Saturday, January 12, 2008

Trainer Trash

It is that time of year when you spend seemingly endless hours riding the rollers or the trainer trying to be ready for the good weather and open roads.
Any distraction is welcome and TV and DVDs are a must. I have watched way too many hours of bike races while pedaling along like Pavlov's zombie. Skateboarding videos are good, but not always long enough-cause once the feature ends so should the training session.
There is a relatively new genre that I have found to be perfect -the cyclocross documentary. Has race footage and interviews and other things. Much better than watching Roubaix 94 again or waiting for a sprint finish in Grand Tour X 20__ You can choose from Pure,Sweat,Hell, Transition one or two, cyclofile. That is a lot of coverage.
Pure Sweet Hell is like a classic indie rock video. Music is all Northwest style. Lots of super 8. Shows some killer 70s/80s footage. A classic. Excellent on the trainer cause it's arty enough to keep you focussed and watching the techniques.
Transition 1 is like Bob Seger "turn the page" but about bike racing. Being a pro rules but it sucks. But as bad as it is, who wouldn't trade places with their favorite pro or rocker?
Transition 2 is my favorite. US guys make a Euro assualt. Giant Belgian vending machines, Trebon berating juniors for eating too much. The sequel is better than the original. This is my favorite of the bunch
Cyclofile has some killer segments, but the narrator needs to be hung. This one reminds me of the early 411 skate videos, but this dude is no Lance Mountain.
So you know you have at least 20 hours of trainer time coming, go grab one of these you won't be sorry. Otherwise you better grab Pray for Me and start pedaling!

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