Remote Viewing

I guess we are either spoiled or just stronger athletes in Woodbury or maybe neither.  Most classes outside of our EQ are 45-minute stationary excursions. And truth be told I think maybe or a year or two a go Kristen said that spin classes are better designed for the ¾ hour rather than the 60-minute versions we are so accustomed to.  I guess that if cognitively I knew that the class was only going to be 45 minutes I suppose I might work out at an even higher level than I do now. (Some of my friends are saying harder than you workout now? Really Jack?) 

I am in Central Florida taking care of my aging father this week while my dear sister Nancy and her husband are visiting family in N.C. However the Sebastian Gym in the city of the same name has a limited number of spin classes and tonight I took a 2nd with a Ms. Diane Rauff.  A splendid athlete if physiology is any judge and her eccentric like call was a spirited workout and left me in the usual way; puddles beneath my bike and a soaked jersey and shorts. 

The discography was rock and essentially for this writer superfluous to my ride but the intimate setting of 15 bikes in a circle on Greg LeMond RevMasters provided a strong energy field even though no one except yours truly was bellowing at the top of his lungs.   These bikes are collector items and rather than say they are from the year of the Great Flood these antiques were in great working order considering their advanced age. The wheels much narrower than our Schwinn’s back home serve to make the bike much lighter and easy to move about than ours in the Lavender Palace. 

The ride here was more in saddle than up in #3 which I am not accustomed to but Diane had us do 100 jumps in rapid succession which proved to be the strongest part of the ride and had me breathless. As we counted off each interval of 10 edging closer to the century mark I was reminded of 100 bottles of beer on the wall a silly song from my youth. At rides end I asked Diane for her FB page and hopefully she won’t mind this entry in her name.  

Something About You

Well there was something about the discography today too.  KJ was feeling nostalgic when she made out the play list for this mornings ride and this ol’ boy was very happy.  Most of you that know me realize that Erasure and New Order are just about my favorite two groups of all time and the songs: A Little Respect (Erasure) and Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order) literally put me in orbit every time they are plated by Kristen. 

And both bands predated my first day sober and remind me of my life as a dancer in spandex and white capezios. Incidentally my second ex-wife has my one piece black spandex outfit in her Jack Museum at home and although I have lost weight those I wore when I was a mere 142 pounds.  I also wore red and white spandex but they were two pieces.  TMI?

Today was a fun ride and every time I think I am at my max I get caught up in the Kristen Vortex (ooh I like that) and I take it further than even the class before. And there are days when I am just not ready to Flame On! But nonetheless it doesn’t matter I catch fire before long.   I was talking to David about it and he said that some days he just feels like he would like to take it just a bit easier but to no avail he too gets swept up in the force field just like me.  It’s good to know I am not alone. 

Level 42 sang that song: Something About You and what it reminds me of is that there’s something about all of you and at the risk of sounding maudlin thanks for reading and thanks for riding with the likes of me.  

The Undertow

KJ was asking us if we remembered the Undertow story. I don’t think she realizes just how much we retain when she expresses her motivational vignettes.  This particular story was about her dad and she who got caught in a wicked undertow and literally got almost swept out to sea. Most people would panic and desperately try to swim back to shore in that situation but David W. Bean was not like many men because when others might resort to alarm he met the undertow with calm. No easy task when you consider that our natural instincts are to fight and resist but not this singular man he instead told his young charge to relax and in essence go with the flow and lo and behold instead of risking their lives this man of virtuoso talents used the power of the sea to land both he and his young daughter safely back on shore. 

It makes sense too. Often if we let the power of what we think is an opposing force do the work for us we save on angst, needless worry and in this story panic. It took awhile for me to learn that my first reaction of fight or flight was not the only ones afforded me. There is a 3rd alternative and its simply to recognize what is and utilize instead of over analyze. Kristen’s dad had that innate talent to respond and not react. It takes patience and its secret partner tolerance. 

It is my own hallucination that our Kristen will take up her Dad’s soul right here on earth and I bet he will whisper plenty of his selfless personality her way.  

And our hello to Mrs. C Bean let’s keeps her in our prayers too.  

Tracks of Her Tears

Well it was simply great to have her back in the saddle but when she said to us: What have you been doing for two weeks? I suspect that some of us realized that when she’s not there we have a letdown emotionally as well as physically. Are we just a little codependent? We might be guilty of same but that’s a personal question we have to answer individually. There is no doubt that she brings out in us more than we think we are capable of every time we clip in.  As to a letdown? I suspect the answer is in the affirmative to varying degrees. All you have to do is look at the availability of bikes when she’s absent. Well after all we do love her and although every one of her substitutes is a star in their own right there is no replacing her.  

Did you notice that in the first 30 minutes there was not going to be any frivolity? I had my whistle at the ready and fortunately the Flo Rida hit played well into the session because I could have hardly blown it sooner and I was careful to keep my big mouth shut until KJ seemed to relax as I could feel the CS take a deep sigh of relief.  

By rides end the emotion of being back took hold of Kristen  and as she gave her own soliloquy of thanks to all of us the sweat blended with her tears but it was a thin disguise.  We all knew her heart was broken but one day at a time we will do our part to mend it.  

Without You

How apropos to make this song a tribute on KSC to the departed David W. Bean?  It is one of KJ’s favorites and I am sure there were times when she played it in the studio  she had her father in mind.

  There’s much to say about how Kristen James has affected our lives. Her charismatic charm and singular personality has given us a fitness for the ages. Her inspiration transcends the physical however. When someone inspires you it carries over into the other key aspects of your life.  If you ask me (no one is) but besides losing 30 odd pounds her Zen like sonnets have influenced my writing in just about every one of my blogs. Come to think of it I am sure I could ask every one of you what she has meant to you and I would find 100 different responses. 

From a riders perspective she is also enigmatic. On the one hand she is one of the most adroit fitness instructors I have ever met but by the same token a very shy woman when she takes “off” her EQ persona and slips into Kristen the woman. Some might disagree here because her countenance and physiology belie any such notion. But watching from Bike #4 I can see a demure woman who has almost a girlish quality that is totally innocent.  I think her close friends might agree but I am not sure.  

But what did her dad really mean to her? Some might say “the world” and at the services on Monday the testimony from her uncle gave us a birds eye view into a man that was humble and deflected attention away from himself as only true heroes do. I think that Kristen’s dad was her Hero. A casual observers view told me that this was a tight knit family one that let others into their lives but never letting anyone diluting the strong love that’s woven in their collective hearts.  

Today in the 8:30 my friend Tripp Doherty wanted to make sure KJ knew he cared. And as the tears started to fill his eyes, I told him she knows and quietly to myself even if she didn’t she knows now.  We are so ready for her return on Thursday and I know my finger will be at the ready just as the digital clock strikes 6:30 am tomorrow.

 She is without him but we are not without her.  

David Guetta-Without You ft. Usher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUe8uoKdHao