Wholistic Fitness

Coach training in LA last summer, as shot by www.waynewilliamsstudio.com

Yesterday’s Stats;
� 56 miles…needed 20 more.
� finished just off the leaders (12 seconds) on first Hill Climb.
� accomplished training goal of closing down gaps, helping teammates.
� 19.3 mph average speed including my “Shiva-enforced” solo Time Trial for 33 miles on a soft front tire & one good eye.
� rode/coached Ananda for the opening mile of the ride until her 188 bpm heartrate blew her off the peleton. Ananda told me that it took her, “…six more miles before i could recover from that first mile effort, i have NO idea how the hell you guys go that fast for so long!” WF Temple Manager Ananda is being a fantastic HP Yogini, pushing her fear edge, riding with us guys in the peleton! She knows that a true Yoga ‘edge’ must be explored OFF the ‘sticky mat’! Hey, next time, it might be a mile and one quarter before she pops, then, a mile and a half, then…see Yogi’s, that is the way of Learning. Just keep a’goin, just keep a’goin. I am very proud of you, A!

Next weekend i am registered to do my first bike race for my new team, RED ROCK RACERS
www.redrockracing.org

you can check out the course here:
http://www.summitcenterclassic.com/

As you can see, it ain’t just a one day thing where i can jump onto the saddle, crank the pedals for a few hours, have a good dig at the guys and then belly up to some picnic table and have a brewski with da boyz afterward and tell stories about when we were all Cat II’s. Nope. This baby is a 3-Day, 4 Event Stage Race with lots of high intensity miles to be covered and several big teams wanting to chomp the asses off of each other. All of this testosterone-induced leg pumping will occur at altitudes above 7,000′. Hey, if you’re gonna jump into a new season of racin….why not really JUMP!?

The Thing Is:
Well, things just ain’t working out quite like i had it chalked out in my official, “Steve Ilg’s 2006 Spring Bike Racing Training Plan.”

The Facts Is:
i’ve only been on my road bike (Sudhamani) a handful of times so far this spring. Hey, the ‘Mini-skiing’ up in the Inner Basin is still just toooooo good! What can i say? Last weekend, i got in two quality back to back days. Finally. On Day One’s training race i front flatted at mile 42. Then, i lost a contact lens at mile 58. By the time i staggered up the little hill to the Temple H(om)e, i felt like “The Rock” had back-kicked my front teeth out, punched me in the nuts, and then flying body slammed me and had his Bolt-On Breasted Babe cram melted Milk Duds in my ears and up my nostrils. In bicycle racing vernacular, i was feeling FIT, baby!

On yesterday’s (Sufferday, er, i mean, Saturday) training race, i was going great guns. Chasing down breaks like Paulo “The Cricket” Bettini, and recovering from hue-MONGO-efforts in the peleton like Miguel ‘Big Mig’ Indurain…until…setting up for the Halfway Sprint, the guy whose wheel i knew would be a great launchpad for my own sprint, went right through a bunch of dirt and rocks in the road and shurnuff…the dreaded sound of psssssssssssssssssssss issued flamboyantly from my front tire. i put my hand up in the air like the pros do and noodled flaccidly over toward the shoulder of the road so that the wheeling charge of the Light Brigade around me would not stampede me and my dilapidated tire.

Now for the Unsponsored Difference:
when Pro Roadies put their arm up signaling a flat tire, their cool, styled out Team Support Car rolls up as if out of thin air in a couple of seconds, and some handsome grey haired chap whips out a replacement wheel (not tire) and off goes Mr. Pro, drafting off the follow cars to rejoin his comrades. no big deal. happens all the time at the Pro level.

At my lame ass level of bike racing, when I elegantly raise my hand up into the air to signal to everyone that i have a flat…only the elk quizzically look at me as if to say,
“Dude…bummer.”

So, it was another long, windy solo Time Trial effort back H(om)e. It’s a long Journey. Oh, and yup…seriously, with ten miles to go? Popped out my right contact lens. Note To Self: when riding into the wind in TT position, blink repeatedly so your eyeball moisture does not dehydrate.

Well, i am choosing to put a positive spin on my spring ‘training’…Hey, with any luck, i have attained my quota of flats and lost eyeballs and next weekend will go without mishap.

As if.

What we need most in this dark Journey of knowing Thyself through Sweat and Solo time, is an unfaltering trust in the Great Spirit. As well as the Inner Bravery to risk everything for our own Inner Ascent. More often than not, the Journey seems to be a foolish gamble. Yet, as one of my childhood mountaineering idols once said, “It is the uncertainty of the final outcome which truly makes an adventure.” If you crave certainty and safety, it is best NEVER to toe a Start Line. Of anything.

Those of us blessed enough to realize the spiritual vitality of toeing all sorts of Start Lines, realize quickly that we may well make many, many mistakes. Indeed, if you are like me you will make many, many, many, MANY mistakes. Go(o)d News is; these are only SEEMING mistakes. Truth is; We can never make any mistakes. Not one. Mistakes are just that; you miss a take…just like an actor. Miss one take? No Big Deal. Relax. Let’s shoot it again. Roll camera…ACTION! It’s just that if we make mistakes, we just have to reLive the experience, in this lifetime or another until we get the Spiritual Lesson beyond the apparent mistake.

Along the long Journey, we are quite capable of deceiving ourself. Humor, humbleness,and surrender to a Higher Source (see yesterday’s DL) will be vital. The guidance of a wise Teacher will neutralize the effect of our own ignorance. Yet, even Teachers may not always be right. What ultimately matters in the Wholistic Fitness� Warrior’s life is not to be always right (cuz we only know relative Truth – samvritti satya as i wrote in DL a few days back, so we can’t possibly know for certain what is right), but to be elegantly faithful to difficulty…and to love.

AllWays Love.

Never give up on Love…even if it means extracting Dharma from training gone awry, a bunch of flat tires, and lost contact lenses.

If i can do it,
i KNOW you can!

love and Lightness (and a bit of Blind Faith!) along the Higher Way…see you on the cobbles!

namaste,

coach ilg