Wholistic Fitness

AUTHOR PRE ENTRY NOTE: Oh, before i begin.
Regarding yesterday’s entry.
Some of you alert Warriros wrote in that i was writing about a Friday Night on the town on a, well, a Thursday.
hmmmmmm.
either i had forgotten what day it was, or you had.
now, let’s say that i am the guy who has a lifestyle which offers me the daily opportunity to forget what the hell day it is.
that would leave only two options;
1) i’m insane living in a ‘normal’ world that revolves upon a Gregorian Calendar to chop up the Miracle of Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon dancing into ‘days’ and ‘weeks’ and ‘years’…
or
2) YOU are insanely addicted to the purely synthetic, unnatural conditioning of labeling days.

om so it,
the mountain yogi

climbing above the marine mist on the infamously, nauseating steepbacks of the one and only Tuna Canyon, which guards like a ferocious attack dog the entry into Malibu. many LA cyclists who live here for years have never ventured up her 21% slopes more than once. when i lived here, Tuna was my weekly pilgrimmage. on this trip, she was my prize pilgrimmage and the first of several tough ComeBack Rides during my stay.

one of my peripheral Missions during my visit to LA besides Serving was to attempt to grab some desperately needed miles and hours on my road bike. since gifting myself Cold-Triggered Exercise Induced Asthma after winning the Topaten Nordic Race in Telluride, i’ve pretty much dug a 2-month hole for myself for my cycle racing this summer. i am waaaay off the back in terms of my cycling fitness and i felt that if i could just spend a week at sea level and in humidity, i might be able to rack up some saddle time that is absolutey vital if i am going to do any racing this summer. desperate times call for desperate measures. i outlined an aggressive cycling plan for my week. brutal, actually. i knew i had to put myself time and again into the Bonk Zone and God Zone if i was to recapture any muscle/nerve/nadic fitness from my body and mind before returning to the high altitude of the Sacred Peak.

so, i did whatever any WF Warrior would do in my situation; i threw myself into the “Beyond Category” intensity of the Santa Monica and San Gabriel canyons and climbs near LA. those of you DL Readers familiar with the road riding around LA might cringe and feel your toes curl as you read my Cycling Comeback Sparkplug Plan below, so buckle up!

Ride #1; The Tuna Salad Sandwich
48 miles. 3 hours. Average Speed: 14.4 mph.

* From the valley: Up Topanga to Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Hang a right and tool up the coast for a short bit.
* Left up and onto the feature climb; Tuna Canyon-7 mile ascent w/21% headwalls
* Descend Scheuren to PCH; head south past burning cars (really!) and leaping dolphins (really!)
* Turn left back up Topanga and up Old Topanga and drop back into the Valley.

read it, weep, and be thankful you ain’t tipping over. dat’s right; my speedometer up Tuna Canyon advertising the grim fact that for all my effort and i am only going 4.8mph.

RIDE#2; Magic Mountain (aka; Santa Clara Divide)
63.8 miles. 4.50 hours. 15.3 mph average. 5,325′ of climbing.

* From the valley: Noodle thy way up and through the maze of Van Nuys, Plummer, Woodman Blvd’s and finally settle into a spin south on the opposite side of the Valley on Foothill Blvd. Yup, those are the San Gabriels staring down upon you.
* Left onto Little Tujunga and begin climbing. get used to it.
* with 40+ miles in your legs and 3,200′, the fun begins; just after you crest the ‘summit divide’ of Bear Pass, descend about 100 meters; look right into this utterly sketched out, horrible looking pave that slices up and across the rising ridgeline of Magic Mountain. looking up and up; find some Towers that look impossibly still faraway. set your Heart and Pedal Cadence wisely; get to those towers.
* after attaining the Towers post an incredble Pyreenee style ascent up a road that makes the cobbles of Paris-Roubaiux look inviting, descend VERY CAREFULLY (i flatted twice by going too aggressively) back to Bear Divide.
* desend the screaming fast and fun Placerita Canyon. turn left on Sierra and noodle your noodly legs back to Balboa Blvd and home.

beginning the final 7 mile ascent toward the Towers…


…towers looking impossibly still far away after 2.5 hours in the saddle…

…”that which is impossible just takes a little longer to achieve.” i bonked about 2 miles before this shot. my speed went from 6-7 miles per hour to 4-5 in the flicker of one molecular shift of muscle glycogen. hey…how ’bout that road surface?! yeah baby! not many cyclists come up here these days. my ol’ Durango bro and multi world champion cyclist Johnny T (John Tomac) used to train on this road when he lived in SoCal. hallowed Temple Grounds, these. do not miss attending this Church next time you are in LA.

RIDE #3;
Simi Valley Short Loop
60.4 miles.
3 hours, 28 minutes.
17.6 mph.
3,200′ of climbing.

this is one of the versions Winter Off Season Training Rides which take off each Saturday from Simi Valley. the pro team; Amgen now leads the often 200+ peleton which is an experience not to be missed. sorry, no photos. we started this ride with three of us; Steve Marlowe of TBT fame, Big Dave – a former MTB pro from back in the day, and myself. after 20 miles, Marlowe thought he would puke so turned around. for the next 40 miles, i slobbered all over Big Dave’s rear wheel as he transformed into a MONSTER during this ride. it was historic; Big Dave a professional high Power Line Transmission worker, had worked like a dog over the witner to drop 40 lbs of fat from himself. well, today, was the Shift and i was honored to be there. he had dropped the fat, and today was the day when the neurochemical gateway re-opened. it was ALL i could to hang onto his wheel and motor along behind him. it was just what i needed; several hours of high cadence, high speed training with a dear ol’ bro who was living a Chakra Experience today.

yeah baby!

next up; the CSUN Training Ride on Sunday. Race Pace.

today however?

a yoga class in Venice and a hang on the beach…

love and beach sand between thy toes…

om so ti,

your coach who still does