Spinervals Competition 10: Ride and Stride could be described as "Spinervals" (the indoor cycling workout) meets "Runervals" (the indoor treadmill workout). While all of the earlier programs in the Spinervals series are applicable to triathletes for the bicycling part of their training, Ride and Stride is the first to make a connection between the cycling and the running aspects of triathlete training.

The main point of Ride and Stride is to allow triathletes to practice the "bike to run" transition. To this end, the bike/run workout has participants switching back and forth between doing a time trial simulation on the bike, and doing a steady run on the treadmill. While on the bike, the workout simulates a time trial effort (a steady hard effort), with varying gears; on the treadmill, Coach Troy has runners vary their pace as well as the incline of the treadmill to increase intensity.

Although logically it's best suited for actual triathletes, Ride and Stride is set up so that the workout can be done either entirely on the bicycle, or switching between the bicycle and the treadmill. This basically means that Coach Troy Jacobson is running two different exercise programs at the same time: one for the participants who are only doing the cycling, and another for the bike/run combination. While he handles it as well as can be expected, this overlapping of the two possibilities makes for a somewhat distracting experience.

Ride and Stride offers a unique training program for triathletes, but it would have been a better workout if it had focused strictly on that aspect of the program. The inclusion of the "cycling only" workout doesn't add anything for the triathlete participant, and only serves to make the program slightly confusing and distracting. For pure cyclists, there's no particular reason to choose Ride and Stride as a cycling workout, as the Spinervals series offers a variety of excellent cycling-only workouts, such as the Time Trial Special which offers a similar workout, but without the overlapping running program.

The workout runs 60 minutes (although the DVD case says it's 70 minutes). The two programs, which run simultaneously, look like this:

Warm up

4x30 seconds effort

2 minute rest

For cyclists only: 3 repetitions of: 10 minute time trial (5x2 minute efforts), 1 minute rest, 4 minutes super spin, 2 minutes rest

For triathletes (bike/run combination): 3 repetitions of: 10 minute time trial (5x2 minute efforts) on the bike, 5 minutes running on the treadmill

Cool down

The DVD

Video

As with the other Spinervals programs, Ride and Stride is presented in its correct 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The image is clean and watchable, and the various on-screen graphics (perceived intensity, gear ratio, time remaining in the program, tension setting for LeMond RevMasters, and pace/incline for treadmills) are distinct and easy to read. The overall image looks a little faded compared to other Spinervals sessions, though, possibly due to the lighting conditions in the studio.

Audio

The soundtrack for Ride and Stride offers a pleasing listening experience, with Coach Troy's voice always sounding clear and easy to understand. The musical soundtrack is cheery and fun to listen to, and offers a pleasant change of rhythm between different exercise sets.

Extras

There are no real special features here; the only useful feature is that each exercise set has its own chapter, making it easy to customize the workout for your own needs. The main menu screen shows all the chapters, but it's painfully slow to navigate.

Final thoughts

Spinervals Competition 10: Ride and Stride is a unique training DVD, allowing triathletes to practice the bike-to-run transition along with honing their muscles for the time trial. Because it tries to cater to a too-broad audience with its combined cycling-only and bike/run workouts, Ride and Stride isn't as effective as it would have been if it had focused entirely on its real audience, triathletes. But although it's not perfect, for serious triathletes, it does offer a unique and valuable workout that will help participants get ready for competition. I'll suggest that "pure cyclists" look at the rest of the Spinervals series for cycling-only workouts, and I'll give Ride and Stride a "recommended" score for triathletes looking for an indoor workout aimed at their training needs.