The summer solstice, June 21, is the longest day of the year. That’s both a joy to hear and a heartbreak. A joy because it conjures up pictures of backyard barbecues and visits to the beach with the sun setting late in the evening. Heartbreak because it means every day after June 21 will get shorter and shorter! You can read some fascinating information about solstices and equinoxes in this CBS article. (An earlier version of this post incorrectly labeled June 21 as the “summer equinox.”)
Last month, we posted our Back to School/Summer Vacation Theme Ride Thursday, but with the summer solstice just around the corner, I wanted to remind you of a few of our other summer-related rides and playlists, and give you a brand-new profile that works well for celebrating summer.
I call this profile Summertime Fun. I first taught this profile back in February when we had endured several straight weeks of sub-zero temperatures. It was -3 degrees Fahrenheit when I arrived at the club, so my riders were more than ready to imagine the hot summertime! I modeled my ride after Karen’s Jump in the Pool interval profile (see below) and even used a few of the same songs. I am teaching it again this week to celebrate the summer solstice!
This is what the profile looks like in the Stages Studio system. Yeah…it’s a lot more changes than I usually do, but when you’re excited about summer, you kind of feel like jumping up and down a lot (well…within reason! We still just ride the bike!).
Download my profile below and make sure to let me know if you teach it and how your class enjoyed it.
From our archives, below you will also find links to all the summer-themed profiles that we have posted in the past. You might have noticed that the day that school gets out varies so much around the United States and from country to country. My niece graduated from high school last month but here in Colorado, some schools don’t get out until late June (well, they also have more than the usual number of snow days to make up after a harsh winter here).
Here is Shari’s original Summer Solstice ride. (She is also the creator of the Winter Solstice profile, which I teach every single December.)
In this Summer Surfin’ Safari Interval Profile, you can imagine doing intervals on the beach. Every recovery song is an old-time surf classic!
As mentioned above, I modeled my deep-freeze, wish-for-summer ride after Karen’s Jump in the Pool interval profile. Put your students to the “splash test” and see how hot and sweaty they can get during this ride as they race to the end to jump in the pool…metaphorically speaking, that is.
We also have bucket playlists with many summer themes. All of these are already included in the link above for the summer vacation Theme Ride Thursday post, but I’ll add them again below for your convenience. You’ll find the following bucket playlists from which to draw tons of fun songs to create your own profile (or just switch out a few in any of the above profiles). The School’s Out bucket playlist has over 40 songs; Summer has over 300 songs, and Vacation/Holiday has over 100 songs.