Where Have You Been All My Life?

There are days when something extraordinary takes place in the Lavender Palace that supervene even the best of the best spin classes with the Evil Woman, Kristen James. 

At all costs I try to avoid hyperbole but the chi today felt like a hard rain that descended and touched our cheeks with a camaraderie that you’re not going to find anywhere else.  

Bedecked in lavender tights and black designer top she iced her beauty with a striped matching headband and a beaming smile throughout our ride that gave us the impetus each time she flashed her ivories. I am increasingly becoming at a loss to describe her ride it just gets better and better. I find myself feeding off the energy that erupts every hour we all spin together. Seeing those familiar (and unfamiliar) faces like Mary McCann, Cindy (SP), Jason, Roy, and Nancy Kaplan fill me with pride that I am apart of something special every time I clip in. 

Usually I am over the top vocal in Tripper’s sessions and it took quite some time to become vociferous in the Queen’s class because well you just don’t do that here. However shy as I am I have allowed my true feelings to escape and take my chances come what may and now I actually think she likes it. This morning however she lied to us when a Michael Jackson snippet started to play and as I expressed my chagrin she echoed back that it was for "only 40 seconds John". FIB! I will play Ed McMahon anytime with her and amidst the most challenging of times she shines brighter now than ever before.  I am having a blast in KSC.  

Where have you been all my life? Just look around they’re all here right now.  

Rocky Road

Just before 5 am as my windows to the world opened to the dawn of this man’s favorite day of the week, Friday the thought of making the 6 am class was to say the least daunting.  As I tossed in the sheets my decision was to just do the shortened version of Tripp’s spin class. But it gnawed at me that I had promised myself and told two friends I would make Rocky’s XCLR8! What changed my decision? I was going to book KSC Saturday and that required a trigger finger precisely at the stroke of 6 to secure a bike for Saturday’s 8 o’clock and as I was successful in obtaining my spot, by that time  I was wide-awake and got in my Mini and hot footed it to make the last half of the session. 

Well try as I might to surreptitiously enter the class the “Rock” announced my arrival. Damn it! And so I emulated into the flow and down on the floor I descended as I tried to blend in to Rocky’s well-oiled machine of athletes. And I am not kidding these kids are in amazing shape at the hands of this diminutive champion. And I never thought I would be hearing things like: You’re doing great Jack! Which to me meant not bad for an old man. Well at 61 and old enough to be most of these youngsters’ fathers I guess it was a tribute in their mind but for me it was just another subtle reminder of Father Time.  No need to feel sorry for me however I am in the best shape of my life since 45 and in my defense there’s not too many men my age that could keep up with me.  

So what is this magnetic attraction with Rocky Ribacoff? She is truly a singular personality in that she exhorts you on like a Marine drill Sergeant but cradles you in a mystique that is unmistakably endearing.  I am determined to expose this proven talent because maybe it’s just me living under a rock but anyone that can get 20 or more devotees up at dawn must have a shocking charisma. And I think she does.  More as the coming weeks unfold.  

I'm Not Holly Berman

As is my wont I am usually in the front row in KSC and most of the “shout outs” Kristen echoes behind me are familiar names but I still don’t know all the faces. Except for the characters in the back row but everyone knows those miscreants. But Holly Berman (no relation to another Berman) is one face I am yet to recognize. I hear her name almost every class but I have yet to spy what her countenance looks like.  I asked a few spin mates to describe her but the best I could come up with was that she had long blonde hair. Well that was no clue. I thought I had her picked in the second row but the young woman I chose told me: No, I’m not Holly Berman. 

Another great day in class and a playfully spirited Kristen was in my face quite a few times and urging me for more.  More? Really? I’m kicking my ass here!  Yet near rides end her come hither to me for a quicker pedal stroke had me moving even more furiously from what I thought was my max. She’s flat out a great coach and the only person that can get ‘more’ out of me is the Evil Woman. 

Mary (Angel) McCann was back after a 6-week absence (it seemed longer) and she looked absolutely fantabulous. Not an ounce did this woman gain. She and her perfect physiology were emotionally gratifying to have back in the Lavender Palace. MM is pure spirituality.  

Holly Berman where are you?  

Take Me to Your Best Friends House

 Sunday is the proverbial day of rest.  Even the Evil Woman takes off on Sunday. NOT!  One of her staff urgently needed someone to sub for her and who filled in? The Queen of Spin that’s who!  I have been to Great Neck a few times when spinning with Tripp but this was a first for me to have Kristen atop Schwinn #1. 

It was eminently noticeable inside the GN studio that Woodbury EQ had crashed the party and the boys were talking about it in the locker room later.  But no matter they enjoy Peter Rothermel so their success belongs partly to us as well.  

I got there late and Dana Mancini had the last bike but she graciously exited to let me ride and I thank the lithesome beauty for doing so.  Some notables from Woodbury were there for both classes including the irrepressible Don Berman who was wearing a constant smile especially when he glanced over at you know who. 

And then there was me in the first row an arms length from Kristen. I tried to give her visual space as much as I could because we were almost in perfect alignment but its hard not to look at a woman that inspires me in much of my writing and of course on this 2 ½ year road back to fitness that I am experiencing.  I am constructing a story about her even though I have written over 400 posts here. I think I will call it: Kristen James A Riders Perspective.  

And what about the ride? Wow!  First off I was exceedingly shocked that the first 5 selections of her album were all songs that I actually like especially when she led off with Take Me to Your Best Friends House. And I can’t figure what the hell she has done but her ride has taken on a new dimension and I am moving the pedal stroke like never before and every ride seems ethereal it’s the only word that seems to fit.  Fantastic Sunday I am so glad I kicked my butt out of bed this morning.

Take Me to Your Best Friends House (Tongue Tied)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x1wjGKHjBI&feature=related 

Let's Go!

Did anyone ever think they could take it easy in Kristen’s Spin Class? I gave up that ghost a long time ago and I just rely on letting my body make the decision if it’s up to the challenge. Nature tells me when it’s time to hit her 8:30 or 9:45.  She asked me jokingly if I was cheating on her again. It had been more than a week since I had clipped in and was not going to miss her  8:30.  Its comments like that that give the Evil Woman her innate charm and appeal because she brings a singular personality to the stage every single morning. Those personal ‘shouts’ make everyone feel so inclusive in her class and its authentic, which makes it all the more viscerally satisfying.  

As I sample more and more of her ‘elite’ talent pool in group exercise I want to be two men so I can experience total body movement and exercise each and every muscle in this sexagenarian’s frame. 

I hear one of our members is in the running to become a spin instructor inside the Lavender Palace. I know that just this past weekend David Cooper (Coop-The Illustrated Man) auditioned for the part before the Queen and her court of trusted advisors. Good Luck Coop we will be pulling for you. I asked him why he wanted this position so badly.  He told me that he thought he brought a unique presence to the room. Whether it is his choice of music or his down to earth philosophy that we members can identify with so strongly, who is to say. I think that Coop by his size alone helps those Supermen types like he a place alongside our lithesome talented instructors. We need a Charles Atlas type. It’s time.  Just my opinion.  

I love that song: Take Me to Your Best Friends House. I was playing it all day out and back to Greenport.  

Take Me to your Best Friend’s House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f6Cc8Kl0I0

XLR8!

Where do I find the superlatives to describe what I just did in this class today? I am a bit jaded because it seemed to me a new group exercise program appeared almost monthly at our club like a changing marquee at the movie theater.  And I usually dismissed all of them in a perfunctory fashion. But after Met Con on Monday night with Dana I knew that it was time for me to diversify my workouts from 100% spin. It made sense or so it seemed. 

 I have been hearing about Rocky Ribacoff for more than a year. Jack you gotta take Rocky’s class! What time is it I would ask? 6 am was the reply.  AYKM? 6 am? No way! Well today it was WAY!  

I have caught brief glances of this young woman in the vicinity of the front desk on several occasions. She always had a smile gracing her lovely countenance and an effervescent personality doesn’t begin to describe this charismatic personality. Below I reprinted her bio from the EQ website and it was illuminating to say the least. 

What happened though one might ask?  It was KILLER! This class is a total immersion into the anaerobic zone and only minutes in I was sucking wind. Running, crawling, jumping and what seemed like a modified line dance were just some of the routines Rocky guided us through. We were up and down the club stairs and the segments in the parking lot were not to be believed. 

Rocky Ribacoff is  yet another STAR in the Constellation Equinox. Kristen James has assembled and all-star cast in every segment of group exercise

Rocky Ribacoff is a highly motivated and dedicated instructor with a true passion for what she does! Rocky won the title of Long Island's Fittest Woman 2007, and was voted Best Personal Trainer 2008 by The Long Island Press. She has appeared in numerous fitness DVDs, television segments, and has been involved in special projects with NIKE. In addition to group fitness and personal training Rocky is also prenatal certified. *

*Reprinted from My EQ.  

Met Con

My friend Ritchie the Knife* told me Johnny boy you have to try Dana’s class on Monday nights. I said what’s this latest fad about? He said: Johnny it’s sick. I said is it fun? He said no it wasn’t but that I had to try it.  I have been reluctant to go back into the main studio mainly because spin is my drug and as an alcoholic I don’t like change.  I have taken some of Kristen and Pam’s group fitness classes and there is no doubt they are killer but I hated slipping in my own pool of sweat on the floor. But more than that these group classes are totally anaerobic and difficult for me with beta-blockers and my low HR. 

And so tonight I took on the challenge and to be frank I was a bit nervous but with assurances from Keith, Ari, Stacey, and the aforementioned Ritchie into the breach I descended. And this young lass Dana is amazing. I hate to sound pedestrian with such a simple adjective but amazing she is. She has a style that is tender because she gave us alternatives to each and every move which catered to my weaker knees for example and the fact that some of us like yours truly are just not fully up to the challenge that Met Con poses. But make no mistake Dana Mancini is a major up and coming personality and force in Woodbury EQ.  By the way Met Con is short for Metabolic Conditioning.

So what happened? I found that my upper body strength did pretty well because I have been conditioning myself with pushups and dumb bell curls so the plank and weight lift segments   of the class were challenging and  I was able to keep up with the rest of the class in fact I used those intervals to catch my breath after the lunges and dips nearly brought me to near collapse.  I kept thinking I nearly murder myself everyday in spin class and leave a lake under my bike but Met Con shook my paradigm that I was in shape and crushed that thought. Not to beat myself up too much it is after all a different kind of exercise but I am IN! 

*The Knife because he’s so sharp. 

TM

Subtle changes are what make spin class fresh because permutations are what we crave when we are limited to one motion. Of course this is Kristen’s Spin Class and ennui is not an adjective I’d ever use but when Evil Woman makes it more challenging I can answer for all of us, we’re all IN.  

Yesterday Kristen had us up in #3 and for what seemed like an indeterminate amount of time. Maybe it was 90 seconds or even two minutes but in that one interval I have never in all the classes I’ve taken given more effort or believed I was capable of more effort. Somehow some way she brings me to levels not experienced in half a lifetime. She transports me back to my marathon days and although I am not capable of 6 minute per mile marathons anymore the feeling of accomplishment is just as genuine.  

We are always training here because there is no race no competition except of course within ourselves. This is a transcendental exercise and although there is no mantra like OM I still feel that this empiricism is like a primordial vibration. I could be in the Himalayas or on the beaches of Rio while still here in the Lavender Palace. I take a trip from what was to what can be.