Wholistic Fitness

pic by ilg this morning just southeast of the historic hamlet of Mayday, Colorado…

perhaps the #1 reason why YOU should move to Durango and be a member of the Durango Wheel Club…
cuz, if you did?
you’d be riding Here Now with us…like this morning…beside such Legends and Champions as Ned Overend, Marissa Asplund (a fellow MAP Amino Acid columnist), Rebecca Balboni, and a whole pantheon of other amazing cycling Soul Forces…including over a half dozen HP Yogi’s pedaling beside you!

however, first things first…let’s start at the beginning of today, shall we?…

It’s vital to begin each Glorious Day by re-Membering who you are…

which, ironically, is nobody going nowhere.

we’re really, essentially, such Breath-filled Beams Of Divine Light…which is precisely why each of us who study, who Practice WF start each with at least the Level One version of an Early Morning Ritual...

Ilg cannot over-state just how critical it becomes – especially as you grow into your 5th decade like ilg – to practice without flaw some minutes of wholeness at the beginning of each day.  before ilg rolls up to you on the Start Line of any endurance sport,  what empowers me has been my morning ritual of asana, pranayama, and definitely my three cellular nutritional ritual intake of Sunrider Herbs, MAP Amino Acids, and Asea Sacred Water.   knowing that my wholeness efforts have already been done before i turn into a cyclist, a runner, a ski racer, a snowshoer…that has made all the difference…if people only knew how FEW hours ilg spends doing specific sports compared to the people i train with and race with?  it would usher in an entire new generation of Wholistic Fitness warriors that realize the wisdom of, “Wholeness Is All-Ways More”…

you know that feeling when you’re lubing your pony and the autumnal crispness just splashes within your own cells you can’t help but KNOWING; “Today is gonna be a great ride…” yeah, i did say, ‘lubing your pony’…didn’t matter that ilg stayed up with the young college kids last night till past midnight partying before a bonfire…i like hangin’ with today’s kids…i like the way the way they consider me like a grizzled ol’ guru from the 80’s partying scene…in many ways, they are a LOT more responsible, far more world-weary, and less crazy then we were…which, considering i have a 4 year-old,  offers me a flicker of positive embrace for my daughters own hormonally-skewered Journey through her young adult years…buckle up ilg and ENJOY TODAY, i keep telling myself…and, i do.

i do.

the peleton gathers like lizards seeking sun in the early chill of a perfect October morning beside the heavenly Realm of BREAD… —

from L-R you can see Spencer Compton president of the Durango Wheel Club and an HP Yogi fiddling with his glasses, then the lean pro next to him is another HP Yoga devotee; Michael Carroll,  then the babe-in-black-and-blonde hair is none other than HP Yogi and WF devotee and current National Duathlon Champion, Marissa Asplund…in the foreground right is my precious ol’ Durangatang bro; Doug Eagle who audio recorded my initial versions of Stream Entry, My Workout Is Everywhere, and Fear in Fitness!

about 2,300′ of climbing on both pavé and dirt, we receive a champions chill at Rob’s place at Mayday at the mouth of La Plata Canyon…beers, wine, chips provided by Wade from Boure Cycling otherwise known as “Ned’s Threads”…

speaking of Ned,  the Lung Himself showed up today.  he didn’t start with us, but boy he sure caught up with my first chase group on the dirt uphill climb of County Road 215…i was riding breath to breath with Marissa Asplund at the time.   her and i had just separated from the peleton with a lead break of 5 in front of us…Deadly Nedly (born, remember, in 1955!)  bridged to us, then, like Santa Claus,  gave a flick of his nose and hammered uphill, on dirt, to the leaders all in the flicker of an instant…

and you wonder why i wanted to raise my daughter among these incredible legends of fitness?

it’s downright inspiring to inspire the same ether here in my h(om)etown as these folk…

that’s why

…oh, and here is another reason why…

history…nature…beauty…

this is the old Mayday Schoolhouse…a one-room schoolhouse from the late 1800’s and remained in use well through the 50’s…Rob, the owner of Bread, is the owner and it’s here where we hung out to celebrate this most precious pedal through Paradise…

of course, on the way back to Durango,  we had a beer-induced carefree ease within our guild, and of course,  things got sparky, and of course,  the high intensity effort across the high country roads burned off all the beer calories and killed the buzz yet electrified another, and always, far Higher buzz;  the buzz of self-propelled fitness among the last beautiful days of autumn..

somehow, ilg hung tough with the leaders and we dropped like an out of orbit satellite into the vortex of Durango, where, at the only intersection we actually had to unclip from our bike pedals and WAIT for like, 1 minute for the traffic to pass!

which reMinded me of this internet pic with which i shall close this Teaching and wish only the Highest of Sweats for all of you…

head bowed,

ec