Billy Coburn, Star 3 Spinning® instructor and occasional contributor to ICA, was moved to put together a fundraiser ride for Nepal earthquake relief. He had a profile he created last year called North, about summiting Mt. Everest, so he resurrected the ride for his event, which he taught this past Friday.
He wanted to share this profile with anyone who is interested in doing a fundraiser for Nepal. You can download the PDF below. If you need ideas on how to put together a fundraiser in three weeks or less, this article has a free checklist to download and a list of excellent charities to support to make sure your donations reach their target.
Also, if you have ever attended Josh Taylor’s very popular Everest ride at WSSC or ECA, you’ve got some additional inspiration for an Everest-themed ride.
Billy led the North ride at the Prairie Life club in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised $1013 in one week with very little promotion! We will have more information about Billy’s ride next week, but below are a few photos from the event. It shows you that you don’t have to be that involved or plan a huge event. This was just a one-hour class!
Billy Coburn teaching North.
Every rider received a printout of the ascent up Everest. (See download below.)
Thank you Billy for sharing this profile with all instructors!
Download the profile below.
Download the map up Everest below.
Jennifer – When I coach this ride, I try to be very intent at the beginning of the ride to let them know, “This is as much a journey of the mind as a physical journey of strength.” It is difficult (if not impossible) to write down all of the coaching cues I use, as many come off the cuff depending on the audience or the actual terrain descriptions we are approaching. There are quite a few recoveries built in at the “camp” so i do a lot of countdown coaching, i.e. “We still have 1:45 before we reach Camp 3; you’re tired and weary, but we must arrive together! What do you have left to make it another 90 seconds. The oxygen is diminishing and the slope increasing . . . can you give me a little more fight against this mountain?” (So,I tend to each this in terms of exertion levels, as opposed to heart rates, you would be coaching at a level 4.0 – 4.5 on a 5-scale at this point; encouraging your riders to sustain their power for those last few seconds.) I tell them right up front at the beginning of the ride, “I never want you to not reach the peak with me. Monitor your breathing and exertion levels for the duration of teach climb,” keep your riders in tune with the timing of each climb and movement. Journey rides are a little more freeing than a typical interval or endurance ride. You want to keep the “mind experience” as fresh as the physical experience – – – so set your class up well before you start the ride in terms of directives, “You will never go breathless until we drive up the SUMMIT. Only you know what you can handle on this journey. Listen to the music flow/beat and watch my pace. Etc.” I do as much “standard IC instruction” at the front of the ride; then switch over to more mind coaching on the journey, beginning with the base camp set up. I hope this helps you!
Regarding the music – I tend to edit most of my tunes – to only use the appropriately based tempos, volumes, etc. for what I want to accomplish. So, when I show an edit of 5:30 – 7:00, that is letting you now that I only used 90 seconds of the music clip. For quickest playbacks, I’m a little old school, but use iTunes on my MacBook Air, and set the crossfade preference for 6 seconds; so my music is a continuous flow. This method is most economical on my time constraints verses a sound editing program, etc. But, with the edits I’ve provided, would be easy to accomplish on any software.
Please feel free to email me with any questions. I’m so glad you took the time to review the profile and ask questions! You can reach me at billy.coburn@cox.net. Best to you and your riders! Thanks for your commitment to lead them and bring new experiences.
I had a few questions on this ride: 1) i notice that he does not say what HR range we should be in for each song? So how can we instruct our students so they are not too light or too heavy? 2) a few times he says that his song lengths go from, for example, 5:30 – 7:00, does this mean it is a 2:30 min long song?
thanks!