Virtual Active Costa Rica Bike

Although one other reviewer found the music on this DVD distracting, I basically ignore the music while I am watching it.The scenery on this DVD is so absolutely breathtaking and exquisite, that it is my one go-to workout DVD.I use this while working out on my elliptical machine.I found it more than worth the money!

A nice feature of these VirtualActive bike series DVDs is that you can opt-out of listening to the cycling instructor and watch only the scenery and listen to the musical track without the instructor"s voice. The beat of the music is sufficient to give you the cycling speed. That said, there is one problem, at least for me: the music itself. On this particular DVD, when you get to a section entitled Playa San Josencito--Osa Peninegala Puntarenas, Costa Rica, the music (if you dare call it that) turns to "RAP" crap! (Rap, of course, by definition, does NOT qualify as music--since it has no melody, and no harmony) So the otherwise repetitious, boring ride along a dull, dirty grey beach is made more obnoxious by a continuous chanting of childish rhyme-schemes, rhythmically punctuating and equally amateurish drum beat. The lyrics (again if you could flatter them thusly) could have been contrived by a dull ten-year-old. It's completely out of place; totally distracting. If there was any exotic island beach mood--this rap crap would totally have destroyed it--along with my enthusiasm for ever subjecting my self to such an annoying experience again. The remainder of the photography depicts an inferior, not so glamorous natural setting further diminished by poverty-blighted dwellings. Enjoy if you can; it's not the uplifting experience I would choose for my exercise program.