I Go Both Ways

I admit I jumped on this as soon as the words escaped into the Lavender Palace but I do things like that to soften the mood or if I can crack a few smiles. No ill intent intended. I suspect that you all know that by now. But the phrase got me thinking anyway. We do go both ways in spin class don’t we? Explain Jack please. Well here goes. Easy enough actually.  

We climb with resistance and we sprint with a few turns to the left. Both ways bring us to the breathless and anaerobic zones. I until recently could never get above 100 RPM’s mainly because I was cranked too high and I never understood why or how speeding could get me anywhere in my quest to get to a higher fitness level. Now I know better because if I maintain a modicum amount to the right speed becomes part of the whole equation. It’s the back and forth between climb and interval that shocks my body and that my friends is how I go both ways. 

There has been considerable comic mileage that Ms. Sable and Ms. Gould have gotten over my over active sweat glands. Stacy didn’t want me on “her bike” #4 before her (I being on the 8 am and she being on the 915 this past Saturday) because of the expansive “puddles” I leave behind after each session. It was okay however to have Ferne sweat to her hearts content because her liquid display was paltry by comparison. I tried to act annoyed but it was of no use I joined in on the joke as well. My friends Ferne and Howard took it to a higher level when they invited me for dinner and as I got to the table there was a towel on the floor and one in my seat. Ha-Ha. I am not about to let go of this little comedy.  We both got a considerable laugh out of that one as well. There might be more “sweat” stories I will keep you posted. 

Dana who was the target of today’s title and such a good sport was just fantabulous in the Wednesday 730. She always has a good call even if she doesn’t play Mumford and Sons and does play Billy Joel. I can’t stand Billy Joel.  

500

I thought that writing in this the 500th episode of KSC that I would take various paragraphs or sentences from some of the stories and reprint them and comment about what it was like almost 4 years ago and what it feels like now. 

Remember when Hunter was just 6 years old? I do. 

From 2010:

For the Love of God.  

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.

4 years ago I actually used to think about quitting before the class was over now it never enters my mind. I never give up in class or the other 23 hours of the day. 

And this post from July of 2010:

The Numerator and the Denominator.  

Ordinarily these two words mean the top of the fraction and the bottom of the fraction. I however have a different allegory for these two words. The common denominator for all of us in KSC is we are all looking to either stay in shape, get in shape or get in even better shape. It's an even number because oddly enough we are all different.

The numerator signifies what spinning means to each and every one of us personally. I have these past 6 months told you that KSC is formulaic in it's Zen like philosophy and very much a parallel of a well known 12 step program. Because of this, my numerator is; that the athlete in me has been reborn. I thought that I was retiring into middle age, even though I have been an active member of Equinox since its' inception here, but nonetheless I felt that any idea that I was still an athlete was just a file in my memory banks, something stored in my documents file.

KSC has given me so much and I cannot thank Kristen enough. Its been a an immersion of body, mind, spirit and soul.  

I think I will stay with this for a while. Writing about KSC then and now.  

Dearest

Freddy Bartholomew in 1936’s Little Lord Fauntleroy called his mother’s character Dearest. Now not for a moment would I think that we might refer to KJ as Dearest in that sense (if you’ve seen the movie) but she does say often: Trust Mommy. And every time we clip in we are all the more fit for placing our trust in her adroit care.  So since she’s been away for what seems like a long time her flock missed her including yours truly. She is the Queen of Spin after all (as you’ve often heard me refer to her as) and Saturday KSC was something we needed dearly. How was that? Did I tie it in? Or am I off my rocker? The latter might be true but lame as the start of this episode might be I love Saturday’s and Saturday’s spinning with KJ is the best way to start the weekend. 

It’s somebody’s birthday tomorrow and I think it’s the most popular girl in school as well. Stacy Tucker Sable will celebrate her birthday tomorrow and we get to join her in Carolyn’s class. Now no one is singing: How old are you now? Because it’s still not polite to ask a woman her age and needless to say whatever the number might be we think she’s just hitting her prime. Happy Birthday Stacy!

I was hoping to stumble over to Dana’s strength class in the Main Studio after the 8 am but the mind and the body were unwilling. I sent my regrets to Dana but the pro she is let me off the hook.  I know I need to diversify my regimen but after a class with Dearest I am spent. I guess I am addicted to loving just one group fitness activity. Try as I might but at 62.5 years old it’s hard to teach a sexagenarian new tricks. 

Hey the next post will be 500. Is it really possible to continue past 500 episodes?

I'll let you know. 

We'll Always Have Paris

Growing up in the 60’s the French were looked upon with disdain mainly because of a man named Charles DeGaulle. He was a man who disliked America intensely. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten that this country had saved his bacon ousting the Nazis in WWII.  This head of state captured his essence quite well I think. 

"I cannot think of anything more unpleasant and impossible, than having this menacing and hostile man in our midst, always trying to make himself a reputation in France by claiming a position far above what France occupies, and making faces at the Allies who are doing the work."

Winston Churchill

Things have calmed down a bit along the Champs-Elysees and it seems Americans are able to come and go without much incident. In fact Kristen and her mom Claudia are on their way to the city of love and light Paris. We wish them a safe and memorable journey. Speaking of things memorable even if it is purely fictitious Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a scene from Casablanca savored one of the most romantic moments in cinematic history. When they were about to part on the tarmac in the final scene Rick told Ilsa: We’ll always have Paris. Now Mrs., Bean and Kristen will create their memory together  as mother and daughter. 

Saturday in the Lavender Palace it’s not Paris but we still call it home.