Lake Placid Virtual Training Ride Review

Last night was a double hitter -- my first winter training cycling session AND my first look at Spinervals Virtual Lake Placid Training Ride DVD. Bottom line: am I happy with the DVD? Yes with a qualifier: Lake Placid will be visited only once a month but I'll look forward to seeing it each month. It's a DVD that you could get bored with real quick if you watch it too often; thus, once a month should be perfect. You basically follow Coach Troy riding a 56-mile loop around Lake Placid. It's not very scenic 'cause the camera is on the Bike and road in front of you, not the Lake. So you see what's ahead (mountains in the distance are nice -- sometimes the lake), but not what's on the side most of the time. It's hard to get a feel for climbs via the helmet cam used occasionally (the helmet cams produce semi-bad video so they only use it now and then), or the camera. But Troy does a good job narrating the entire ride by telling you what gear to use with flat spots or climbs coming up. Yes, he narrates the entire video. At first I sensed sort of a mundane narration, but it livened up a little as you got into the ride. To be honest, I was reading magazines at the long, flat sections that you could just sit and spin for 10-15 minutes. What I liked most about the DVD was it is ridden totally aerobically which is exactly what the doctor ordered for winter base training. You are in your small ring/15 (on a road bike on your trainer) nearly 75% of the time. Coach Troy encourages you to spin around 90-100 rpms most of the time which is not something I do 'cause it makes my heart rate go too high. So I typically stay around 75-80 rpm to keep the heart rate at about 75% for the 2 hour and 50 minute duration. I liked it, and am already looking forward to next month's ride.