300 days of sun a year. That defines Boulder and yes, it’s unbelievable. But when it rains here, it rains…and when it snows here, it snows. And therefore for Boulder-ites, being Type A++++ and cycling mad, a rainy day can’t interrupt ‘precious’ training time and therefore will be moved indoors. And as we know, riding the rollers for an hour or more is paramount to mental torture by way of boredom. Unless, that is, you have something to take your mind away…

Welcome to Global Rides DVD training series….Hawaii Style! I was able to scope out and evaluate this fantastic training DVD series on a few of those remaining 65 non sunny days Boulder gets this spring and was pleasantly surprised with how engaging the product kept me as I spun circles, first longing to be outside in our beautiful town…then suddenly wishing to be transported to Maui given the epic scenery and rides i was ‘taken’ on.

Three DVDs came with my set called ‘Hawaii Rides’ each with a slightly different program to follow:

• Maui Rollers…has you flowing up and down the roller known as the Hana Highway. Undulating and sort of like long interval sets. Gorgeous.
• Oceanside Ride…has you thinking you are going on a flat coastal ride but punches in great efforts to up tempo.
• StrenDurance…is where you get your power on. Climbing and distance in one session that essentially has you wasted after the effort. It focuses on the need for sustained power over long-ish periods.

The neat part about the DVD’s is their production quality. From the very beginning the user is provided tons of options like if you want music or coaching…and if you want coaching, do you want it from an American an Aussie or others!

Once the course was selected, the DVD utilized some modern and ‘web 2.0’ methods to explain the route which was really clever and cool and invariably most people can understand these days…and afterwards be inspired to jump on their Macs and PC’s to go investigate a bit more with Google Maps:

Once set up and you are warmed up, you are treated to maddening sites and sounds. The music was super ambient yet motivating using a pretty quality DJ and not some music by a Fred. The coaching was ‘just intrusive’ enough….meaning its there and gives you a great framework to follow audibly, yet not a cheesy drill sergeant yelling at you incessantly. If you need that…well, you probably would be ostracized from Hawaii for being too agro.

Ultimately the videos had fantastic visuals and it was matched fairly well with what my perceived tempo was as I was on the rollers:

Each of the videos in the Hawaii Rides set were more engaging than the last and had me (re)fall in love with Hawaii…the place my wife and I spent two glorious weeks a decade ago on our honeymoon. So much so that for our 10th anniversary, these videos were inspirational enough to look into a bike tour on the islands! Cross fingers…

MSRP for this three box set is $75 although individual DVDs can be purchased as well for $30. The three seemed to work well together though in terms of weaving together a three day indoor training block if you’re forced to be inside when the weather is foul enough to make it dangerous to ride outside. You can pick them up directly here on the Global Rides Shop Site.