Wholistic Fitness

Namaste Noble Fitness Warriors!

“The real Porsche lies within.”

– coach ilg

“The gods love dearest who breathes hardest.”

– coach ilg

in honor of the halfway point of the Tour de Lance, er, i mean, Tour de FRANCE…i’d like to share some insights, predictions, and then compare a few different recent emails from various WF Online Students who regularly use road bikes as part of their Wholistic Fitness practice.

predictions: in tomorrow’s decisive Time Trial the podium will see two Americans; Lance and Tyler. But it will be the German, Jan Ullrich. who takes the top step. This will be due to immunology fallout to the Americans (Lance is just now rebounding from an intenstinal imbalance from pre-Tour and will also be hounded by a nagging shoulder twinge brought on by Arnold Swarzennegger’s aggressive rasing-of-Lance’s-hand-like-it-was-a-dumbell celebration on today’s podium presentations and Tyler’s broken collarbone will mar his otherwise idea Time Trial power on the bike). As the Tour hits the Pyrenees, Lance will then produce a Hindu diety caliber of hurt upon the contenders who will then go cry on Phil Ligget’s shoulder but who won’t notice because he will still be busy leering at Kirsten Gum and trying to think of his paltry one-liners against Bob Roll.

Stuart O’Grady needs to learn to stay in the damn peleton for the rest of the Tour. His sprinting is better than he thinks and launching these suicide breakaways is quite frankly making my own calves cramp.

but, seriously, i trust that each of you who are being inspired by those amazing cyclists racing the Tour de France this month are doing more than just watching them. i trust you are USING their bravery and courage to deepen the intensity of your own workouts…and, if you are studying WF Programs, either online or through my books, you are transforming physical workouts into spiritual workouts. all of my programs are designed to elevate our spiritual energies, program by program, month by month, year after year…until…TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION dances within our cells!

i’d like to give an ilg stamp of bro approval to my friend, Bob Roll who anchors OLN’s coverage of the tour each evening with Kirsten Gum. ‘Bobke’ and i go all the way back to Boulder in the eighties and Team 7-Eleven as well as being neighbors in Durango and Santa Fe. Bob’s good natured grinny and gritty delivery on air is precisely the way he is when you are hammering along in a club ride. So, tune into OLN each evening and enjoy my Durango bro’s grounded wisdom of the cycling world.

to end today’s forum, i share a route description of a road bike training ride that i did yesterday (using inspiration from watching the Tour). it is a favorite of mine and yes, it’s a horribly/wonderfully steep climb! The gods love dearest who breathes hardest. get out there today and breathe, baby!

enjoy today’s forum. DL is my ongoing gift for you so that your Practice – whoever you are – may remain strong and sincere. in this way, we benefit all others by the inner work we do on ourselves.

i bow to all of you and i am glad many of you are enjoying my TOUR OF GILA diaries now up again at wholisticfitness.com

coach ilg

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CASE # 1: COACHING DIALOGUE: Teacher Sheader with Student B:

Coach Sheader,

Got done with my race today unexpectedly early, and not due to a personal

record. Perhaps you can explain what my experience means–perhaps next to

Ilg’s thoughts on the DL with respect to regarding mechanical failures and mental equanimity?

CS: Yes… See page 101 Patanjali… How to know God : “To dedicate the fruit

of one’s work to God is to work with non-attachment. Having done the best

that we know, we must not despair if our work has disappointing results, or

is harshly criticized, or disregarded altogether. By the same token, we must

not give way to pride and self-regarding vanity if the results of our work

are successful and win popular praise. Only we can know if we have done our

best, and that knowledge is our only legitimate reward.”

SB: On the bike course I was doing great. But about five miles into the

course I felt my calves (once again) tightening up. So I dismounted and

stretched on the side of the road determined not to stop. Once I got back

on the bike I decided to run on a much bigger gear, lowering my cadence–and

that seemed to help matters.

CS: Good. It is important to make these adjustments and not, again, get

attached to one way of doing things but rather be open to try other

possibilities.

SB: About 20 miles into the course the back wheel began to make a strange

sound. I ignored it. I pressed on in the mountain climb (that 7.5% climb)

and I made up much lost ground from the first dismount. –That’s right, I

got off the bike two other times to pop the chain back on.

CS: First teaching… non-attachment is not the same as ignoring

something…you are generating karma right?

SB: On the downhill from the mountain I couldn’t ignore the thumping sound

of the wheel and dismounted. A flat. This was the first time in a race I

had a flat and was running tubulars so no inner tube was available. I

punctured the CO2 cartridge and hoped the air would hold for the last 5

miles. Maybe three miles from that point it was all over. No air. No CO2

left. I stopped on the road and watched as both cyclists and runners swung by.

It was so difficult to sit there waiting to get picked up when I had so much

fuel in the tank. As I contemplated running the last three or four miles in

my Diadoras with the bike over my shoulder I checked out the cleats. To my

surprise the cleats had been loose (remember that e-mail you sent me about

lose shoes?). “Fuck,” I thought, “No wonder I’ve been cramping. Look at

this!” I had about an inch of play on the right cleat (calf with the most

cramping) and a bit on the left. I just shook my head and laughed at the

scenario.

CS: laughing is the ideal response in these situations…and the laughing

Buddha always joins in.

SB: Meanwhile I sat, watching folks roll and run by and was unsettled about

these mechanical failures. I wanted to continue the race but could not. My

thought, after jumping into the car of shame, was to go ahead and enter into

another event within the next two weeks since I really didn’t get the full

race experience (in terms of finishing, not Learning about mechanics).

In terms of the Svadhyaya practice I’m not sure if I understand how I

get into struggle. I’m also not sure how I get out of struggle. I know

that I am in struggle when my body is tense, when my mind is closed around

one or two things–in a “sticky” closed feeling. Stuck on one or two

negative thoughts that repeat like a scratched LP. I know that I “break

out” by not paying attention to the doubt and fear but I haven1t gotten any

deeper than that.

CS: The depth is waiting for you on the Zafu..{meditation cushion}. Attend to the doubt and fear,

don’t avoid them. They are powerful dragons worth harnessing. Please keep

me posted on this matter.

Coach Ilg adds:

Beautiful Ones –

make sure Student B has c, b, and a-priority races to work out these mechanical/spiritual kinks.

only pros need to race on tubulars. switch immediately to clinchers and practice repairing flats immediately (no neutral support in your races?).

pushing bigger gears should never ‘help’. the key is fast pedaling with as big a gear as possible, low aerodynamic body position, ‘snapping’ the knees up in the top position, and maximizing hip power by keeping knees in line with ankles. if hip flexibility is lacking; focus there to unleash a god awful amount of performance energy. that is why i created Medium Form (detailed fully in the Appendix of THE WINTER ATHLETE book) and why my HP Yoga video is so lower back/hip oriented.

go!

love from the humble helm,

coach ilg

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CASE #2: HEIKOSAN

today as i rode, i was making my way up a hill; at the top and over the edge i fly and as i descended there was this intention not to use my brakes today, i just said ‘let this be a day that i will surrender’ as i came into the first deep curve, i just let go and it was amazing as i was taken around the curve, the body took over; something took over…there was no fear, no doubts or concerns just an unshakable guidance… tears streaming down my face, such simple pleasure and bliss on the back of a Bike…we are blessed…i am filled with gratitude…

thank you for creating WF,

heiko

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CASE #3: BRADLEY, PRO CYCLIST

Dear Coach,

On a 4.25 hour training race i was fully capable with a strong group, although my base training is the lowest it’s ever been. I can feel that the WF is coming out from within.

– Yogi B

CS: Exactly! As Coach Ilg says,” WF is not called ‘transpersonal fitness’ for

nothing! the accumulated effect of moderation over 5 disciplines is far superior than

specific training in one!”

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CASE #4: COACH ILG’s TRAINING RIDE

all the club training rides around here are just going OFF!!!!! everybody is feeling Lance’s chi on the road racing energetic paradigm…that boy is definitely a Buddha on a Bike!

your feeble coach ilg took 2nd in the 60 mile version of the Barry Wolf Memorial Training Ride last Saturday. about 120 in the peleton..i attacked the final group of 15 on the big rollers to the last climb around mile 53. hung with a 5 man chase after 2 guys took off, counterattacked after we caught the two guys, two guys from the same team bridged up to me, i attacked them, attacked them again, then with 800 meters left on this final two mile climb, one guy blocked me as his teammate went for the summit. by the time my fat ass came around his teammate i was just too pooped to bridge…got second by 7 seconds…

but i was brave and that what spiritually matters right? to be elegant in difficulty! WF with HP yoga, baby…who needs base miles when you’ve got hours of Ujjayi on your side?

rubber side down,

ilg

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{Note the following is an excerpt from my book as yet to be published; VALLEY RIDES; Twenty Classic Cycling Routes of the San Fernando Valley. All rides start at the intersection of Reseda and Ventura Boulevards.}

Las Flores

category: II+

distance: 40 miles

time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (average speed; 15 mph)

terrain: sustained and steep climbing

features: fearsome climbing juxtaposed with oceanside spinning

Unquestionably audacious. An honest gut-check for all fitness warriors of any resolve. Think you have faith? Test it here. Not well-traveled save for the strong and insane. Pondering the solutions to remaining upright on your bike on the featured climb of Las Flores may prove to be an anaerobic koan of stupendous proportion. Do not miss this battledance.

Trickle west down Ventura Boulevard, turn south and scamper up Topanga Canyon climb and enjoy a delicious (45 mph+) sinewy descent to the Pacific blue which will greet a fit rider within an hour of your start time. Succumb to a full frontal blast of seaside joy by turning north and schooner up the Pacific Coast Highway for a few miles.

Set aside all trepidation for it will not help you, and turn right (that is NOT into the ocean) at mile 19.5 onto Las Flores Road. Whoever named it Las Flores must have been referring to funeral flowers, for your ego will shatter and die before you reach Saddle Peak which hovers 3,000� and 6 miles above your specklike bicycle. By mile three of this notoriously difficult climb, even the Mercedes Benz SUV�s will be lurching to pass you with any show of superior bravado, though the gas will be seen pouring from their exhaust pipes as obviously as your sweat pouring from the very fibers of your being.

Forge boldly upward until the first crux of Las Flores is conquered (3+ miles), turn right onto Rambla Pacifico for a stellar recovery uphill before executing a right hand turn again onto Scheuren Road to surmount the final climb to Stunt Road (another 3 miles higher). Reward yourself with the classic Stunt Road descent, turn right onto Mullholland Hwy and back home. Phew.

—————————– cut along here —————————–

Jersey Pocket Logistics

LAS FLORES; Grade II+

� West on Ventura Boulevard for 3.8 miles (flat)

� Left (south) onto Topanga Canyon Boulevard (uphill)

� Right (north) onto Pacific Coast Highway at mile 15 (roller)

� Right onto Las Flores Road at mile 19.4 (sustained, steep climb)

� Right (northeast) onto Rambla Pacifico at mile 22.7 (uphill)

� Right (east) onto Scheuren Road within 1/2 mile

� Left (north) onto Stunt Road at mile 25.7 (descent)

� Right (north) onto Mullholland Highway at mile 29 (final climb/uphill)

� Left onto Topanga Canyon Boulevard at mile 36 (return route)

� Right (east) on Ventura Boulevard at mile 37 (return route)

� Back at start at mile 40.19

VARIATIONS

grade III: screw the �easy out� and instead of descending Stunt, just keep soldiering south along the fabulous ridgetop ride of Scheuren Road – now called Saddle Peak Road. Turn left at Fernwood Canyon to descend one of my favorite climbs. Turn left at Topanga Canyon and left again at OLD Topanga Canyon and stomp on the pedals during the ensuing 5 mile climb back to Ventura Boulevard.