Wholistic Fitness

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“You must open your eyes to the definite second,
You must be the moment
In all your ferocity and faith,

For that miraculous second will never come
Back ever again.

Be aware, be aware: Sometimes the invitation to your new life comes
At the most least likely time.”
– Mirabal

ilg on the attack during Day Two of the Iron Horse Bicycle Race held in Durango, Colorado last weekend. photo by: Barak Naggan Photography

***
DAY ONE: Durango to Silverton Road Race. 49-miles. 5,700 vertical feet of climbing. highest elevation; nearly 11,000′. twice.

“What irony,” i thought to myself as my heart-rate leaped into the clouds dancing out rain as our Masters peleton slammed into Shalona hill bringing our speed from 25 mph to 8, “i’m once again racing in a world that’s been dead to my limbs for years, yet here again is that undeniable aliveness pulsating in every blood cell and chi meridian; Warrior blood…Warrior Chi never dies.”

Eventually, the Wholistic Fitness athlete/yogi evolves into the many different tribes of athletes that train specifically for their sports. Timing is everything for the WF athlete. my training diary showed less than 35 hours of cardio training for May 1-21; right before this 3-day race. the guys i was competing against? twice that much; i know at least one of them had already done the 5-Day Tour De Gila alongside Lance Armstrong as prep for this race. ilg was changing diapers and doing yoga.

This road race is 49.1 miles long. not a big deal. except that 28.4 of those miles are all climbing uphill to the tune of about 6%…at high altitude.

There’s three major separation points; Shalona Hill at 15 miles, Coal Bank Pass at 28 miles, and Molas Pass at 38 miles. each climb is about 5 miles of hell. or heaven,
depending on how you’re feeling.

My big thing was not to do what i’ve stupidly done in the past which is blow myself up on Shalona. i had to pedal within myself, pace myself like a pinon tree through drought years. later, i could change up my tempo if i felt go(o)d. that’s one of the Teachings i learned from my wolf growing up; you can always change the road you’re on. even mid way through it. that’s the beauty of life…the flow of the Tao. change is constant.

So, with Mantra in Mind, i stayed just aggressive enough on Shalona to see the Leaders. i tried to turn them into sandstone, yet my yogic powers are not quite there yet. instead, they flipped their pedals over as if their feet were the wings of swallows.

Blue Collar effort; gained in large part through my HP Yoga Practice, particularly from my HP PROP Workouts, kept my cadence strong via more core. a few “hockey mentality” moments where i stood on my pedals and chanted the Mantra x 3 then sat and spun to the Mantra for 3x, then stood…about 15 seconds each…i train intervals like this often. it worked. i managed to bridge up to the leaders and that is when the magic happened…

In the misty, cold shadowy air of the high mountains between Shalona and Coal Bank, i was part of a speeding train of 10-12 leaders, each of us taking turns at the front for a few pedal strokes before fading back into the revolving line…
“Ilg, you were drilling it up there,” my friend and student Andrew Ferguson, a Durango local and multi-champion told me in Silverton after the race. “When you came by me, i thought of that old email address you used to have; IlgTrain…time to hop on the Ilg train or get dropped!”

Really? it’s the embrace of one’s respected peers during such high intensity suffering that really is the podium.

an oxygen deprived ilg at 10,867′ wheeling over Molas Pass summit and stoked to drill the nearly 4,000′ switchbacked descent into Silverton. photo by: Barak Naggan Photography

i lost the top 20 on Coal Bank. used to do intervals up and down that thing. not no mo! she took my legs and lungs out in simpatico. ilg needed to average 8 mph. too often my speedometer read 7. a few times; 6. my muscles lacked the faith of my mind. fragments of pride laid behind me in a wake of wondrous humility.

after the scintillating, shivering descent of Coal Bank Pass, Molas Pass loomed. Ever so transparent, my lack of cycling-specific hours took toll yet still i thundered up the Pass i love so much, attempting to pedal verve into my strokes. Through the suffering, i remembered so many faces of you…the happy lines of emails…and, of course, the sad features which lay etched in my face arose as i breathed in and breathed out. once there was a time i could big chain this motherfucking pass. not no mo! racing breaks the warrior into broken, declining pieces. my friend and National Champion Steve Larson had just died while out on a run. told him decades ago that, “Steve, you should consider Wholistic Fitness for at least your off season…you can’t train so hard all the time.” He looked at me fiercely, “There is no off season.” There is now, Steve. Even lions must rest to gather strength. Wholeness is an art lost among athletes it seems.

In guilt
in sorrow…
racing is the very essence of the Human Tribe…
that’s why we are called, The Human Race.
Competition is our nature;
it’s what made us stand upright,
make tools,
and contemplate God.

in the end, i finished 34th out of 125. 2 hours and 54 minutes which included being stopped at the train tracks. 20 minutes behind the winner. that hurts. makes me want to move back to Durango and train for this sonofabitch. fragments of my vanity.

driving back to Durango with Andrew and his step-son Greg who did the Warrior Work of surrendering his day to drive Andrew’s car up to Silverton and wait forever until they re-opened the passes to cars, was Anthony Colby. the bike racers in my sangha will recognize the name. he’s a pro. he won Iron Horse in the Pro Division on this day…his name now etched into immortality alongside Overend (who, at 51 still raced in the pros today, put in an attack, and finished 15th!), Grewal, Vaughters, Tomac, Wherry, Moninger, Danielson, Matthes, and Furtado. during the 50-mile drive back to Durango, i reached for the ten thousand mirrors to reflect back some of Anthony’s racing wisdom for myself, for you, and all others in our years ahead.

After hugging Ananda and Dewa upon my safe and happy return, it was time to pound down some MAP Aminos, some SUNRIDER Herbs, do a quick Medium Form Flexibility, some Pranayam, eat some calories and try to relax before the event which sent a shiver through me bones; the high speed, high flying, high threshold; Downtown Criterium.

as the rain continued to fall throughout the night, my fear of the crit grew like a toddler who wants the lights to stay on…ilg wanted – for once – the rain to stop…at least by dawn…

COMING UP NEXT ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS:
DAY TWO…THE CRITTERS COME OUT TO PLAY and the field narrows considerably.