The Day of The Triffids

Tuesday mayhem featured 3 classes at Woodbury today: Pre dawn at 6 another at 8:30 and my appearance in the 9:45. All three were filled to capacity.  A testament to what’s going on with Mr. Fantastic. I make no claim that since he has shorn his Samson like locks his popularity has shot up to mythic proportions. I will leave that to the speculators.  

Yesterday in my main spin blog of KSC, I told you that I was just back from an ethereal like seminar on the Hudson. The weekend put me behind the veritable 8 ball as I tried to make reentry back into real life without a simulated case of the bends. Michelle Corso relieved me from my malaise on Monday, but again this morning I found this emotional hangover lingering, and what worked yesterday might work today, at least that is what I told myself. 

I arrived about 45 minutes before takeoff and I was number 5 on the waiting list. Kristen’s spin class has had a baby, it’s called Tripp’s spin class.  I am not surprised that there was a signup list because the devotee fan base is growing day by day. 

 Mr. Mayhem has made a major shift from unconscious competence to conscious competence. What does this mean? The former means we don’t have to think about it, we just do it. It’s like tying your shoes, it’s automatic. Conscious competence on the other hand, tells me that I can do it well, but I am transferring my gifts consciously. The latter is much more powerful because, we love to “get it” but we love it even more when we know how we are getting it.  So often I would talk to my classmates and when I asked them about Tripp, they just exclaimed; I love his class. They didn’t have an explanation other than his transfer of unbounded energy. Now as our consciousness of Mr. Mayhem begins to shift, (at least from my vantage point) we are getting both pieces, energy and Zen-like epithets that inspire us to boot.  He is very talented man on many levels. And now he has added conscious competence, an irresistible force to galvanize his icon at Woodbury Equinox.  

Please follow my three spin blogs:  Kristensspinclass.blogspot.com SundayswithCarolyn.blogspot.com and TrippDoherty.blogspot.com 

The Deep End of the Ocean

Delicious darkness greeted us riders in the abbreviated 45 minute session of Mr. Tripp Doherty.  We in the second tier had a warmed up Mr. Fantastic and as usual he was in rare form, yet again.  There is not much that surprises me about this man except for the kinetic energy which is boundless and his charm that is magnetic. I don’t always know what he is saying I have to be truthful, but it is almost inconsequential, because it is in what he doesn’t say is where is message is clear: You can do anything if you decide you can.  

Tripp is the first spin instructor to talk about the collective consciousness that is palpable in the CS. We might not tap into it living in our sensory deprived world of the i pod and mp3 players, but it’s there, oh yes and it’s so strong you can reach out and touch it. I felt it today with the rider next to me as we moved our resistance dials simultaneously without Tripp asking us to, on not once but two occasions. I felt it a third time and as I looked over my fellow female rider moved the dial again. These are not coincidences because we may live separate lives but we are connected in ways we haven’t even scratched the surface of. 

I have been observing both a rising level of fitness and a sharpening of my sensory acuity. I am not as disconnected and seemingly I am more in touch with my intuition. It stands to reason that if are bodies are in tune then our minds will be more nimble as well. I look in the mirror and see the return of the athlete and I have to say that my sense of self has taken on a quiet confidence that I am putting in the footwork and the universe is taking care of the rest.  

That's Life

Although I did report about my latest episode with Mr. Fantastic on KSC, I will not fail to include one on Mr. Mayhem’s blog because there is more than one story that becomes nascent when I am in the Big Top with Tripp.  Being so fascinated with putting words together in an attempt to entertain and report to you my reader has taken on a different twist when I write about the disheveled iron man.  Although he might lose that moniker in view of his more Wall Street look he seems to be sporting right now. 

The description of his persona is way too limited when I put it to words. Those of you that train with Tripp will know what I am talking about, and those of you that haven’t will have to experience his ride firsthand, otherwise I will leave you without the sense of silence, which I can never hope to give you unless I can see your face or be in your proximity.  The silence of Mr. Fantastic has so much to say even if the Kings English is not attached. He will evoke either fond memories as he has done for me or he will inspire you to go to places you’ve never been or better yet want to go. He has lived the Frank Sinatra signature song of: “That’s Life” and we can cull from that experience those that we wish to touch and those that we can simply look at from afar or up close and personal. The aspect of his journey which parallels mine is that no matter how high or how low you may feel at different points in your life, you can do anything if you simply put your mind to it. No, this is not a formulaic, how to in 10 easy steps to find happiness, rather it is a way to identify with the feelings and take what you can use and leave the rest.  The variables in our lives are always different but the feelings because we are human are often the same, thereby affording us the ability to commune with others we may not even give a passing thought to.  

I have come to the place in the now near 200 short stories I have written about ‘spin’ and the tales that it entails. I could go on forever connecting the body, mind and spirit especially when all of them get put into motion.  

Spinning in the Dark

In possession of all my faculties, such as they are I took on my first 6 am spin class with Tripp Doherty.  This meant that I had to leap from the confines of my comfortable coffin by 440. I usually rise by dawns light, but today it was the darkness Dracula loves. 

 Young Joe who has the early watch on Mondays and Fridays, greeted us with a robust energy as the glass doors parted for yet another Equinox day.  It felt palpably different ostensibly because the club was so lightly populated and there was just an abnormality in the air I couldn’t put my finger on. Maybe it was just early. Although by the time the starting gun exploded, there was nary an open bike. The studio was dark just like Roslyn which has no windows and it hid my fight with the lethargy of my whole body.  

Technical difficulties hampered the music tracks and it felt bare without the rhythm of the road, but Mr. Mayhem was undaunted if only frustrated and quick to take the blame for something that was just out of his control I might add. What I absolutely loved was the dawn at our backs, it seemed to herald the weekend and the approaching change of the season, the one I love the most. 

Mr. Fantastic, shorn of his Samson like locks looks more like he is ready for Wall Street  than Jericho Turnpike. I for one will miss that disheveled look but none of his boyish charm has left him.   He might just share some of the stories he beheld within a stones throw from 9 years ago and my hallucination is that it fuels much of the fabric of his intensity and passion. 

I invite you to share in this blog because I don’t want to be alone describing this man from just my perspective. I know you are reading, because I see the stat meter and many of you know Frank much better than I.  

The Fire Starter

The summer is over on the calendar if not when we walk out the door. We still can wear our summer attire, we haven’t donned a sweater just yet, and isn’t it about time we got back to Mr. Mayhem and his brand of unique exclamation?  I say unique even though this is an excessively used word, and  I mean what I say I will stick with unique. Because let’s face it, there is NO ONE like our Mr. Fantastic. 

I had forgotten his disheveled hairdo and his baseball hat on askew and his stage like presence on and off that Schwinn at the top of the CS. He is sort of like the anatomy of how a fire starts.  Take a newspaper page and twist it round until it’s tighter than those adjustment screws we fiddle with each session. Then take a match and strike it, and light the end of the front page story and place it near the kindling which is next to the three logs cradled in the iron grate. Then sit back and watch how a small blue flame turns into a roaring inferno. This inferno lasts just 57 minutes and although I have never gotten burned the heat is magnificent and I could swear I get a sunburn every time I fly with Mr. Fantastic. 

A visual trip around the room reveals that everyone here is a devotee of Tripp’s infectious motivational style. I cannot say that this has the structure of some of our famed teachers like Kristen, Michelle, Carolyn, Mike or Cathy Stone because it simply does not. If I want to go to class those are the professionals I spin with. When it’s time for recess I take a ride with Mr. Fantastic and I know that I am one hour closer to the fitness I desire. 

Chad's Special

Occasionally the athlete in all of us has to splurge just a little bit. The Chad Special is but one way to do just that.  In a word this sandwich is spectacular. Not far east on Jericho Turnpike from the club in Woodbury, Dugan’s Sandwich Shop has this exclusive lunch delight on their menu. There are other ways to soothe our appetites a bit more healthily and lately I am partaking of more fruit, the most recent is the plout. It is a cross between an apricot and a plum. I have to tell you indescribably delicious and most juicy.