My Spin Shoes

Resting comfortably in my walk in closet upstairs haven’t had to do much this past week. In fact I am sure just a bit of dust has started to collect on my shoe tops since I left them flat footed on Monday.  I suppose that I haven’t forgotten how to put them back on and clip myself into my favorite Schwinn, but that’s not what worries me.  

What does worry me is that my stories, my little vignettes about this passion have run its course.  In the beginning it seemed that I had a treasure chest that was bottomless and that no amount of words could ever describe the feeling I got before during and after a class with either Kristen or my co favorite Tripp Doherty.  

There could always be another story for me to write and who knows maybe there will be but maybe just maybe this blogger needs to get on to more serious subjects like My Life After AA or my real passion to finish writing that mystery novel that I started 3 ½ years ago.  Have I run out of gas and like Captain Kirk asking Scotty to run engines on impulse power? Maybe my warp drive at least for spin class needs a new set of dilithium crystals.  

For more of Jack Briant:  http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/2011/09/stuck-on-230.html

The Chrysalis

There’s school and then there’s recess.  After 5 days of school I was ready for recess. And Mr. Mayhem invited us in to his playground today and a good time was had by all. 

It’s not often that I can say after an hour of hard play that I wanted more but today was the day.  First off Tripp’s music selection was plucked right out of my memory banks and several songs struck my visceral chords like a violin bow.  I was nearly beside myself as the journey took me around the bases like an inside the park homerun.

I don’t always know the route he is going to take us on but I instinctually know what to do whether it’s cranking up the resistance or running wild on a flat road.  Back in the corner of the CS yours truly could be heard heralding the next song as it reached into my heart and tore out my enthusiasm for public display. 

The man is a phenomenon and I always walk out of the CS and ask myself what happened?  I truthfully can’t describe what he does but when he waves his magic wand I am always transformed out of my chrysalis. 

Writing is my passion and Mr. Mayhem brings inspiration and I like it like that.

Transcendence

I will be away this week and my thoughts are with you all and I hope that I do not have too many withdrawal symptoms.  Then again a rest is not always a bad thing and maybe just maybe I will reprint an earlier story that perhaps most of you have not seen from the first days of Tripp Doherty.  

These past two weeks have been revelatory to me because my perspective has changed about this class and this class specifically.  I have always enjoyed spinning with Tripper from my first day and now almost a year and a half later he has transcended what I thought was an hour I always looked forward to. Now the time in the Lavender Palace has become much more personal because I am using the inspiration here and integrating it into my own life. I have gone through my own renaissance this past summer and many of my own issues have been resolved using the lessons all of you have taught me. 

We can accomplish many things in this room that go beyond the pedal stroke and for that I am eternally grateful.  

Shambhala

Where is Shambhala exactly?  I think it’s East of Eden or maybe it’s West depending of course on which way you’re facing.  It gives me the impression that the Lavender Palace is our  Shambhala. Nothing else exists when we’re here. We can pretend we are in touch with the outside world with our Blackberry’s and iPhones but if we leave technology in the locker room we are as nature intended when we exercise, shut off from the outside world.

Once in awhile I get caught up in the remains of the day and what I might be facing when I descend that back stairway but for the most part I am fully in the present moment of each pedal stroke and I never get caught up in the last road whether it be one that leaves me gasping for air or wondering if my heart will leave my thoracic cavity. Kristen taught me that if I look back at what I’ve just done I would impede the flow, which is the next road or what the sweep of the second hand will bring. There’s plenty of time to rest when the hour is done and for me I love bringing my body to the max knowing that the worst that can happen is I start to fail and have to slow down.  

This is my Shambhala or as close as I can get to my Garden of Eden because beyond the time I lay my head down at night the world is hurtling at me full speed but it is in this hour the world takes a back seat and slows down and watches me driving forward and that the rear view mirror is for those stuck in revisionist history asking what if… 

More here at Jack Briant Reporter

http://jackbriant.blogspot.com/2011/09/text-message-part-i.html

Autumnal Equinox

He’s shows up even when his body says no.  And that’s the kind of dedication we get from our instructors at EQ.  When Kristen’s grandmother passed away a fortnight ago she gave an exemplary performance in her class. Tripp is proud too as he never misses his stint and today his chest must have been screaming for a break. As I have said before it’s not all about the money it’s about commitment and we are the beneficiaries of fitness coaches second to none.    

As the summer officially comes to a close on Thursday we have a lot to reflect on. It was a great summer, as it seems every season is this past year and a half in Tripper’s class.  And personally for me it has been the best since I was a teenager. Spin has been rewarding to me particularly tipping the scales as I lost 11 pounds since my last cardiologist visit some four months ago. When we work out in the Lavender Palace we give it all we have and as we should because our own inspiration inspires those around us. 

EQ says it’s not fitness it’s life. I think it’s even more than that because when we share each day in this intense physical experience together we forge relationships that are in their own way singular. We may not break bread together but we become part of each other’s day in ways that many friendships will never see.

Spinspiration

When I talked to Peter today the confirmation was complete at least for me it was. Although our Branch Manager hasn’t experienced the phenomena of Doherty firsthand he knows that you can’t put up the numbers Tripper does with the consistency over time and not be the singular talent he is. 

That’s nice to know that a manager of Pete’s caliber respects what we know intuitively. It also gives me satisfaction that what happens in the Lavender Palace translates into inspirational stories like Dana and Maureen taking themselves on the road and challenging their deepest resolve to compete in Triathlons of their own. These things don’t just happen unless they have an epiphany that tells them they can accomplish something that was never even on the landscape of their mind map. They hear the voice of Tripper and it spurs them to move beyond what any pedal stroke could.   Doherty is not carved out of any mold one might expect would be required to make a spin instructor par excellence but then again it’s all about results not just technique. 

Cycle for Survival will be upon us before you know it and with the talented lineup Equinox has it will surely help raise more dollars for research than the remarkable sum last years event produced.  And it’s members like we have that are not only generous but committed to make 2012 a memorable one.  

I Am the Team

A little late but here it is.

The distance between going to work out in “just a gym” and Spin class with 

Mr. Doherty is the virtual bridge too far. There is no correlation in space and time and in all my years of exercise this is the most fun I have ever had and that includes running up the Empire State Building steps or completing a 100-kilometer race.

  He has taken unity and woven it into a fabric only close friends can come to know. I have been a fan(atic) of his ever since I first took a class with him in February of 2010 and then started his blog 17 months ago. And if you recall the first story I wrote about him called: Body Surfing you will get the idea what I had no inkling of back then. This is an experience that makes a trip to Disneyland or Hershey Park seem like a merry go round. You can feel it every time in the Lavender Palace. This man is so transparent and so enthusiastic about his craft that whatever they are paying him it’s not enough. I wonder if corporate really knows what he does. When he put that class on the day after Hurricane Irene with no electricity and the power for his music supplied by a devotee’s automobile, there was no fanfare from the Mother Ship, none.  Someone needs to wake up.  

I try not to get controversial in either of my spin blogs but let me just say I hope that corporate doesn’t let this jewel get away because this is a singular talent. I have no axe to grind, I don’t get paid for this and I am beholden to no one but I love this man because what he does unseen needs to be seen and recognized. Are you listening upstairs? 

Take a look at the picture at the top of this story and get a feel for what happens here. And if you don’t get it ask us. 

The Wind and the Spirit

A dear friend to many of us, DJ was talking about the ambient emotional temperature in class yesterday in the 1215. She agrees like I do that whether it’s before, during or after a class with Tripper you are smiling ear to ear and take a visceral voyage of the heart. I know that I am being just a bit maudlin lately with you all but with each passing day I become more enamored with this man’s spirit. Remember what I have said in the past it is not so much what he says it is in the words unspoken and the genuine ferociousness that he lives his life that I most admire. This could easily be a narcissist dream to lead spin class but Tripp is not about that and his sensitivity to all of our feelings including the music he plays or just how hot or cold the Lavender Palace is, is something he pays extraordinary attention to.  

I also know that the winds of change can be upon us without notice like a tropical storm or a sudden gust of wind that shifts what we take for granted. I for one will never take “Spinspiration” or “Mr. Mayhem” or “Svengali” for granted and as I look mortality in the face with more than a sidelong glance now that I am a sexagenarian, I also know that nothing lasts forever.  I have learned many things in spin class and in this class I luxuriate in the culture, commonality and friendships I have developed here. I have been in many clubs in my life and this experience will live in my beating heart always.  

The Unspoken Language of Love

There continues to be an invisible force in the Lavender Palace when that man is here.  Ethereal is the word that comes to mind and yet I won’t say spiritual because I don’t want anyone to think we are having a religious experience spinning but I do think that the setting provides the stage for the human drama we all face even if some of it’s unspoken. Does that make sense? A lot of the shared feelings we have for each other are through the music he plays.  Take today for instance. When he played Cracklin Rose I could see and hear most of the studio singing or mouthing the lyrics. That will never happen except here. I have said this before some things just fit here perfectly and would seem anachronistic in any other class. So what I am saying is that Tripp strikes notes in perfect pitch like a tuning fork that vibrates on and on.  

Today was 9 spin classes in 9 days and yet a challenging workout broke out in my pedal stroke this morning even when I thought I was spent from the previous 8. I love Tripper Tuesday. He makes me smile, laugh and think every time I take that saddle.  What I also love is the language I share with this man through my writing and his energy. We have a symbiotic relationship that I revere and treasure. And I also know that so many of you share feelings with him that are similar and yet very different. All of you have expressed those sentiments so eloquently in one way or another and love him dearly like I do. 

Command Decision

Someone has to take a stand and it might as well be me because writing a blog is hardly considered to be a democracy and here is my decision. I have decided to go back to my original title for his blog and that is: Mr. Mayhem. Okay, okay a collective set of groans can be heard as I type this but let’s consider something. As many of you that endorsed the new “spinspiration” I had twice as many say they didn’t like it as it felt like CBN or worse yet a Coke commercial from the 80’s. You know “I’d like to give the world a coke”.  When I changed the logo to Svengali (and I had votes to go back to that as well) I thought that coming to Tripp’s class likened itself to being put in a trance. However, some didn’t like that because Svengali in the historical sense of the book by Dilber in 1894 had the principal character as an evil hypnotist. Now of course it would never be insinuated that anything but fun and joy were going on in the Lavender Palace but I admit that Svengali might not be politically correct.  But like other fictitious icons even Mr. Clean got a makeover. 

Mr. Mayhem is truer to what I experience in Mr. Doherty’s class because it is not scripted and he is so extemporaneous that we never know what will transpire. Take for instance how he does a pull up on the metal frames on the glass panes. Who would think to do such a thing? If any of the other instructors did that they would be looked at with incredulity. However just like Cary Grant who got to shove Katherine Hepburn to the ground in The Philadelphia Story it seems perfectly natural when Tripp does it.  

 Or consider when tambourines were played on that Tuesday morning earlier in the year or just what went on most recently when the lights went out.  

So go on and grumble and unless there’s a huge outcry it’s Mr. Mayhem. I bounced this off someone I truly trust in the class and he/she agreed with me. Tripp you don’t get a vote as much as I love you man. 

Let Me Know What You Think

So fans of Tripp Doherty, what do you think of the new logo? Designed by Liz from EQ Great Neck. I would like to see if we could play a bit with the font of Spinspiration.  Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Or if you like it as it is then please tell me your humble writer.