RACE REPORT: IRON HORSE - DAY ONE

click on pics to enlarge

"You must open your eyes to the definite second,
You must be the moment
In all your ferocity and faith,

For that miraculous second will never come
Back ever again.

Be aware, be aware: Sometimes the invitation to your new life comes
At the most least likely time."
- Mirabal

ilg on the attack during Day Two of the Iron Horse Bicycle Race held in Durango, Colorado last weekend. photo by: Barak Naggan Photography

***
DAY ONE: Durango to Silverton Road Race. 49-miles. 5,700 vertical feet of climbing. highest elevation; nearly 11,000'. twice.

"What irony," i thought to myself as my heart-rate leaped into the clouds dancing out rain as our Masters peleton slammed into Shalona hill bringing our speed from 25 mph to 8, "i'm once again racing in a world that's been dead to my limbs for years, yet here again is that undeniable aliveness pulsating in every blood cell and chi meridian; Warrior blood...Warrior Chi never dies."

Eventually, the Wholistic Fitness athlete/yogi evolves into the many different tribes of athletes that train specifically for their sports. Timing is everything for the WF athlete. my training diary showed less than 35 hours of cardio training for May 1-21; right before this 3-day race. the guys i was competing against? twice that much; i know at least one of them had already done the 5-Day Tour De Gila alongside Lance Armstrong as prep for this race. ilg was changing diapers and doing yoga....

READ THE REST OF COACH's HIGH FINISH AND SEE THE PROFESSIONAL STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHY IN TODAY's DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT...

COMING UP NEXT ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS:
DAY TWO...THE CRITTERS COME OUT TO PLAY and the field narrows considerably...as Coach's Wholistic Fitness training takes out another huge chunk from the cycling-specific athletes!

Old School Spinal Mobility and Supple Strength

on today's DL Subscription format;
where multi-disciplined warriors earn, learn, and yearn...
since 1982

"It's like all my doubts have been cleared in one go."

some hours go by in what feels like 10 or 15 minutes.
other ones, linger.
what's a yogi to do save for cultivating Santosha* from each?

some clouds race over the Sacred Peak as if sprinting each other for the
arid dry skies over Hopi land...rushing to their death.
other ones, linger. whirls of white grease in the blue, blue sky.
ilg likes to savor both and smile.

the birds too, have their rhythms.
some, like Brother Hawk, try to pry the sky apart with long, strong wingbeats.
other ones, like Hummingbird, dance upon waves of air with incredible finesse and play.

tis a Great Blessing to notice and feel the tempo of nature
within one's feathers
and teach it to those
whose hurried, troubled hearts
know not that all the comings and goings
leave us nowhere
but where we breathe.

and
then,
ilg gets this {below, fan mail} in my Inbox...
how Blessed is it
to know
you've helped someone
in a far away land
yet still a Tribal Sibling?

May your own Practice contain
Santosha, Natural Rhythm, and the Grace of Lila...the Divine Dance...

head bowed,
heart open,
hands folded at heart,

your loving coach

* Santosha; 'contentment' one of the ten yogic lifestyle principles.

Dear and Respected Coach Ilg,

My name is Abhinav Gupta. I live near Delhi, India.
I found your book "Total Body Transformation" in a book-shop close to
work. It's like all my doubts have been cleared in one go.

Being an Indian fitness enthusiast , i have always believed strongly in
the powers of yoga. But as you have rightly pointed out , i was also
looking to develop real functional strength. But i couldn't figure out
how to fit all the stuff in the same week.
Also perhaps , i was used to overdoing Yoga (a easy trap to fall in if
one follows the Iyengar style)

Your step-by-step highly structured routines have really excited me.
I really am looking forward to starting the Green Tara practise this
week.

This mail is a thank-you note for the detailed efforts you have put in
your book. I am really thankful.

Also, i am sure you know , you being well versed with indian culture by
now,
that in India a guru is treated with the highest regard , on par with
parents.
So , i seek your blessing in my efforts to become a WF Warrior.

Sincerely,
Abhinav

***
photo 1; ilg, WF Temple H(om)e, evening Brahmamurhurti. photo by Connie Ilg
photo 2; TBT..."the MahaBarata for modern, multi-disciplined yogis"

ilg's 47th...many, many beautiful Moons have passed...

Okay stop it everybody! My Facebook page is full!!! Have you already forgotten what i've taught you about yogis and chronological birthdays?!!

Seriously; thank you SOOOO much for all the Birthday Wishes! Ilg could not have had a Happier 47th...finishing 4th Place at Iron Horse in front of my new family and long-time friends!

THANK YOU!!!!

photo; post-crit with Dewachen, downtown Durango, Colorado. photo by Ananda.

WHOLENESS VS. SPECIFICITY: coach cranks a 4th Place Overall For Wholistic Fitness at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic!

click on pics to enlarge the chi hit...





GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO HAVE THE LEAD MOTORCYCLE ON YOUR REAR WHEEL AS YOU LAUNCH OFF THE FRONT!!!!
oh...ilg will take you DL Subscribers DIRECTLY into what it feels like to pounce off the front of a ferocious starting pack of 175 rabidly bike-specific, hunched back cyclists whose pencil-thin arms can't even hold up their arm warmers let alone sustain a feasibly acceptable Downward Facing Dog into a true Chaturunga and...

...beat 99% of them at their own Game with only 2 months of specific training while bringing the Wholeness of Compassion...

...family fatigue and love...

...and a New Daddy bringing his first and only daughter back to his h(om)eland of Durango, Colorado to finish 4th place in one of America's most brutal tests of aerobic and anaerobic and high-altitude challenges...

...while other racers and coaches rely upon PowerMeters and all sorts of fancy smanchy high tech equipment and chemicals...your one and only ilg humbly and traditionally relies upon the Ancient powers of Mala, Mantra, and Mula Bandha to nearly top the podium against what is perhaps the worlds most competitive endurance sports using Wholistic Fitness®, whole-food herbs, and MAP Amino Acids backed by a WHOLE TON OF HELP from YOU...my Noble DL Subscribers and WF Students the world over...

...you're gonna LOVE what ilg has to report from my h(om)eland...

including sensational photography from Bruce Naggan, Connie Ilg, and Ananda...


...buckle up...

...and chalk yet another VICTORY up for WHOLENESSS VS. SPECIFICITY!!!!!!


ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS...
so,
quit lazin' around the Tribal CampFire
and SUBSCRIBE TODAY
cuz,
if you want to use your Warrior Ways toward Enlightenment
through steadfast sweat and spirit...
you're gettin' gapped...
bad...
and
that's
really
sad...
as
we
finders of Wholeness,
keep kickin' ass
getting younger,
not older,
getting leaner,
not meaner,
getting wiser,
not spiritually more miser...

come, join your Tribe of Wholeness..
we've been waiting for your few pennies per month
since 1982...

do it
or
lose It...


love,
coach ilg

The Reflection Principle

Sometimes when we see too much truth about ourselves suddenly mirrored in front of us by the teacher or the teachings, it is simply too difficult to face, too terrifying to recognize, too painful to accept as the reality about ourselves. We deny and reject it, in an absurd and desperate attempt to defend ourselves fromourselves,from the truth of who we really are. And when there are things too powerful or too difficult to accept about ourselves, we project them onto the world around us, usually onto those who help us and love us the most—our teacher, the teachings, our parent, or our closest friend.
- Sogyal Rinpoche

Each month i have students quit.

Oh the rationalizations come easy as their feet pad away from the Humble Temple Doors
- the same ones which they nearly pounded down with enthusiasm for spiritually-potent fitness training just a short while earlier.

As i bow to these Awakening Ones,
i know in my heart that the WF path has transformed who they once thought they were,
how they worked out,
and
most of all;
how they work within.

What can a Teacher do
besides listen
to their footfalls...
ilg gives so much
tries so hard...
yet,
it is the fatigue of waving go(o)d-bye
which hurts more than the economic woes
of trying to do what ilg does
in this Kali Yuga...


the student and teacher,
the devotee and her path,
the river and the ocean,
devotion and knowledge,
actions and thoughts...
all are interrelated.

just as the student must surrender to the silence of the Teacher,
so too,
must the Teacher surrender everything to his students.
everything.

until the "I-ness" dissolves,
there is much work to do.
barbells to be lifted,
miles to sweat,
poses to absorbed into the breath,
aching backs and legs in meditation overcome,
food intake to be mastered,
purity of loving speech and Appropriate Action to attain...

Samadhi is not a matter for hurry.

yet most who come to me for study of wholeness
want things fast.

too fast for transformation to be genuine.

so,
here ilg sits,
sighing.

no time for self-pity;
no time to wonder what it will take to
attain a Higher Level of Teaching for
Students so they don't Take Leave so easily...

here is what it is time for ilg to do:
go Teach another killer beautiful PROP WORKOUT
with my local HP Yoga sangha,
then, clamber into Bala with my clan
and off to the bike races in Durango...
the first time as a family warrior...
funny,
ilg feels more
like a
wearior...than a warrior.

likes and dislikes
exist in my state of awareness,
yet
they have no lasting effect
or
so
ilg
prays.


i'll do my best to update during the weekend,
however,
ilg is a rookie at this Family Warrior stuff,
and since it's taking three times as longer to
do everything to prepare to leave,
i might not be able to update DL until Tuesday.

so,
most Precious and Treasured Warriors of Wholeness,
please know without your support,
the WF Path will become but a ripple dissolving
instead of expanding...

i have an opening for a new Online Student in June.
please apply here;

WF Training Application

no Initiation Fee if you state on the Application
you read about this Opening here...


until we meet again:

"Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid."
- John*



Dare yourself to be brave in your workouts and your work-withins
this weekend...your humble will certainly be doing his best
to be at least a passable example of a yogi for thee...

Om Mani Padme Hung,

your feeble teacher



* (perhaps the most advanced and devoted of Yogi Jesus's students)

Spiritual and Cellular Nutrition Is Top Priority

As i start packing my back and bikes for the IRON HORSE BICYCLE RACE this weekend, you better believe the first
bag i pack is the one with my Secret Herbs and MAP
Amino Acids. Why? Priorities, that's why!
if you are not in my SUNRIDER Herb Downline, than you have just been emailed a missive that details which SUNRIDER Herb i used to lose fat at 7% bodyfat to start without losing muscle strength and endurance for racing events like Iron Horse...c'mon, get on the Secret Herbs of Wholistic Fitness® today and get feeling world class!
above photo by www.WayneWilliams.com

***

The nature of the Outer World speaks often through spiritual
ignorance caused by timidity of intensity within self-cultivation.

Many people will just say whatever comes into their chaotic
minds and produce cheap products and services as their desire for fulfillment of high ambition rises again and again in the form of discontent.

The well-taught yogi, whose Practice is steady, whose body is
fed wholesome, powerful, and pure foods tends to talk less which
increases one's power. High ambition is grounded by realization
of what truly matters; inner peace and contentment with what Is.

There is no action in the Outer World which is not criticized.

Wholeness, therefore, pivots upon an individuals training. And that
training, most noble warrior, always and endlessly begins with
what we feed our cells; the quality of our physical and spiritual
nutrition dictates the rising subtleness of our mind.

Much work needs to be done.

Yet, few come forward.

Fewer still, follow through.