The Tripp of a Lifetime

Tripp wanted to acknowledge his guide and we give him credit here for the photos. 

Hi Tripp,

Great work on Mt Washington yesterday!  Nice work with the crampons and working through the terrain.  It's a big accomplishment - you should be psyched.  I hope our paths cross again in the mountains.  

I've attached the pictures from our summit yesterday.  All I ask is that you give me photo credit when you use them.  

Safe travels back to New Paltz!

Silas Rossi

AMGA Certified Rock & Alpine Guide

Alpine Logic

silas@alpine-logic.com

207-949-1736

I spoke to Tripp this Sunday morning and he will have much to say for us to marvel, enjoy and learn from in  this is ultimate life experience to date. You could tell that this will translate into making him an even more superlative instructor than he already is.  

Svengali rules!

Tripp's Climb

Mount Washington Winter Climb

At 6,288ft, Mt. Washington is the highest peak in the White Mountains and home to the planet's most severe weather, retaining the world record for wind speed. Our Classic Winter Climb is a 3 day program featuring a basic mountaineering skills day with an attempt on a neighboring summit before tackling Mt. Washington on the final day. For a more unique experience, try out our winter ascent that includes spending the night on the summit!! Our Observatory Overnight departures provide you the opportunity to spend the night at the famous Mt. Washington Observatory, home to the world's record wind speeds. Join our world class mountaineering guides on one of these extraordinary winter adventures!!

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Mount Washington Winter Climb – Classic Climb Itinerary:

Day 1 Arrival and check-in

Day 2 Orientation, skills, and attempt a neighboring peak!

Day 3 Mt. Washington summit attempt

Sixty Summers Young, Sixty Winters Old

I just had to take two spin classes today. I only turn 60 once and when I write about my two favorite spin instructors in separate blogs I had to take both of them today. 

Tripper resplendent in an orange jersey looked so relaxed in his own intensity. There are not many men or women that I have come to know that can exude an unspoken optimism the way this man does. Whenever I see those pupils rise toward the heavens I know that he has found his bliss. And I am sure if you asked him even five years ago if he could ever have imagined that he would find it here inside the many Equinox clubs he instructs even he would have thought you had two heads. 

Today I want to thank you all for the love you gave me because it made this birthday the best I have ever had in my life.  Between the musical selections and the Happy Birthday greetings this day gave me more than even the wonderful gifts some of you gave me. 

Double Tripple

Not to be outdone by an early morning snowfall I just had to get to my Double Tripple Friday.  Some people call me nuts for doing two spin classes at my age. I brush those thoughts aside because to me it’s like the circus I am entertained and entertrained. And I just can’t resist the atmosphere inside the CS when Doherty rolls.  

We have a newbie at least as far as spin class is concerned in Cheryl. She is a vociferous dynamo and she exudes excitement and enthusiasm that has me smiling whenever she is in propinquity. And when Tripper played: Love Your Life, it resonated with her because she is a cancer survivor. She told me it changed how she viewed life and it’s no wonder.  Next to me in the predawn Svengali was Mrs. Ferocity, young Dana. She was so cute after the first class asking me if I was staying for the second and I said: Of course!  Her other half Zany Bratti was taking McSpinney, AKA Young Atlas at 8:30.

Truthfully when I first entered the 6 o’clock a little late, I felt a sinking feeling thinking that Lifetime had sucked the life out of my third space. It was the wolves of illusion because no one can take that away.  Those feelings lie within  and if there are fewer of us for the time being, I can live with it because they will discover the novelty wears off just like any new toy. I went to Lifetime’s party on Tuesday night, and if you have a curiosity go check it out. My own impressions were that it was most impressive. Something in the order of a cruise ship or a lobby at a Las Vegas hotel. It just seemed to go on and on.  But do you want to be in a village or a city? I choose the village and Equinox will remain my home.  

Telepathy

It was treacherous this morning if you believe the talking heads on television. But they are purveyors of fear and doubt, and occasionally I get caught in their web of miscreant diatribes and get paralyzed on the couch.  Today however  was Svengali Tuesday and I just had to get to the 8:30 because he would launch me into the day catapulting me headlong into an energy burst for my 2 Manhattan appointments. And God I am so glad I did because his signal, again coming in crystal clear over the microphone had my heart pounding out of my chest.

Spin choreography is a perfect barometer of my enthusiasm that no one can mistake for anything but genuine and that includes myself. I get viscerally connected to certain songs as if by some magical incantation that my brain and ears cook up that translates like a lightning bold to my solar plexus. Get the picture? Some songs I can listen to but there are others like: Do You Remember that jumps my HR up against the upper limits of 140.  I haven’t felt this kind of drive since my 2hr 39-minute Boston Marathon half a lifetime ago and that is the God honest truth.

Today’s title is: Telepathy.  I had this thought and I tried to transmute it at Tripper to come down the aisles and hit the secondary and tertiary rows with his electrical impulses and it may have been coincidence but within moments there he was among us pumping up the volume as only he can. Telepathy? I think so because I don’t believe in coincidences. Could be I got carried away today? Yes, but I had one helluva great time this session.

Mono to Stereo

We just went from mono to stereo. Finally the state of the art sound system that Equinox purchased has Tripp plugged in so that every word we used to “guess” he was saying came through in clear channel surround sound. And what we thought he was saying pales by comparison to what we heard today. It’s not a wonder that he has us all inspired virtually in silence but now that he has the new dimension of sound at his disposal there’s no telling what mountains we can scale. He has an extemporaneous style that enhances our ride using his own life examples and live examples of his own goals and challenges like when he will scale Mount Washington later this month. I like it because I turn it into a stronger pedal stroke. That’s what happened today for me in the 7:15.

Up in front Young Dana looking svelte and in her second Sven class for the day had her other half in the locker room set for his turn in the 8:30 with Damian.  db was in Arizona maybe and is glad to be back in her home saddle in Woodbury and taking care of the tiny humans. 

Enthusiasm

I took this day to reflect on the phenomena of Tripp’s revolutionary brand of spin.  I didn’t feel the way I do now when I took his class for the first time however.  I knew that it was completely different than what I had experienced with some of our other outstanding talent, but I never had inkling that class with Svengali would take on the dimension it has. Someone might say I am taking this spin thing way too seriously.  But I would tell them I am sorry you feel that way because for this writer it has been a crystal clear metaphor for how I can begin my next chapter in life. 

 Enthusiasm is not something that is easy to pull off. You need to be fully associated with it to actually experience it. People can tell when you are being genuine, whether it be anger, joy or even when you are truly happy. Enthusiasm is the gateway I think to every human emotion and when we do have feelings I think enthusiasm allows us to feel everything on a deeper visceral and emotional level.  Too heavy? Not for me but take what you can use and leave the rest, because this is just my experience. 

 The exhilaration is not just a Dionysian form of art it is something that I can use for myself as well as my interpersonal relationships whether they be with family, friends and even more important strangers. If I can take pride in how I relate to people I have no emotional investment in, the other relationships in my life will be enhanced as well.  

Propinquity

Can you just sense our closeness in the CS? I mean we are actually starting to communicate energetically and making eye contact as well. That was unheard of just six months ago. We are smiling at each other knowingly as if we are starting to share our brand of propinquity with each other.  

Tripp has provided us with the radio band that gives us a clear channel of camaraderie that is generally absent in a sport like ours. And it’s not looked at as if you’re crazy when we get demonstrative in class. It’s all passion and if it’s authentic people can read it like Jack n’ Jill.   

Today the energy was palpable and I could swear that the open bike next to me was pedaling all by itself like the television set turning itself on in “Poltergeist”.  A bit of hyperbole but what the hell this is one fun place to be and this hour carries my mood for the whole day, like a hypo of B-12.  

“Let’s Do This” to quote Svengali and I am just so glad we have found each other to share this propinquity together.  

The Prime Ingredient

What lasts 45 minutes to an hour and leaves you with a smile ear to ear? Give up?  Of course it’s spin class with Tripp Doherty, a.k.a. Svengali.  Today our hero was in Scarsdale and Manhattan, the latter being one of the new editions to the Equinox fold. 

We should nominate Tuesday as Tripp Day because he is the only instructor that can book 3 classes full right in a row. Even Kristen can’t do that.  How does he do what he does? Authenticity, Energy and Enthusiasm are the key ingredients. There might be others that you’d like to add but as I have written it’s not so much as what he says as what he does.  

The Katzenjammer is Over

Three Kristen classes in a row primed me for Svengali’s 7:15 this Friday morning. His choreography put me in a freefall of spinning ecstasy.  Some of my favorite spin mates were in attendance in the shortened version of the Trance Inducers time slot. They were the PQ- Debbie J., Sanctifying Grace- Mary McCann and Young Dana.  (Her husband Keith I met for the first time in the locker room). These young women are a treasure and I have difficulty not becoming maudlin when I mention their names. I guess I am feeling paternal again.  That’s what sexagenarians do.  Now Mary, a sexagenarian is not a sex term.  

I am a little hoarse right now because the Lavender Palace was rocking today. It always is with Tripper and spinning with this man ignites my blue flame of enthusiasm every single time I clip in.  45 minutes was really not enough and so I am sitting here contemplating taking the 9:45 KSC but I think my 9:30 appointment will preempt that possibility.  

I am ready to attack the year in the most congruent way, making sure that I continue to be a channel for the people I write about and I will also make sure that my own emotional, mental and spiritual house is attended to as well.  

We talked about the idea of socializing outside of class and the Lake Minnewaska trip was the first foray into galvanizing our camaraderie that is ever growing inside our CS.  Let’s talk about it. Mention it to Tripp or here and as Hayley Mills once sang: Let’s Get Together

Recess

In the space of Kristen’s spin class today our hero was mentioned. He was not only acknowledged but aggrandized as well.  In the presence of Pam Polestino and Kristen on Tuesday in Roslyn I told the two gurus that Kristen is “class” and Tripp is “recess”. Kristen repeated that phrase today in her 8:30 and loved it as an apt description of what sets them apart and by the same token makes his presence not only welcomed as part of her staff but also essential as a compliment to her brand of spin. “We love our Tripper” was a direct quote and you know, she meant it. No small praise from a woman who has a MS in exercise physiology.  I for one have been extolling this man’s talent for a good interval now and for him to be mentioned today was important in my humble estimation and could be mutually satisfying for all those that think he is just grand. 

Get Fired Up!

It's not often I would reprint something but this quote from Thomas Merton lit my match on fire.

The "spark" is not so much a stable entity which one finds but an event, an explosion which happens as all opposites clash within oneself. Then it is seen that the ego is not. It vanishes in its non-seeing when the flash of the spark alone is. When all things are reduced to the spark, who sees it? Who knows it?

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. (New York: Harcourt, 1965) 10

Thought for the Day

The "spark" which is my true self is the flash of the Absolute recognizing itself in me.

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. (New York: Harcourt, 1965) 10