Lights, Camera........

Action already lives here,  the lights and camera just served as witness to what happens everyday at Equinox Woodbury and in particular this day aboard Kristen's Spin Class. As rider and writer these past 6 years what more can I say that hasn't been said about Kristen James? I've waxed poetic over the thousands of rides  about her natural charisma that draws a packed studio every class without exception. Then I've chronicled her poignant allegory like today  when she alluded to her beloved father who taught her the governing concepts of life she lives by. Then there's the illustrated moving pictures she paints while we ride that generates the desire, energy and stamina that moves us through the challenge of the discomfort and how to welcome it without fear. And finally her animation and gesticulation that brings motivation to a fever pitch.

But today there was something else an intangible that I could feel at the start of class coursing through my body. It was a palpable energy field an almost visible force that lifted The Lavender Palace* like a collective and that my friends is the distinctive separation Equinox Woodbury has  over any other club this rider has ever been in. This club this class is singular in nature and why Corporate came today? I bet they found out firsthand what we members have known from day one.

I know Cycle For Survival is Nigh please make your contributions to help find a cure.

This past week was a watershed event for me because I came back to the Major Leagues and when I go back South I will take with me the acumen I remembered I had forgotten.

*The Lavender Palace is my affectionate term for the EQ studio. I think the walls were lavender at one time even though not now. I beg your indulgence.

HERE

Believer it or not it's happening here too!

I’ve written about her before but this morning she took it to another level.  I thought as I rode she could make the Queen’s team with ease. The Queen’s team? Kristen James’s cycle team! Yeah she’s that good. Did I mention she is 76 years old? For those that don’t want to do the math she was born in 1939. It’s when Gone With the Wind premiered on the Silver Screen. 

What I find so amazing about her and I just forgot I hadn’t mentioned her name it’s Beverly Pepe (you’ll find her on Facebook) is that Beverly is schooled perfectly to wit: She has clear enunciation, diction, pitch, and her fundamentals are perfect. But more than that it just amazes me that she rides like someone half her age and her discography is like iambic pentameter with music you never heard before but wish you did by artists you know but maybe either haven’t heard in a long time or never knew that they even sang. 

For example this morning she played The Pet Shop Boys and I know that sound I just know it but have I ever heard them sing “Here”? Nope never did. And it had me bellowing at the top of my voice just like I used to in the Lavender Palace. And then another selection “Here In Your Arms” by Hellogoodbye. Never heard that tune. It had me in the throes of a thunderous exhibition albeit in the seat of my antique 1995 “Spinning” contraption. 

Beverly Pepe can bring it! I just thought you should know. Here in the South there’s talent you just have to look for it and besides Jenny Little here’s another Beverly Pepe. 

Hello all you EQ members!  

She's A Wiz

September 25, 1939 was her DOB yet at no time did I think that Beverly Pepe was just a few years away from being an Octogenarian. This woman spread my jam all over my bread. At rides end I was soaked shirt and shorts and try as I might to nose breathe breathless was the best I could do. 

To think that The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind were showing in theaters when Beverly was in swaddling clothes boggles my mind. But here she was leading nearly a full morning class rockin’ down the highway with a discography carved out of the 21st Century. No boogie-woogie just music 8 to the bar.  

What distinguished Beverly in my mind was that I could hear her perfect-pitched voice nestled in the music without straining my own sexagenarian auditory canals. Her enthusiasm was unparalleled and I have to tell you, as my own stick gets shorter it just made me feel invigorated that she’s still got it all going on.  

Stuck on spin bikes that are of the Trojan Horse variety mattered little I had a blast and even though these “Edsel’s” were not the Schwinn’s I was used to as they had no monitors and there was no “Pursuit” program on the blank wall in front of me I was transported nonetheless. A great ride Bev a great ride.  

F ornication U nder C onsent of the K ing

What is going on?  Just this week I took 5 classes with Kristen and each one was more challenging than the next. Not only that but Saturday KSC had me burning more calories and a higher average watt count than the previous 4 sessions. I asked her about it at the end of class and she said simply that Saturday’s workout was different than all the rest. And then it dawned on me KJ tells us everyday she has a plan for that particular class and now I get it. Today she started to tell us that very thing and then stopped short thinking we really don’t care. After today though I do! I am so engrossed in the effort for each interval for each flat and hill but now I know there is a mosaic she fashions for those fleeting 45 minutes. Henceforth I will pay attention and I think my workouts will not only burn more fat but also I’ll be able to gauge my effort and finish on empty instead of on fumes as I often do. 

Have you noticed that the new digital sign up with only 5 open bikes instead of the usual 13 has made getting your favorite   just a tad more difficult? Some veterans have a faster hand to eye coordination than I but when I hit that + sign when the countdown hits Zero I more often than not end up in right or left field. Oh and what about signing in with just seconds to secure a bike? You cannot scroll down there simply isn’t time. But I think it was young Joshua that told me you could put your favorite on top when the countdown hits the 0 mark. I tried that Friday morning but to no avail. That front row is where I always wanna be. It just keeps me focused each second. 

Today was killer and I found myself muttering Fornication Under Consent of the King more times than I care to count. But that’s a good thing. Nowhere else except in the marathons from long ago can I get a workout like KSC. And I am almost a Beatle (64 on 1/126/15) but that doesn’t seem to keep me from leaving Jack the River under my bike every time I dismount. 

She's Still Evil but She's the Queen

She lived up to the expectation again! My friend Jae ejaculated spontaneously after class that she never disappoints and brings it every damn day.  Come to think of it we just take that part of KJ for granted. No matter what she’s going through the quality never wanes.  Imagine yourself having an off day. We all have them every one of us and we are well just not up to snuff.  With that James woman it matters not. There is never a falloff in quality ever.  Saturday KSC   was no exception. I felt like a sponge soaked and saturated but somehow someway at rides end she squeezed every droplet of effort from my frame.  

The Fire Within

Each class a new adventure. It’s never the same even though we don’t go anywhere. The plot between our ears is always in Technicolor and today it was in Cinerama as well.  In the ride I could see my inner persona turned out.  That man that who at times cannot hold back showed his face again and instead of wondering how much was left in my energy tank I kept the pedal stroke in the present moment and the flywheel became afire as my heart rose to the occasion and failed me not. 

Dana Mancini is one of our elite spin instructors and today even with child she terrorized us into a breathless state and drove our efforts beyond even our wildest expectations. As I looked at the floor at rides end I saw that Jack the River had returned. 

I spied some of my favorite members this morning Stacy Tucker. Josh, Andrew, Jaspreet and Xavier to name but a few. People like these float my heart and soul they anchor me yet let me fly about the studio always giving me a soft landing.   

Chapped

Chapped is what I was in my favorite spin class this Saturday morning. It takes a lot for me to get my Scottish up but it happened today. As I entered the studio for the second time I discovered that my water, spin shoes and towels were missing and someone had taken my bike. I was there in time but one of you decided to simply toss my belongings up against the side wall. Now a young woman on what was the bike next to me simply said that Bike 1 was missing and offered no explanation. I found a bike so my ire was abated but it just seemed something a kindergartener would do. I’ve heard of these things going on in the main studio never thinking that one of you would be doing the same here. 

As it turned out because of the holiday there were open bikes and I hopped on an open Schwinn still chapped but the Evil Woman Show was about to start and since I can’t hold onto resentment I was riding without my bottle of water but riding nonetheless. And as I write this it seems so trivial and I am a bit disturbed at myself for even being mad. 

A dreary day this morning but KJ had a wonderful discography and kept the tempo perfectly as usual. The studio as it is laid out now really is perfect because  getting to and out is easier than the old configuration. 

I just remembered that I have Bike 1 for tomorrow will the same thing happen again? Oh well this should be the worst thing that happens to me.