From Dare to Tri: (North Dakota, USA)

A few weeks ago, Jeff at Global Ride contacted me, wondering if I would do a product review if he sent me a free DVD boxed set of cycling training videos. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity and was exctatic when the set showed up in my mailbox almost two weeks ago.

The boxed set, Hawaii Rides, included three different DVD’s that sh. With each DVD, you can choose music or no music, as well as a coach to lead you through the ride. If you choose a coach, you have the choice of difference coaches; American, Australian, Italian, etc. Each coach interprets the ride different, giving you a different ride on the same track.

Here’s a little description of each:

1. Strendurance in Hawaii – This DVD combines the elements of a strength ride, focusing on climbing and leg strength, and an endurance ride, focusing on heart rate training and consistency. Following the ride was 30 minutes of Strength Training, specifically targeted towards cyclists.

2. Oceanside Ride - This DVD does consist of a lot of “flat riding” but is challenging if you choose to ride at a steady high pace! Following this ride was 30 minutes of Pilates Training, primarily focusing on core stability.

3. Maui Rollers – This DVD consists of three separate sections on one road. This ride consists of a lot of rolling hills, long climbs, and just enough time to recover and build speed! Following this ride was 30 minutes of Yoga. This will help restore proper balance in all muscles groups; specifically focusing on balancing muscles of cyclists, as many are under-worked and others are over-worked.

What is my personal testimony?

1. I truly enjoyed all three videos; they were all different. I look forward to changing them up a bit by trying different coaches!

2. Each video consisted of a 5-minute warm-up and 5-minute cool down. I thought this was great. During each warm-up and cool down, the screen was full of snapshots of cyclists riding all over the world, on different terrain as well.

3. I thought the music was awesome! But, I am a sucker for good music while on an indoor bike or trainer. The music was well-chosen and I felt that it suited the speed of each ride perfectly!

4. At the end of each video you were reminded to stretch! I thought this was great, as it is a very important part of any good training!

5. I really liked the additional 30 minutes of strength training, pilates, and yoga that followed each DVD. It’s a great way to get in a little extra while your muscles are still warm after a nice ride!

6. Each video was approximately 50-55 minutes long. I think this is a great length for a trainer DVD, especially for a beginner like me!

Overall, I am very impressed with Global Ride and the DVD’s they have put together! I haven’t had any experience with trainer DVD’s before, so I have nothing to compare them to, but I definitely give them two thumbs up!

Here is some additional information:

Global Ride has put together a fundraiser for Livestrong at http://www.cyclingfusion.com/. They are taking everyday cyclists to the “Little Giro” to ride the first 5 stages, a few hours ahead of the pros!! They’re being sponsored mile for mile by people. All of the money is going to Livestrong. How exciting is that?

In an effort to raise as much as possible, Global Ride is doing two things:

1. Giving away a DVD boxed set (consisting of 3 DVD’s) to anyone who donates $103.75 or more to sponsoring riders (0.25/mile sponsorship).

2. Giving 50% of the sale price of all Global Ride sales on the website and anywhere else the DVD’s are sold to Livestrong.

Both of these things are running through May 14th, the date the event is finishing up at Giro. There is more fundraiser info if you click here.