diff --git a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityapi/planning/Sequence.java b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityapi/planning/Sequence.java
index 0bd764fa19..dfd68b8035 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityapi/planning/Sequence.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityapi/planning/Sequence.java
@@ -60,6 +60,6 @@ public <U> Sequence<U> transform(Function<T, U> func) {
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        return Arrays.toString(this.seq);
+        return "seq len="+seq.length + ", LUT=" + Arrays.toString(this.seq);
     }
 }
diff --git a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/SimpleActivity.java b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/SimpleActivity.java
index ce4540b3c2..0100bcd2ff 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/SimpleActivity.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/SimpleActivity.java
@@ -343,12 +343,15 @@ public synchronized void setDefaultsFromOpSequence(OpSequence<?> seq) {
             getParams().setSilently("stride", stride);
         }
 
+        // CYCLES
         Optional<String> cyclesOpt = getParams().getOptionalString("cycles");
         if (cyclesOpt.isEmpty()) {
             String cycles = getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow();
             logger.info(() -> "defaulting cycles to " + cycles + " (the stride length)");
 //            getParams().set("cycles", getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow());
-            getParams().setSilently("cycles", getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow());
+//            getParams().setSilently("cycles", getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow());
+            this.getActivityDef().setCycles(getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow());
+//            getParams().set("cycles", getParams().getOptionalString("stride").orElseThrow());
         } else {
             if (0 == activityDef.getCycleCount()) {
                 throw new RuntimeException(
diff --git a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInput.java b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInput.java
index 79436a291b..473eb3b1ec 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInput.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInput.java
@@ -118,11 +118,15 @@ public void onActivityDefUpdate(ActivityDef activityDef) {
 
         cycles_max.set(cyclesSpec.last_exclusive());
         if (cycles_min.get() != cyclesSpec.first_inclusive()) {
-            logger.info(() -> "resetting cycle value to new start: cycle[" + cycles_min.get() + "->" + cyclesSpec.first_inclusive() + "] " +
+            logger.info(() -> "resetting first cycle (inclusive) value to: cycle[" + cycles_min.get() + "->" + cyclesSpec.first_inclusive() + "] " +
                 " start[" + cycle_value.get() + "->" + cycles_min.get() + "]");
             cycles_min.set(cyclesSpec.first_inclusive());
             cycle_value.set(cycles_min.get());
         }
+        if (cycles_max.get() != cyclesSpec.last_exclusive()) {
+            logger.info(() -> "resetting last cycle (exclusive) value to: cycle[" + cycles_max.get() + "->" + cyclesSpec.last_exclusive() + "]");
+            cycles_max.set(cyclesSpec.last_exclusive());
+        }
 
         recycles_max.set(recyclesSpec.last_exclusive());
         if (recycles_min.get() != recyclesSpec.first_inclusive()) {
@@ -131,6 +135,11 @@ public void onActivityDefUpdate(ActivityDef activityDef) {
             recycles_min.set(recyclesSpec.first_inclusive());
             recycle_value.set(recyclesSpec.first_inclusive());
         }
+        if (recycles_max.get() != recyclesSpec.last_exclusive()) {
+            logger.info(() -> "resetting last recycle (exclusive) value to: recycle[" + recycles_max.get() + "->" + recyclesSpec.last_exclusive() + "]");
+            recycles_max.set(recyclesSpec.last_exclusive());
+        }
+
     }
 
     public long getStartedAtMillis() {
diff --git a/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInputTest.java b/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInputTest.java
index 8896cf61bc..fe87721bb9 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInputTest.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityimpl/input/AtomicInputTest.java
@@ -66,6 +66,13 @@ public void testThatRadixStackingIsAccurate() {
         assertThat(segment).isNull();
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testThatOneCycleAndOneRecycleYieldsOneTotal() {
+        AtomicInput input = new AtomicInput(root, ActivityDef.parseActivityDef("alias=foo;cycles=1;recycles=1"));
+        CycleSegment segment = input.getInputSegment(1);
+        assertThat(segment).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(segment.nextCycle()).isEqualTo(0L);
+    }
     @Test
     public void testThatCycleAndRecycleOffsetsWork() {
         AtomicInput input = new AtomicInput(root, ActivityDef.parseActivityDef("alias=foo;cycles=310..330;recycles=37..39"));
diff --git a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/engine/activityimpl/ParameterMap.java b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/engine/activityimpl/ParameterMap.java
index d337be20ae..5753a732c0 100644
--- a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/engine/activityimpl/ParameterMap.java
+++ b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/engine/activityimpl/ParameterMap.java
@@ -181,6 +181,9 @@ public void setSilently(String paramName, Object newValue) {
 
 
     public void set(String paramName, Object newValue) {
+        if (paramName.equals("cycles")) {
+            logger.warn("Setting 'cycles' on the parameter map is likely causing a bug in your activity. Call setCycles on the def instead.");
+        }
         super.put(paramName, String.valueOf(newValue));
         logger.info(() -> "setting param " + paramName + "=" + newValue);
         markMutation();
diff --git a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/labels/MapLabels.java b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/labels/MapLabels.java
index 715a45d143..3874e6dd56 100644
--- a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/labels/MapLabels.java
+++ b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/api/labels/MapLabels.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 public class MapLabels implements NBLabels {
 
-    private final static Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(MapLabels.class);
+//    private final static Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(MapLabels.class);
     private final Map<String,String> labels;
 
     public MapLabels(final Map<String, String> labels) {
@@ -147,9 +147,9 @@ public static String sanitize(String word) {
         sanitized = sanitized.replaceAll("-", "_");
         sanitized = sanitized.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9_]+", "");
 
-        if (!word.equals(sanitized)) {
-            logger.warn("The identifier or value '" + word + "' was sanitized to '" + sanitized + "' to be compatible with monitoring systems. You should probably change this to make diagnostics easier.");
-        }
+//        if (!word.equals(sanitized)) {
+//            logger.warn("The identifier or value '" + word + "' was sanitized to '" + sanitized + "' to be compatible with monitoring systems. You should probably change this to make diagnostics easier.");
+//        }
         return sanitized;
     }