Worlds SLOWEST MTB Ride? Yesterday's Pilgrimage...

enjoy....4 minutes of WF Chi...

World's SLOWEST MTB Ride?

get out and do,
dwell within and be...

your high mountain yogi

Postcards from Durango; Telegraph Hill

click to enlarge the Chi Hit...taken from my cheap ass camera phone today...

A fork in the road (5)
The steep, direct Path beckons (7)
Upward and inward (5)

WF Master Student L'gate
NYC

***

what other ever-fresh Student Dharma resides in the amazing WF SanghaLounge?
you won't know how much inspiration and knowledge you are missing
until you keep true to the WF SanghaLounge
and CONTRIBUTE YOUR TRUTH!


***

First another benefit of living the WF Life: chillin' beside my hood bro's; Justin and Dave last night beside Dave's new old sailboat (that's another story...not many sailboats in Durango)...after about 45 minutes of attempting to name Dave's sailboat* listening to Mother Animas rush by as the Dog Star and others began to peck their star-tling punctuations into Father Sky and watching Great Blue Herons soar downriver to bed, our ages came up in conversation. When Justin learned i would turn 48 this month, his jaw dropped, "Jesus, i figgered you were like 33!" WF, baby. The Path works, if you work the Path.

my MTB, "Miles" waits for me during a pee-pee break** beside one of the signature old Telegraph poles for which this ride is named. the Sacred Peak of Dibé Nitsaa lies within view of this shot of my beloved La Plata mountains. thankfully, my urination urge proved beneficial, for ilg was able to clean the anaerobic alley of a 21%, knee-crunching headwall which rears her menacing head(wall) right after this shot. it took about 30 minutes of pedaling from my house to reach this particular spot. The entire 20-mile route is crazy fun, beautiful, and features an outstanding serpentine descent through Anasazi fields of sandstone boulders, gamble oak, pinon, and alpine lupine. oh, and uh...there is about a couple thousand feet of climbing.

want more info?

check out the DURANGO VIBE Cave in the WF SanghaLounge coming soon on our new website! Members only...sorry...however, if you ain't willing to cough up a few pennies per month to help support the stalwart Mission of WF? you deserve to get lost...both on Telegraph Hill and in the Bardo!

coming soon; my new website;
Tribal Members will receive all sorts of rad, wholistic things to help all of us Higher...such as an entire WF-TV lounge filled with streaming videos of every conceivable aspect of Wholistic Fitness®, with naked ilg bouldering included! (CG, hey, you set the bar!)

Blessings be upon thy inner world
and
outer workouts...

el coache


* my suggestion which made it to Dave's short list was, "Ophir Broke" (pun on "Go For Broke"...see, Dave used to live in the nearby yet exceedingly remote (population 113) high mountain hamlet of Ophir

** hey, i am the father of a 2 year-young)

Snow-Intoxicated Duathlon; A Patki Das Birthday Pilgrimage

click on pics to enlargen and enliven your DL Chi Hit!

"While unperishing love melted my bones,
I cried,
I shouted again and again,
louder than the waves of the billowing sea,
I became confused,
I fell,
I rolled,
I wailed,
Bewildered like a madman,
Intoxicated like a crazy drunk,
so that people were puzzled
and those who heard wondered."

- Manikka-vacakar's 9th century love songs to Shiva
Manikkavacakar means; "He whose utterances are rubies"

Why is this WF Devotee smiling so stupidly?
Because it's his BIRTHDAY, and he always does something "stupid" on his birthday!
And if you REALLY want something stupid, then enlist the Crazy Wisdom of coach ilg for your Birthday stupidity!

Come on, Oh Mighty Limb'd Warrior of Modern MultiDisciplined Yoga...
come along with me as i share with you some Birthday Fun for Most Noble WF Warrior, Ben "Patki Das" Sullivan this past Sunday...

as Patki says, "Stupid is, as stupid does!"

***

DO NOT MISS THIS CLASSIC ILGONIAN ADVENTURE!!!!!
50 miles, 6,000', and absolutely STUPID photos of MINI-SKIING on the Sacred Snows, far, far above the world of worried men!



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ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY: EkaGraha And The Mountain Bike Guru

HP Yogi Patki Dass practicing HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA...mountain bike style!

Namaste Noble Sangha,

COACH's CAVEAT:
this entire DL portrays Mountain Yogi endeavors that should NOT be attempted by your normal 45-year old Expecting Father. in other words, do NOT try this stuff at home...unless, of course, you are into a WHOLE LOT OF "FOCUSED FUN" in the WHOLISTIC FITNESS definition of the words!

EkaGraha (sometimes spelled a number ways, like; EkaGrata) is a yogic term meaning; one-pointedness. this focused attention is the very essence of yogic concentration and must be developed before success on the Spiritual Journey is realized. long ago, i found that the high-risk outdoor sports concentrated my mind, preventing attachment to random thoughts and splayed senses. the reason for the endless fluttering about of our untrained mind is known as...

BE SURE NOT TO MISS THIS EXCITING, PHOTO-PACKED TEACHING FROM "THE WORLD'S FITTEST HUMAN"...coach ilg as he imparts a CLASSIC EAST/WEST DHARMATEACHING USING ELITE MOUNTAIN BIKING AS THE VEHICLE!!!

It's Just The Way We Roll In This Temple, Baby!!!

"So don't be in a hurry and try to push or rush your Practice. Do your meditation gently and gradually step by step. In regard to peacefulness, if you become peaceful, then accept it; if you don't become peaceful, then accept that also. That's the nature of the mind. We must find our own Practice and persistently keep at it."
- Ajahn Chah

"The mind is Buddha!" - Hui-Neng

Hey, it's just the Way (Tao) we roll here beneath the Sacred Peak...Mountain Biking as a Spiritual Path; what's not to love? The Way to Heaven is unpaved, inDeed, i am pretty sure it's gonna be a Secret Mountain Biking Trail that will Test our fitness, Scare the BeJesus outta us, Lift Us, and Make Us (en)Light(ened)!

i took these shots the day before yesterday up on one of the "Secret Trails" beneath the Sacred Peak. Gary, my Teammate on Red Rock Racing, floated this gnarly, high-consequence section like he was a Kachina Spirit. maybe he is. me? i ain't no Kachina Spirit. i walked this section. glady. note the Aspen trees at least 40' higher then him; this is a BIG drop in without an escape route. note also the broken tree like a dagger on Gary's left, just waiting to skewer a less skilled rider than he. this is Yoga. this is Meditation; absorbed in the object of your concentration. you know, i've sat with the 'best' Meditation Teachers in the nation. i don't trust anybody's Meditation skills until there are high risk consequences to you losing your focus. to me, a Mountain Bike saddle is a most precious and greatly underestimated Zafu Cushion. enjoy the following Teaching and pics...i had a ton of focused fun and a little spilt blood bringin' em to your Practice....

***

Living in Flag without a mountain bike is like, well i dunno, a little like a Valley Girl without a cell phone or something. it just would not make sense.

i've long used mountain biking as a spiritual metaphor for inherent to mastering mountain bike fitness brings along with it the required tools for success in the Spiritual Journey; there MUST be ceaseless attention flow yet a commitment to dropping into the emptiness of ...




DUDE,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS FAR AGAIN WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING?
YOU'RE GETTING GAPPED FROM YOUR HIGHEST FITNESS BOTH IN BODY AND SPIRIT!
SINCE 1982 I'VE BEEN BRINGING YOU THE DHARMA SWEAT SOAKED AND PREGNANT WITH THE FORCE
OF MY WORLDWIDE WARRIOR OF WF...WHAT, YOU THINK THERE IS TIME TO WAIT?

I AIN'T GONNA BE TEACHING FOREVER: JOIN DL AS A SUBSCRIBER AND GET YOUR BUTT INTO OUR
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SEE YOU INSIDE...

- COACH ILG

The Zen of Up; The SeeQuell - 3 Endurance Secrets Shared

"(E)arnestly practice every good work."- Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King, 1981

above photo; apres yoga...mountain yogi style! exhausted and intensely, sacredly happy. more seeds of impurity burned in the furnace of self-driven sweat of another 5 hour, 54-mile, 6,800' mountain bike effort. this photo shows precisely why i am never impressed by fancy postures done by 'studio yogis'...let them follow me in my Yoga Studio of the High Endurance Studio and afterward, see how limber their acidic, pumped muscles and joints are the next day! Most yoga 'teachers' never push themselves in the other physiologic disciplines because doing so would cause them to Begin Again in their postures due to "sore" muscles and fatigued, dehydrated cells. the Wholistic Fitness Yogi, however, cherishes any opportunity to embrace union (yoga) in ALL disciplines and walks of life! .

the reward of a thing well done, said Emerson, is to have done it. last Sunday, Ananda took this photo of me, collasped on my front door after increasing my average speed by 4/10ths a mile on the "Around The Peaks" which i wrote about in DL last week. i returned one week later to re-ride this course. why? because i needed to do it alone. i needed to ride this enormous workout in the sweetness of solitude. i needed to see what quelled within me and address this Hidden Language of breath and nonstop intensity of movement. where my mind went, where my ego wanted to go, and how adept was my yoga through it all. in the 5 hours of the often times acrid painful purification, i once again validated by Direct Experience, 3 of my most potent Endurance Performance Secrets which i will impart to you in this DL; for DL Subscribers only!


***
people ask me how i mine so much spiritual teaching from simply working out.

for one thing; i don't do iPods.

and i maximize solo training.

then, i apply the WF Biblical Teaching; "Just Listen."

According to the Sutra of Hui Neng, "if you turn your light inwardly, you will find what is esoteric within you." People want Sacredness and mystical profundity to dance and leap within their lives, yet the gap between wanting to...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO DL;
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Scout

"In WF, every day is Earth Day."
- coach ilg


I heard him the day before yesterday while working in the Temple Office.
then again yesterday up at about 8,500' in Dry Lake Hills on Sunset Trail on Gunther.
haven't seen him yet. just heard him.
and it was the sound promised warmth, long days, and dancing aspen leaves riding the waves of mountain wind...

perhaps i am preaching to the already-converted, those of us whose ears never tire of hearing the pontifications of a high country spring. clicking the gears jauntily on my mountain bike and sliding through freeze/thaw mud, i realize again how very deeply i care for the mountain life. as my wheels carry me in carrousel singletrack turns through ponderosa lined creeks, i am giddy with inner wealth. in DL after DL i attempt to share my desire for the Consciously Live and Adored Fitness Life and i know wherefrom my intense desire to share comes from; here. these trails. this sky. those swirling fingers of clouds wrapped like white linens about the - my - Sacred Peak.

i mention the coming of Humingbirds to my teammate; Rob, an ornithologist at NAU...

DON'T MISS THIS SPECIAL DL...it's one of those 'special ones' from coach that just hit the heart of sincerity so potently...it reminds us of what Fitness truly means; appreciation, awareness, and simplicity...

FIRST BLOOD; Starring coach as i flail on my first mountain bike ride of the season...

Tis the season of mountain biking...fa la la la la la la...
don we now our gay apparel, fa la la la la la la la la...
time for hydrogen peroxide and antiseptic, fa la la la la la la...

photo taken just moments ago of my left leg and forearm.

it is SUCH A JOKE that i hold an Expert Mountain Biking Racing License.
i swear there needs to be a WF Category in all sports.
i mean really, i have not pedalled "Gunther" since October!
today i went out for an 'easy' hour MTB spin across the street.
'easy' in Flag means choosing a trail like 'Dog Food' which i did,
yet still requires a 3.5-mile, 800' climb.
not only am i one month behind in my cycling training (and counting) thanks to
my fried lungs after winning that crazy Telluride nordic race,
i am also now the not so proud owner of mountain bike handling
skills the caliber of Beginner Womens level.

least i am not alone in my horribly ugly downtrodden kinesthesia on the mountain bike. everybody seemed to be crashing today. i saw two bro's bite it on the ultra-classic trail; Schultz Creek which has seen the sweat and blood of such noble WF Warriors like Shelli Stein, Hakado Ru, Good Looking Alex, Todd Bishop, and many others. Today the trail was like the dirt equivalent to Belgium's Ghent-Wevelgem road race, people were crashing all over the place. early season jitters perhaps.

including your homey here. i biffed it good going up Dog Food. i was about halfway up the trail and clearing several fallen trees along the way. see, in Flag when a tree falls across a mountain bike trail, it's not cut up and removed. no sirree. what we do is pile up some rocks or limbs or both on either side of the fallen Tree Being and well, we ride over it.

sometimes.

by last fall, i was getting DIALED into rolling over these fallen trees, some as high as your living room couch. after all these trees ain't like pussy ass trees...these here are the Giants of the Mountains; the Ponderosa.

unfortunately, 'last fall' is not today.

a new tree had fallen across Dog Food and i was in my little chainring, huffing and puffing and wheezing (my lungs are still messed up) and i see this moderate sized tree with a big rock in front of it.

i can clear that shit, i said to myself.

i dunno dude, my other self said to myself, it looks gnarly and you are going uphill slow and you don't know if there are any logs or rocks on the other side of it.

yeah, but i've cleaned everything so far and i am feeling pretty good, my original talking self countered.

dude, i don't know...it's your first damn MTB ride of the season...said my other self.

i can do it, myself interupted myself, after all, how hard could it be and...i AM an EXPERT God Damnit!

and so with all the grace, power, and elegance of a Three-Toed Tree Sloth i popped my front wheel up onto the tree, and...
and...
and...
when i got on top of that tree?

myself said to myself;
Oh Shit.

there was another rock on the other side, however,
i was not on the line of that said rock.
my wheel was aiming for and now plunging into the abyss just next to the said rock.

i went down hard,
yet landed with as much yin attitude as possible and on an exhale of course...
hey, i might be a lame mountain biker however i AM a WF lame mountain biker!
knocked my noggin' (always wear a helmet while mountain biking!)
and drew some gentle blood and crammed my knee against my seat tube.

"Welcome baaaack!" sang the United Mountain Biking Trail Systems of Flagstaff into my bruised head.

Picking myselves and Gunther back up and remounting, i smiled at the tree obstacle and replied,
"It's great to be back! see you next time, buster!"

***

Flagstaff Mountain Biking Beta

next time you are in Flag and want a beginner/intermediate level ride of about an hour, you can spin on the route i did today; it's 100% singletrack and glorious. you can walk over the fallen trees if you want. this route features steady singletrack climbing, ease of escape to Schultz Pass Road, fantastic jumps on the descent, and
an upper loop that is ideal for doing interval laps.

Start: Schultz Creek Trailhead off of Hwy 180 to the Grand Canyon - everybody in the world knows where this is...it's in just about every issue of Mountain Bike Magazine. it's right across the street from the WF Temple H(om)e)

* crank up Schultzy through the notorious 'streambed section' and then..

SORRY, ONLY DL SUBSCRIBERS GET THIS SECRET FLAG MTB BETA!! hell, if i told all you thousands of InDIRECT LINERS this secret beta? i'd be hanged by my gear shifting thumbs if the locals find out! this route is NOT on any guidebook

JOIN DL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!