Theme Ride Thursday: Are You Ready for the End of Summer and Back to School?

It’s that time of year again—the one kids dread and parents secretly celebrate! For many of us, the carpool days are long gone, but we still feel the season shift. Some riders may have grandkids starting kindergarten or teens heading off to college. Others are simply reminiscing about their own school days—the bittersweet end of summer, the first-day jitters, and the thrill of new notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils. Even if the only “back-to-school” you’re doing now is watching neighborhood kids march to the bus stop, this theme will have you smiling, sweating, and maybe swapping a few “when I was in school” stories.

We’ve got three ready-to-ride profiles plus an epic bucket playlist (175+ songs!) to mix and match. Pick one, or blend them together for your own curriculum-approved cycling adventure.

📚 Your Back-to-School Ride Options

Back-to-School Rolling Hills (Jennifer Sage)

• Our most recent addition to this theme—a crowd favorite since its debut in 2022.
• Fast flats + climbs + downhill recoveries = perfect “summer’s over” energy.
• Includes an optional short FTP test (with alternatives if you don’t train with power).
• Sprinkle in trivia questions (from Billy’s profile, below) for giggles: “How many times were you sent to the principal’s office?” or “Teacher’s pet—yes or no?”

Back-to-School Climbs (Jennifer Sage, from the ICA archives)

• One of our early ICA theme rides, featuring four climbs with different lengths, cadences, and intensities.
• Spans all school eras—from finger-paint days to senior prom to going away to college.
• Includes a tribute to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with the professor’s legendary “Bueller… Bueller…” roll call, paired with “Oh Yeah” by Yello.

Back to School for One More Day (Billy Coburn, from the ICA archives)

• The original ICA back-to-school ride, inspired by first-day-of-school photos on Facebook.
• Uses a creative playlist + Billy’s clever trivia questions.
• Fun, intense, and slightly mischievous—just like the best school memories.
• Note: Billy edits his songs in MixMeister, so swap in your own playlist picks where needed.

Whatever you do in your back-to-school ride, I recommend that you re-enact this iconic scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off…

…while riding to this song:

🎶 Back-to-School & End-of-Summer Bucket Playlist Favorites

Our bucket list has over 175 songs spanning every stage of school life—high school, college, and that bittersweet moment when summer fades. Some are pro-school (“Be True to Your School”), some are anti-school (“Another Brick in the Wall”), some capture the awkwardness of being a teenager (“Awkward”), and quite a few dive into teacher/student relationships (“Don’t Stand So Close to Me”) or friendships between students (“We’re Gonna Be Friends”). Others celebrate the crazy things kids do (“Smokin’ in the Boys Room”), daydream about ditching responsibilities (“Bang on the Drum All Day”), or just mock the whole idea of school (“Fight For Your Right”). And of course, there are songs that lament the end of summer.

Here are some of our favorites from our bucket playlist:

Be True to Your School, Beach Boys, 2:11, 144 bpm
Short, peppy, and loyalty-packed. Great for a quick climb or recovery break.

Back to School, Great Big Pile of Leaves, 3:32, 103 bpm
The end-of-summer blues wrapped in jangly indie pop. Perfect cool-down track.

High School Never Ends, Bowling for Soup, 3:29, 160 bpm
All the drama, none of the detention. Use for a warm-up to introduce the theme or high-energy interval.

Teacher Teacher, Rockpile, 2:34, 148 bpm
A short, invigorating climb at 74 rpm with a wink to its cheeky 1980s subject matter—a time when songs like this raised more eyebrows for their guitar riffs than their lyrics.

Campus, Vampire Weekend, 2:56, 81 bpm
Bright, bouncy, and brimming with college nostalgia. Perfect for a high-intensity interval that feels like sprinting across the quad to make it to class on time.

September, Earth, Wind & Fire, 3:36, 124 bpm
From the very first beat, this song sparks instant smiles and sing-along magic—no matter how many Septembers you’ve heard it before. Get ready to climb, standing on the chorus, belting out those timeless lyrics (if you can catch your breath!). I’ve been playing this tune every September since I started teaching back in 1996, and it still never gets old.

I’m an Oakland School Kid (ft. Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch), 2:17, 123 bpm
This remix of Rihanna’s “Please Don’t Stop the Music”—featuring the kids of Oakland and football legend Marshawn Lynch—is pure magic. While it’s unfortunately not on Spotify or Apple Music, if you teach using YouTube as your music resource, it’s totally worth adding to your playlist!

Whether your riders are waving goodbye to summer or pretending to do homework at the library, these back-to-school rides blend great music, a little mischief, and workouts that will leave them smiling. Use one of our three ready-made profiles or grab tracks from the bucket playlist to build your own. Just like school, you’ll get out of it what you put into it—so ride hard, laugh often, and maybe raise your hand if you need extra credit.