Wholistic Fitness

click on pics to enlarge the Chi Hit!

above photo: “Give me Wholism or give me death…NEVER Specialize!!!”
ilg rounds Corner #2 at last weekends Downtown Criterium in Durango, Colorado…”i want my podiums in cycling to reflect the versatility of my fitness – from mountain bikes to ultras to 60-minute criteriums, fortunately, i’ve been able to do just that!” – ilg. photo by Barak Naggan

***

“ILGBRO!
4th place at Iron Horse!?!!!
Get out!
That’s righteous at that race man. Props to your fit ass for sure.
Oh the tribal sweat! The love of the friggin’ pain! Wallack and I spent some time talking about Ilgbro’s posture during the 2004 Furnace Creek 508…the absolute world record for the most perfect cycling posture I have ever seen! A redefining of aero positioning!

–
In sweat,
RJ”
Ron Jones, Race Across America champion
www.ronjones.org

***

The rain gods blessed the southwest with much needed moisture the night before the Downtown Criterium. in fact, the rain never let up all night. “So be it,” thought i upon awakening in the pre-dawn drizzle tapping out such lovely tunes upon the bedroom window of Andrew’s guest room, “it doesn’t matter if it is sunny and warm or wet and cold if you have to race anyway…the show must go on!” as a new father, however, a deeper level of fear thwarted my sense of equanimity.

THE THEATRE OF CRITTIN’
for those of you that have never experienced a Criterium race in bicycling, it’s the showcase theatre of a cyclists grit, power, and bike handling skills…it’s the complete opposite of the long endurance suffering of a Road Race, from which, all of us were attempting to recover from the day before. a Crit is a race where we speed go around and around for 45-minutes (in our category) plus 3 laps, doing red-lined effort along the 6 sharp-corned downtown loop. this course is filled with all sorts of interesting obstacles such as potholes, manhole covers, pedestrian and roadway paint, curbs, signage, etc. haybales lined the most dangerous corner (#6) which saw speeds of 28 mph+ into a sweeping corner shooting the racers like cannonballs down Main Street in front of hundreds of spectators. even my globe-trotting sister commented, “Jeez, i can’t believe i’ve never been to one of these! how exciting! this is like way better than traveling the world!”

for some, outer travel is a means of gaining wisdom.

for ilg, it’s been mostly the inner travel, the mapping out of my own mind and spirit, which truly makes for my most meaningful and sacred geography.

THE CLOUDS PART
not more than 15 minutes before the Start Gun fired, Grandfather Sun seemingly took pity on ilg and magically rolled up the rain clouds. a resplendent sun-baked sky with dancing clouds appeared to beam with pride. It was as if Grandfather Sun himself wanted to watch the action.

i took this as an Om So Ti, and felt my chi begin to surge as i pre-rode the course at speed. the spectators, the smells of a Durango spring, the nervousness of a warrior about ready to unsheath his sword! ahhhh, ilg pities those who don’t test their mental and spiritual fabric against other fit and growling competitors of their same ability. i was most concerned about the white paint which illustrated the pedestrian crossings at each corner. it was thick and as slimy as a snail’s skin due to the rain. riding tiny road bike tires over and over across these painted bands will put an unfocused racer down hard like a cheese omelette at high noon – and human skin and pavement are NEVER a harmonious match. already, in an earlier category, a racer was sent to the hospital. bike racing is not golf. if a golfer misses a crucial putt? she loses a stroke. if a bike racer misses a crucial line through a corner? he could take off a layer skin, break a few bones, and wipe out an entire peleton.

THE GUN GOES OFF
…and so too did ilg.

within the first lap, my ‘hockey mentality’ replaced my nerves. each thought for the next hour would have to stay laced up with the most aggressive line, holding fast wheels in front of mine, and staying upright among a sea of chaos and wet pavement. the above photo, taken by Ananda, shows some of the potholes and still wet pedestrian paint which adorned the race course.

my goal was to stay and finish in the top 10-12. at 30 minutes into this mayhem, i began to find inner quiet in this forest of adrenalin. back when i used to race Crits each week, i knew that i was going to perform well when this quaint sense of relaxed awareness visited my throbbing thighs and screaming lungs. it’s the strangest, most beautiful thing this dreamlike sensation of Divine Calmness during high-intensity effort and danger. of all the 23 sports i’ve practiced, only ice-climbing/mountaineering affords to me this same peculiar medicine of muscle-induced samadhi during intensity.

it was shortly thereafter ilg made a tactical mistake and nearly paid for it with my hide. for some insane reason, i figured i’d ‘test the legs’ of the leaders and put in a hard pull by going off the front and hammer for a lap. i also wanted to soften the legs of the leaders for my friend, Andrew Ferguson, who i was trying to help win the Omnium. i attacked, excited to be ‘off the front’ of this noble race…playing a part in this melodrama of testesterone and whirring wheels. feeling great, strong, and powerful, i got a gap of 5 seconds, forcing the leaders to chase me down…only thing was, on Corner #3, i was doing a ‘pro-style’ lean into the corner and sure enough, my tires lost grip as i sailed across the wet, white paint…the nemesis of bike racers the world over.

talk about a zen m(om)ent!

my little brother saw it happen,
“Man, I saw you take that corner in front of everybody and then, your whole bike just fish-tailed, shivered, and fell sideways…how you rode outta that one, I have no idea!”

my little brother, Craig, was once the Lead Vehicle driver for the esteemed TOUR de GILA race when he lived in Silver City, New Mexico. when i won that race in my earlier years, knowing that he was in the Lead Car really kept me stoked to stay near the front.

some of the “ilg cheering squad”…my neice, Ella, attempts to describe to my daughter, Dewachen, when and whom to cheer for! photo by Connie Ilg.

and so, the Lineage Masters of WF shined Their Grace upon me that morning, and i did not hit the deck. i did, however, tuck my tail between my legs, and hid as best i could in the lead pack until the apple in my throat diminished.

the near crash however, did unseen damage to my wheel rim and suddenly i was losing grip on the leaders…i got separated…i was falling off the back of the lead group! AHHH! HELP!!!! SOS!!!! then, suddenly, as i came charging down Main Avenue in front of my childhood friends, falling off the lead group, a gunshot rang out…

my rear tire exploded…the near wipe-out had ripped the sidewall of my tire and the wheel itself was rubbing up against my rear brake caliper…no WONDER i was losing ground! as fortune would have it, Shiva had placed me right at the “Pit Area” near the Start/Finish line and within seconds i had two guys changing out my rear tire as the Announcer was relating all of my trials to the crowd…as the peleton came whirring by, i pounced on them – as is fair in Criterium racing; each racer is entitled to a ‘free lap’ when due to a mechanical incident – like a cat in heat. this sudden stop and start however, put your ol’ coach into a new world of hurt and i was very psyched to manage an 11th place finish…right within my goals and right in front of my family. ilg was moving up in the Overall and feeling stronger each day!

COMING UP NEXT: ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS!
DAY THREE: THE RACE OF TRUTH! A 14-MILE TIME TRIAL!