90 Minutes With The Evil Woman

Wednesdays Post 

To be written if this writer survives. 

Rum Boogie

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

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

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

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

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! *

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

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

More from today:

http://jacsbook.blogspot.com/2011/05/heartbroken.html

Migraines and Other Maladies.

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?

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

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. 

The Woman in Black

An unusual visual of the Evil Woman today, bedecked all in black from neck to foot including her wristwatch had me wondering just a bit because she is usually dressed in the colors of the rainbow. It did seem to mirror the seriousness of her attitude and my take was oh oh we’re in for it. And we were as we usually are on detoxification Monday. 

David Cooper back after an injury and on his birthday yet, had his first exposure to “the surge” and I could tell he liked it as I do because it provides another dimension to the kind of pedal stroke I really like because for me the “breakaway” has never been an interval that I am totally comfortable with.

When KG says: Breakaway!  I can see her pedal stroke moving at the speed of light and some of the other women of spin who have perfected this segment of the ride do it so gracefully, but I have always felt that I am this close to an injury because of my own perception of the high RPM’s. The “surge” however has me always with enough road on and although my speed is much lower than the breakaway I know that my effort matches my resistance.  Maybe as my fitness grows so will my comfortability with the “Breakaway”.

Oh and the Woman in Black? She about midway doffed her black T and became colorful again with a dark salmon top. Salmon colored? Not bad for a guy unless of course I have the color wrong. 

Just a short note about that man that rides under the clock. I won’t say his name but he has a shaved head and wore a bright yellow Nike shirt today. He is the head miscreant that leads the back row astray every single morning and some of the newbie’s are being corrupted into thinking that skylarking is an acceptable practice in KSC. This is clearly not the case. However, he is having the time of his life isn’t he? I may have to take myself out of #3 and see what all the commotion is about.