KSC

Jack Returns Home

2012-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that my flagship blog KSC has not had an entry in over a week. If memory serves me I have never let that much time elapse between postings and even though I will be attending the Queen of Spin’s class tomorrow morning I thought it best to scribe just a few extemporaneous thoughts while I will no doubt be inspired by the Evil Woman and her new trademarked CYCLEology.

In my time away from KSC I must confess that in truth there are only reasonable facsimiles to her brand of spin. I know that there’s only one Queen for my money and it’s Kristen James. She has had more of her share of life on life’s terms recently and when I saw her today in her office she seemed as resolute as ever about the world she inhabits. Never getting too down or too exuberant lest she lose her perspective and have her listing starboard. A mission, a purpose and most of all love drive this woman. Saddle up Jack!

Touching Kristen

2012-02-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

By no stretch of the imagination do I have a lock on who are the best spin instructors outside my universe but today Lisa Sanford was touching Kristen. I never compare because one it’s not fair and secondly no two-spin instructors are alike. One pro may inspire another but in the end they develop their own unique style.

So what was it about Lisa that made me think of Kristen? I think it was Thomas Dolby; she blinded me with science. Kristen gives us charisma and a MS in Exercise Physiology a perfect combination that makes her the draw that she is. Lisa is obviously well schooled out of Palm Beach State. And what I did glean from my one class with her was a repertoire that was beautifully choreographed with a personality that would charm the oranges off the trees.

I loved her jumps and they had a unique twist that had us moving fluidly with two speeds within each interval with breaks in between. And then with one selection she had us isolating which I really love because it slows you down and puts all the focus on our legs and it requires a huge amount of concentration and effort. Both elevate my HR about 10 beats higher and leave me breathless. She’s sharp, charismatic and when she told us to close our eyes because we could imagine something more I felt she must have studied some Zen because it worked. And just for the record I burned 100 calories more than any other ride down here in Fa-la-la.

Lisa Sanford: another star in the Southern Sky.

Jenny Anything But Little

2012-02-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

Introducing Jenny Little another diminutive star here in Southern Florida that was personally inspired by Gregg Cook from EQ Manhattan. In fact to hear Jenny tell it he helped shape her craft and I think that Jenny is an explosive talent that has still plenty of room to move up on the exponential curve. You just know it. Kristen and Tripp both have it that certain savoir-faire, charisma and electric energy that goes far beyond whatever might come from their voice box. And never did left-right-left-right have more meaning for me than the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy 8 to the bar. A syncopated rhythm kept us from losing focus, which had us near maximum effort without staying too long in the anaerobic zone. Jenny Intangible Little is what I would call her. Sweet with just enough piquant flavor to compliment her distinctive staccato like delivery.

Jenny sells out every class and when those latecomers were turned away it felt just like KSC. People know talent and when you find someone that gives 100% you respond in kind. Jenny Little: Catch this act.

On a day that Long Island EQ was focused on the all-important Cycle for Survival this Saturday, I was far from the Madding Crowd and although I missed you in physical please know that I felt your energy from a 1,000 miles away.

I Like How It Feels Part IV

2012-02-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

Did I ever tell you about how much I love spin? Maybe I haven’t said enough about it for it to really sink in just yet. Could be I need another 500 vignettes to convince myself that I have found a fitness regimen that keeps my injury risks at virtually nil? A cramped foot at night when I have to jump out of bed might be my only gripe.

I like how it feels when the pedal stroke and my Schwinn are in synchronicity.

I like how it feels when you can talk to your heart and it responds magnificently.

I like how it feels when I hit my browser refresh and I secure a bike in KSC.

I like how it feels when people I have known for years do a double take.

I like how it feels when I watch the Enrique Iglesias video and am reminded of attacking the hill.

I like how it feels when the Evil Woman says: You can do anything for 30 seconds.

I like how it feels when my medium shorts are loose.

I like how it feels when my belt is cinched to the last loop and I can’t tighten it any further.

I even like how it feels when someone says I am being supercilious writing so many stories about spin class.

And I like how it feels when someone says: Just how much weight did you lose Jack?

P.S.

When is Pitbull going to sing with Lady Gaga?

The Red Wheel

2012-02-01T08:23:00.001-08:00

When I spin in someone else’s room I can take chances. When I am in KSC the Evil Woman has every one of our moves drawn in blue in a perfect schematic with every inch caliper measured like an engineers blueprint. This week without the guiding voice of our mercurial master I took the resistance wheel and pretended that it had only one direction: up. With each passing interval I turned that red knob another ¼ turn to the right.

My guide was Dr. Lori Podray with a look and physiology that belied her age and provided a perfect backdrop that gave me the leeway somewhat akin to spinning solo. Her hand characterized by the lightest of touch yet a sweet urging to bring our HR up to 85%. Her instruction was more a function of her polite demeanor versus the stern hand of our beloved EW. However at rides end it was the same pool dipping drenched attire and small lake underneath my Johnny Q. Spinner that gave me some of the same satisfaction of our own Lavender Palace.

Baby Make Your Move

2012-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Step across that line…. I probably have heard this song before at some point but this morning it resonated even deeper inside my solar plexus. The metaphor was particularly personal for me because too often in my life I have let other people draw that line in the sand in front of me just daring me to cross it. And I got so caught up in the idea of the dare that I never gave much thought as to why was I crossing it in the first place because it was often someone else’s agenda not mine. Now it’s my time to make my own lines in the sand and cross them with purpose and more importantly with a plan. It’s about time too because the stick is getting shorter and I have to make every minute count.

Today Evil Woman was on fire and when she said Happy Freaking Birthday John and then played one of my all time favorite songs: Bizarre Love Triangle my heart leapt as it always does when I hear that composition by New Order. Thank you EW. As I have said many times the music is just the drum beat that elevates my HR and any time a tune comes on that I particularly love it’s whipped cream on pudding.

Baby I have made that move and crossed that line when I stepped into the Lavender Palace just two short years ago.

Holy Sh*t Hard

2012-01-21T09:34:00.001-08:00

Soon My Friends I am penning it now.

Cycle What?

2012-01-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you just have to put your foot down. Yesterday was one of those days What I mean to say is that if you are to keep up with the fast changing pace of the Evil Woman’s CYCLEology TM class you had better put your foot down as into the pedal stroke.

I was talking with a few of my male counterparts in the locker room and we were trying to dissect just what it is EW is doing differently. I have chronicled my love of this class but of late it has taken on a new dimension as CYCLEology has replaced Breathless. I know the classes are more intense and the breaks between intervals are virtually non-existent but I don’t recall ever having much time to luxuriate in the saddle between “roads”. So what is it then? I think maybe it’s because she is breaking down the ride into three 30-minute segments even though the time of 55 minutes remains the actual clock time we spend once we saddle up. But that explanation hardly qualifies as something material in what some of us might be experiencing. Could it be how she is coaching us within each individual surge, attack or sprint? I fear that I am not going to be able to elucidate in words just what it is but I can tell you that my HR is reaching higher limits and not only are my tank tops soaked but so are my shorts as if I had jumped into the Great Neck pool. My monitor says I have burned more calories but the real test is the faces I connect with after class. They all seem to be saying the same thing that this was one helluva workout. And let’s face it that’s saying a lot because the past two years have not been by any means a walk in the park with Kristen. It’s just really satisfying to fit into size 33 jeans again from 1995. Seems like ancient history but that’s how long ago it was.

Oh and a note to Kristen’s Mom. I think that an R rating has to be issued to gain admittance into this class because the innuendo’s ranging from P.E. to the best position to ride have been shocking plain and simple. Although she has made sure everyone is over 18 some of us might be fans of Pat Robertson and might think you need to wash Evil Woman’s (that’s your daughter’s nick name) mouth out with soap yet again.

She's Evil

2012-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

What else can you say? She’s evil and you know what? She knows it too! But of course we like it that way. And I personally cannot complain because as my body shrinks the compliments have come pouring in and I guess that idea that spin is not a good exercise can be dismissed summarily.

Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, famously said: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." No Coop it wasn’t Kelly Clarkson. Silly boy. Funny at an AA retreat this weekend the quote got a little mangled when the speaker said: What doesn’t kill you makes you crazy. I identified with that because when I drank it luckily didn’t kill me but it did make me crazy and I cannot attest that it made me stronger because quite to the contrary it made me capitulate and feel anything but strong. However since I took the 12-step route it did eventually make me stronger. Point being Jack? I really think that the God of our understanding never gives us more than we can handle. So Nietzsche may have been right and Coop if Kelly Clarkson thinks so it must be true too.

On Sunday morning I set my clock for 6:23 and I had preset my EQ page and my trigger fingers ready to set me up for KSC. Now I have talked about this before but lately I am prone to go back to sleep only to wake up with a start thinking that I didn’t get on the computer and get my bike. Is that psycho or am I just Magoo?

I Like How It Feels Part III

2012-01-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

I like how it feels when you can be in a room with like-minded friends and draw strength from all of them without being an energy vampire.

I like how it feels when I can lock out all my problems and just be right here right now.

I like how it feels when the effort I put forth is better than the time before and the time before that.

I like how it feels when you can be there for someone silently without even a word passing between you.

I like how it feels when a friend like Cindy asks me where have I been and that I was missed.

I like how it feels when I am not competing with anyone except myself.

I like how it feels when I stay out of judgment if only for an hour a day.

And I like how it feels when I can’t believe how hard I just worked out.

I felt so good today in this class because my concentration was so fine-tuned and I was ready for Kristen’s call because intuitively I knew it was going to be a Lu-Lu. (Lemon) You know how Evil Woman says in the middle of class that we should pretend we just got on the bike and we’re about to warm up? I love when she does because it harkens back to the idea that no matter how challenging your day is you can always start it over at any time of the day. Our mind is so powerful and if we tell it what we want most of the time it will give us just what we need. We may not get what we want all the time but most often we get just what we need.

We collectively will hold vigil over our dear friend and bolster her spirits any way we can. I know she will come out stronger than ever before.

Who Picked this Play List

2012-01-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

It’s been nigh on a fortnight and a half since my last KSC with the EW and it was great to find myself in the front row again with some of my familiars like Cindy and Stacy because I really miss their energy. And to be true I missed the blonde bombshell and her singular methodology as only she can deliver a spin class. I still hate her musical selections but I am not here for that I am here for her well-orchestrated instruction and of course her charisma. I thought I was sent to Coventry again but that was just selfish thought on my part as Kristen may have something else on her mind.

I guess I will discover over time just what this Cycleology ™ is all about and far be it for me speculate just yet because if I just keep coming eventually this old boy will get a handle on the new innovation she has in mind. I was just too busy re-acclimating myself to my normal routine again after my irregular schedule during the “silly season” in Florida.

My personal condolences to our resident angel Mary McCann and true to form she was quickly petitioning me for prayers directed at the front of the studio. My intuition told me that something was critically wrong as I witnessed her crying with her eyes and smiling with her mouth as she put on that brave face. It’s what our loved ones want from us to be strong in the face of emotional sorrow that can be quite daunting as life on life’s terms throws us a curve especially when we least expect it. I know she has many close friends inside the Lavender Palace and they will cradle her just right. I know the studio is not lavender it’s blue. The Lavender Palace just sounds so much cooler.

I along with the countless others send my prayers to you KJ.

867-5309

2011-12-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

Spin long enough and you will always find someone that does it like you’ve never seen it done before. In Florida there’s plenty of talent and this morning I found a great way to end the year. Jenny took me around the world in a high intensity ride that nearly blew me off my pace. She was frenetic with the grace of a dancer and the artistry of a symphony conductor.

In the near dark you could make out her athletic silhouette on her Johnny Spinner one moment then in a blink she was literally dancing center stage across the stadium studio as if she was leading a charge of the Light Brigade urging us on with military like precision. Her spirited exhortations felt like the backbeat to the choreography that felt so purposeful to keep us between 85% and 100 % effort for the whole ride.

In a way here was KSC south as there was not a bike to be had and several were turned away with more than a chagrined look. We started late but finished with a full 60-minute interval and I was amazed that her talent doesn’t have her but part time economics notwithstanding of course. Get the picture? Jenny Little brings it big.

Mommy's Turn to Drive

2011-12-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

A second day at 24 Hour Fitness and this time the older generation took the wheel and boy can she drive. She could have fooled me that she was a septuagenarian. Only being a sexagenarian I had to look that one up but Beverly Pepe pulled off what some cannot half her age. There were times as I looked up at her thinking as a kid growing up that any person of her stature were headed to a nursing home or the happy hunting grounds now here was one that was playing rock music and had 36 junior citizens by comparison dripping in sweat and sucking wind. Beverly Pepe, substituting for her daughter Lisa today might be breaking new ground teaching spin at 72 but as Petula Clark once sang: It’s a Sign of the Times. Her choreography was great and again like her daughter Lisa she featured a 5-minute jump, which cranked my HR up to 149. Not bad for a man on beta-blockers.

Whose Petula Clark you ask? See Downtown. *

This chain is huge and boasts of a swimming pool, full court basketball, and a plethora of equipment some of which I wish EQ had like The True Stretch Cage which had 30 illustrated stretch positions that I found took all the guesswork out of which stretch does what. I have been in large gyms before but this one had me thinking when I am here in Florida this will be the place I will frequent. Nothing can replace Equinox Woodbury mainly because of the friends I have made there and it’s always going to be my 3rd space no matter how far from home I roam.

It was Mommy’s turn to drive and she was flooring that gas pedal for the whole 60-minute ride.

* Sign of the Times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tusqkxkhrls

Love the One You're With

2011-12-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

Whenever I have had the pleasure to spin in another club outside of the Lavender Palace at EQ Woodbury, I never expect anything lest I be disappointed. And truth be told no one has let me down yet whether it be in an EQ in Florida or New York. Today however I was just too far to spin in Ventura and closest was the franchise of 24 Hour Fitness Center.

A little about the club and although it didn’t have all the amenities of Woodbury like those plastic bags for our wet gym attire or an endless supply of hand and bath towels it was clean, spacious and the energy was pulsing which to me was a surprise. And since this blog is about spin let’s get to it. I loved the studio, loved it. It was tiered stadium like and each bike looked to be about 54” inches apart so there was plenty of room between each Johnny G. Spinner bike. The iron horse looked new and although there was no console the pedal stroke was smooth as silk. Once I got used to the letter codes as opposed to the Numbered ones on our Schwinn’s I was good to go.

Lisa Pepe Fernandez was the chosen star this morning and I don’t know what it is about some of the diminutive power houses I have encountered like Carolyn Mellace and Hayley Greenberg but here was another more than a 1000 miles from home. Lisa’s lithe form moved effortlessly from seated to #2 and #3 and although she carried a soft voice her command of the class was unmistakable. Her discography was eclectic and roamed up and down the time scale of music with no seeming order to it but it worked well at least from this sexagenarian’s ears. What she did that I really enjoyed was a 5-minute “jump” in 4 time and I found that to be the most challenging part of the whole choreography. And all I had to do was look on the floor beneath and see that my 3 pools I leave behind was right where it always is.

Lisa Pepe Fernandez a great ride thank you. I hear that her mom Beverly Pepe is a 72-year-old spin instructor at this club and if it can be arranged I intend to take on the previous generation and I hope I can hold my own.

Love the one you’re with or without.

No Spin, No Problem

2011-12-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Uh yeah no that’s a lie. I miss my mates of the Lavender Palace because it’s not just exercise to me anymore it’s a way of life for me. I did some Napoleon Solo episodes on the beach with a breathtaking view last week but it just can’t match the energy I feel inside the confines of my EQ home.

Tomorrow I will try 24 Hour Fitness spin class and I hope it is a reasonable facsimile at least to keep me somewhat sated for the time being. Up until now I have been running as a substitute with extreme difficulty and I never thought I would say this but I don’t miss the pounding on the knees or the crippling lactic acid that kept me walking like I had a stick up my alimentary canal.

The fact that Kristen is absent this week makes it just a bit more palatable and I can justify taking a break but since I have an obsessive personality I miss taking my comfort in the exquisite sport that I have made Jack’s addiction.

No spin? Oh yeah it’s a problem.

Order vs. Chaos

2011-12-19T06:43:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret that my favorite spin instructors are the Evil Woman and Mr. Authenticity. Separate and together they’ve been promising sweeping changes come this January. How can it get any better than it already is I ask you? Well since they both deliver (at least from my vantage) we are all in for something extraordinary. I have made casual jocular reference to these two charismatic individuals as Order and Chaos. And quite frankly I love the polarity of the two protocols although it would seem that chaos is haphazard and undisciplined versus the fine art of structured choreography. I submit though that both cater to the imagination. Order is a guided meditation and chaos a silent one.

Although neither might admit it they both can take a page from each other and make us all a sweet and salty snack. And how many morsels can we gobble up that last an hour and give us the metabolic shift and the forensic change in our paradigm as we hit the street armed with alertness no amount of caffeine can muster.

The Open Road Inside

2011-12-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

What can I say that hasn’t been said about Saturday KSC? 350 vignettes later I am still combing my afflatus to describe the best exercise regimen I have ever found especially for this time in my life. Nary an injury have I suffered except maybe a little ache in my feet from the shoes I need to replace. My disintegrating disc and prior knee surgeries have never given me the least bit of discomfort. Some of my spin mates have suggested I come out of marathon retirement and hit the road again. Romantic notion to be sure because some of the best times both literally and figuratively came in my New Balance shoes. But why tempt fate. I am so satisfied in my Schwinn and the pounding of the pavement is best left for those younger than I with aspirations I have long fulfilled for myself.

Where is that guy that told me I could not lose weight in spin class? I think of him often now when I doff my soaking wet spin top and shorts. He was a veteran of many a triathlon and he seemed to have a cogent argument two years ago which I can’t recall now but I am glad I turned a deaf ear to that non sense. God I love spin class because it has become a way of life for me and well it works.

A great idea EW had taking on double duty for Saturday. It gives rise to faces I have never seen before and why stop at 55 when 110 riders get to feel the road of Kristen James.

Sour Note

2011-12-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

It’s a rare occasion if ever where I am just a little pissed off about what transpires inside the Lavender Palace. Today was one of those days. I am the first to admit that 26 hours before I am refreshing my macbook to secure a bike for KSC. And Wednesday morning at 6:30 I clicked and reserved #4 for today’s 8:30 class. And as per usual the room was filled in the proverbial 5 seconds for the Evil Woman’s daily show.

As I checked back later yesterday I could see that the room was still booked full. This morning however revealed quite a different scenario. Kristen absent today enrolled her substitute Lori Salti. Now I have taken Lori’s class before and there are not many trainers more passionate about fitness and spin than the White Angel is but it seems some of my spin mates just didn’t see it that way. Now I understand that everyone is entitled to spin with whom they wish but if you reserve a bike show up. I just think it was insulting that we can’t show one of our elite trainers support by being present especially if you reserved a bike in the first place. In fact I saw some of KSC regulars in the big room chatting and some on the treadmill. It’s just not right.

Having said that Lori was truly great and if you ask my front row mates you’d hear them echo the same sentiment. I was drenched and the indefatigable Ms. Salti was ready for her double duty in the 9:45. Sorry no metaphors today I am just so disappointed.

Here I am sporting my new specs from Optical Image where Cheryl and Heather are the proprietors. I got my eyes checked and they helped me pick out these glasses. What do you think?

Ruby Red

2011-12-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

Sauntering late into what I thought was the Corso Zone today I spy young Hayley Greenberg at the controls. She’s a slip of a thing but don’t let that fool you. And this redhead may have a soft voice but possesses the will of an Iron Woman. I like my instructors that way. How about you?

And Ruby Red has broken tradition with the AT 40 and her iPod contained an eclectic mix that was a great change of pace to my auditory canal. I have long been tone deaf to some of the music I have listened to these past two years but like all musical offerings there will always be artists that have melody filled acoustics that resonate but that’s because I opened my closed mind. I am an ardent fan of the 60’s and 80’s and for me the music of today had a dearth of talent or so I thought but if you stick around long enough many of the artists of today have taken music on a new course and some of the urban artists I formerly had disdain for are the innovators and my musical clock has gotten upgraded I must confess.

Ruby Red I shall call her and although it appears she is only in a minor role at present I hope that the Evil Woman sees fit to bring her into prominence as only she can. Good luck Hayley my dear.

What Goes Up......

2011-12-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

It used to be so tempting to just eat whatever my heart desired after an all out effort in KSC but this summer all that changed along with a myriad of other things in my life. Those bits of my Peyton Place have been chronicled in any number of my other blogs but here in my most viewed blog it seemed that I had lost weight in a precipitous fashion and I can’t quite put my finger on just how it happened but one day I found myself not covering up my upper torso. It was a dream of mine to be able to feel this comfortable in my own physiology by February 2012. Well it seems it came just a bit sooner. As I started to say in the first year and a half of spin I never paid much attention to the junk I ate now I have given up diet soda and late night snacking. The soda I think was the key to curbing my appetite and now when the healthy choices are limited I find myself leaving something on the plate rather than consuming the whole thing. (Anyone old enough to remember that Alka Seltzer commercial where the mustachioed heavy set beleaguered man says: I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.) Leaving something on the plate is so satisfying too it just feels good. And although sometimes my appetite is very strong I try to eat slower so my stomach can catch up to my eyes.

I love that instrumental Christmas song that Kristen has played this December, as it is a perfect road to end class in a most challenging way. It’s a fantastic bit of choreography EW. And that David Guetta song with those two bursts of 23 seconds of frenzy is a great way to go all out like a banshee and then completely do nothing.

Occasionally it is very difficult for the Queen of Spin to avoid innuendos even when she has no intention of being slightly provocative and it was hard not to think of the double entendre of getting “up” and then recovering this morning and as our eyes met Evil realized her blogger would grab any opportunity to emit a sardonic smile. Eliminating the “refractory period” is a pretty cool thing. I also wanted to let Kristen’s mom know that your daughter is teaching us how to “strip” and we just thought you should know how muti-talented she is. As if you didn’t know.

....Must come down.

The Cricket Stare

2011-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

I never heard this idiom before but it didn’t take long for it to resonate with me and make it today’s title for KSC Saturday. I have only given cursory thoughts to what it’s like having 55 pairs of eyes staring at you because I have experienced it many times before when I engaged in public speaking, but there is a major difference or two when it comes to spin class. When I spoke to an audience most often they never knew what to expect but with Kristen we know we are here for a powerful experience in body and mind. All I could hope for is that my audience had their grey cells stimulated. Here in KSC we have all senses engaged and no one is nodding off from a food hangover or excusing themselves for a biological break. So I think that the pressure EW must sense is only mitigated by the fact that everyone is in motion. Don once used the word: Entertrainment. And that is exactly what draws us here the combination of sweat and theater. Not many can pull this combination off but we all know Ms. James does.

The cricket stare is of course an oxymoron but the anticipation of each and every one of us is like knowing but not knowing. We know the ride is going to be challenging but because of the many permutations of each ride we just don’t know when we will be breathless, in a strength-training mode or in the anaerobic state. By the way I think I have figured out what breathless actually means and it was by a process of elimination. At first I just thought it was just an advertising marquee to attract us but I think that I have come to the conclusion that it is simply a suspension of regular breathing. Maybe Kristen can chime in here if she has a more technical explanation.

KJ wants us to enjoy the ride every time. We know this ain’t no disco but we needn’t give her the cricket stare because a few smiles makes her job all the more gratifying.

So what do you think about having two classes on Saturday? Kristen had to look at the signup sheet because some of the riders were not the usual familiar faces. Maybe they were members that had just given up getting in to Woodbury’s hot ticket. Now more of us get to share an hour with the charismatic one.

Roll Film

2011-12-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

As we enter the final stages of 2011 and I look back on my second year in KSC I think that I exceeded my wildest expectations. I have been wishing for this body to return and I knew it was there it just had be uncovered from the formidable amount of clay I slapped onto it over the last 10 years. It seemed like the ripped physiology of my 40s was just a dream but now maybe not so impossible. I have long admired most of you both men and women with shapes to die for and all of you have been my inspiration to not only lose nearly 30 pounds but you have helped me return to a social network beyond what was going on in my head.

But it’s more than just the outer shell of the physical life because it’s what’s happened on my “inside job” as well. I had been a hermit for about 5 years prior to spin class through no ones fault but my own but because of all of you some of my youthful personality has returned. Part of the reason is due to the fact that I am comfortable in my own skin again. And again I have all of you to thank for it.

KSC is all about us and although I don’t hear from you very much I know and thank you for your readership. Maybe in 2012 if I can still find the afflatus in me to continue writing this blog you might drop me a line or two. I have found so many really nice people inside the walls of the Lavender Palace and I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season.

I was watching Amy taking video of the EW today and although she might not be Cecil B. De Mille from what I could glean (because she was right in front of me) I think she captured the images rather well. That iPad is something else again. I think the late Steve Jobs was the second coming of Einstein. What do you think? Taken from us way too soon.

Cycle for Survival anyone? I loved capturing that story last year and I do look forward to doing it again. Have you signed up?

This Ain't No Disco

2011-11-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

At times it sounds like one but other than the songs that I can really attach to viscerally I agree it ain’t no disco. What it is though is a virtual ride through the existential side of our minds. It’s no joke when we say that we are not just spinning our wheels when we don those cycling shoes and clip in because the ride is anything but stationary. For years in the main studio I would alternate between the elliptical and the recumbent bike searching like a cell phone signal for the deep connection I knew that I could never synch myself into because I was alone and unplugged. It is here that I found the invisible yet (just like electricity) palpable current to make things arc and transform the sub, pre and conscious parts of my brain.

When you alter your thoughts your actions and reactions change and change inevitably follows in our physiology. How could it not because what we think about becomes our reality? When EW talks about incinerating fat our mind is hard at work making the chemistry to do just that. I think most of us would agree that what we focus on expands and if we choose to think about what’s wrong in our lives the power of the mind manifests a deeper “wrong” because our brain wants to give us exactly what we want. When I am in the CS it’s a rare moment when an outside thought descends into my consciousness. Just to make sure I leave my (what has become an extraterrestrial alien) cellular device in the locker room. I am alone and together with 55 precious beings trying to achieve the same thing a fit body with a mind to match.

This ain’t no disco or even a dance party but the celebration in our heads makes me think it just might be.

I Like How It Feels Part II

2011-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

I like how it feels when I can take off my jeans without unbuckling the belt.

I like how it feels when Ari and Lizzie say that I look like I'm wearing someone else's clothes.

I like how it feels when I don't look my age.

I like how it feels when I am the fittest person at the Thanksgiving table.

I like how it feels when I walk into the CS and know most of the people.

I like how it feels spinning next to athletes like David, Cindy and Stacy because it makes me feel young.

I like how it feels when we can use creative visualization to improve our lives in the other 23 hours.

I like how it feels to be positive.

I like how it feels to be passionate.

I like how it feels to be enthusiastic.

I like how it feels to write about the Renaissance that is taking place in my life right here right now.

I Like How It Feels

2011-11-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

I like how it feels when I put on a pair of jeans that I haven’t been able to fit into for 8 years.

I like how it feels when I stand in the shower and I can see my toes.

I like how it feels when I look in the mirror and my shirts look like they’re swimming on me.

I like how it feels when I get out of the shower and I am not afraid to look at myself naked in the mirror.

I like how it feels when my friends tell me how good I look and ask me; did you lose weight?

And I like how it feels when I start to stretch in the cool down and know that I gave my body the healthiest start to the day.

I like how it feels I know I do.

P.S.

I like how it feels when I can take off my jeans without unbuckling the belt.

I like how it feels when Ari and Lizzie say that I look like I'm wearing someone else's clothes.

I like how it feels when I don't look my age.

I like how it feels when I am the fittest person at the Thanksgiving table.

I like how it feels when I walk into the CS and know most of the people.

I like how it feels spinning next to athletes like David, Cindy and Stacy because it makes me feel young.

I like how it feels when we can use creative visualization to improve our lives in the other 23 hours.

I like how it feels to be positive.

I like how it feels to be passionate.

I like how it feels to be enthusiastic.

I like how it feels to write about the Renaissance that is taking place in my life right here right now.

Dance With Me Kristen

2011-11-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

From the front row a dance is certainly within the realm of possibility as I can just reach out to our vaunted leader and do an inside turn. However, this is just a metaphor for the real dance we do each morning in KSC. I worked up quite a sweat “in my life as a dancer” and now in my life of spin (that is nigh on two years) I work up that same sweat and then some. Never since my days of long distance running have I worked this hard in achieving the level of fitness I now enjoy. You can see it in the mirror but the feeling inside viscerally is where I feel it the most. It’s a leanness that makes us feel like all our clothes are loose which is gratifying beyond words. We can dance in the Lavender Palace during the day and when we dance in the dark at night it feels as if a pirouette is child’s play.

And the dance is always different. The Evil Woman may program her discography but never her soliloquies. She could never be content with the same old thing it always has to be cutting edge and whenever she can shed the “old school” thought process she does. The latest is her disposal of the theme of just burning calories. I tried that for almost 7 years in the main studio and I know it just doesn’t work because you wind up (if you’re lucky) maintaining your weight or more likely gaining weight instead. I think that if we use the philosophy of just burning calories it gives us a false sense of what we can ingest. For me I think I thought I could eat anything because I had worked out for the day. But more than likely I ate back my workout and more. With Kristen’s credo of going into the day in caloric deficit our metabolism shifts and our bodies become an inferno as we incinerate the food we eat.

I have always loved to dance since The Twist* in 1960 and if the circle of people that would surround me back then in 5th grade were any judge I was “doin’it and doin’ it and doin’ it well. And now in 2011 I can still dance and each morning I am dancing as fast as I can.

*The Twist is the only song to be released twice once in 1960 and then again in 1961 and reach #1 in the Billboard Charts both times.

Didactic Kristen

2011-11-14T20:28:00.001-08:00

Monday KSC is a time to purge all of our eating indiscretions from the weekend.

Although because of her encouragement I have lessened my intake of sweets and empty calories. Not all the time of course but since I don’t drink alcohol I have a leg up on you “earthlings” that drink socially. I do know that those calories are like candy bars without wrappers and I am also cognizant how smooth booze can be and how those pounds can sneak up on you and tip that scale to the right.

Merriam says that Didactic means: intended to convey instruction and

information as well as pleasure and entertainment. The Evil Woman does just that doesn’t she? That is one of the secrets to her success. She takes pride in giving us technology that is always cutting edge, even if we have a tendency not to hear her every word. In time however, we listen to her message and all we have to do is look in the mirror to see a reflection that we haven’t seen in sometimes many years.

And as far as entertainment goes who does it better than she with her double entendres that both titillate and inspire. She works the room better than anybody because she makes sure she knows all her members and what their strengths are as well as their weaknesses. And who doesn’t love hearing her call out our names every class and when we don’t we know we’ve been sent to Coventry but that never lasts for long because she loves us like we love her.

Didactic Kristen. Today we learned a new word: “Stripping”. She had plenty of fun with that and why not getting naked is always fun in the right setting but this term had us taking down road instead of adding resistance and it made the ride feel like more like the open road going up on a hill attack and then enjoying the ride down the incline. It gave the ride at least to me a new dimension that I can’t wait to try on Thursday.

Note to Kristen’s Mom: Just between us did you ever wash her mouth out with soap when she was a little girl? She is terribly naughty albeit in the most intoxicating way.

Passion in Our Pants

2011-11-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Do we all know just how much drama goes into securing a bike online for KSC? I mean do you really know? I awake at 6:25 to the alarm clock app on my 4G phone that keeps getting louder if I do not heed the dismiss tab. And as I saunter sleepily into my bathroom I know my macbook is fully charged. When I open it I have the Firefox browser loaded to “Book a Bike” all set up and within a few seconds I am poised with one finger on the “refresh” tab and the other on my touchpad. And at the stroke of 6:30 I am at the ready when Kristen’s class magically appears. I try to relax and because I have gotten so successful in securing a bike when I am in front of that computer some of the nervousness has subsided but there is still that smug satisfaction that I don’t have to consider the Loser Line.

I love to get bike 3 because it’s nearest the top of the app and every millisecond I save in moving that cursor insures my success ratio. Today I had #4 (Which is Stacy Sable’s bike) but I was unceremoniously unseated by Louis because my bike was "traveling" on the floor. I had no real issue with the slight dysfunction but the new GM anxious to throw his weight around pushed me back three rows to #23. I was slightly miffed but after all I was here and the Thursday edition was just where I wanted to be.

The ever-mercurial Kristen was part playful part animal and the combination was lethal. All I needed to do was watch David Cooper just in front of me to know that even a hulk like him was hit by gamma rays rendering him a shelled pistachio.

Spin Notes.

The Evil Woman gave some great nutritional advice and today I was determined not to eat any candy and make sure no ingredient that I couldn’t pronounce went into my cakehole. Harold still longing for a hamburger even at 8:30 in the morning was fit to be tied at such a blasphemous thought.

Note to Kristen’s mom. She was talking about having “Passion in our Pants” this morning and God only knows what she was referring to. I just thought you ought to know.

Advanced Kinesiology Part Unknown

2011-11-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

There are so many ways that I can describe spin class with Michelle Corso but unless you actually experience her firsthand you probably won’t be able to fully cognate what the hell I am talking about. How many times can I tell you about her kinesiologist’s dream like physiology and you not get sick of hearing me? I will tell you again that it’s simply not to be believed. But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Michelle to me is as I have related before is technically gifted and has a vision every time she takes the wheel. There is no ad hoc performance from her as she is meticulously prepared and damn it she has great rhythm when she starts gesticulating off the bike to drive her point home. I really don’t think she is as shy as appearances might indicate because with 4 daughters one would need all the social skills that God could provide because the estrogen alone would kill you.

Michelle is also apart of Cycle for Survival in February and the stars are coming out that day. February 4 might seem like a long time from now but hell I just put my bathing suit away and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

A Day In the Life

2011-11-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

As I approach the CS there’s not much on my mind except getting to my numbered bike and making the various adjustments but first I have to navigate (and I do have a third mate’s license) past the sea of members milling about the narrow entrance of the Lavender Palace. For the biggest studio on record it sure has the smallest ingress on record. We could use wider doors if there is any mistake the designer made. Of course I’m talking about Kristen’s Spin Class where the hot ticket is still hot and 55 bikes was supposed to be more than enough but alas that studio hasn’t been built yet.

Thursday night I had the chance to spin with the incomparable Carolyn Mellace. She’s The Blue Sapphire to me and although my time schedule doesn’t seem to dovetail with her limited appearances at EQ but when it does it’s always a treat. She has her own inimitable style like jumps and her patented isolation spin where going slow never was as challenging as it is with her. Last night she played the Doobie Brothers a song that you’re not likely to hear anywhere else but because Carolyn is more impromptu rather than sticking to a script it makes her truly singular in nature.

Kristen has a great lineup slated for Cycle for Survival in February and it’s the Queen followed by her star-studded staff including Tripp, Damian and the aforementioned Carolyn Mellace. Now I don’t have this from Mount Olympus but it seems like this is the starting rotation. It should top last year’s event and I just hope I can cover it like last year.

Relentless

2011-11-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

What does that word mean to you? It’s a notch up from persistent I think. Relentless means that one never gives up. Persistence is something you keep on repeating regardless of the outcome. Relentless is all about the outcome and nothing matters until one is successful or an outcome results even if its failure.

A great word to focus on in KSC today and this wordsmith is all about relentless. I never give up because I have found that even if things take year’s relentlessness will eventually bring results. Sometimes it’s not necessarily the outcome we were aiming for but a decision will be made one way or the other. Without the character trait of relentless I feel that we have only one outcome and that’s no. It’s like picking up the phone if we don’t the decision has been made however when we do pick it up we may get the outcome we were hoping for.

Can you actually see yourself if you are physically able in this class not giving it your all? What is it that drives us on and on? Of course our trainer Kristen puts us in the position to be the best we can be but in the end it is we that have to shoe it. Riding next to motivated riders is a key element as well as their energy combined with ours provides us with the impetus to be relentless.

Has anyone read Liz Davies entry? Kristen suggested she come here and ride with us and I have extended that invitation to her. She apparently is an avid reader of exercise blogs and somehow stumbled on KSC. I am glad she did and if she is willing I have also asked her to contribute here so we can get her perspective. Might be a little less fanciful than my approach but nonetheless it might give us a lens we haven’t spied through.

P.S.

My friend Mike a retired anesthesiologist was in the right place at the right time for me today and I just wanted to acknowledge him even though he won’t see these words.

I have struggled with this atrial fibrillation for quite some time now and today was the first time that I had the symptoms of light headedness and mild dizziness that accompanied it and did not have the accelerated HR I almost became accustomed to. When I awoke I was feeling that unmistakable HR and took my meds which I am still derelict in doing most days and proceeded to head for spin class. Thinking it would simply dissipate as it usually does with the combination beta-blocker and arrhythmia drug I climbed aboard for what was in hindsight a dumb thing to do.

In any case after class as I sauntered around the locker room and wandered aimlessly Mike grabbed my wrist and told me that even though my HR was low that it was indeed irregular and that I should get my butt to the emergency room and get a monitor on. As it turned out my return call to my cardiologist came in and I went to my doctor’s office instead. I am now wired for 24 hours and the admonitions from everyone are ringing in my ears and maybe this time I have actually heard what they are saying.

Liz Davies: Guest Blogger

2011-10-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by one Liz Davies who had just stumbled on this blog and she asked if she might write a guest blog here. I just finished reading it and it is superb! Maybe it is happenstance or serendipitous in any case her article is about exercise for cancer patients. She makes a compelling argument to that end. We of course at Equinox are deeply committed to Cycle for Survival 2012 and I thought you might find this young recently graduated college student's article of strong interest. And here it is in it's entirety unedited.

Fitness Inspiration for Cancer Patients

Those who have cancer may feel like the treatments are more draining than the disease itself. These can sap their energy, making them feel weak and tired all of the time. They may even feel nauseous and sick. This is not the way that they want to live, and they will be glad to know that it is not the way that they have to live. Something that many people do not realize is that exercise can really help them to overcome these feelings. It can help them to regain their strength and to feel better. This is true for all types of cancer including breast cancer, lung cancer and even rare forms like epithelial mesothelioma.

Increased Strength

First of all, exercise can help them by increasing their muscle mass and making them physically stronger. The body will be weak already, so this strength can help them to feel like they are able to be more active. They will be able to do more things, showing them that their life can still be as fulfilling as they desire.

Better Blood-Flow and a Higher Heart Rate

Any exercise gets the heart working. This helps to prevent blood clots and other such problems. The rising heart rate can also make them feel less lethargic. This is one of the reasons that cancer patients have been shown to have a lower risk of a reoccurrence of cancer if they are exercising frequently.

An Improved Outlook

Exercise can just help people to feel better in an emotional sense. They will be more awake and alert. This will improve their mood. It can also help them to connect with those around them.

The Best Exercises

Some exercises are ideal for cancer survivors. One such exercise is simply stretching. Increased flexibility helps with blood flow and allows more exercises to be possible. Resistance training with weights or machines is also a good idea since patients will have often lose muscle mass during their treatment. They could also have gained fat, and having larger muscles will help them to burn it off. As they start to feel better, aerobic exercises such as walking or swimming are encouraged. These can also help to reduce fat.

How to Stay Motivated

When someone is not feeling well, it can be hard for them to want to do anything, let alone work out. They need to keep the positives in mind so that they can be encouraged to continue working out. They need to set goals for themselves. Even small goals, such as walking for a mile, can be helpful. Furthermore, they could reward themselves when they accomplish certain things. Maybe they have been denying themselves deserts. When they have reached a certain exercise goal, they could allow themselves to have a dessert that they love. They should also think of exercise as a way of showing cancer that it cannot rule their life.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.

Space and Time

2011-10-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Kristen eluded to the fact that we were a “team” today in this a very rainy Saturday edition of KSC. She reasoned that because all of our bikes are so close together that we exchange a free flowing energy with each other. All the members of “The Team” are watching us and that is one reason why we give the effort we give. Kristen must know because although we are usually only focused on one set of eyes, hers she is seeing 110 eyes on those 55 bikes staring back at her.

Now I think we happen to be so close together because it’s what the Fire Marshall will allow in what is virtually always a SRO Kristen’s Spin Class. (SRO: Sitting Room Only)

But on the abstract or metaphysical level spin class at our EQ is more like a community of friends that may only know each other in a cursory way but nonetheless we share each other’s aura and that is a deeply personal exchange probably only possible because of our instructor Kristen James and also in large part to the type of members we enjoy in Woodbury.

Sit next to Stacy Sable or any number of the plethora of riders that have a drive reserved only for dedicated athletes and you will find out exactly what I mean. And if you are a devotee of KSC you know and have experienced this phenomenon.

We have limited space in the absolute in one of the largest spin studios on Long Island or anywhere else for that matter. Just try to move around before or after class off the Schwinn and you’ll know I speak the truth. Maybe though Evil Woman has something there when she talks about our proximity and what we share with one another and in truth I wouldn’t want it any other way. And as far as time is concerned the minutes continue to fly by as if the minute hand was on speed attached to an interval linked to the upper reaches of 120 RPM’s on our consoles. From the beginning for this rider it was a challenge to make it mentally through a whole hour and although it is even more challenging now than it was nearly two years ago I am never glad our time is through but it does set the day and readies me for the challenges of life on life’s terms.

Space and time limited commodities in our lives and the same holds through of KSC.

Across the Mid Line

2011-10-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

The challenge of spin has helped me drop twenty pounds since May and the key might be more dietary than just how hard my effort in the pedal stroke is. When I got on that scale after class I was astonished how far left I am pushing that sliding bar. Avoiding those empty calories at night could be pivotal along with the end of drinking diet soda. I think there just might be a conspiracy theory about such drinks because although they carry no caloric weight the secret ingredient might be that it increases your appetite for those heavily laden fat foods like Five Guys and Golden French Fries. Just sayin’. If I had listened to Kristen at the outset I would have arrived at this revelation sooner but I just wasn’t ready until now.

Talking to David (he’s usually in #6) in the men’s locker room and he agreed with me that KSC has taken on a new dimension in terms of the degree of difficulty so having said that I know that I am not alone. And now 21 months in I can actually say that I am starting to feel fit. And I have not been in this zone since my feet were hitting the pavement on a regular basis. Which for me is eons ago.

And how dumb am I? Don’t answer that! But why did it take me so long to figure out that I could cross the mid line of the bike with each pedal stroke? Left, right, left right. Just a small shift to either side of the mid line of the Schwinn has given me and added boost of strength and probably affords me an even higher RPM which has always bedeviled me.

Kristen Rising

2011-10-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

Is there anything more I can say about spin class with Kristen James? After all how many times can I talk about her charismatic personality or even her mercurial moodscape that changes like the phases of the moon? Well 325 entries later she continues to break new ground not only in the anatomy of spin but now that she is concentrating on regulating our HR, we are moving past just a fabulous workout and she is creating a more exacting fitness that only her scientific approach can deliver. Now what does all that gobbly gook mean? It means that we are athletes and I haven’t felt like that probably since running the Boston Marathon. And that is no joke because I would train 75/100 miles a week. We are always “training” one day I would love to take it further and find out just how fit we are in a race day atmosphere.

Kristen seems to be mulling over having rowing classes. I would love that. I can’t say for sure but that might seem the perfect upper body compliment to our lower body workouts of spin. My imagination went wild thinking I would have a whole new “pull” of stories about stationary rowing. Just think about that for a bit. Where would all these pieces of equipment go? Well if she can get the Mother Ship to build a new multi-million dollar studio like the one we have nothing will surprise me.

I would like to with Peter Rothermel much success in Great Neck and the best of success to Louis Cohen in his new position as GM of Woodbury.

23 Seconds

2011-10-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Calling it her signature, Kristen has a sentient connection to the song by David Guetta called: Without You. It also has two distinct bridges of 23 seconds that lend itself perfectly to an all out anaerobic effort followed by what EW calls: Do Nothing. The song itself is perfect on the ears as well and relatively brief lasting only 3:30.

And how about Jennifer Lopez with that new one called: Papi. I could never stand her with the overexposure the media paid her and Ben Affleck. It prejudiced me about her I must admit as I thought it was just another one of those no talent couples that looked more like a train wreck than a relationship. She has changed my mind so completely after her “On the Floor” and now this latest song that she is using in her Fiat commercial. Of course she is a ravishing beauty but now that I have found out she can really belt out a catchy song I’m all ears.

Establishing herself as far and away the most skilled technician of spin that I know Evil Woman has punched through a new level playing with our hearts. And I mean that she has us elevating her heart rates and then letting them touch down in a perfectly orchestrated synchronous pattern that has me reeling in the saddle at the sheer brilliance of it. These are not just my sentiments because a lot of the boys are talking in the locker room about her choreography and just how different the tapestry is that she has woven.

Spin Notes:

Did you see how Deepak and Anastasia got some favorable press from our Queen of Spin in Thursday’s session? Deepak is Mr. iPhone and Anastasia is the miracle workers of sorts with making us all look like Dorian Gray. What about Heather Featherr and Cheryl? These two young women are optical experts par extraordinaire. I think we should check them out for all our eyewear needs. Heather fixed my broken glasses in short order and delivered them to me today in class. I have no lens to grind but give a thought to calling on these two.

Everything is Temporary

2011-10-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Everything’s Temporary. A powerful phrase that I have touched on in several of my less fanciful yarns over the last year and a half, and when Kristen uttered it today it reminded me in the context of our spin sessions whether up or in the saddle that our time in the Lavender Palace is the shortest of intervals. It is the one-hour where we become devoted to ourselves alone. And in our hurtling existence had we not taken the time, our own needs might never be met in the other 23.

The Evil Woman has often said that you can do anything for 30 seconds and when it’s boiled down to finite intervals like that my motivation instantly rises to increase my pedal stroke and I instinctively move out of my comfort zone. That’s another phrase that I will focus on one day because the comfort zone is a moving target. Comfort it seems to me moves along a continuum that leaves behind discomfort in its wake. No sooner are we pushing a deeper level of fitness do we find ourselves climbing steeper and steeper climbs via that damn red dial. I could feel it today my legs punishing the pedals and when she told me to increase the resistance I was taken out of my trance of thinking I was where I should be.

Today for a plethora of reasons as I opened my eyes and cast my squinted glance at the digital clock reading 5:45 my impetus to rise was as a dead Duracell trying to light my way to the bathroom door, it just wasn’t happening. My desire was at low ebb and it would take all of my military school discipline just to muster donning my shorts and top and move my sorry ass to make the 8:30.

But just as my AA idiom told me that bring the body and the mind will follow, once I heard the rhythm of the American Top 40 I felt like Jeff Bridges did in Starman as the Mother ship brought him back to life with those light rays from the heavens. So too did Kristen relight my blue pilot light that sometimes lets life extinguish my desire and enthusiasm. For many reasons I am in an emotional malaise but for this hour I forgot where I was and with the help of all of you my altered state of bliss returned albeit only temporary.

P. S.

Optical Image run by Heather Featherr and Cheryl Israeloff are my new Opticians.

I visited their store in Plainview last week and I can recommend them highly and after all I think we should support these friends in our home away from home EQ.

The Young Lion

2011-10-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

I haven’t left contrary to popular belief. I have just been busy these past few weeks. On Wednesday with the absence of Kristen I elected to do a Napoleon Solo* around 4 PM. I was kicking my butt as best I knew how and just tried to simulate the call of our fearless leader. No easy task I can assure you but I was determined to get a cardio workout in so I tried counting pedal strokes (not exactly a fun thing) and pushing the resistance wheel up a ¼ turn for a 60 count up in #3 and 60 seated. Some of our excellent MAINTAIN staff was hard at work tightening and tuning our beloved Schwinn’s where most often they function as they were part of our shoes.

Lo and behold however at about 4:20 I see Young Atlas make an appearance for a 4:30 I didn’t even consider was on the schedule. I was more than grateful to see about 20 of you file in and pick up the slack in my unmotivated ride. I have said it before this young man has been schooled well, very well. Kristen has a great young lion here.

As I finished my ride I thought I really did wish I could be two people and experience more than just Kristen and Tripp but for now it will be just the occasion like Wednesday that afforded me the luxury of being with Young Atlas.

I think I had the flu with chills and fever and hope to make Saturday even though I will be on the L line for the 9:15

*Napoleon Solo- Spinning alone.

The Tables Have Turned

2011-10-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

When I think of what I’ve learned in KSC it would certainly include how to work that resistance wheel to get the most out of my workout but that is only one flight of stairs that I have climbed since February of 2010. I think what I’ve rediscovered is how to take it to my limit and manipulate my heart rate to help me shock my body out of my comfort zone. I had not actually thought that I would find myself there but when the Evil Woman spoke of it today I had to be honest I was spinning in my zone of comfort in parts of my workout. It was a wake up moment. How could that be? I leave three huge puddles every single class but sweat doesn’t always mean results at least I don’t think it does.

Kirsten has me breathless virtually the whole ride and when she says anything about ‘faking it’ I know I am not in that equation. I actually cannot conceive who in her class actually is trying to be mendacious but I suppose from her vantage point she is the best judge of that. It still defies imagination that anyone would be here when they’d be better off on the elliptical or on one of the recumbent bikes in the main room. And a lesson for some of the other instructors in her charge could be that paying attention to form of their riders should be the first order of business. I for one have seen some that have their upper torso out of synch with their lower half and I just know that is inefficient at least for spin class. I first learned how to keep my upper body “quiet” one Sunday in Carolyn Mellace’s class when she had us focus on this very discipline in a segment on one of her rides.

I have lost all my disdain for the musical selections in this class because this is what people want to hear nowadays I suppose. And to be truthful artists that gave me an earache last year I can actually tolerate now and there are those that I can actually enjoy. People like Pitbull, Usher and even Jennifer Lopez have me at least listening with moderate interest. There are those too that I actually like Katy Perry, David Guetta and the Madonna of the 21st Century, Lady Gaga. I would still love to hear more from the 80’s, as my own personal preferences like Erasure and New Order resonate with me like no other musicians since The Beatles.

Spin Notes:

What the heck is Don doing in the second row? Does teacher need to watch him to keep him from throwing spitballs in class? Or is he afraid that the clock above his head might actually fall off the wall if he doesn’t “Get Up” when EW tells him to.

There is new blood in class these past few weeks and months, which keeps it fresh and provides more foils for Kristen as she indoctrinates the uninitiated.

Hamburger in His Pocket

2011-10-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

There is always a foil for Kristen in the audience and just like a Don Rickles schtick she always finds someone in the crowd who she can pivot on and get jocular with and make it last for the whole session if she so chooses. Deepak made the mistake of saying that she was killing him one morning. Oh boy. What a mistake to make-a. It was comical how she took him through a Dean Martin roast. Latest up was our back row miscreant Harold. Harold it seems is a big big fan of the hamburger. In fact the McDonald’s Hamburglar (Since passed away in 2003, rest his soul) and H were quite buddy buddy back in the day. Now he is enchanted with “Five Guys”. Kristen thought he was inviting over five guys to her house just recently but it was a sackful of the newest sensation (or fad take your pick) of the now self proclaimed best tasting hamburgers. And so Kristen (not a hamburger fan) who lives on salmon, water and air was not about to ‘bite’ into Harold’s newest friend. I instantly thought of Wimpy of Popeye fame who would exclaim: I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today’. I am not saying Harold is Wimpy but he did evoke a fond memory.

Contagion

2011-10-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

Atop bike #41 left me far enough away from spreading too many microbes in the direction of my spin mates this past Monday morning. Another round of bronchial asthma had me just a bit curtailed in giving my usual fanatical effort in the Queen of Spin’s class. I love that back corner position in what is left field of the CS because it gives me a great view of almost everyone in the class except for Kristen. It felt surreal from that vantage point as my upper respiratory infection simulated a dose of sensory deprivation as well as me desperate to stay in the breathless zone.

Now I don’t see myself as a narcissist but next to that full length wall mirror it’s hard not to take a look at my physiology which for all intents and purposes has seen a metamorphosis in these past few months. I used to have a ripped thoracic wall up until age 45 until a self-imposed 7-year sentence on the elliptical left me more paunchy than at any other point in my life since my college years. And because of this regimen taking my shirt off this summer was something I did with regularity and even though Kristen says it was me who put in the effort there is no way I could have felt this good about my body as I do now without her adroit instruction.

I am 20 months in now and I can say with a deep conviction that spin has awakened me to my new life that is now upon me. And as I celebrated my first year as a sexagenarian I almost can’t believe I am born again. If indeed my spin stories have come to an end it was one helluva ride.

My Spin Shoes

2011-10-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Resting comfortably in my walk in closet upstairs haven’t they haven't had to do much this past week. In fact I am sure just a bit of dust has started to collect on my shoe tops since I left them flat footed on Monday. I suppose that I haven’t forgotten how to put them back on and clip myself into my favorite Schwinn, but that’s not what worries me.

What does worry me is that my stories, my little vignettes about this passion have run its course. In the beginning it seemed that I had a treasure chest that was bottomless and that no amount of words could ever describe the feeling I got before during and after a class with either Kristen or my co favorite Tripp Doherty.

There could always be another story for me to write and who knows maybe there will be but maybe just maybe this blogger needs to get on to more serious subjects like My Life After AA or my real passion to finish writing that mystery novel that I started 3 ½ years ago. Have I run out of gas and like Captain Kirk asking Scotty to run engines on impulse power? Maybe my warp drive at least for spin class needs a new set of dilithium crystals.

For more Jack Briant http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/2011/09/stuck-on-230.html

The Story in Your Eyes

2011-09-28T06:59:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we cannot see what our eyes are saying, but our minds manipulate our feelings so strongly so adeptly that the power play releases the strength to change the shape and hue of our eyes which in turn governs what the rest of our face looks like. And that face illustrates for us as to how our body contorts.

We can tell the story that we are struggling to breathe, to accelerate and give ourselves enough reason why we shouldn’t add more ‘road’ when Kristen asks us to. These vignettes are perfectly legitimate because the excuses are justified we tell ourselves. However, they are just that, stories and they are just pure fiction, even though we swear they are gospel.

The story in our eyes is there for anyone to see but only we can change the script. So we might as well tell the story the way we want it to turn out.

The Arctic Zone

2011-09-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

It’s Saturday and it must be time for KSC. And I hate to give such secrets away but bike #25 is perfectly tuned in terms of the pedal stroke and the red resistance wheel was smooth as silk. Which brings me to the thought that I don’t pay enough homage to those that service these Schwinn’s and I do so right now. What we do to those bikes based on how we ride presents no small task to the technicians that keep them up to our speed for each session. Too often we only hear the complaints and I am just as guilty as anyone. Nonetheless I thank you one and all. We do have the most conscientious “Maintain” staff here at EQ and I try to acknowledge them everyday because without them we don’t have the immaculate conditions we all enjoy and rely on.

My young friends Ari (sans Lizzie) and Deepak were here today and it is good to see the young Lions taking on the Queen of Spin in the most grueling of exercise sessions on Long Island. Often I see those scrunched up expressions as the effort is ramped up in this class and I can hear Kristen’s words echoing urging us to relax our face muscles because we don’t ride with our face. Sometimes nonetheless we must be consciously aware what our body tries to tell us even though it serves no purpose. Better we ease up on the resistance wheel than engage in torture in areas that do not serve us.

We do feed off each other’s energy as KJ exclaimed today and people are watching us and that is why we give the kind of effort we do and engage in the integrity she often speaks about.

KJ Airlines

2011-09-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

As I failed reveille’s call at 6:30 Sunday morning I was relegated to the final 13 that opened at 8:00 this morning. Surprised was I that at 4 minutes after I was able to find an open bike and spied that invisible Schwinn #41 in the back left corner and scooped it up quick. Kristen as I have told you in an earlier post has to physically get off the bike or crane her neck to see the inhabitant and Ms. Curiosity pegged me before her flight lifted off the tarmac.

However, 41 is a great vantage point to see across the back row and the two miscreants Don Berman and Harold skylarking it up throughout the hour. Laurie Doyle sandwiched between the two kept the conflagration under control. And Don Berman was getting way too much attention this morning from Ms. James. “Don Berman you look so good”. Don Berman this Don Berman that. Good God you would think they were lovers or something.

I can see why some like that back row. There’s no one behind you, the windowsill is there to put all your ‘stuff’ on and it was a nice break from the front row where I usually find myself. Mary McCann was one row in front and I told her after we had some spirited confabs this week that I was revoking her halo for at least a month. Maybe Mary is no angel as Kristen has tried to tell me on numerous occasions but Mary is one person I would love to have in a foxhole next to me if the need ever arose.

Salti Road

2011-09-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

What never ceases to amaze me is the fitness levels that EQ and more specifically the group fitness manager demands of her staff. Lori Salti is yet another example of group trainers that talk the walk and walk the talk. A phrase I borrowed from my days in A.A. but it serves to encapsulate the protocol that we invariably find here.

Lori is a student as well as a trainer and that serves to make her the best she can be. I have found her in her limited down time in Tripp’s class for example wherein I am sure she can model some the success that he enjoys with those that are devoted to him. She certainly has the acumen for spin and I love the way she models other successful trainers and puts her own “spin” on her call. The choreography is eclectic which always takes courage and as she has evolved in the months this year her style is unmistakable Salti.

She implores us to be the best we can be and you can feel the spiritual side of her as well. I got to know her father for fifteen years and this man is a gentle soul who always had a good word for everyone he worked with. Lori has that same palatability but never lets us forget what we are here for and that’s to get fit and that is never an easy task. There is no pussyfooting in her class but you can still feel the gentle soul of her Dad who I think gave her the appeal and innate charm she possesses.

Lori Salti give her road a try and find you took it just a bit further than you ever thought you could.

The diminutive dynamo, the White Angel a.k.a. Lori Salti took center stage today come back later for her featured story.

P.S.

I am in the process of adding "JackTalk" to all my blogs. Some have told me that they don't necessarily possess the time to read during their busy lifestyle. I with the help of my friend Peter Charles will add a feature that will enable you with one click to let you hear me read each post with the inflection in which I write it. Hopefully it will make you listen as well as read.

Miss Fire Island

2011-09-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different…This past Saturday had me revisiting an event that I have been absent from for some 15 years. It was the Miss Fire Island contest. For the uninitiated this is a beauty pageant with a twist. All the contestants are men vying for this coveted title dressed in drag.

The festivities, held at the Ice Palace just up from the ferry is no palace and the Grove Hotel which it is apart of except for a recent facelift was termed even by the locals as the classic ‘dive’ in fact the Fire Marshall’s made the owners redo the wood flooring that was showing signs of age albeit one day before the contest. Nonetheless the Ice Palace is high camp and this weekend had the breeders (heterosexuals) overrunning this small hamlet reserved for alternative lifestyles. Cherry Grove, a delightful respite from the high tension we all experience back on the main land is a place where virtually anything goes and most probably does. The people are so laid back that you just feel comfortable as soon as you step off the boat and as my friend Bobby says there is no judgment here life goes on in an idyllic setting where you are free to express yourself from the deepest part of your imagination.

The contest featured 33 different performers in different categories and some of them were more than reasonable facsimiles of the intended gender they were trying to emulate. Some of the hairdos in fact were taller than me and the dresses looked like Gianni Versace originals. Now some may not be fans of Drag Queen contests for a host of reasons but judging by the reaction of this crowd they loved it. The runway walks alone were not to be believed and when the entertainers did their shtick lip synching their act into their acrobatic fandango the crowd with a little help from the demon rum were collectively oohing and ahhing.

The 2nd runner up and runner up were Elvis Presley like in that they were “pretty” and this years winner, Logan Hardcore had the countenance that rivaled some Prom Queens. I missed two days of spin and after the Corso Zone today I made up for it in no uncertain terms.

And as the raucous behavior escalated as the contest drew to a close and more alcohol was consumed it had some of the local inhabitants collectively sighing that this happens but once a year. We breeders as my friend affectionately calls us can be quite the pain in the ass if you catch my drift.

Barbara Bean Adieu

2011-09-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

When we lose loved ones we become fully associated with the life that just passed. I remember when my paternal Grandfather passed it was like I lost part of my youth and all of my boyhood memories came flooding back to me as my eyes instantly filled with tears. We of course are crying as much for ourselves as we are for our loving departed member.

My grandfather joked until the very end suggesting on his deathbed in an oxygen tent that my father light him a cigarette. When my dad told him that an explosion would ensue my beloved Poppy told him: Take a chance. His humor never left him even as he faced death.

Kristen shared with us the passing of her Paternal Grandmother who lived until she was 88. When she vocalized it today in class it felt like she gave herself room to grieve with us all and still put on a her usual stellar performance for the 830 Thursday. Some might have opted out and taken a grievance day but not Ms. James. I think it was her way of celebrating her Grandmothers life rather than her passing. I may be wrong but as she played the David Guetta song: Without You she shared with us her sweat and her tears.

Barbara Bean Adieu

David Guetta: Without You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOTD_y-4Zyo

The Red Mailbox

2011-09-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Kristen uses visualizations a lot during spin and it’s always a great tool for our imagination as she has us overtaking riders who have colorful personalities that we can identify with in our own lives. Today she was using a point-to-point reference that again took me back to the boardwalk in Long Beach where I would train for my marathons in the 70’s. Her soliloquy this Labor Day had us spinning to that little red mailbox. It was our target and the pedal stroke as the utensil to get us there. In Long Beach each block on the boardwalk was .15 mile and that little red mailbox was the perfect visual as my effort today defied even my imagination.

After 7 spin classes in 7 days with a double on Tuesday for the unplugged version of Tripp’s class and coming off a tough road with the Blue Sapphire on Sunday I wondered if I had anything left in the tank for Kristen’s opening salvo for the week on Monday. Once in the saddle though there was no turning back and having taken over 300 classes with her never did I give up even once and today I was not going to break that string no matter what. The Evil Woman brings out the best in me and I am indefatigable when she is at the helm.

The last day of summer did have some melancholy because I just didn’t want it to end. For me this was the best summer since I was a teenager. Kristen talked about the two things she will most remember and that was changing her last name to James and changing her hairdresser. The latter might seem a bit fanciful to a bald man but with her coiffure it probably was a big step. For me there were big changes in my life this past summer and if you read any of my other dozen blogs you may have caught some of the details, which I will not recount here. However, it was one that included the best tan I have ever had maybe since 1968 and for me to take off my shirt in mixed company hasn’t happened since I had a ripped torso some fifteen years ago.

The summer of 2011 was a most memorable one and one that essentially changed my life for the better (I hope) and spinning in KSC was the link to it all.

Fast Twitch

2011-09-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today in the Blue Sapphire’s adventure we took our fast twitch muscle fibers center stage. Intense sets of intervals were featured in Carolyn’s choreography today and this writer got into the rarefied air again of 120 RPM’s. For so long I have been unable to be in position #3 and muster much more than 70 on my console but today it was a simple shift of my hands down to the middle of the handlebars that allowed me to shift my weight almost exclusively to my legs and my hands were there just for balance. This in turn gave me the elusive speed that I see so many of you have when you seem to fly standing up. Admittedly though I was starting to fail when we went beyond 30 seconds and when CM asked us to go a full 60 seconds my speed saw a precipitous drop. Maybe I just need more practice.

Although there are different categories of fast twitch fibers they seem to fire anaerobically and can only last for a short period. According to my neophyte research we seem to have 50% of both and the jury is still out (at least from the article I read) on whether we have more of one over the other as it might depend on the training we do. I used to be a sprinter in High School but in my twenties when I shifted to long distance running my fast twitch fibers weren’t called on too often except for a bravado sprint to catch a few runners at the finish. I keep thinking about that comment someone made to me some months ago asking me isn’t spin just working out on a stationary bike.

I saw my friend Bruce who works out exclusively on the main floor and told him that the reason he is not losing weight is because he needs more anaerobic work balanced with aerobic. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he has to work out harder. I just didn’t get it either and always wondered why after doing what I thought was a furious workout on the elliptical machine why I was gaining weight instead of losing or maintaining. None of those sessions can come close to what I do everyday.

Carolyn Mellace, The Blue Sapphire is such a professional and although I have missed her of late never disappoints and kudos to Kristen for finding this precious gem.

Jack Briant Reporter: http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/

Rebel Without a Cause

2011-09-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

It took nearly 7 ½ years for me to realize that group exercise offers so much more than the solitary existence of working out alone. I never thought much of having company working out because when I was marathon and ultra-marathon training it was either in the dark or exclusively by my lonesome. In those years a half lifetime ago I relished running solo because I thought of myself as James Dean: “A Rebel Without a Cause” and fancied myself so unique that my crippled personality would never accept training in a group as many of the successful runners did. When I joined EQ in April of 2003 I thought I would try to recapture the fitness I had left behind because of alcohol and drug addiction. I had gained a lot of weight because I had stopped running. I did a modest job but gone was the feeling I was invulnerable as running used to make me feel. I plodded on however, signed on with several of the elite trainers here but that too failed because my ego and the imagined need for autonomy in my workout sessions. I just thought I could do it myself.

I also used to think that working out with mostly women would be embarrassing to my male ego because of my new physiology had replaced my “ripped” body during my halcyon days of 100 miles a week. My competitive nature would be hard pressed to accept that I was getting my ass kicked by anybody. But spinning changed that because I didn’t have to watch metronomes performing in perfect rhythm with the instructor. With spin I could do it at my own pace in terms of pedal stroke speed and how much resistance I would put on the red dial. I did have the beginning advantage of strong legs from my days as a runner and so I used that as my building block to start my road back to fitness. I begin my 20th month this September and it has changed my life during the time I am here at EQ and now during the other 23 odd hours I am out in the real world. I have lost the feeling of the uniqueness but maintained it through my energy instead of my letting my ego run riot. Spinning has altered my course in so many ways as I have told you ad nauseam but I don’t have to be alone anymore not with the friends I have made here. I better stop now before I get too sappy.

The Thread of Time

2011-09-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

The lights and A/C are on again and it almost felt incongruous to have these often taken for granted creature comforts back functioning. But this was just a passing thought because it was time for KSC again and Kristen after being on vacation (which could hardly be called one) was back looking really good for the emblematic 830 Thursday.

Gone were the thoughts of frivolity in this man’s mind because it was back to #3 and for the most part I have to keep my mouth shut because I just know despite the fact that I have permission you don’t act up in KSC. And as we got underway I was glad to see Stacy Sable next to me because I feel like a neophyte when I am alongside this athlete. Her piercing green eyes notwithstanding this young woman is always on a mission when she sits atop her Schwinn. She is silent, focused and has a textbook pedal stroke that I try to model because she seems to have just the right resistance on whether we are on a flat or are on a daunting hill climb. Stacy Tucker Sable a woman that I admire and am always glad to see in #4 next to me.

After class I got a quick lesson in what the color periwinkle was which is in the blue-violet family from another Stacie who was just a newlywed to Peter. Little do I keep track of time because next month I think that ideal couple will celebrate their 1st anniversary? God how the year has rushed by.

As the hour slipped away I felt a sense of nostalgia because for the first summer in eons I was just as active outside as I am in the Lavender Palace. Every moment of my life is precious and I do not intend to waste a minute of it.

P.S.

As we were pushing up that elephant up the hill I could almost feel the weight of that pachyderm

Jack Briant Reporter: http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/2011/09/language-of-love.html

Kristen Zen Part II

2011-08-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Can you top this? It seems to be the question I am asking myself every Saturday in KSC. How can it be that we can exceed our goals from the week before? I have no answer but I can speculate. Could it be Kristen’s soliloquies, which are totally extemporaneous but expertly woven just the same? Today as she had us adding gear she stitched in a story each time we raised gear to levels 1, 2 and 3. An adroit methodology that appears to draw out an even greater performance in our pedal stroke because we become fully associated and part of the story. Or maybe it’s her experimenting with her choreography too. Today’s was singular in that it carried virtually no AT 40 and it was more the supporting cast like I have alluded to in past entries. This makes the ride more ethereal, more Zen like and it allows the ride to take on a hypnotic meditative quality that I hadn’t really experienced in quite some time. The incentive for us to push harder lies in the innate talent she possesses. Sort of like wanting to shine for the teacher because we don’t want to let her or ourselves down. It makes pushing the envelope a goal rather than a task.

I can remember when I first started taking spin in earnest 19 months ago that Kristen would say: Right, left, right left. And today she used it again just like a metronome that sits atop the piano marking metrically the beat of the music. I delighted in this very simple drum check that gets my feet in time to the percussion and just a bit more focused on an intense ride. Right, left keeps me moving forward instead of looking back at what I just did on the road previous.

Today was particularly exhausting for me but that’s because I am improperly loading the resistance wheel (I know again John?) and a short talk with her post ride gave me the answer that I needed. She told me that if I wasn’t hitting the RPM at 65 it was because I had too many revolutions on that damn red wheel. She said in effect that I had to let the RPM be my guide and that if I found my reading lower than 65 I had to take off some gear. Makes sense because I felt like I was in an anaerobic state for most of the last half of the ride and that’s not training effectively.

Today she said: This is no joke. And as I looked at the burgeoning pool of sweat engulf the floor beneath my feet I had the proof that I never take riding with her as a joke. It’s serious training and I do need a day off now after 6 classes with my two favorite stars Kristen and Tripp. Each fulfills my training regimen to the max. The upcoming week has me looking for another star to report on, at least for Monday anyway. As KJ heads for chocolate town we wish her and her charges a safe and joyous time.

The Shadow of Beauty

2011-08-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

When someone has a beautiful countenance or a captivating physiology like Kristen and Michelle Corso, both genders can be inspired in various ways. In the case of Kristen James it was never what she looked like even though she would be any school’s Prom Queen. To me it was about the beauty of her commitment to her vocation and that means her members: you and me. This is the shadow of beauty. Not the reflection we see in our ocular mirrors but the one that resonates in our solar plexus, which to me mean more than looks ever, could. Looks fade but the shadow of beauty is one that never fades even as our bodies eventually will.

As I have been chronicling a newer version of Kristen has appeared and this new model is not just sporting a new surname. She has lengthened and deepened her exercise curriculum to a level that quite frankly has me believing now that I can actually return (gravity notwithstanding) to my form from those thrilling days of yesteryear; you know when the Lone Ranger rode the plains. Kristen would be the first to say in a self-effacing style that it was I, John McQueen that did it. But had it not been for her that L for large on my shorts and shirts would not now be an M for the size medium that I cannot remember wearing since I was 45. Kristen that took me to that place and as I have done many times here, I thank her from the top of my heart to the bottom of my right ventricle. She’s pretty cool even though some can’t seem to get into her class. By the way I thought that too but it’s not so it can be done and every time I am at my console here if I want a bike I get one. Just like anything else in life if you want it you have to go and get it. It’s not going to be handed to you. Of course good eye to finger coordination helps too.

Beauty can take many forms. It can be a pretty or a handsome face. A fabulous physique a luscious body but the shadow of beauty is the one that lasts a lifetime. Kristen casts that shadow at least in my estimation.

The Big Dogs

2011-08-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

After a double spin in EQ Scarsdale and the Printing House this past weekend I have in my estimation concluded that no one comes even close to the strength and stamina of our members in EQ Woodbury. One might say that I am biased, but I assure you I would have simply given deference to the other franchises if I even thought the reverse was true. There is just no comparison and without the benefit of taking these trips I probably might have concluded just the opposite that Manhattanites would naturally be more athletic than us hicks in the sticks. Well my friends we simply kick ass and as I watched several riders during the PH session many of them simply were quitting before the road was done. You know this does not happen in KSC. We are the big dogs.

I hate Mondays ordinarily but with KSC the first day of the workweek has a different look when this hour is concluded. I have my Zen for the day and am ready to run roughshod over any negativity that might be hiding in the weeds once I walk out those glass doors. I clip in and any thought that I am going to be a bystander in life’s proceedings for the day disappears. I used to feel exactly the same after my 10-mile runs every morning starting at 530 am. When I got on the train for the city I felt sorry for those that just crawled out of bed and used caffeine as their wake up alarm.

Kristen at one point had us driving on a challenging road and at its conclusion she seemed to almost stop for a split second as if to say did I really get them to do that? As serious as she is she also cognizant that we are following her down that treacherously steep double black diamond slope complete with plenty of ice and moguls. We don’t slide down on our keisters we take it at full force and if we do fall we get right back up and attack the hill.

Mercurial Kristen

2011-08-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I knew all the sides of Kristen James she brings in another character that I’ve never seen before. This one has a countenance that purports to be aloof but the give away is that she cannot repress that iconic smile of hers that makes me know she has only changed her game face. This persona is less touchy feely and more like a football coach on the sidelines demanding her players give more. She often says to us that we’re not beginners. And truer words couldn’t be spoken because in KSC if you are true to her curriculum let’s call it you can’t be Tinkerbelle. You just cannot. Kristen always maintains her equanimity even when she grimaces with the face of pure power.

So where are we in this next volume of KSC? I think her new regimen has cajoled us more into watching what we are putting in our mouth as to what is coming out. I know now that I am a little more hesitant to pick up that Butterfinger than I was even 3 months ago. Some things I will continue to eat just because but today after class for example I didn’t finish that egg sandwich. On any other day I would have rewarded myself and inhaled the whole thing. Not now though. Some things take awhile to sink into this thick skull. Kristen has been saying this very thing all along I think now I am hearing her words more clearly and taking them more seriously.

Kristen James. I loved the sound of Gagne but this new version is like a shiny new Maserati.

At Random

2011-08-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

From Mark Nepo’s incredibly daily inspirational book, he talked about the original meaning of this phrase: At Random. It is the moment when a horse at full speed has all four hooves off the ground. He says that random is the mystery of unbridled passion and the lift that comes with surrender and total immersion. In the present, the meaning of random means without design, purpose or method. Now when I hear this word it is Michelle Corso that will come to mind instead.

As graceful as a gazelle and a physiology to match Michelle Corso is the embodiment of exercise in its true form. Her body is a temple because in order to maintain her 8th wonder of the world form she must have a reverence as to what she ingests. She has to have a design in her diet because unlike me who has little regard for my daily regimen, Michelle needs rocket fuel to move at the grace and speed this woman does.

It has been awhile since I have taken a class with the Silver Bullet and that is my lament because she may not be as boisterous in her call as some of our stars, but make no mistake she is learned, astute and passionate about her craft. I shake my head in wonderment when I look at her. And when she exclaims: Yes? You know that I am compelled to answer in a loud affirmative.

Her musical selections are merely background because the main focus is what she says even though you must listen intently to pick up the subtlety of it. She like Kristen has a plan which is not only well thought out it has an artistry to it.

At random, and what I see now in my minds eye is the female animal in the form of perfection. If you want to ride her session prepare for a headlong journey that will challenge your spirit as well as your fitness.

Touch the Sky

2011-08-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

The Evil Woman has stepped up her game as I have noted recently and who knows what her seminal moment was that precipitated it. Maybe it was just nascent and it was time for the next chapter in her ongoing repertoire that never stands still. She has even changed her stretching routine and it has lost all signs of being formulaic. And she has even abandoned the word “flexibility” and inserted “mobility” in its place. This makes sense too because when I think of flexibility it’s not me and in my mind it belongs to yoga experts or members of the circus. So mobility is something that I can truly embrace and not lament about. I will never ever be flexible unless I was willing to invest time that I just don’t have time for or more likely won’t make time for.

When I enter the CS now I am taken back in a headlong rush to those days of yesteryear when I was training for a long distance race or my favorite run; the marathon. It was not so much as the competition with the other runners that fueled me but their unspoken camaraderie of being in the same environs of wanting to get in better shape and best the time before that made it so thrilling. Tis’ how I feel about the spinning regimen it takes me back and moves me forward at the same time. One thing is different however, and that is I never got to know many people even in a cursory way when I ran. Today that’s different. Maybe because I am older and a bit wiser because imagined or not I feel a kinship to all of you and that’s not hyperbole, it’s real because when I’m there I touch the sky.

I hope that I did justice to Peter Rothermel. I wrote from my heart rather than trying to capture this extraordinary man’s bio. I feel we will lose him one day because like Kristen we can’t hold on to talent for too long we have to share them with the rest of the world but our memory will never fade no matter what life journey they find themselves on.

Sincerely,

John McQueen but some people know me as Jack.

Happy 2nd Anniversary Peter Rothermel

2011-08-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

Peter Rothermel

We all know this man but he is more often seen and not heard. Ah but there’s the true magic in Peter Rothermel, GM of Equinox Woodbury.

Having been a member of Equinox Woodbury since it’s inception in April of 2003, I have seen a battalion of staff and managers come and go, often without so much as a notice in the obituary column of fitness experts. I did some checking and in the 6 years prior to Peter’s arrival on August 11, 2009 there were no less than 8 GM’s that have passed though those glass doors. Each time a new one sat in mission control I was convinced that ‘this one’ would be the one that stayed and made their mark on this club that I love so dearly.

Peter graduated from Hofstra University, majoring in business and his first notable managerial position was a GM of McDonald’s. Now say what you want about the perception of that franchise and it being less than desirable in terms of nutrition, however Peter tells me their management training is World class and no doubt helped give him the acumen for running a fitness club that is also World class in terms of it’s personnel, equipment and facilities. But even with the best training it takes a singular talent to run our club because let’s be honest we overall as a group are a demanding constituency and in the vernacular we can be a pain in the gluteus maximus.

My own impression of Peter when I met him for the first time was that he seemed well intentioned but all of his predecessors staked similar claims that they were going to make Woodbury their home away from home. Obviously two years later this man stood the test of time and I admit I was a skeptic just like some of us were when Peter first arrived on the scene. His quiet certainty was the key difference than the managers past. And that day when I queried him he answered just like I thought he would and he assured me that he was here and the revolving door, which was GM’s at Woodbury, had come to grinding halt. I will always remember that day and know what? He has delivered in every sense in terms of member satisfaction and all without him boasting what it is exactly he was doing. He is never afraid to get his hands dirty and Kristen always said how clean he kept that washroom upstairs as sanitary as fresh Kleenex. And I don’t always agree with what his policy’s are but this is a man you respect and you can’t help admire.

Now you all know no one tells me what I can write and what I can’t in my two spin blogs and what I write here comes from my heart and I have no agenda other than to get readers like you. Peter always gives me the time of day and listens to my questions and concerns and it registers. I like that.

When you stand next to this man you feel him exuding confidence and you know he knows what he is doing and this man is not Yes Man. He stands up to the Mother Ship better than any of his predecessors did and gets many concessions for his members not many a GM could ever dream of. He is on top of bringing in the best guest talent, and the most up to date equipment and together with Kristen the hottest group exercise the market offers. Not many can move a big corporation like Equinox but Peter does.

I will let his startling video tell the story but suffice it to say that Peter lost over 200 pounds and his appearance on Fox News was the seminal moment for his career as Equinox scouts came calling and wanted him to run the challenging Woodbury location. They could spot talent and unlike some of the free agent pitchers this man is of the CY Young category.

Equinox had fired more GM’s than George Steinbrenner did with the irascible Billy Martin but they soon discovered their diamond; Peter Rothermel and we are the lucky ones. Take a look at this Fox video and get to know Peter Rothermel just a bit better.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/good_day_ny/090327_Weight_Loss_with_Diet_and_Exercise

Treat Me Right

2011-08-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

It’s not often I do a double dip of Tripp and Kristen but today seemed apropos because I skipped the club entirely yesterday. And I thought I could manage my pedal stroke to stretch my endurance over two sessions but as is my wont I get caught up in my own frenzy and the best laid plans usually go for naught. Add to the mix that I am rarely logical when it comes to these two and today as the last 15 minutes of KSC were upon me, my knee started to ache and my Gator Ade was just not enough to carry me through. The fruit dish at home is usually filled with bananas but today it was empty and therefore so was my stomach. You would think I would learn after two episodes of light headedness but as active and motivated as I am I can be extraordinarily lazy. I can hear Kristen admonishing me right now.

You have to love it Mark in front of me was pedaling like a mad man and the Evil Woman had us on a climb at 65 RPM’s and she called him out on it and he soon realized he didn’t have enough road on. This is what a great coach does, she doesn’t use mamby pamby tactics she gets right in your face with a smile and restores order to your session. The membership price here is chump change when you realize we get trainers with Masters degree in exercise physiology.

Breathless Volume II

2011-08-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Kristen James is now unveiling Volume II of breathless and I said to myself; I am still stuck on page 132 in Volume I, how in the hell am I going to advance to Volume II? Well I guess I will just have to figure out that dilemma as I go. I have to say it was only recently that I figured out what breathless meant to me and that’s heavy breathing. I am always breathing heavily in KSC.

Did you get how serious she was on Monday? Like we need her to amp up even more? Good God. I have never seen her more ferocious than she was today it was immeasurable on the intensity meter and my scale of perceived exertion hit the wall as well. I burned an incredible 600 calories again today as testament to just how much effort I was able to muster. However, I really need to redouble my efforts on what goes in my mouth as to what comes out.

I was determined to keep my voice silent on Monday but I could only hold out till mid session when my enthusiasm spilled over and I apologize for yelling out; Take a picture when Photograph was plated but honestly my readers I just couldn’t help it. I will try and be a good boy because it’s not proper to act up in KSC. It’s just not done. In Tripper’s class it’s okay because that’s how he rolls but that’s not how the Queen of Spin operates when she leads in the Lavender Palace. And so I will admonish myself for my outburst in class and try to keep my amperage lower.

Have you checked out her @kristenjamesfit on twitter? I will be an avid fan because that MS in exercise physiology will undoubtedly reveal some gold nuggets of knowledge along with inspiration.

The Top Ten

2011-07-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Okay and this is the final time I am going to say this in KSC. Yes I have said it before and no one will believe me when I say this here and now this class, on Saturday July 30th 2011 was the best class Kristen has ever gave in the now 18 months of my spinning career. I have gone up to Kristen James on many occasion and told her that this was the best class only to be told: Come on, John. Well and I say this without equivocation that this is #1. Now why do I say that now after a year and a half?

1. All my favorite spin mates were there today. Gloria, Ari and Lizzie, Coop, Cindy, St. Mary, Stacy and my new friend Deepak.

2. I burned the most amounts of calories I have ever expended, 600 which is considerable based on the fact that I use beta-blockers that inhibit my HR.

3. I was spinning next to Anastasia who along with KJ is IG*

4. Some of the discography I genuinely loved especially the first song, which felt so ethereal, as it started me ruminating about my changed life.

5. I was so amped up today and my energy level would have broke that rectal thermometer my mother used to use on me when I was a kid.

6. I finally felt like I could act up in Kristen’s class without fear of reprisal like I do with abandon in Tripp’s classes.

7. Do you need more? I guess I need to get to 10 or 12 for it really to be considered #1. So for #7, I got my HR up to 153 when it rarely gets beyond 135.

8. I found that (and I have forgotten that I learned this before) by taking down my resistance wheel, I felt a more even pedal stroke with less struggle than usual which makes the ride exhilarating.

9. Kristen and I had our one on one eye contact where she talks and I listen. I love the attention from Ms. James because I am starved for attention and I am a dog.

10. Finally I got up the nerve to ask Peter for a press pass to every spin class because I am the prince of social media in Equinox Woodbury.

Which leads me to and this is not to influence Peter but next up is my special edition of KSC, which will feature an exclusive on Peter Rothermel our beloved GM. Please find a link from several years ago about this story, which I will break for you next week.

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/good_day_ny/090327_Weight_Loss_with_Diet_and_Exercise

Suburban Mysteries Solved

2011-07-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a day for revelations in KSC. Deepak is the go to man for iPhones and Kristen sleeps with Don every night. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chan but this mystery was easier solved than the butler did it. I guess it’s all good because I got to speak to Deepak last night and he’s as personable a guy you’d ever want to meet and it takes a man with the serenity that Don possesses to make our Queen of Spin look so regal when she dons her evening clothes and looks like a billion bucks.

I am pleased to report that the discography in KSC although still for the most part is not listenable to this writers ears but has changed enough so that we are not listening to the Billboard Top 40 of urban prose each morning. This is no secret to KJ and I have whined about it ad nauseum but because it’s her class she plays what she wants. No matter I am down usually for five classes of her driving tenacity each week.

Tomorrow is Saturday KSC and there will be no doubt another edition that you will hopefully flock to. I have been so busy of late and my multiple blog postings are a tad behind.

Dropping the "G"

2011-07-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

Kristen James Gagne. My original title for this post, which I may stick with, will be called: Dropping the G. Now I know that it is so Woodbury and even in other circles for today’s modern woman to have 3 names. I often wondered why a woman took a man’s last name in marriage in the first place. It almost seems positively medieval especially with the divorce rate over 50%. Likelihood is that if the union falls apart that the woman would be stuck with a memory she might not be particularly fond of at least in the early goings when acrimony is at its’ zenith. (When she’s really pissed off.) I know that a cooling off period often ensues and most relationships if they have children attempt a working relationship where the dragon of fire has been extinguished. Jack is this KSC or some rant you are off on?

So this story needs to be pursued as it leaves my fingers maybe in Jack Briant Reporter perhaps. In any case I started talking about Kristen James Gagne and I suspect only suspect mind you that the G will fall off the table because there is just not that much room for a woman as busy as the Evil Woman. Just think about all those schedule changes she has to make each month and if she drops the G she can save enough time signing off on them to teach an additional class of spin or VIPR even. I am sure there are more advantages that I could not even conceive of. Suffice it to say that by dropping the G we have a whole new ‘spin’ on her moniker. First off Kristen James sounds regal and could be a new edition of a bible. Think of it. The Kristen James Bible. Or maybe it’s a dictionary or encyclopedia or even more diagnostic, an edition of DSM-IV. She does after all have a MS.

And so as I sit here first on line for the remaining bikes for the Equinox Hot Ticket I ask you is this not a cool name Kristen James. For the time being though for the transition at least it will be Kristen James Gagne.

*Editors Note. Since James is Kristen's middle name and not her maiden name this story is technically not correct as it applies to her but I kind of liked the story anyway.

Jump Jump

2011-07-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

It feels like a month of Sundays since I had the privilege to spin with The Blue Sapphire, Carolyn Mellace and today true to her exquisite form it was like I never was away. She has it all: power, spunk, personality, charm, looks and a singular adroitness in her craft. And she only does this part time!

She said she has been instructing for 20 years and started when she was 10 and although she meant it as a joke she doesn’t look much beyond what would be 30 years old. I have to get back in the saddle when she is up on Thursdays at 6 PM and Sundays in the summer at 9:15 because it is a fun ride and I am always in a triple pool of sweat beneath my bike so I know I have gotten a kick ass workout. The hour flies by and what I really love and we do not do, as much of in my other glorious classes is the “jumps”. With the monitor active, I see that my HR jumps up significantly when she has us do them even when the resistance wheel is not that cranked up. She varies it to be right on the rhythm of the road of the particular song she has plated.

She is flat out great and I have missed her call. Thank you Carolyn you truly are The Blue Sapphire.

If You Can Think It......

2011-07-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

The first ten minutes of KSC would be so daunting if I stopped and thought about it before I jumped on my bike, which is usually #3. But instead I busy myself with housekeeping preparing for my ride. First thing I do is adjust my seat height to 14, when that is secured I then make sure I am a 0 on the seat slide longitudinally. I then place my water bottle on the right side cradle and two hand towels on the left handlebar to soften the grip of my left hand, which always goes numb at various points in the ride. I am ready I think. The little rituals for each of us are so singular that we all have our own way of laying out our bikes. We have taken the workout towel and extended it way beyond what was intended. Some of us bring up bath towels (plural) and drape them ceremoniously across the handlebars and it looks more like a bed than it does handlebars of a Schwinn stationary bike.

I have written now 300+ stories on KSC and without Kristen’s inspiration and of course all of you; this would have been just another blog. I started writing blogs a little over two years ago when I started “My Life After AA” but it was not until I asked Kristen one day in the old CS if I could start to write about the experiences in her class. When she said: Sure. I was on my way. I have told her how that simple assent by her has changed my writing beyond my wildest dreams. Of course a better dream is when an editor says Jack we want you to write for us. I confess I did have a fantasy that Kelly Ripa, Regis Philbin’s partner on the daytime show (who is an avid spinner) one day discovers KSC and on my counter I see 500,000 hits. Oh well if I can think it, it can happen.

Jennifer Goodman Linn

2011-07-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

We of the CS want to acknowledge the passing of Jennifer Goodman Linn. Kristen and Tripp had dinner with her in the city some time ago and her death will make both of our stars of the CS stop and treasure those moments with her and give them food for thought for the present moment and beyond.

Kristen Shared: I just feel honored to have been a part of her creation "cycle for survival" and look forward to helping carry it on in her memory for years to come.

Jennifer’s Website: http://www.youfearless.com/

Please share your comments today after her passing yesterday.

Jack

And this is reprinted from her website.

It is with great sadness that we want to inform all of you who have supported and loved Jen throughout the years that she passed away earlier this morning. As tough as a fighter Jen was, her death was peaceful and she did not seem to be suffering; she was surrounded by loved ones. Obviously this is tragic and heartbreaking for all of us, but we are grateful that she is no longer suffering.

Jen’s funeral will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel, located at 180 West 76th Street (near Amsterdam Avenue) at 11:45 a.m., Friday, July 22nd, 2011. In lieu of flowers, Jen preferred that you please consider donations to Cycle for Survival (www.cycleforsurvival.org) to keep alive her determined fight to eradicate rare cancers.

Little Animals

2011-07-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

Couldn’t you just feel it today? It’s always energetic in the CS with the Evil Woman but today there was something extra as Kristen was “putting out” more than ever before. That almost seems like a prevarication because her charisma is always a streaming essence. However, just like when we summon up a little more in our pedal stroke it’s what it seemed like she did today in the 8:30.

Today she was thematic with the “Little Animals” metaphor and I couldn’t agree more because we seemed willing, eager, excited and pumped to stay on the beat of the percussion of each song. I could see Cindy next to me giving it all she had as she always does but today at rides end you could tell she was spent, at least from my vantage point. And so was this sexagenarian because as I looked down at the three puddles my shorts were soaked as if I just jumped in the pool and as I descended the stairs I thought to myself how do we do this day in and day out? I think it’s amazing because I really feel like we are in training and the little animal in me is unleashed each time I don those specialized shoes.

It Ain't Ringling Brothers

2011-07-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

No popcorn, peanuts or cotton candy in this the center ring of Equinox. No jugglers, clowns, or high wire aerialists either. And no one would complain that the ringmaster, Kristen Gagne uses a holistic whip in this spinning circus. In fact when she makes the call for the next act we all head dutifully for the breathless zone. And today as ever it was no exception. When we took off at 9:15 this morning the tough get going and the rest of the circus beyond the lavender palace walls are at parade rest* by comparison.

Saturday KSC is fast becoming an iconic part of my week because there’s just something about being with her on the weekend. She seems more fanciful and maybe it’s just because it might be her favorite day and time for a brief respite after a long arduous week. For me it gives me a sense that I can go into Saturday in caloric deficit and that extra piece of salmon won’t find itself on my mid section. Yeah Jack who are you kidding salmon?

Kristen has shared that each class has its own personality. Today however she said that different sections had their own synchronicity. But the back row, which in my opinion is a bunch of miscreants who skylark every chance, they get are almost a class unto themselves. I am not sure if it’s Harold or Don that lead the charge and I used to think it was Don but even though Harold wasn’t there today I am beginning to think he needs to have his bike facing the window at least for a class or two.

It ain’t Ringling Brothers and in this circus there is only one ring in this Big Top.

A note to Kristen’s mom: She was naughty today. I think everybody caught it too. But she’s at the age of majority and there’s not much we can do.

* Parade Rest: Standing at ease.

Kristen's Song

2011-07-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today yet another side of Kristen was featured in the 945 Wednesday edition of KSC. She never ceases to amaze me because you just don’t know what side of the bed she got up on. Will she be the true Evil Woman and implore legalized torture to bend our bodies into shape? Or will she be playful and pull us up to the bumper baby and get our pedal stroke finely tuned? Or will she be the angry Kristen more determined than a drill sergeant? Or will it be like a day like today where she drives home her point using the innuendo of real life whether it is hers or someone she just spoke to five minutes before class.

Some say it’s her body others say it’s her personality.

I think when you meet her you are immediately struck by her face.

Then later you are left with more than a trace. A trace of love and caring that glows like a full moon and to be real we all start to swoon whenever she graces us in the room.

Hey I am a writer just not a songwriter. We love you Evil Woman we do!

P.S.

Dear Kristen's Mom thanks for reading. Please let us hear from you if you care to. She was a very good girl today but you should have heard what she said Saturday.

Inspired Choreography

2011-07-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

A fresh Monday had me twisted about some of my various permutations in my personal life but Kristen pulled me right out of that tailspin yet again. It’s not often that I have a preoccupying thought once I pass through those glass doors, but today was an exception and I was lamenting that very fact as I jumped atop #3. Life on life’s terms was a mantra I would hear time and time again in my 12th step protocol but it’s not always possible to depersonalize life’s events because life is so personal.

As I moved through the warm-up I could feel this monkey chattering in my ear but I felt my attention being brought back to the pedal stroke with each passing song on the ride. I did notice that none were in the current Billboard Top 40 and as we reached midway Kristen lit my fire with a song that quite literally incinerated what had me so upset and I used that fuel of anger she has talked about in previous sessions. I was just like Pat Benatar: All Fired Up. So glad because my day changed in that instant and I will not give up my power and let anyone make me feel the way they want me to. I eased my grip on the handlebars and I relaxed into the rhythm of the road.

Motion creates emotion is what Tony Robbins used to claim in his live seminars and tapes and in spin class the motion is like a centrifuge and it takes the sediment of situations and puts it at the bottom of my test tube and I can see the clear course of action and leave fear, doubt and indecisiveness out of my equation.

The choreography was for me so satisfying today and I had double inspiration in the personage of Kristen Gagne.

For the Love of God

2011-07-09T04:44:00.000-07:00

Venturing into KG’s one-hour class this past Thursday was a leap of faith. I had been in the 45-minute versions almost exclusively but in this winter break I was able to secure a bike in prime time. I hadn’t thought much about the extra 15 minutes until Kristen said “you will feel like giving up today.” Now I’ve completed 17 marathons and 3 ultra marathons and was a DNF (did not finish) in just one. My mind turned to that one time and I started to doubt my own resolve but I couldn’t stand the embarrassment of unclipping and getting off my bike and waltzing unceremoniously out of the studio.

When I heard Kristen talk about her 6-year-old son as he said to her “For the love of God, you’re teaching again?” That was all I needed to dismiss this qualm and I settled back into my gel seat and gone was any notion that I was in any way quitting. I took on the face of the 17 races I had completed and the 1 I didn’t vanished with my next breath.

In this class we have heard a lot about the Hard Zone and going anaerobic, And my awareness of being out of breath and being accustomed to it has expanded and I am determined to visit this middle ground of the hard zone rather than just being out of breath the whole session. This will take discipline I thought but maybe it just comes with my rising fitness. The hard zone, breathing in through my nose and out my mouth takes concentration because the easier softer way is just to breathe through my mouth.

But let’s get serious now; can I really escape being out of breath for virtually the whole session? “For the love of God” the answer is that I don’t know and my sense is that I’m okay with it. I am okay with it because my quality of life in the other 23 hours has already seen a marked improvement. My weight is dropping and my lungs are starting to take on the size of a yellow physio ball. And I am starting to feel sorry for all my other Equinoxites that work out exclusively in the main room. Poor things they’re just going through their workouts in the infield while we are getting comfortable on the warning track and not afraid of hitting up against the outfield wall.

Positively Jump Street

2011-07-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today let’s just call a spade a spade and say that KSC is positively Jump Street. I like to bet on black except when my heart’s involved then it’s always red. Today was sure money that this July 4th KSC would be booked and the odds of getting a winning lottery were like the veritable hen’s teeth. I just made it by two and front row in #6 to boot (I still think I should get a press pass) and on top of that I stole Marcy’s bike but I liked it too so I was greedy and kept it. Bad boy Jack!

I was still luxuriating in the last two sessions of Evil Woman’s choreography and I was nonplussed that it was back to the bankable Top 40 Billboard. Although she did play the new Coldplay- Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall at spins end and it capped off another blazing saddle ride. How the hell does she do it? She writes a new song every damn day and that’s why we keep coming and coming. Which reminds me of that re mix she played the other day of Skylar Grey- I’m Coming Home. That is one HOT re mix and should be rated R. God I love that song and this remix by Arion Dubstep makes it even edgier. The instrumentation is ethereal yet uses the synthesizers perfectly.

It’s off to the July 4th celebrations, which for me might just find me here where I love it so much behind this Macbook keyboard. I love you all KSC.

Jack

Coldplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMhvkC3A84

Skylar Grey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HSBWSoMna8

Breathless

2011-07-03T05:02:00.001-07:00

One thing I am learning in my daily forays into this world of spinning is that being out of breath is starting to be comfortable in a sadistic way. Never did I think even during my running days that in the anaerobic state that I could be comfortable being out of breath. I guess I have rationalized that each time I spin it brings me closer to the fitness I felt as a long distance runner, where virtually every workout honed me for a faster time in my next race. I am not racing anymore but the feeling I am getting as I enter into my 60’s is that this is for my own personal satisfaction and that I have recaptured a portion of those days when I could run as much as 62 miles in 8 hours or run up the Empire State Buildings staircase.

Under the Influence

2011-06-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

Tracey and I were talking about our two favorite spin instructors and let’s face it to have two inspirational trainers in one gym is a little like having a stacked lineup in baseball. Since this is KSC it would be easy to talk about how easy Kristen is on the eyes but it’s so not about that even though she is beauteous and has a remarkable physiology. She’s a mom who deeply loves her offspring and although I cannot attest firsthand a great friend too. I won’t comment about the other aspects of her life, but you just know she gives her heart and soul to those parts of her life as well. And with that foundation we wind up with the personality we all clamor to ride with and that is why we all like to ‘sweat’ with her.

Nancy Kaplan’s words resonate with me even more deeply this morning because although we are not fighting for our lives or in a foxhole, taking our exercise regimen as seriously as we do brings a kinship that we don’t necessarily experience unless it is our BFF or significant other. Casual acquaintances pale by comparison as we take our bodies and our internal resolve to levels some friendships cannot measure up to. And when someone is facing hardship in our ‘community’ the prayer if you will is a laser that helps heal the wounds of life. Sound too ‘hokey’ like a Hall & Oates song? Maybe, but so what.

In yesterday’s post I was lamenting selfishly about the Evil Woman’s choreography because to me she only plays Billboard’s Top 40 and that’s okay up to a point but today she was a woman under the influence. Did you notice that her play list did not resemble anything like what she usually plates for us? I noticed and even though she didn’t play the low energy aforementioned Hall & Oates it was unique almost as singular as she is. I love when she is playful like she was today and she made me smile so broadly explaining that this is her class and she can do what she wants to. This I know but today she was a woman under the influence of my pen and I will always remember this day. Thank you Kristen you are indeed a sweet lady. (Can I say lady?)

Special Edition KSC

2011-06-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

So good that I did not prepare for an hour and a half with the Queen of Spin today lest I be recalcitrant and opt for a ticket to ride tomorrow instead. But I know that I can “Trust Mommy” feeling secure that she will bring us along at just the right challenging pace to leave us spent but with just enough recovery for Thursday.

And that she did, as I am here to report. The Evil Woman was spectacular today even though I hated just about every song she played. I was hoping that with 90 minutes she might relent and play one of my “hokey” songs but alas it was her rhythm of the road that just leaves me tone deaf at times. No matter her charisma and charm trump music selections every time. It was indeed a great ride.

After my two episodes of precipitous glucose drops, I was totally prepared. I had my Gator Ade, protein bites and some glucose tablets, the latter being supplied to me by our Guardian Angel who does everything and anything for everybody without a word behind the scenes. Those of you who read KSC know whom I am talking about.

Nancy Kaplan who I didn’t think read any of my blogs came up to me after class today and wished me well on my own bumpy terrain and then added something even more special. She said that although most of us don’t spend time together outside the club we do form a closeness in the hour or so that we do and that we do care for one another. Nancy Kaplan, she just doesn’t look great and shop she is one of the Sweet Hearts of KSC. Thank you Nancy.

Structure vs. Trance Induction

2011-06-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

As I look backward from the end of a session atop my Schwinn I feel like there is really no discernible difference between a cadence filled class or one that is put together like Jambalaya. What I mean to say is that at the end of each version of the ride I am soaking wet, my left hand and foot have lost some circulation and I am of course gasping to regain my normal heart rate.

Both entertain me and both move me closer to some elusive fitness level that escapes definition at least to this point anyway. What is the difference then? If you would ask each instructor they would say quite a lot. But is there? Order is never a bad thing unless I am lacking the discipline at that particular hour. I don’t think it’s about being lazy, as I have already told you I am exhausted with both regimens. The structured class that I love to participate in fascinates me and inspires me each and every time and challenges me and keeps me focused. The unvarnished version is unusually extemporaneous and moves me viscerally, which results in an inspiration where writing is a stream of consciousness rather than reporting with finely chiseled narratives that only KSC* brings me to.

So where am I? Split I guess if you were to push me for my personal preference. In KSC there is an unparalleled dedication to craft and in Tripp’s class the passion he exudes lifts me like an anti-gravity machine. It’s all good from here and the variety keeps me from the jelly donuts I so used to crave.

*KSC- Kristen’s Spin Class kristensspinclass.blogspot.com

It won't take long:

http://innerknockings.blogspot.com/2011/06/without-air.html

Face Card

2011-06-25T07:59:00.001-07:00

What can I say to all of you that have brought me through every trial, tribulation and jubilation that I have experienced in these past 17 months other than the words thank you? Hardly seems an appropriate phrase given the semantics that are available to me in this the English Language but they will have to do until another one is invented.

Today as I started to take my place in “left field”, #41 I had an overwhelming felt sense of love, serenity and a well being that has been absent from me in what seems like eons. It was so palpable the only way I could hold back my tears was to take in the deepest breath of my life. Kristen awakened me out of my trance-induced state when she asked: Are you ready John McQueen? (I thought I was Jack Briant). I of course nodded dutifully and then spied Ari and Lizzie who motioned me next to them and out of hiding I came. I really dig these two the love is like whipped cream on a mocha latte. It gives me chills.

Spinning became a seminal moment in my life when I decided to take up this dedication and what it has allowed me is to “Put on the Jack” but it’s never a disguise because it allows me to be authentic without the restraint of seeking an agenda other than enjoying the camaraderie that has evolved for me here in the CS. In other words…Well you know how I feel at least some of you do.

I love it when KG talks about her children and today when she mentioned her son it made me think about how fully associated she is all the time in the Lavender Palace. She was telling her son a story and when she said that he wanted her to calm down it must have been because he was seeing his mommy like she is with us: emotionally enrolled, charismatic and (my favorite) authentic. That kid Hunter is a smart boy I am so sure.

Hey no one really comments here but does anyone have some suggestions for what will be my 300th post in about a week or so? I love to write so coax me just a bit I love to be stroked.

HDWS. I liked this one Kristen.

Stepping Stones

2011-06-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have been stumbling of late and out of time with my spin regimen like today when I was going to blow off Tripp and Kristen and sit at home and lament my plight. There are times one must just push through the thoughts that inhabit the mind no matter how legitimate they may seem and get up and move. A.A. says bring the body and the mind will follow. That’s exactly what I had to do today and I got lucky because it was a half-day, last day of school and those that populate KSC in 8 seconds left an opening for me and I jumped on it.

Most of my perspectives in class have been from the center of the CS in row 3 or in the first row but today I found myself in deep left field in #41 and completely out of sight from the Evil Woman. It did leave me with the thought I could just lollygag through what is always a breathless experience. And except for the last five minutes of class I followed diligently along to Kristen’s call. For the first time I felt like an outsider to this exclusive club but feelings aren’t facts and my emotional malaise will pass in time.

Stumbling blocks make for difficult passage especially when traveling in the dark or when we have excuses to just stay in bed. However stumbling blocks can turn into stepping-stones, it’s all in the lens we choose and if we decide that problems are just situations and are really another growth opportunity presenting itself.

Oh Jack!

2011-06-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

It almost feels like forever since I have been to class even though it was only Sunday with Carolyn Mellace. Life sometimes takes priority over spin class but today I think I need it to rebalance myself from the vertigo of the last two days. Let’s see if taking two classes is not a good idea.

So as I scribe between the two sessions my day has been preempted and what was a void has filled itself to the brim. I am ever so grateful to have this space to move back into realignment because here there are no personal issues that I have to deal with firsthand. It is my escape and the pressures of my own personality can be submerged into the bliss of sweat and the breathless state. Those that have read my very now very open life will eventually retreat to my fanciful tales here as the fires of my relationships warm to room temperature.

Kristen took me out of myself today and as she reminded us about not having expectations from others, I felt a serene wave pass over my physiology. That seemed to have me engaged perfectly in my pedal stroke between resistance and speed. There I felt like Goldilocks must have felt when she ate the little bears porridge and exclaimed it was “just right”. And so it’s on to Mr. Doherty and I suspect I will be a little more vociferous in his class, only because it is my wont to do so. Although in KSC I did let out two rather audible exhortations. For more catch me on Svengali later.

P.S. Images are not being loaded so I apologize I had a few but technology has a glitch for the moment.

Cee Lo and The Blue Sapphire to the Rescue

2011-06-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

While I wasn’t in the mood for spin today I am glad that I did it anyway. I was feeling emotionally lethargic and I was bordering on depression. But the presence of familiar faces like Ari and Lizzie and the fact that Carolyn Mellace, The Blue Sapphire was teaching, I pressed on through the muddied waters that are my life right now. Mud settles eventually to the bottom and before long I will start to see things more clearly for what they are rather than what they feel like.

Who said spinning was just riding a stationary bike? He must have been riding in an empty studio because cycling is my meditation that can actually take me out of any altered state I am in and put me in another one. Feeling like I was almost going through the motions this morning I was hoping for an escape to Witch Mountain and it came about 11:15. As fortuitousness would have it Carolyn plated: Forget You by Cee Lo Green. It was just what the doctor ordered because it launched me right out from under my malaise. I began to feel on even keel again and it reinforced what NLP* taught me that and me was that: Motion Creates Emotion. It would have been easier to turn to in my bed and keep the A/C on high and pretend to be in the somnolent state until this Sunday in particular was over.

Feelings aren’t facts is what a 1935 12 step program espoused but today the fiction of emotion almost kept me in repose, I am most grateful I jumped my own fence.

*NLP: Neuro Linguistic Programming.

P.P.S.

11 More posts will make 300 of these short vignettes. I don't know where the time has gone but the discipline to write, hone my God given talent lies in the writing of KSC. All of my blogs thank you. If you have anything to share my readers, ( I know you are there) please do.

Great Expectations

2011-06-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday in Kristen’s class and in a rare moment for me when I had lost focus, said “No Expectations”. I thought that odd out of context but as I came back into alignment I took it to mean that I could relax into my forte. Today like never before I felt my strength in the pedal stroke that gave me a sense of a powerful effort without strain. My face was relaxed, my timing was consistent and my breathing, oh my God my breathing was more in my control than it ever was. No expectations? This was totally unexpected and that is why I have Great Expectations in the days and months ahead.

Saturday KSC was as usual booked solid with a waiting list of 8 beyond the seated 55 and the hot ticket lives on with the Queen of Spin. And she was the ultimate “spin doctor” today weaving her extemporaneous soliloquy in with her encyclopedic knowledge of exercise physiology. It always seems to flow and when you speak Kristen, We do care what you say make no mistake we want your charisma which is why we’re here but we also want your acumen on how we are evolving right before your eyes. (You know I don’t know the color of her eyes).

I got to sit down before class with my favorite face couple Lizzie and Ari today and as we talked the mutual admiration they have for each other was shining like the most visible star in the heavens and with the purity of Ivory Soap before Marilyn Chambers took on a new vocation. It just felt so good to sidle up to these two because they got me out of me. Please if you don’t know these young ones, you’re missing something their energy is contagious.

Great Expectations. I have great expectations without having to expect too much.

Surrender to the Pain

2011-06-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

When I heard these words I said: Oh yeah! God does that make sense I thought. The alternative, avoiding the pain or trying to fight the pain was not courage it was in fact cowardice. Yes that’s right you heard me correctly. Resisting pain unless we are Zen masters is futile. In fact surrendering to the pain carries with it priceless experience and motivation. Because when we surrender to the pain, it loses its power over us. Let’s examine that. When we struggle against it pain becomes a more formidable foe.

Think about it. We create a resistant energy that becomes fuel for pain. We think it lessens or alleviates some of its force. Oh but quite the contrary, pain sucks up resistance like oxygen added to a fire. It becomes a bigger inferno! The protection mechanism, the defensive posture that we adopt to avoid the pain gives it a wonderfully robust added excruciation.

Little do we know that if we slip into the pain we start to lessen its vice like grip and we can start to use its energy for our own purposes? Imagine having power over the pain. Think of the things we could do as we start to function in extraordinary ways that the pain kept us from even imagining.

What do I mean though? Let’s take my spinning class as an example into our little expose. When I get in that seat I know that not only will I not move from that spot I am in physically atop that stationary bike nor will I be able to get out of the seat to take a breather. After all I am locked in via my shoe clips and there is an inner voice that I must obey when Kristen says reach down for “more road” I am compelled to turn that resistance knob to the right. Now I hope I have set the stage for you because in her class pain is inevitable.

I try not to look at the clock via the mirrors in the cycling studio for at least what I perceive to be 15 minutes because that gives me time to adjust to the discomfort that I start to feel in the sides of my feet and how quickly my breathing starts to get out of control. Or as Kristen says “touching anaerobic” Touching it? I am caught in its web. She says breathe in through your nose and I see this as an exercise to deepen my characteristic shallow breathing.

As my discomfort sets in, I become accustomed to the feeling. And my brain starts to function inside the pain. This is not to say that it doesn’t exist but because I have accepted the pain I no longer have to think about avoiding it. Its just there and I can start actually thinking I can take on more pain. Because what lies beyond pain? Whoa have I ever given thought to that? I can eliminate death for sure so what does lie beyond pain? I think it’s a new set of rules that I can write. Because once I have surrendered to the pain, I might not only be able to tolerate it but also become stronger living with the pain instead of something I dread. Yes that’s it I befriend the pain because it starts to tell me where I am and I can start to see even greater God given talents I have never explored.

Thanks KG for the inspiration.

The Silver Bullet

2011-06-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Who is this is modern physical marvel of athleticism? It’s Michelle Corso who gets my vote for the Empress of Fitness. This crown belongs to her in certitude because as I watched her in the main studio before today’s class in the CS I saw an indefatigable athlete whose stamina might rival a Navy Seal. In other words she can kick my ass. And she does when I have the courage to take her spin class.

Always ready to learn something new and when I do it never fails to vault up my enthusiasm even higher and The Silver Bullet, Michelle Corso did exactly that today. In KSC I have been trying to get the RPM’s up over 100 but my internal switchboard was having a mental block. Today however, with proper resistance on the red wheel I flirted with 125, which is as close to a speeding bullet as this old man is going to get. And when I was able to pull that off, my RPM’s in #3 increased by about 15. I was in utter amazement. What was that? Was it because I was training my legs to move faster through the zone than ever before that my pedal stroke got faster? I think that the answer is yes. This became quite a feat for me because too often I get trapped into keeping the resistance wheel way too high. And when I am asked to move to the higher revolutions, I am reticent that my legs can’t pull it off. Today I was able to dispel this myth of the mind.

I love to train with Michelle and one day when I am fit I will take her sneaker class but until then I will keep my spin shoes on and sit and stand and marvel as she takes me through The Corso Zone.

Anger

2011-06-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

So often it is the emotions of enthusiasm, passion, energy and my unending drive that have given me some of the best rides in KSC. Kristen some months ago had talked about using anger as fuel for the emotion of the ride and today I was able to take the feeling of sadness (bordering on despair) and turn it into anger about a subject that is not germane here. I took my hostile mind and emptied my emotions into the incinerator instead of letting it eat me up inside later in the day. As I write this the lividity has left me and I have a clearer perspective of what just happened to me in the last 24 hours. I will not over react. I will make my point to those persons in the proper way with clarity instead of an angry heart.

So you see my readers this is not just about spinning your wheels on a stationary bike listening to music you may love or abhor. It is a place to channel and essentially meditate in the present moment what is taking place between your ears. Think our body doesn’t reflect what is going on inside your head? I know that for me when the heart aches it’s a lonely place. Rancor however is a fantastic counter weight for when your life gets out of balance emotionally.

Saturday KSC makes me feel like a kid in a candy store with a full house and Kristen is up top handing out sweets with her iconic ride. Make no mistake sometimes those confectionaries are sweet tarts and they don’t melt like chocolate but satisfaction is complete by rides end.

Self-Actualization Part II

2011-06-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

All kinds of images were brought to my consciousness today in the Wednesday edition of KSC. No need to talk about time because we are blessed with just one time slot five days of the week here in Woodbury. Let me not digress, (as can be my habit as my mind takes sojourns without my authorization) but, flat out, Ms. Gagne has raised her game yet again. This time with the aid of the onboard monitors, she has taken her undergraduate psychology degree and her M.S. in Exercise Physiology and is giving us an education like no exercise protocol or video could. With the intonation of Marisa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny: Would you like me to explain?

Just like the tennis player that can hit a faster volley with a thermoplastic racket than the old wooden ones, The Evil Woman is using the latest technology and making spin like a 4G phone only lacking back scratching capabilities. The pictures she paints in her soliloquies drawn from her personal experiences are deeply visceral because they are born from an authenticity you cannot feign.

The first two sessions using the onboard computer had me mesmerized but this third foray with these electronics had me feeling less apprehensive about their significance. I have begun to realize that it is a tool not a mandate as to how my ride should go. This new equipment will and I am convinced of this will bring us to the efficient frontier of exercise. I am not sure exactly how just yet but I know that it will unfold inevitably over time.

And finally my entry has to make a comment on Kristen’s ending choreography. As the ride neared its completion, she bent down virtually out of sight from most of the room and began her Zen like story that made the ride seem as if were outside on the road as she described our approach to the finish line. She told me that she didn’t want anyone to be looking at her so that they would focus on her narrative, but I watched her and what was remarkable about that was she had become in her own way transfixed and “fully associated” as only her talent can do. It made the end most satisfying and I told her this was her #1 ride and in her typical self-effacing way dismissed this notion. But my friends this was her #1 and I expect that she will be breaking the charts with another #1 in short order.

She talked earlier in the session about self-actualization which as our psychology lessons from Maslow tells us is our human tendency for self-fulfillment. Our desire if you will to be all that we are capable of becoming. These classes as I have said have elevated my more serious scribing in my other blogs to a level I had only wished for and I have this experience and KG to thank for that.

P.S.

I also write about addiction and if you want to follow some of my other writings please look here first:

Mylifeafteraa.blogspot.com

Woodbury Safari

2011-06-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

It seems I have gotten away from my reports from one of my favorite Equinox professionals and that’s The Blue Sapphire, Carolyn Mellace. She was fresh from her first class on Sunday called Cardio Boot camp. A real killer diller I am told. Ari sitting on the benches in the common area near the locker rooms was looking quite beleaguered. He was all in from his experience and I for one was glad that I only had to fulfill one hour with the lithesome lambster.

Although the day beckoned with a beautiful sunshine that has been so rare this spring, it was yet another chance to play with our new consoles Kristen had unveiled for us on Saturday. One of the drawbacks of our new toys at least initially was the fact that today I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off the screen. With my glasses cascading sweat down my lenses, I was still able to see through my self-induced rain shower and get acclimated to my own pace. I think these consoles will also help me take away some of the guesswork that I still am challenged with and that’s that red wheel. And secondly it really is keeping me from drifting too low after a breakaway as seems to be my wont as I described in my last entry. I even got to experiment and see what 120 RPM’s was like in the sitting position without bouncing too much off the seat. I had a mental block about speeds over 100 RPM’s but maybe it’s not as daunting as I first had anticipated. I do think that when the “watts” feature is added it will be the missing chess piece that will complete the full strategy Kristen and her staff can employ to make our ride the most efficient ever.

Carolyn was looking ferocious this morning and before she boarded for our safari she had the look of a hungry lioness with her full long blonde mane. I knew we were either going to get eaten or we would join her in the mission of destroying fat cells.

Godzilla

2011-06-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today the breakneck effort that is KSC took on yet another dimension. I thought that I had covered it all as I was relating to Ari and Lizzie after class, but leave it to the Evil Woman to amp us up even higher by putting those long awaited monitors on the bikes that we heard her talk about well almost a year ago. Well here they are and the permutations on how she will use them will be virtually limitless and it will be my vocation to explore it from our side of the CS.

One thing that I noticed right away is my lazy tendency to drift way back on my RPM’s after a surge or a breakaway. Instead of moving from 65 to 55, I was falling back to under 50 and this realization had me feeling like I had to “catch up” for a good portion of the ride. But this is simply not the case. In my conscious mind I need a rest but it takes only a modicum of effort to keep my RPM’s at desired levels. The slow down does not give me any respite like I think it might but in fact only makes me more tired as the difference between speeds becomes a gap too large to bridge. I hope I didn’t confuse you but it’s as clear as mud in my mind.

I loved the way she gave looking at it a rest too. It’s new and too much of anything can make you try to do things that you are not capable of yet. I for instance felt that 120 RPM’s is pretty much out of the realm of possibility right now. It just seems I am not comfortable pedaling as fast as I can especially in position #3. But I think that this will come in time as my fitness level increases. I especially like the idea of what the monitors will do for our pedal stroke so that we are not jumping too high or too low, but are staying within a narrow range that will serve to give us a more even ride throughout.

Now for something that had me captivated. And it came from Kristen herself. I noticed that she was mouthing the lyrics to one of the songs and as I watched her countenance she gave us a window into her inner alignment. Her facial expressions set to a rhythm of perfect contortions were timed perfectly with her words and as she gave us her extemporaneous soliloquy all three senses clicked in my head because I heard, I saw and now I felt what she has been doing in a way I have never experienced heretofore.

P.S.

I never even mentioned 57 ½ minutes did I? Oops. But truth be told 60 minutes with her is all I need to complete my regimen for the day.

P.P.S.

Why Godzilla? I don’t know I just saw the first version from 1956 with Raymond Burr and I thought to myself Godzilla would have been out of breath today too.

Trust Mommy Part II

2011-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Who else can we trust but Mommy when it comes to spinning for 90 minutes? When we put our mind and body in her hands she never lets us down and her adroitness is unparalleled in terms of form and substance. In other words there is never a worry that we won’t make it to the finish. She knows exactly how to squeeze everything out of us, yet when we are done we are ready for the next day. And she makes it all so entertaining as only she can do in her very singular and iconic way. The Evil Woman is never the same and as I have said many times I am not in love with her choreography but she is always working at her craft to get better and better. There is no room for resting on her already many laurels. She will never sit still for complacency and we also know there is nothing average about her.

I love to writer about her because she has inspired me these past 16 months and I have recaptured the enthusiasm of my youth and as a result I don’t feel 60. And the way we work out I will never feel old. I don’t know Kristen that well personally but she is one the most personable persons I know. I am so glad I made that decision to blog about her because it has given me incentive for my 14 other blogs. Thank you KG.

I was so surprised how quick yesterdays class went to. It was over in a blink. I used to think: How was I going to get through a whole hour? Now I look at the clock and am wishing it would slow down, but of course it never does. The time in the Lavender Palace is the part of my day that I cherish and health permitting will never give up.

And the friends that I have met spinning at Equinox have blown me away. People like Mary, Dana, Debbie, Tripp and David have made me realize that it is still possible to make friends and ones that genuinely care. I love that.

Have I fawned enough here? Maybe it’s because I had a spiritual awakening yesterday in Tripp’s class. I promise that the next entry will feature my curmudgeon like demeanor.

90 Minutes With The Evil Woman

2011-05-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays Post

To be written if this writer survives.

Rum Boogie

2011-05-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful Saturday not anything like some of the days we’ve had to endure this spring and so this Memorial Day weekend as sunny as it was outside I knew it would be wet inside in KSC.

Not one song, not one could I remotely connect with. That playlist would never make mine but her class is always worth every moment because I always kick my ass even if I hate Meat Loaf and the Runaway Train song, “Alive”. God even the lyrics suck.

And this brings up my point about when you hear one of your favorite songs. Riders like me are so connected with certain selections of music that we have an emotional connection to. When Evil played some of mine from the 80’s on my birthday, like New Order and Erasure my heart leapt out of my thoracic cavity. I was so out of breath that I lost the focus of my ride and it took several minutes for me to get back on that track that Meal Loaf was singing about. Nevertheless I love getting that internally generated adrenalin surge without any needle in sight. I have all the drugs I need I have KSC and Svengali.

My new favorite couples, Ari and Liz were in attendance today and those two must have something going on at least when they sign up for class because they are always next to one another. Did you think I was making some kind of sexual reference? Like Kristen on Thursday about Freak in the Sheets? No I was not but if you choose to have a dirty mind go right ahead if it makes you feel good. I remember posting something on my other blog about my wood being wet and there was hell to pay and the story had nothing to do with sex. But just for the record I love French fries, donuts and sexual healing too. I love those new Newton cookies they make, ask me about them if you are a cookie fanatic.

Tone Deaf

2011-05-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

A day after the Mary McCann story and it had a lot of my closer associates talking about her in ways that you would expect. Dana thought she should be cloned and Kristen walked up to me in the middle of class and said: "She’s not that nice" and then proceeded to Mary’s bike next to mine and held her cheeks lightly in the palms of her hand as if to say that we don’t know the half of how good a friend she is. I felt that was serendipitous as well that in all the spin classes I have taken I have never once been alongside Mrs. Sanctifying Grace and I write a blurb about her and she is next to me that very next day. Coincidence? Well if you read what I write you know I don’t believe in them or if you insist it was, then it was certainly a long shot that it happened just then.

Don Berman had a birthday and I think it was Harold that bedecked his bike in balloons and with the little I know of Don I bet he felt just a bit conspicuous for the modest man I perceive him to be because those balloons found a home in Kristen’s office as I checked out for the day.

If it sounds like I am complaining about the musical selection with the following statement, I indeed am because I am just getting tired of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Usher. Cee Lo Green still has some wiggle room because he only has the two songs but the others in my opinion have just worn out their welcome for my auditory canal and I think I am near to purchasing some earplugs at least until the Top Ten has changed a few times.

And since I try to give a balanced report I see that Evil Woman is back to her individual instruction when she passes through each row as she had several derrieres retreating to the back of the bike. The member next to me seemed to be in a pitched battle with her handlebars and pedal stroke and the height of her saddle was for someone of diminutive stature, which was not she. I might complain about her choreography but her class is the best there is and that’s not blowing smoke.

Mary McCann

2011-05-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

I don't usually cross post but I am compelled to here. You tell me if I did the right thing.

In a playful mood yesterday as I crept into the 8:30 Tripp class about 15 minutes late, and spied an open bike I thought that a double dose of Tripp might just be the tonic to get my long day into night started. Since I had booked for the 9:45 I was determined to stay within myself to make it through the second class. I am not like some youths like Maureen Russo and Mary McCann who can virtually go on forever. I need to conserve lest I run out of the energy kinetic. Well as you might probably guess that plan ran afoul as I was induced into his trance once again and got caught up in the choreography and fandango. Seems like this is a repetitive storyline here that happily I cannot escape.

At the start of the second class, I thought I could instigate a little rivalry between the 8:30 and the 9:45 but that thought was changed when a rider arrived late for the bike next to mine and according to the 5 minute rule she lost her bike to a waiting line member. Tripp and his soft heart was visibly disappointed but rules are rules. As our chagrined rider headed for the exit, Mary McCann on bike #16 for her second class offered her bike up to the late comer. This seemingly simple act of kindness had me thunderstruck. I applauded her as she exited because who does that? Mary McCann that’s who. In the year and a half that she has been my acquaintance and spin mate Mary has shown me that actions speak louder than words ever could. A cliché to be sure but Mary says nothing and does everything. I cannot begin to imagine how blessed her nuclear family feels about her, far be it for me to know but here as a member at Equinox Mary McCann has continued to show over and over that she is someone you can count on to do things with integrity. Kristen say integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking this is Mary. I will never forget how she took the bull by the horns getting that Island Harvest food drive started last year. I am sure those that share a closer tie with Mary have your own story about this amazing woman that anyone would love to have in a foxhole with them.

Press Ultra

2011-05-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

It was as if she simply flipped the record over and played her B-side in the much heralded 8:30 Thursday. The grittiness of Wednesday was replaced by her playful wistfulness that only she can pull off. She has intimated on more than one occasion that this is her most advanced class of the 6 she teaches in Woodbury. Although she leads a Tuesday class in Roslyn, they are virtual beginners to our brand of spin and comparing them to us is like an intermediate skier faced with looking down double black diamond slope.

In a way this class is antithetical to the 8:30 Tuesday’s with Tripp. In both classes the motivation is 93 octane high, but the fuel in the way it is burned is much different. The demeanor of the CS is much more subdued in KSC and maybe it’s just my imagination but you just don’t act up in her class. In Tripper’s class most anything goes because we climb the ladder any way we can and if we make a little too much noise no one seems to mind. I am openly demonstrative when Doherty is in the room but I will almost conceal any exhortations that come out of my mouth when I am in #3 in KSC. It’s just not done and even though she says she doesn’t mind when it’s Evil Woman time it’s behave Jack and no jumping off the bike in excitement when Tripp plays Hall and Oates.

The Lioness

2011-05-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Evil Woman looked ferocious today didn’t she? Maybe from the back row you couldn’t tell but with that one blond tendril suspended in front of that gorgeous countenance and gritting pearly whites she was almost ready to strike like a lioness pouncing on an unsuspecting antelope. Get the picture? I love when she is this way as I have chronicled before because we get this no nonsense Kristen that is almost drill like in her precision oratory. Yes, yes I love the playful KG but this is what I come here for fire and brimstone and when we are done the next 23 hours are like eating cotton candy. Well we don’t eat cotton candy and we don’t eat Devil Dogs or Yodels we consume grilled Salmon and fresh vegetables. But you get the picture.

Even though the attendance in her class changes daily there is a core element that is always present. This core changes as well but collectively we all know what she means when she admonishes us that we are not beginners. And she’s right after all we are not. If we take this class we are beyond just coming to the club to “workout”. We are here because we are damn serious about what the hell we expect from our instructor and more importantly ourselves. And when she says things like: That is so last week! We know that in order to perform at a higher level each time we have to pay attention to what is not only going on with our pedal stroke but also what is going on in the switchboard in our heads. Any notion that we can let up after a surge or a breakaway or a steep hill climb is for the weekend warriors that reside in the main studio. No disrespect they are here trying to get fit but trying is for the average person and we are certainly not average. I stop and think sometimes after class when my shirt, socks and now my shorts are completely soaked how I get through these grueling sessions? And that’s where I stop myself I can’t think about it I just have to do it and be in the moment where the word CAN’T is locked in the trunk in my car.

CROCKER! *

2011-05-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

John Kocaj had us stretching our perseverance to the limit this afternoon. This the 3rd installment of Kocaj was the best edition of my short series with this seasoned group instructor. Although his mike still wasn’t working his voice was exceedingly clear over the choreography that never got too loud or took over his class. I love that because there should be no competition between voice and music.

Johnny had us ramping up the resistance dial even when I thought he was surely going to tell us to take some off. And after taking off yesterday and missing KSC in the morning I got back some of the propane for my fire that was flickering just a bit from a HR that hit 212 and a dead right leg that actually woke me from a sound sleep on Sunday night. I hate to admit it but there are just so many times a week that I can paint this bridge and expect it not to turn up rusty and so I have to cut back and take up knitting or maybe TRX.

I find it amusing that most of us in the CS with the exception of yours truly are reluctant to “voice” themselves while spinning. For me when I feel that strong visceral buildup in my solar plexus that tells me my emotional heart is about to burst I have to explode. Today I was imagining my middle stepdaughter, Heather in the studio and wishing she were there just to experience us and her stepfather in our firebrand version of spin. I know she belongs to Equinox in the city and the thought of her here one day in KSC or even Tripp’s class made my heart just pop out of my under armor.

The unexpected happened today and somehow I have to fit another Equinox professional in my lineup and that’s John Kocaj. He had me screaming Crocker! By rides end. Nice job Johnny.

* Bobby Crocker was played by Kevin Dobson in the TV series starring Telly Savalas: Kojak.

It ran from 173-1978. Telly would yell: CROCKER! whenever he had something important for Bobby to do.

The Edge of Glory

2011-05-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

I think there is something a little extraordinary about Thursday and Saturday KSC. Not sure why maybe because it attracts the most serious side of us who attend. Kristen used to tell me that she felt Thursday’s 8:30 class was her best in terms of the effort put forth collectively. I can’t see what she sees from her perch from the front row but there does seem to be a slightly different feeling about Thursdays. Now I feel the same about Saturday as well because those that cannot avail themselves of her weekday schedule can on Saturday. I can almost feel the determination as it wafts throughout the CS. I know that I push just a little bit harder here with the Queen of Spin. At one point she said that this was not “recess” and that this was “class” and that reverberated psychically with me because although we are here to have fun it is a very serious affair in the Lavender Palace when the Evil Woman is at the helm. Today’s session was among her most challenging but I sound like a broken record because I seem to have said that fifty times prior.

One of today’s featured songs was On the Edge of Glory by the 21st century version of Madonna, Lady Gaga. It seemed apropos because whenever we take this class in particular we know that we will be out of our comfort zone for virtually every minute of the 55 we spin. The glory is manifested in our changing physiologies and our renewed life force that gives us the tools to face life on life’s terms. The breaks are but momentary at best and as we ratchet up the scale of perceived exertion, we never ‘arrive’ we just keep that carrot on a stick in front of us because we never get there. Besides if we did arrive, it might be the letdown of our fitness lives.

And now for some H.I. or Human Interest for us romantics.

My new favorite young “couple” is Liz and Ari and I was under the delusion that they were married. And when I found out that was not the case, Cupid’s arrow winged me because they looked so perfect together and they are always alongside each other in spin and sitting next to each other before and after class. Then I heard they were divorced but remained close. I can identify with that as I still do the financial planning for both of my ex wives. But hope springs eternal as today I heard a different version, and that made my heart lift, because that account told me that Ari was courting Liz and that she referred to him as her boyfriend. I love these two because ostensibly they seem a perfect match just like the married couple of Stacy and Peter, also perfect together. Just my opinion. Every once in awhile some new blood arrives on the scene and Kristen will ask who you belong to? I like that romantic notion; belonging to someone it plays on my heartstrings.

Watch and listen to Ms. Gaga here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S08KonZiew4

Migraines and Other Maladies.

2011-05-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. * And if you are a sexagenarian like me, it’s time to attend to your heart health and health overall as was the case this morning when I was shot out of bed with a migraine that felt like it was a plate being dropped over and over from a 3 story building on the top of my cranium. Fortunately a close friend had supplied me with some Imitrex and before long I could lift my head from my pillow.

And why am I here in my 3rd space? After missing KSC at 945, which I just hate, (I cancelled in time) I am here for the new corporate spin with Tripp Doherty at 1215. By the by he doesn’t want his class to be called “recess” anymore. And that’s perfectly fine because the Queen of Spin loves her charges to not only be charismatic but have finely tuned adroit skills as well. He is skilled there is no doubt and I just hope that he doesn’t take the fun we all enjoy if he is indeed going to go from chrysalis to butterfly. Or worse yet, he goes corporate on us. We will be watching closely.

Hey Jack this is KSC remember not Svengali. Well I do write 15 blogs and I can get confused now and then. However, I did attend the flagship class on Monday and she was the best she can ever be. Well until the next class anyway.

*This phrase came from the typewriter. Does anyone remember what that is? Well I ask that because some of you think that The Breakfast Club is an old movie. Anyway this phrase was a typing drill because if you add the period it fills 70 spaces out exactly (http://www.straightdope.com).

Visit me also at: http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/

Watts Watt?

2011-05-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

Inventor James Watt: 1736-1819

A glorious new Equinox opened in Greenwich Connecticut just recently and yours truly attended Super Saturday boasting a stellar lineup of talent in the various categories of group exercise. Of course I was just there for one reason and that was The Evil Woman. I know that some of us that made the field trip like Mary McCann, David Cooper, Damian and David B. were urged to take the very famous mentor Jay Blahnik’s spin class, who ranks in the top five in the nation in many categories of group exercise according to the top fitness magazines. He has appeared in more than 50 fitness videos as well. Talk to the aforementioned field trippers for what their experience was. John Vincent also made a guest appearance in Jay’s class and when I see that young man again I will be curious to hear what his take was.

A well-lit CS in the affluent hamlet had brand spanking new Schwinns and they were as I remember them from my first rides back in Woodbury. That is not to say ours our not well maintained but there is nothing like something new. I did like the + and --- etchings on the resistance dial which gave me a clearer sense of the ‘road’ I was adding or subtracting.

Kristen in her session was a bit subdued because after all these members were relative neophytes to her firebrand of high-octane spin class she features at Woodbury. But no matter the same puddles at rides end were on the floor so even if she was a “kids glove” version of her self we cranked it as if we were back on Long Island.

Now to the entry’s title. I certainly know about watts from light bulbs and the higher the number the greater the brightness, but I was never really cognizant of what watts meant on exercise equipment. Kristen gave us a range of 100-500 as a measurement to find ourselves in. According to the consoles on the bikes today I hit a high of 272 but that was a vigorous effort for me. The elite range between 350 and touch 500. Now I have a new measure of fitness beside calories burned and HR.

The ride up was only about 45 minutes without traffic from the club but with an accident south on 95 the hellish return trip had me in hindsight thought thinking I could have stayed and taken another class like one that caught my eye: ZEN Moving Meditation. I have to wonder if we are going to see that class back on Long Island. If you have a chance visit Greenwich it’s beautiful.

P.S.

I hear that John Vincent will be back in the CS over the summer and I for one look forward to his return. And I definitely would love to see an encore visit by Robert Sherman.

Spintastic

2011-05-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

It is so difficult not to sound like I am writing in hyperbole about our Planetarium ride on Thursday night, but it was so singular in nature that the experience was incomparable to any spin session this writer has ever had. The caveat of course was how could it be because of the setting and the theatrics attached to it. This made the ride so introspective that all five senses save the olfactory were engaged and engaged like never before.

The young O’Connor twins, Rose and Marguerite who selflessly gave of themselves to raise money for AIDS research, spearheaded the event. People like that are moved personally and their desires to take on a project like this have to be congratulated not only for their effort but going outside the box of their own personality.

Our instructor, John Hinrichsen with a resume that would rival any professional athlete, has a demeanor that flies in the face of being the center of attention. He is naturally self-effacing, which allows you to travel on a journey within that is unencumbered by our own self-consciousness. We in a felt sense ‘fly’ with no boundaries and with the vista of the overhead starscape that is the planetarium, the ride takes on a Zen like prayer as we look at our own lives absent the egos that constrict us.

Along for the ride was our own Tripp Doherty, which gave all of us a sense of belonging and we rode together in spirit as well as in effort. The O’Connor twins accompanied by their mom were beaming ear to ear from start to finish and after they thanked us for coming John took over with a craft that affirm his other talents. This writer will be back again because this experience will only serve to enhance every ride in our CS back in our home at Equinox.