Wholistic Fitness

DAY THREE:  Done and….DELIVERED!!!  The Wholistic Wolf Boy HOWLS AGAIN!

5:30 am – Final Stage-  East Animas Time Trial

woke up to the sound of rain beating down on RiverPad like a million Diné drummers in Ceremony…

“Yes!” i felt to myself, “pouring rain on the Time Trial!”  i was stoked to Toe The Start Line in more Nordic Conditions (which are usually termed, “bad weather,” by the local media and racers – both local and beyond this Heavenly Hamlet).   as a Wholistic Warrior,  i train myself to be able to c(om)pete in ALL weather conditions which are not seen by me as being “Good” or “Bad.”  in yoga,  such Dualistic addiction is a basic give-away sign of spiritual ignorance.   Weather is weather, whether you like it or not.  Equanimity is the Teaching.

After having done my Early Morning Ritual however,  Father Sky was returning to His clear nature….i fought myself to rid my own addiction to dualistic thinking and not be saddened by the thought of NOT racing in Nordic conditions which would have greatly equalized the disparity between my archaic bike and equipment and the mass of high-tech bikes and equipment belonging to my 50+ AG (Age Group).

My only homage to the cold, wet conditions was to text Joy to pick me up at the Finish Line,  located about 20 miles north and about 600′ higher in elevation.   i’ve been cold since October and after having been frostbit by my Leadville Loppet victory in February?  i was getting a little tired of being wet, cold, and shaking this long race weekend.   guess i’m getting soft in my older age.

START LINE:

“Racer Ready, 5,4,3,2,1” – the TimeKeeper’s goes down in the Start Tent and i launch myself onto the 14-mile, 600′ of climbing course…which is the same Course i have trained on for the past 4 Sundays during the local Church Of The High Pines club ride which gets pretty dang feisty at times like last Service when a former Pro showed up and all hell broke lose from the start at a 21mph pace out to the infamous Shalona Hill Climb.

i was racing my friends’ Time Trial bike, a “Le Monster,” from LeMond.  it’s pretty much the type of bike which belongs in a cycling museum; super classic, outdated everything, heavy, yet full of chi.   not a micro-ounce of carbon fiber near it.

yet, as i tapped into my breath and spun my pedals?  a certain Pratyhara arose…yeah, a Drawing of my Senses Inward.  perhaps it was the Time Trial helmet which accounted for the acoustics of my breath to seem more resounding.  whatever it was,  the rhythm of my breath and pedal cadence drew my spiritual self inward yet my outer Awareness remained on high beam;  taking the shortest lines through the serpentine road, seeking and riding upon the smoothest ribbons of asphalt laced upon this old county road, veering away from the puddles of the still wet road from the soaking rain just an hour or so earlier.  such things add up in a Time Trial, the Race of Truth, for there is no drafting; just you, your inner power, and your breath against the clock.

knew i was going fast when, by mile 10 only one racer had passed me…last time i did this Time Trial two years ago i think?  i got passed by 5 guys on their fancy bikes; their carbon disk wheels leaving me in a thunder wake as they sped by.   not so much today.   by the time i hit Bakers Bridge (where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid take their cinematic leap off the cliff) only one other racer had passed me and i had passed three others. That’s when i saw it…

it was a sudden flash of a fancy bike just 200 meters and one switchback above me!   i was catching up to one of the racers that started in front of me…i thought to myself,  perhaps that is Dr. Jack!   i pushed deeper into my fibers and rounded the nearly 180-degree turn which signals the start of the final torture test of the morning; a 2-kilometer climb up Old Shalona Hill…her gradient is no joke at 9% average and her initial 600-meter headwall is a veritable bitch slap – especially after racing 13 miles solo at 20mph.

yet, i had a carrot.  a dandy carrot at that!   see, Dr. Jack is a sport-specific cyclist.  you know the kind;  good legs but scrawny arms, horrid posture, and eats, sleeps, lives cycling.  and..he’s a Doctor.  so, his road bike is like $10,000 and his Specialized Time Trial bike is like the same.   my bucket of bolts?  couldn’t sell it for $5oo. which made me all the more eager to thrown down hard up this final bitch slap of a climb…and i did…i chased up to Dr. Jack’s fancy TT bike, trying to quiet my breath so he didn’t hear me (he had just beat me in Road Race by one minute and in the Circuit Race yesterday by two minutes, so every second i could make up on him mattered and i knew that he had started 90-seconds in front me this morning)…i attacked hard past him, using my core (Dr. Jack is one of dozens around here that SAY they are gonna come to my Yoga Classes, but never do, well, now is the time to throw down some HP Yoga that may inspire him to come to class)…i vaulted past him and kept the spiritual throttle down…i had 500 more uphill meters to go…and needed every second between me and Dr. J…

with 100 meters to go,  i sprinted like a madman possessed and threw down a time that was only 9 minutes shy of Ned Overends’ time (yeah, The 59 year-old Lung Himself was here today,  capping off a 3rd place in the Road Race and 3rd place in the Circuit…he finished 2nd today and won the Pro Omnium!) and was the 7th fastest 50+ racer!!!

over 500 racers started in my AG on Saturday…after i crossed the Finish Line of today’s race?  i was tickling the top 5 of the Omnium!   as of this report?  they had not counted my  Time Trial into the Omnium so…oh well..i don’t care…i do…i mean, i paid a lot of $ for two things;  clear race courses and effective timing.  oh well.

in my Spiritual Heart?  i KNEW i put together 3 days of elite racing against hundreds of cycling-specific athletes on much lighter bikes and who bike-train all winter…so, coming into these Three Days of Pain with only 10 bike rides since September?

yeah…my inner heart is smiling big….

oh, and yeah…

my legs and lungs are tired.

head bowed,
wholistic spirit vowed…

your feeble teacher of nothing