The other night the GCM and I had “date night” and saw an awesome cycling documentary on the big screen: Chasing Legends . It’s already available on DVD, but our local artsy theater was doing a screening for charity. We were lucky that we bought tickets ahead of time as by the time we arrived at the theater, the movie was sold out—that’s what I love this about Tucson!
The GCM and I absolutely could not get enough of this movie; it followed Team HTC Columbia through the Tour de France and had amazing footage of the tour as well as awesome commentary from the guys on the team. We are definitely going to order a copy of this one; I think it ranks right up there with my other two fave cycling documentaries, Overcoming and Hell on Wheels. Those DVDs actually need to be replaced because I am pretty sure my teammates and I wore them out during our camp days with good old Brett Sutton. In fact, at some point, the “outtakes” DVD part of Overcoming disappeared—not surprising, as it was the best part.
That is Ms. Adorable Allison from the Big Island in her new jersey! She is 18 and training for the Honu 70.3; a long-sleeved jersey meant she had to ride up Kaloko to the top of Hualalai . . . in other words, a toughie of a climb up to where it gets a little chilly—hard to find that in Hawaii. Love your work, Allison!
Soooo being inspired by Chasing Legends had me thinking about inspiration for trainer-riding. All three of these flicks would be right up there on my list, but more and more, I find that I am mostly using the trainer for very short, hard intervals, and during those, I cannot actually see. So I now opt mostly for blaring the music for these workouts.
I am keen to know other people’s favorites for inspirational viewing . . .
What are your favorite inspirational shows to watch from the trainer? Or do you prefer just music??
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
i’ll watch any bike race online to help!
if not – sufferfest.
I never ever watch movies on trainer. I tried it and got really annoyed by movies. I sometimes listen to the music. But usually I just stare at my HR and watts for hours and hours and hours:)
I only do hard intervals on the trainer these days. Hardly ever more than an hour. Very loud music gets me through them. In fact, Coach Steve has me doing some 30-30′s this morning!
Being a hoosier, I love “Breaking Away”..but the most motivational DVD’s I love have to be any year of IMHawaii!
Episodes of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!
And pretty much any mountain stage of the Tour I have on DVR at the time…but my fave would have to be Lance’s 2001 L’Alpe d’Huez climb.
Whenever Coachie had me do a TT on the CT I couldn’t watch anything or even listen to music. I didn’t want music to influence (kind of like track w/o)–it was just watts, time and the wall. Otherwise, funny movies are best. Something you don’t have to pay attention to during the REALLY hard parts.
So 2 of my favs are also documentaries – Pr0 and Hardroad. Just had to re-order them because they disappeared. Also – any super action movie that does not require lots of though – something with Sly Stalone or Bruce Willis type movies get me through the “not sure how you are going to make it to the last effort” workouts.
Since getting a TiVo several years ago I have amassed a collection of IM and ITU Championship Series broadcast coverage from Universal and the Grand Tours from Versus (now NBCSports). Having these on one screen during the shorter trainer efforts can help ramp up the heart rate for the intervals and dont take any concentration. For the longer sessions (up to 2 hours or more, yes, I live where the sun don’t shine and the roads are 100 times more likely to cause a crash in winter) I usually toss on a movie or TV series DVD. I have Golden Cheetah up on another screen in training mode so I can see my power, heart rate, and cadence realtime without having to look down at my Garmin.
I tried to see Chasing Legends when it came to DC but couldn’t make it happen — it’s still at the top of my list!
I need something on the TV when I’m on the trainer, but usually it has to be fairly mindless (basically the equivalent of music). Though, DVR’d segments of the Tour or any cycling race work pretty well
Mostly music. I use ergvideo sometimes, so watch the scenery. If I watch TV or movies- either not focused enough on intervals, or I miss most of what I am watching because I am focused on the intervals. Having fun with genius playlists of late!
For long endurance rides, I’ll pop in some Kona footage or something but when it’s tough intervals, music or just my thoughts power me thru.
Will def check out these cycling films too!!
i love watching Miracle (the hockey movie) when i’m doing a hard workout.
And what did you think of Mark Cavendish – the Manx Missile? (He’s from the Isle of Man and people up there are called Manx)
He won sports personality of the year here in the UK. This is the first time a cyclist has won this in the past 40 – 50 years
I’ve tried watching films on the turbo (lord of the rings…horrible!!) and also tried some ironman races (quite good) cycling training dvds (not bad) but the best sessions I’ve had were when i put together a playlist on my MP3 which is quite funny because I don’t like training to music usually.
Since my bum is perma on the trainer for a significant period of time every year, I try to get myself hooked on a TV series I’ve never seen (not too hard since trainer rides are the only time I watch TV!). Currently I’m addicted to LOST.
If you’ve not seen the movie “Pride” (came out in 2007), it’s a fantastic inspirational swimming movie about a coach (Jim Ellis) and his swim team he foudned in the slums of Philladelphia. Better than Swimming Upstream, not as good as The Guardian. The Marilyn Bell Story is my other favourite swim movie- her story is just incredible.
The only movie I have managed to actually watch on the trainer was jackass- but for music I love above and beyond podcasts, armin van buren, deadmau 5, ATB, Paul van Dyk, and so many more! Basically trance/ techno- somehow your brain just shuts off and you can just ride.