Not at ALL a video store ride, I swear.

The setting: a hotel gym at 10 pm. This ride comes after a day that started at 4 am and a train ride, a 5-mile walk around downtown Washington DC, the welcome reception for a trade organization conference, and a long dinner with work contacts. They all headed off to a bar, and I told them I had to go ride because I had an article to do about Peloton 80s rides. Since Peloton (and writing about Peloton) has NOTHING to do with my day job, I’m not sure if they thought I was kidding or not. I’ll let them wonder.

The hotel gym looks out over a busy pedestrian area (the Wharf, if you know DC), and I’m pretty sure people walking by could see me riding. You want to see me rocking out with Sam Yo? I’ll show you rocking out with Sam Yo.

Why do I love hotel Pelotons?

I started with a 5 min Sam warmup, which was set to 5 min of the stylings of the incomparable Mr. Lionel Richie. (Fun fact: I love Lionel Richie and have seen him live twice. Highly recommend it- the man can MOVE. I wonder if he’s a Pelotoner?)

Some time has passed since the last video store ride, and we’re back to clean-shaven Sam. This one wasn’t advertised as a Video Store ride- but let’s talk about the playlist: “Who’s That Girl”, “Running Up That Hill” (timely choice, if you look at when this ride came out), “Holding Out For A Hero”, and “Maniac”, among others. I was disappointed that he wasn’t talking about movies connected to the songs, quite honestly- I missed it!

About 17 minutes from the end, though… it kicks in. This was an excellent moment, the big video store reveal, and I won’t say too much… but it involved a mention of Diagon Alley, some majestic music, and a CLIMB. A whole lot of climbing. And this is after a ride that was already pretty climb-heavy. So, I turned down my brain a little bit and just climbed- and made it through five songs in a row of Top Gun.

Thanks for finishing with “Playing With the Boys,” Sam. Nice mental images go with that song.

30 min 80s ride– May 7

Favorite movie on the playlist: Dirty Dancing, though Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a contender.

I’m assuming this picture was taken BEFORE the 88 mph portion of the ride.

I CAN’T EVEN with this ride. One of my favorite Peloton experiences ever. It all came together- a good few days on my end, fresh legs, a boatload of energy (on a Tuesday night at 830?), and all sorts of signs from the universe that THIS is the ride I should be taking tonight. Riders in studio! Sam’s fourth Peloversary! Nothing but great vibes, and “Yes Yo!” just hits differently when it’s coming from an excited room. I’d kill to be in a live Sam ride.

And within the first few minutes, he gets to two of my favorite things in the world, popcorn and Star Trek. A sci-fi and fantasy-themed ride? Totally in. Though, admission: I’m not a Flash Gordon girlie. (Are there Flash Gordon girlies?)

New Sam’s Video Store rule: No loitering in the aisles. Also, don’t follow your older brother behind the black curtain- it’s for over 18s only.

And speaking of the black curtain… Sam’s mildly naughty tonight. “David Bowie never appeared in my room playing with his crystal balls.” I’m not sure he planned to say that, but oh, he realized he said it. Did Cody take over?

(And while we’re on Labyrinth, I crushed that song. Peloton should do one-song PRs. I was completely wiped and very much needed the instrumental recovery that followed.)

The following is a mostly exact transcription of my voice memo notes from the remainder of this ride:

• Please, please, please the recovery.
• Back to the Future overture. Wait. I can kick this back into gear. Yo!
• Holy s***, that was difficult. That was worse than that Top Gun climb from last time.
• Yes, I do need Huey Lewis, but honestly I don’t think I’m ready.
• Need more recovery.
• Okay, wait, I like this. This is like a recovery climb.
• I like this kind of climb.
• Well, if you say so, Sam.
• We need to talk about that 88 miles per hour BS. WHAT WAS THAT.
• Peloton: How about you throw a girl a Huey Lewis artist series?
• Like a million bucks.
• Okay not good. My calf is cramping. Not cramping yet but I feel it getting tight.
• This is a really nasty potential cramp if it goes. Don’t seize up, calf.

So I’m re-living my “Power of Love” days with Sam (I used to play it every time I ran a race, before my knees gave out) and I have to actually pull back for a couple intervals to keep my calf from clenching REALLY badly. Feeling great mentally and energy-wise, but the muscle (just that one!) is giving out. So I slow down, asking the calf to calm down and I’ll promise it a cooldown and a nice stretch afterward. Promise, I won’t cheap out!

100% lived my best life tonight. Combination of great ride, great music, being in the right energetic frame of mind, and a lot of Sam excitement. I was even spared a horrific cramp because I made good choices. I’m proud of myself.

It has been a HOT minute since I rode Power Zone.

Favorite movie on the playlist: Footloose

Ready to wrap this series up…. except I’m not!

I don’t want to be done with Sam video store rides! Who am I kidding? Every Sam 80s ride is pretty close to this format, just maybe not so much about movies. More video store rides, Sam!

Before I went into this ride, I spent three solid hours sorting out medical insurance claims for my family of six. So I’m not really in a fun frame of mind, and it’s also late in the evening to be hopping onto the bike… but the show must go on. I set a tentative plan to drop my zone 3s to zone 2, because I don’t have the cardio endurance I had when I set my FTP. (I know, I know… take a new test…)

Okay, starting out low to mid zone 1. Walking slowly into a video store. I’m taking this one easy (I SWEAR!) because my legs are still sore from Andy Speer the other day. My vibe of the night is going to be mellow. Doing some spin-ups, and we really kick off with “Footloose.” I could indeed do this all day and all night, Sam.

Somehow I find myself ticking up, though, and I actually head into the real zone 3. Uppping my resistance and maintaining, until he said there were six minutes to go. (SIX?) Went resistance down, cadence up; resistance up, cadence down for a bit before I dropped to zone 2. (Side note: “The Heat is On”, along with fellow 80s classic “Hip to Be Square”, are also songs I associate with going to my mom’s aerobics class in around 1988. I wonder if my kids will hear Pitbull in 35 years and think of working out with me?) I’m cool with zone 2 now.

Sam is oddly a little deep here, sort of psychedelic-philosophical. Last week I thought Cody Rigsby was possessing him, and this week it’s Jess King. My favorite running song makes a comeback, and so does 88 miles per hour (in a new and terrifying way!)

I dropped to low zone 2 for the end and kept it steady. I thought my vibe was going to be mellow for this ride, but it turned out to be just steady and solid. It works. Maybe it’s what I needed this week.

• I’m digging the return of “Cry Little Sister”
• “Next song is my hype song!” Okay, can you guess what Sam’s hype song is? Promise you guess before you click this link and find out. (I promise it won’t download malware, it just goes to YouTube.)
• “Come home from the steel mills and do some power zone!” I feel like Sam’s speaking to me sometimes.
• Conclusion?

Yeah, just go do all the Sam’s Video Store rides. That’s really all. I’ve had a bunch of unexpected changes in my mindset over the past month that I’ve been taking these rides and writing this story and every single one of these workouts made me feel grounded and sort of comforted- no matter what swirling thoughts I had going on in my head, Sam was there, calmly welcoming me into the store and MAKING ME GO EXACTLY 88 CADENCE (I haven’t quite forgiven him for that). It felt grounding and made me smile every time I got off the bike.