And Now For Something Completely Different

I knew going in this was going to be yet another test of my heart endurance, and as I looked around the Roslyn studio 15 minutes before 8 am, the feminine presence was overwhelming and their athletic prowess was unmistakable to the eye.  There was an air of politeness to the gathering unlike my earlier experiences. Maybe it was because it was Saturday.  It felt laid back, but as the music played, like to prologue to an adventure movie, I knew that I was in for it big time. I wanted to pace myself because I had The Heart of Stone for spin class at 9 am as well.  But for now, I tried to keep my concentration on the daunting prospect of Boot Camp with Pam Polestino.  

  Pam is one of the most charismatic group fitness instructors I’ve ever expeienced. It’s not only her stunning physiology, it’s the light in her eyes that seems to burn white hot and yet it she draws you in with her open and frank demeanor. When I found myself trying to put my finger on it in a deeper sense, I decided it that it would need two hands. She carries a language that penetrates you viscerally and I felt myself wanting to strap on an oxygen tank so I could stay up with her energy that rivaled a nuclear reactor.   I only knew her from intermittent chance meetings before or after classes in Woodbury, but today she was in her home base of Roslyn. She is of course the group fitness leader here and spin is not anywhere on her dial. She has her own resistance wheel and it’s turned up full tilt. I have been engrossed for the last 8 months religiously in spin class and the day of reckoning was finally upon me, and Pam provided it in spades. 

The Heart of Stone

Well, I didn’t think that it would happen three times in the same week.  First The Corso Zone, then Svengali and for the third time it was The Heart of Stone. Cathy Munzer-Stone. A diminutive star in the Equinox constellation, but nonetheless one that shines as bright as Orion. To hear her tell it she is old school, whatever old school is. There is not anything old school about The Heart of Stone. Some of the moves today were not only innovative but groundbreaking in my view. She changed how I look at the resistance wheel. It is a finely tuned little instrument that we learn to turn with precision, rather than something we crank up and spin down on. More on this as I can formulate the words to compliment this dedicated artist’s attention to detail and commitment to her riders.

 Cathy’s choreography is distinctively different from any of the other elite instructors here at our club. She doesn’t let the music play her, she plays the music. Too often I can get carried away with the visceral content that each selection brings to my ears and solar plexus. Most of the music that is played leaves me flat and when a particular song is played that I go ape for, it usually has me pedaling out of control and losing the focus of the intention of the ride. Don’t get me wrong I love new music from Flo Rida or older favorites by Pat Benatar but music is better served in the background not the foreground. Just my opinion, because I usually hate most of the music but I have learned to tolerate it and yes even ignore it. However, with The Heart of Stone I see the soundtrack as the supporting player rather than the star or costar.

The Heart of Stone, is another secret I am determined to uncover, just like Michelle Corso. We are lucky at Equinox not one of these instructors is the same and the selection is luxurious.

Treat Me Right

This is getting to be a habit. Monday in the Corso Zone. I can’t tell if the sessions are getting more difficult or I am just buying in to how hard she works and how I am compelled to follow suit? I at this point don’t know for certain, but no matter as I am realizing each time I enter her time slot, I am challenging myself beyond what I am currently capable of. That in itself is reason enough to keep coming back. Once you get hooked on this type of workout you have to experience another taste and another and another. 

More devotees are accumulating for this spin instructor par extraordinaire. She is not for everyone, because not everyone can make it through this  boot camp. My military background gives me somewhat of an edge, but Corso could easily qualify for the Navy Seals in my humble opinion. 

 Today as I write, I am feeling I gave it my all, but something tells me that if I keep coming, it is more I will be capable of. I was inspired today because of the music that harkened back to the 80’s when I lived that portion of my existence that I called, My life as a dancer. Whether it was Joan Jett or Pat Benatar, that genre of music will live on in me long after the deleterious lifestyle I put my body through with drugs and alcohol. It seems that after 21 years of being sober I can look back without the sting that often accompanied those years of being a lost boy. 

The Blue Sapphire

She cocked her head to the side flashed a blazing a baby blue topped by the white cloud above her iris and it was her check where we were in our Sunday ride with The Blue Sapphire. Resplendent in grey form fitting attire the athlete of Carolyn shone just like it does every Sunday, complete with a full house and our sense of knowing that we would be having great fun, but by rides end our collective asses would be kicked. And kicked they were.

A lightning bolt hit me during today’s ride and it came from two places. The first was the variable I was searching for; what is the salient difference between riding indoors and the outdoor version. Yes, we all know that the elements play the largest role, and the fact that we are moving over ground rather than staying on the same ceramic tile was the main difference, but there was something more I was so sure about it, but until today it was escaping my hard drive. I saw it in Stacie, yes the newlywed Stacie who has one of the brightest smiles this side of heaven and her nonchalant attitude about what she may look like when she is in the saddle of her stationary bike. She is not self-conscious. Not a speck exists in her, and she was not worried if some of her epidermis was showing as the rider next to her was clearly very concerned. This self-consciousness does not exist on the outside ride. And it was the clue I was searching for and Stacie showed me for the first time that the reason we don’t communicate as well as we could in the CS is because we are worried about what we look like. It’s not just the women that are concerned with what sweat apparently does to our good looks it’s the men as well.  Can we lose the “skin” that when we don’t look like magnifying mirror beautiful, we can get closer like our outside rider counterparts do? Just a question and I am not sure this is the singular reason but it happened in the usual way, it was nascent. 

The other major revelation came from The Blue Sapphire herself. As I noticed to my left, a young man was clenching his face for virtually the whole ride and I also knew that this doesn’t happen outside either. Tightly clenched hand grips have no place for us in the CS as well. Carolyn said, as she alluded to me about the Minnewaska ride that when biking outside we are loose not only in the hand grips and our face but how we plant ourselves in the saddle as well. It harkened back to my earlier in the week ride with The Corso Zone, that a tight physiology does not give us the results we are seeking.  Loose and flexible rather than tight and clenched. 

Thank you Carolyn it was indeed a memorable Sunday.

Next Up: The Corso Zone

The Apple Orchard

It was no walk in the park. And the class was not going to be easy as apple pie either. I arrived late, as I was chasing Svengali from Woodbury up to the Roslyn outpost and by the time I made adjustments and saddled, 15 minutes were already gone.  The house was packed and with a little help from my friend, I secured the last bike and I was off to the races. Have you noticed when you try to book Tripp's class that you are getting shut out like another one of our elite instructors? Kind of makes you go hmmmm.  

The thing about Roslyn is the darkness and with just a touch of sensory deprivation, the focus of my concentration weighs heavier on my pedal stroke, and in the mystical one’s class that is where the magic lies. And it’s a quiet group this Roslyn crowd, but that did not keep me from shouting my own exhortations, and I could tell that just a little energy in the CS goes along way in bringing the level of energy even higher. Fact or fiction, I have seen it often over the course of my 9 month excursion into this stationary sport that moves not only my body but my mind and spirit as well.  

There was something curious about being back on the stationary bike after my excursion with Tripp upstate and the outdoor ride in Minnewaska. The spinning sessions inside not only served me well outside but now after mountain biking at the Lake I could take that experience and take my indoor game to a new experience.  The sights and sounds outside of course fill all the senses and it takes much more concentration moving over the ground than standing still in the CS but now that I know I can do both and for me the circle is complete. I understand what my friend Gene Nacey means when he calls it Cycling Fusion. 

Oh and the apples from the lake were magnificent!

In the Near Distant Past

In the near distant past I started writing about Tripp Doherty. His popularity has risen meteorically and I am happy to be part of this sensational ground swell surrounding this most curious personality. He often carries on conversations in position #41 that I have come to understand now as if we were having a conversation sitting across a table at lunch. It wasn’t always that way from the start, but with familiarity there comes an understanding. And with this understanding I have come to know that Svengali is not only a trip but a unique experience as well. Not often do people come around in your life that not only inspire you but leave you with a residue of energy and unmistakable charm. Tripp does all of these things. Don’t take my word for it just ask any of the riders in the CS they’ll tell you.  

Wednesday in the 945 segment I was determined to take it a little easier having had a dose of The Corso Zone on Monday, but as is his wont Sven had me gasping for air and drenched head to foot. One segment had us at level 8 for 90 seconds and I had to count pedal strokes just to keep my focus. Not often does my desire wane for this sport but there are times quite frankly where I have to bring the body, hoping to mind will follow. When I go to Doherty’s class my spirit comes along for the ride too.  

Relax Jack!

Have you ever jumped out of an airplane or found yourself headed down a double black diamond slope at Killington Vermont? Have you ever felt that kind of pure terror?   That was my thought process just as Michelle spied me in position #3 and with a laser like look she said: Relax Jack! Because my shoulders were tighter than the skins on Gene Krupa’s drums.  I was tight because I felt like I was in a pitched battle trying to catch my breath racing in The Corso Zone. 

Michelle Corso pulsates to a different drummer and you can see it in her approach, as it is predicated on that she is amongst us rather than leading us. It is such an unusual dynamic that you have to experience for yourself as it is unlike any of the other instructors at Equinox.   And because she is so passionate about her craft, you feel compelled not to disappoint her and give nothing less than maximum effort. There were several times during the power intervals that I reached down and grabbed my will power from my marathon days to crank up just a little extra. 

 Today she had me so far up on the resistance dial, if I turned it a smidgeon more my pedal stroke would have been frozen. Needless to say, that by the half way point I was nearly drowning in the anaerobic zone. I could barely breathe and reverse peristalsis was threatening to rear it’s ugly head. I haven’t felt that way since a 20 mile run in Central Park back in the mid 70’s.  

I talked with two riders after the class by the stretch mats, and one exclaimed that she couldn’t understand why Michelle’s class wasn’t filled. Instantaneously I said it’s because the class is too hard. Plain and simple The Corso Zone is not for the faint of heart and breath.  There are absolutely no breaks, you grab water on the fly and you hope, you hope you make it through in one piece.  As I walked out I felt like I had a case of the bends. I needed to decompress because I came up from the deep too quickly. I challenge you to take Ms. Puccia-Corso’s class next time it comes around on the schedule. I challenge you because you have to have a ferocious like commitment, to make it through The Corso Zone.