Baby Make Your Move

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

Soon My Friends I am penning it now. 

Cycle What?

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

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

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

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.