Power Zone Jam Band Ride Surprises Peloton Riders

Power Zone Jam Band Ride Features an 18-Minute Song

Denis Morton’s July 7 class plan looks routine. The playlist tells a different story.

Denis Morton’s July 7 Power Zone Endurance Ride looked like any other 30-minute class on the schedule. By the time the cooldown hit, riders were calling it something else entirely: an unofficial Power Zone Jam Band Ride.

Even the day after the ride, looking at the thumbnail, there is no indication anything unusual is coming (well, maybe his legacy tank top is a clue?). The structure follows a standard Power Zone Endurance format: an 11-minute warmup, 18 minutes of cycling split between Zone 2 and Zone 3 intervals, and a 1-minute cooldown. Nothing in the class plan hints at a theme ride.

Inside the Power Zone Jam Band Ride Playlist

The surprise was entirely musical. Morton built the set around Phish, Grateful Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee, opening with Phish’s “Fluffhead” and moving through the Grateful Dead’s “Cumberland Blues (2020 Remaster)” and Phish’s “Sample in a Jar.” He also worked in King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s “The Dripping Tap,” an 18-minute track, along with Keller Williams’ “Alligator Alley” and Umphrey’s McGee’s cover of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

For a live Power Zone class (though no members were in studio), that kind of runtime commitment to a single song is unusual. Many live rides (especially shorter power zone endurance rides like this) are built around three- to five-minute tracks that match Zone changes. Letting an 18-minute jam play out meant Morton was riding to the music’s structure. It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for instructors to program this way. Particularly in such a short class!

Riders React to the Surprise Set

One rider who joined the class described it as stumbling into something unplanned. “It was a 30 minute live PZE that happened to come up when I was about to do a another class. So I took it. And it was all jam bands. He called it like a pirate jam band ride. Like he took over the booth til they broke in,” the rider said. “It was amazing. He played an 18 minute song. And Phish.”

She continues. “Judging by the hashtags on the leaderboard, people weren’t expecting it.” Because this rider is herself a #PhishPhan and had only one other person riding under that tag alongside her, she drew this humorous conclusion. The whole surprise fits into a broader pattern for Morton, whose classes regularly (and recently, if you took his Abbey Road Deep Dive, you know…) lean on deep-catalog music choices and a rider-first approach to programming.

Denis Morton’s Official Jam Band Ride History

Unlike the July 7 class, Morton has also built a formally titled Jam Band Ride occaisional series, with eight installments to date:

• 30-minute Jam Band Ride — October 10, 2024
• 30-minute Jam Band Ride — May 23, 2023
• 30-minute Jam Band Ride — August 23, 2022
• 30-minute Jam Band Ride — June 16, 2022
• 45-minute Jam Band Ride — March 8, 2022
• 20-minute Jam Band Ride — November 29, 2021
• 20-minute Jam Band Ride — August 28, 2021
• 20-minute Jam Band Ride — April 10, 2021

The July 7 Power Zone Endurance Ride was not part of that series. It carried none of the official branding, yet it delivered the same genre focus, minus the advance notice. For members who caught it live, that lack of warning was part of the appeal. Sometimes impromptu is the best way, no?

Were you live on this ride or are you going to stack in On Demand?

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