even had a dancer amongst us! A first to the extent of my knowledge.
After the session I drove the 50 some miles down to Tahoe City to check out Commons Beach, the starting point of Saturdays race. Since my last visit they have installed a bike path that parallels the Truckee River all the way up to Squaw Valley, so tomorrow when I pick up my Mtb rental I plan on doing a section of the path to calibrate the vest-cam. Like maybe all of it. Won't that be fun?
I am down loading the Indoor Power video as we speak and might even have a rough cut done tonight. Onward and Upward amigos. Don't forget about the Mexico cruise, you should register today to reserve your spot. It is never too early to avoid being too late.
Pix: RCVman hits Lake Tahoe. Francis asked me when there might be a RCV for Dogs (throw the tennis ball, sprint, recover, repeat). The Indoor Power set up (under challenging light).
Dateline: Reno. Biggest Little City in the World. I am out in one of the new sprawl burbs at an Extended Stay, about ten miles south of the Airport. It is still 75 degrees at 5:30. Heading out in an hour for a short trail run and then dinner in, mainly because I have a kitchenette and I am tired of Subway and burritos. I would really like some mushroom risotto and steamed asparagus.
Made contact today with the local purveyor of Indoor Power, a CompuTrainer Multi-Rider Center, where we will shoot one of their classes tomorrow at 0900. Chad Timmerman owns and leads the classes and sounds like one of those guys that really knows his stuff. Know the type? It is always a true pleasure to spend time with professionals and experts in their respective fields. The goal is to interview Chad, film the session and create a promo piece for our respective sites. After that, I am heading down to Tahoe City to scope out the course for Saturdays X-Terra event, where we will debut yet another RCV application, this time in order to capture off-road video using the vest-cam, a device that I wear in order to keep the camera steady and stable. You are thinking, why not a helmet-cam? Too much head movement, when we ride we turn to look, constantly, and this obviously affects the view-ability of the end product. Using the vest-cam, I get core stability and can still turn my head to see who might be gaining on me. This, because I want to get out of their way. Not because I am racing. I am also going to shoot both directions of Hwy 89 from Truckee to Tahoe City for RCV use as this stretch is flat out gorgeous. If time permits on Friday, I might make the entire trip around the Lake, all 71 miles of it. Car-cam this time.
We are downloading the HHH at the studio as we speak and it looks great. I am also looking forward to cutting the NVGP as some of that action is gonna make you gasp.
The RCVman T100 spin tune contest is heating up, and please remember folks that the comments feature at the bottom of the page takes you there. Don't be shy. Share the love.
All for now from Reno. ciao ciao. Clue: NOT Stairway to Heaven.
OK folks, here we go. The highly anticipated and controversial, over budget and delayed, missing link to your total indoor training nirvana.
Yes, that's all it is. Capsulized everything. Nothing and all. Picture what lies between the bicycle and the guitar, between the empty and the full, under heaven and out of hell. They tell it better than I. There are a hundred stories here, dished up ten at a time. The soundtrack to the scene of you morphing towards you. In real time.
These are the RCVman Top 100 Spin Songs of ALL-TIME. I use them in two ways, at home on my CompuTrainer to measure power, and in the spin studio, leading group sessions. Either way, the criteria for inclusion to this elite list is very simple: The tunes gotta rock, have soul, and get me lazy ass movin'. There is also a sub-category that is more choreography than just the standalone tune. In each of these ten countdown lists, each set contains at least one of the following:
A quick tune for sprinting A grinder for climbing An extended jam for building endurance A "balance" tune for just that, usually World Music A quirky number for fun And one song that I simply like and appreciate even though it may not be a 100% perfect tune for spinning. But then again, when all is right, and you got the grove, under the sweet spot magic of the moment, endorphins flowing, ANY SONG CAN MAKE THE LIST THAT DAY.
One last note. You will quickly see my preferences for musical spinning accompaniment. I'll fess up. I like Classic Rock. I also like World Music. I like Jazz and I love the Blues. Beethoven Rocks. There is a time and a place for all genres, no doubt, I simply prefer R&R when working out.
Leading to the final few bars and building crescendo, knowing all this and now having a ten tune sampler (100-91) we now make this incredible offer:
If you can guess what the RCVman NUMBER ONE Spinning tune of ALL-TIME will be, you will win.
Something.
Something nice.
AND OF VALUE.
And cool.
Like mixing Rock & Roll and Indoor Training.
Go hard and go loud my friends. Next week are numbers 90-81. Rock on.
In 2007 RacerMate Inc of Seattle, Wa. hired me to produce their new software line of products to be called, TA DA, Real Course Videos. So almost overnight I became (cue the theme music) RCVman. This is the story of my work on the road, filming triathlons and searching for true love. Some things never change.
