Black White and Blue Perfect

There are times when I refer to the energy measurements known to man like amperage, horsepower, candle power, watts and BTU’s. All of them come to mind when I watch the dynamic Blue Sapphire take over mission control in #41.  She (to coin a colloquial phrase) had it all going on this morning.  Carolyn has very distinctive features and facets of her personality in spin.  She has of course those blue gemstone eyes that flash a warning we are headed for either a challenging speed interval or a heavy mountain climb. Then there are those baton like arms of hers that direct our movement in and out of the saddle and expand our effort when the resistance wheel is calling us for a turn to the right. And then there is that lilting voice of hers, that could give buoyancy to a sunken ship. Today however, she added something more. It was her generous helpings of that trademark comet white smile, which made the Herculean effort we need for hill climbs conquerable. 

I have been on quite a few spin excursions with the Blue Sapphire, but today was 20 out of 10. I had fun, I smiled more than I ever do and I felt as if all of us were feeding off the collective energy we seemed to be generating from the choreography of this extremely talented female. We of “Hello Sunday” had a BLAST today, an all out blast and I want to thank Carolyn’s cardio class in the hour before that saved some of that Blue Sapphire candle power for us in the CS.  

Thank you Carolyn and Sundays will never be the same unless  you are teaching our class. 

The Blue Bullet

She was dressed in black but she was the blue bullet this Sunday morning. Have you ever been shot? Probably not, but this bullet doesn’t wound but still hits the heart.  Carolyn is always a special treat and the week is not complete unless I can catch at least one dose of the blue gemstone. 

The Blue Sapphire takes her work serious but she never takes herself too seriously. When there was a technical snafu with her music, she delightfully provided the bridge of silence with her own rendition of the song. She did it so spontaneously and it reminded me that we are here to work out but also to have fun. I always do on Thursday nights or Sunday morning. 

Carolyn uses a segment of each class to concentrate on the core when she says: “Don’t Bounce.” This takes effort and my legs start to burn when the upper half of my body is frozen out of the action. A great exercise within the exercise of spin class. I also have a love hate relationship with the “up to saddle” intervals as it takes me out of my comfort zone having to make the extra movement on top of the pedal stroke.  Her music is exquisite too. She never stays with one genre either, like the bubble gum top ten of the day and we never hear the same songs over and over. 

Carolyn will switch with Damian this week  as he will take her Thursday and she his Tuesday both at 6 PM.

Not All Lambs Go to Heaven

It’s Sunday and where else would you find me but spinning with The Blue Sapphire in her 1015 slot. Pound for pound the biggest little powerhouse this side of the Mississippi.  Or west for that matter, why discriminate geographically. 

Three of my most recognizable spinettes from KSC were here; Debbie H., Nancy K. and Green eyed Stacy. Stacy said my goatee looked good and that made this old man feel good. Nancy just back from her world tour, has been accusing me of flirting and I guess I would have to agree, since I am not dead just yet. We were also graced with Peter R. our club manager this morning and I couldn’t see from my vantage point how he fared but no doubt he was challenged and he got a firsthand dose of one of the clubs elite group exercise instructors. 

  My engineer friend to my right had her own take on the proceedings this last Sunday of the summer. She said that Carolyn had a drill sergeant air about her today. However you want to describe The Blue Sapphire, she always does what she does with a smile and her trademark blinking blue headlights. Carolyn connects with us emotionally and that is part of her appeal. Too many times I have seen some technically proficient instructors lacking this essential element even though their ride never disappoints. They all have charisma and I love how Kristen and Carolyn turn up the volume just right.  

What I have most recently found challenging are the intervals of seated to position #3. This move takes a bit of choreography and today was emblematic of The Blue Sapphire because she had it timed like a disc jockey. These breakaways are particularly challenging and get me quickly to the anaerobic zone. Ostensibly I used to think that this was just an exercise to break the rhythm of the road but now I know that there is a purpose to it. The other challenge, outside our intense hill climbs are when we hold our upper bodies still and just use our legs for the pedal stroke. This takes extreme concentration and strength.  

Thanks Carolyn for a great summer and fortunately for us we can pick up where we left off next Sunday.