Global Rides DVD - Dirty Dozen review, longish
You might have thought after my last Global Rides review that I wouldn't buy another one of their DVDs. Well, you're right. But I wrote a polite but critical note to the company about the sound quality of their product. The president of the company wrote me back a very nice note and sent me out a copy of their Dirty Dozen DVD for free.
Yesterday I tried out the first hour of the ride. I ran out of time to do the whole thing which runs over 1 1/2 hours. What a difference! I really liked it.
The Dirty Dozen is a ride in Pittsburgh that goes up, and down, 13 hills. The hills seem to be short but range up to 20+ % grade. The DVD follows the actual ride with the riders. Sometimes the camera is in front, sometimes behind, and sometimes on a helmet cam. For each hill they have an inclinometer down in the left lower corner that shows your progress up the hill. There's also a timer in the right lower corner that tells you how much more time you have on the hill. During the recovery there's also a timer that shows up in the left lower corner.
The coaching, which you can have on or off, is very good. The sound is MUCH improved in this DVD. I was able to have the music on with the coaching and could still hear him. There's only one coach in this one, as opposed to your choice of 3 different ones in the Hawaii DVDs.
As in the other Global Rides DVDs, the picture quality is excellent, even for the helmet cam.
If you like short (2-4 minute) intense hill sets this is a great DVD for you. I'll be using it on the days when I want to really beat myself up with high gears.
BTW, I asked Jeff from Global Rides if they plan on redoing the sound on the other DVDs. They do plan to remaster the sound on the Hawaii set. He offered to let me know and to send me a copy when they do. I'll let you guys know.
