Tripp Doherty

Tripp Doherty

Friday, May 28, 2010

Inside the Mind of Mr. Mayhem


I have not been able of late to attend Mr. Mayhem’s class but I have been talking him up a storm to anyone and everyone with ears.  They all seem to echo the same sentiment that he is distinctly different and almost to an individual they cannot really describe what it is that Tripp does for them in his classes.  I would hesitate to pigeon hole it into any one category as well.  He for me is more than anyone a psychic journey into my past and into an outer world where there is no gravity but the air is thick with visceral etchings that change throughout his hour.  What I mean to say is that like a dream I cannot hold onto the image as pleasant as it is I must leg go of because the next feeling is filled to the brim with another of his unmistakable incantations. Almost as if he is a magician without props. 

He has a mythical boyish aura about him and he is filled with silent agreement when your eyes meet his.  There is a knowing is the only way I can describe it that fetches your attention and then rivets you to the effort you have always been seeking. Even this post is writing itself because Mr. Fantastic is ethereal but as real as you or I. And yet there is also something else, he possesses elements I can’t yet describe, but like creativity it arrives on it’s own time schedule.  

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Coney Island


As a wide-eyed kid growing up in the 1950’s I experienced the awe and wonder of Coney Island. I also know that the rides of today might claim to be more thrilling but nothing in the 21st century even comes close to the heart pounding fear I felt back then riding Coney’s Thunderbolt Roller Coaster, Parachute Jump and Steeplechase Ride.   However, that same exhilaration is recaptured and is playing several times a week @ Equinox.  It runs on Tuesdays and Fridays and the ringmaster is Tripp Doherty.

This was the vision that struck my mind of heart as we saddled up in Tripp’s afternoon class today.  Just like a barker in a side show Mr. Mayhem had me wondering where to put my quarter so I could gain admission to his personal amusement park.  It was a foregone conclusion that the performance would be filled with his singular brand of ebullience and my concern was just how was I going to keep up with Mr. Astroland’s musical incantations filled with alternating speed, resistance and outer world charm as only he can conjure up. 


The one ride I am thinking about in particular was called The Steeplechase. Essentially it was a simulated horse race where one rode on a wooden horse suspended 30 feet in the air and as you sped down a steel track at 60 mph it gave you the thrill of a roller coaster.  And the power of what it might be like to be a jockey on a thoroughbred at Belmont. This was the imagery I felt today with the incandescent one.  Like a demonic cheerleader Tripp used his physiology on and off that stationary bike like it was part of his anatomy.
I love spinning as some of you might have guessed but today I was back in my childhood when Coney Island was the place to be every summer growing up. 

Shelter Island Ride: Sunday May 23


DIRECTIONS TO SHELTER ISLAND  - Sunset Beach Hotel on Crescent Beach

                                             Travel time approximately 2 hours 15 minutes

                                                      Start time  9:30 AM

                                                      Riding time 2 to 3 hours depending.

                                                      Maps and road directions will be given out

I suggest you do not use your navigation system and follow these directions until you get onto the island.

Take the LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY eastbound


Take EXIT 71 – Calverton and Hampton Bays
At Stop sign go LEFT to go North.   You will stay on Edwards Avenue to the second traffic light (@ 10 minutes): to SOUND AVENUE (Route 48).   Make a RIGHT  - you will be going east.
Stay on SOUND AVENUE (@ 30minutes).  You will see the Soundview Motel on your left and then you will make your first RIGHT – a small street, not well lit on your right called CHAPEL LANE.  Go to your first stop sign and make a LEFT- you will be on Route 25
Continue and follow the signs on your right for the Shelter Island Ferry (Route 114).  You will be making a RIGHT turn and then the first LEFT.   Stay to your right and follow the ferry line as it loops back around. Buy a road trip ticket on the ferry.

ONCE ON SHELTER ISLAND- Do not move your car until the ferry guy points to you!  Continue off the ferry straight and then bear to the right and then straight again as the road loops around.  You will see the Chequit Hotel ahead of you.  Continue past it and stay straight onto New York Avenue.   There is a strict 25mph speed limit along here.  You will go past the golf course on your right.  At the stop sign make a RIGHT onto West Neck Road.   You will be driving along the golf course and continue on this road first up the hill and then down the hill to Crescent beach. As you go around the curve you will see the Sunset Beach hotel on your left.

Look for a parking space along this road that IS NOT marked 24/7. These are only for Islanders and you will be given a $100 ticket if you park there. The first spots are diagonal then you will find parallel parking spots further down.

For those of you who want to relax after the ride we can have lunch on the beach. So bring a cooler to leave in your car.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Mr. Mayhem's Mad Mix


Today I avoided the scrutiny of Interpol at Roslyn and decided to make an unscheduled trip with Tripp.  Well I unscrewed my head and brain at the glass doors and left it on the back window shelf of the CS.  Every once in awhile I would check back and take a look seeing the eyes rolled back in my head and my mouth was moving but the words were indiscernible. I had decided that I would let the “Terminator” in me conduct the spin with Tripp today and by the end of the session I was so glad I did.

The music he chose today had me out of my mind in a good way because if he was a DJ he didn’t go to any Ivy League school I knew about. The musical mix seemed like crashing cars but it all seemed to work in a rhythmic fashion as only Mr. Mayhem could deliver. When he jumps off and on the bike and he raises his arms seemingly praising the Almighty he makes me crazy as I see the whites of his eyes signaling another ferocious attack on the pedal stroke.   When he played “Stomp” near the end of the session I needed both hands to keep my heart from leaping out of my chest.  The adrenaline rush was something I had not experienced since my last experience with Mr. Mayhem and before that leaping off the top step at Metro when Disco was King.  Anyway Tripp put me back on my heels when he followed “Stomp” with Doris Day and “Que Sera, Sera” in the cool down. Who does that? NO ONE!  He blew my mind.  The energy again was palpable in this class and I found myself shouting and doing the Mayhem salute right hand in a fist, slammed to chest and then flexed forward. 

On that note I thought I would add something to our blog if it were all right with all of you. I will add a YouTube link to some of the tunes we hear each day as it might get us revved up for our next session. As if we needed more incentive.

Debbie in #12 with the Nadia Comaneci physiology provided me with enough incentive when the shoes I was wearing were giving me a bit of discomfort.  Debbie dontcha know is in phenomenal shape and because she had her well-defined left calf exposed to my line of sight it provided me with the focus to get over “My Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. 

My spin shoes turned up missing today and I knew they had to be here because I don’t go fetch bagels or cream cheese with them on, and so I was sentenced to my running shoes and those awkward toe box cages. I made do lamenting about my lost shoes but as I headed for the showers I started a confab with a member named Mike and because of that conversation I spied my shoes under the bench where I had left them after Carolyn’s (TBS) class on Sunday.  I thanked Mike.  I will never again take my shoes for granted because the freedom of movement they provide is unmistakable. My sneakers kept hitting the pedal flange putting me off Mr. Mayhem’s rhythm. 

Mr. Mayhem has a mantra:  “Infinity On All Sides”