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Okay, so I struggled with whether or not to include this profile. Not because I don’t love it, but because it would require me to have to decide whether or not I wanted to call this a “jump” profile or not. I didn’t want to have to get into why I chose the varied lengths of jumps – especially the 17 second jump.
To be honest, I wish this song was longer because if it was I’d have had an easier time programming it. When designing a profile you have to allow for time to set up the song (give everyone the gist of what will happen during the upcoming block,) and especially when it comes to advanced riding techniques – the riders need time to get the feel for what they’re supposed to be doing. When it comes to jumps, that usually takes one or two times until they get into the swing of things.
So when you have a song that is only 3:41 there isn’t much time for any of that. Which meant I had to keep things simple. Which meant calling everything a “jump.” Not that they aren’t…
According to the Spinning® instructor’s manual “Jumps on a hill” can be thought of in two ways:
- With heavy resistance, maintain a consistent and smooth pedaling cadence as you slide in and out of the saddle.
- Maintain a constant level of resistance, come out of the saddle with a burst of power and increase pedal speed. Keep the speed for a short period of time, then sit and return to the initial pedaling cadence.
The “short period of time” is the part that is up for interpretation. The Spinning® program encourages visualizing the use of jumps on a hill when either “breaking away from the pack of riders,” “powering over the crest of a hill,” or “bridging the gap” between yourself and riders ahead. Jumps are necessary when the cyclist is riding a gear that is too heavy to turn smoothly and “jumping” his/her bodyweight out of the saddle helps give the momentum needed.
I don’t see any reason why this profile doesn’t fit the bill. It is totally reasonable to believe it would take 17 seconds to power over the crest or to break away from the pack. Just as it is totally believable you might need 8 seconds to bridge the gap with a short break in between.
So when I jump in this particular profile I have my riders make sure there is enough resistance that they feel they need to stand up in order to break it, then with a burst of power speed up (for however many seconds noted) and then return to the saddle, at which point they may choose to remove the extra resistance they added for the jump.
This brings me back to my original complaint – the song is short. There won’t be time to set up the pre-cues necessary during the song so you’ll want to do it during the song before, or in the break between songs. I don’t want to drag this explanation out any further than I already have, so if you are interested in exactly how I set up the cues for this song let me know and I’ll be happy to spell it out. After all cueing is vital to the success of a ride, but because of that, the conversation could be longer than what you’re interested in here.
Whew! I bet it took you longer to read this than it will take to listen to the actual song! I hope you do though, because it really is an effective and intense track. And please…I invite any questions about it.
For the link to printer-friendly notes, start here.
Looking for another mixed climb with jumps profile? Check out this one. How about a seated climb? Try this.
