2009 IHBC - RRR gets a 4th place in Masters

click pic to enlarge the chi hit...


ilg couldn't imagine a more Happy 47th Birthday than what transpired during my 3 Days Of Fully-Differentiated Pain at last weekend's 38th-annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic Omnium in my childhood h(om)e of Durango, Colorado. my own family came (first racing road trip as a New Daddy...phew!) as did my parents, sister, and my little brother's clan, each streaming in from many miles away and from various directions to cheer me on. also, hearing and seeing the support from my old friends along the 3 different courses over the 3 days reinforced the fact that Durango is still crazy over outdoor sports and the townspeople still gather, as in Europe, along the courses to cheer on the cyclists.

in the recently expanded Masters division which had a start list of 175, your feeble yoga teacher/coach managed a:

* 34th in the Road Race to Silverton (time; 2H54" including being stopped by the train on the tracks!)

* 11th in the Downtown Durango Crit (photo above by www.naggan.com

* 14th in the East Animas Time Trial (time; 41:32 from Durango to Shalona Lake)

that effort was good enough for 4th place (in the money!) and right behind my wonderful student and friend, Andrew Ferguson, with whom i stayed for part of the weekend.

i'd like to thank both John and Terry down at Cosmic for dialing in my bikes so quick and lovingly and to all my yoga and fitness students for inspiring ol' coach ilg to still get out there, toe the Start Line, throw down your best effort, and see deeper sides of yourself out there where every second counts; racing!

hope to see you in yoga soon and i'm gonna do my best to get for our club MTB ride tomorrow!

head bowed,
coach ilg

"There Is No Pain Like Mt. Taylor Top 20 Pain..."

click to enlarge

"There Is No Pain Like Mt. Taylor Top 20 Pain..." - a sacredly withered coach moments after posting a 4:47, 16th Overall Finish at Saturday's Mt.Taylor Winter Quadrathlon.

photo by Craig Ilg.




Full story and pics coming to DIRECT LINES Subscribers!

NEWSFLASH - Coach Bludgeons To Victory; Flagstaff 10k Classic Nordic Race

Flagstaff Nordic Center - Sunday, February 1, 2009

click on pics to enlarge

After 3 consecutive weekends of racing in three different winter sports, covering race distances from 10k to 42k, and canvassing 700 miles of travel, Coach cashed in on his final event before the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon by repeating as Champion in the Flagstaff 10k Nordic Ski Race held today. "It must be a day for the Arizona underdogs! What next? Wait, don't tell me," said Ilg, "The Cards win the SuperBowl?" the 46 year-young Ilg smiled, shortly after collapsing on the Finish Line from his effort. Coach's effort put him 3.5 minutes in the Series lead for the Arizona Nordic State Ski Championship, the final race, a 10k Skate Race, will be held February 22nd.

"I dedicate my training for and effort of today's top step of the podium to New "old daddy's" Everywhere...and to my Beloved Partner Ananda, who might just be the most amazingly conscious new mother during the Kali Yuga...my daughter sure knew which Human Being to pick as her m(om)!...this one is for New Daddies and New M(om)mies everywhere; May we choose to accept our chi-ldren for the Gurus that they are...and use our Training wisely to keep up with their Teachings!"

- Coach Ilg, m(om)ents after tearing the lungs and legs off the field by nearly 4 minutes at the Flagstaff 10k Nordic Ski Race, event number one of two to defend Coach's hold on the Arizona State Nordic Championship title. Ilg won the race in wire-to-wire fashion, repeating his Overall Victory at the same race last year. photo of Coach and 16 month-old Dewachen by Ananda.


"I pretty much double-poled the entire course in 42 minutes of a flagellant disorder ," Ilg said, "I have a lot of domestication-of-selfish-ilg issues in my tissues right now. i needed an old fashioned self-bludgeoning. Nordic Classic is an endurance sport where i can finally unleash my upper body aggression. Today was a perfect purge."
above photo: Coach and Teresa Hunt, who also repeated as Champion. photo by Tim Allen

Coach will return to some bike riding as soon as his lats de-pump allowing his hands to fit onto the handlebars.

A Red Rock Fillet

Yep. There sure was a weekend of racing here in Northern Arizona.

Here're 12 ways to make a Red Rock jersey look good:


And here's what a Red Rock jersey looks like after its been filleted open by a safety-scissor-wielding nurse after crashing at Skull Valley:


Asphalt sucks. Keep the rubber side down, y'all. congrats to all who raced at the Absolute race and the AMC in Utah.

What A Difference A Week Makes...

Most Noble Teammates!


ya just gotta LOVE a go(o)d spring in Flag, eh?

i took these during a cross ride up Elden yesterday (5*24*08):




...and here y'all were a mere 7 days EARLIER sweatin' in the heat of Elden!...

Kid's Race...
ready,
set...
CRASH!!!




...















Keep CRANKING The Chi!

i miss racing with you all, yet my new baby is keeping me busier and more fatigued and filled with more Sacred Joy than when i was fully sponsored! i just need you all to keep crankin' the RRR Vibe Out There! take pictures and captions of your race or training or whatever and send them to me!

the Board appreciates all of your kind words about our appearance last weekend...and, so inspired were WE by your embrace of our presence at the Start/Finish Line that we came up with a REALLY COOL idea that we are working on (along with a ton of other stuff!)...so stay tuned to this RRR Blog and contribute!!!


head bowed,

coach steve ilg
RRR Chairperson

Mountain Bike Racing is back in Flagstaff!

What a grueling course: 26 miles of some of the best single track in Flag!! 3500' of Climbing, and a Down Hill section that can KICK YOUR ASS!! And now the State MBAA Series is HISTORY! What a GREAT early season. Seven Races, all over Arizona with the Final in Flagstaff. Lots of fitness and an excellent showing by Red Rock Racing, especially the expert women:



Expert Women: Sue Rawley, Deb Martin-Wille, and Stephanie Hawthorn

Robert Gooch and Mark Wille

Great to see Red Rock out there Racing!

A great time was had by all

Best part of my race!

Sunshine and Bran-muffins; Ben "Patki Dass" Sullivan Cranks To The Top Step Of The Podium at Mesa Verde!

Here's "Patki*" crankin' the chi toward the top step of the podium at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, a mountain bike race near my childhood home of Durango, CO. Patki - who uses my training programs and local HP Yoga classes as his off-season training - just joined RRR as a Semi-Pro and are we ever stoked we got him! Congratulations Patki! here is his race report...

- coach ilg

* Patki Dass is my yoga name for Ben. it means, "Servant of Wupatki". you'll have to ask him for details.

***



Sunshine and Bran-muffins

a Race Report by Ben







There are days when things come together. And some days when things get so strange, you know it will come together, because it can’t not. Know what I mean?

This weekend was one of those times. The Mormon Sensation and I rolled up to Cortez CO to do the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, as has been so well reported by Gnome. We went with the intention to win…but the road to DFL is paved with such intentions. Fortunately, at least one road across the res is paved with asphalt:

Res Road

We got to Cortez, set camp, and had the strangest dinner ever: Mama Rees, with the “Best Meatballs west of New York,” was a home that had been retrofitted into a restaurant. Being vegetarian, i can’t say much about the meatballs, but the pasta was cafeteria-style. However, the characters were sustaining: The drunk off-duty waitress told us to go kick some ass, and that she’d be sending us “some good vibes.” This from the place where the men’s room has a blown drag-racing engine, and the walls are papered with photos of the biggest eaters of the area.

Then we got dog food. Cause i thought Sara grabbed it, and she thought i grabbed it…and the dog was mad.


the wind blew all night, so the sleep was marginal, and the day dawned cold and raining. Fortunately, it didn’t stay that way. As Gnome as said, this was a great event - with primo trail. 99% of it was singletrack, but here’s what the road section looked like plus some of the singy:




Well, it’s a good day when you walk away with the hardware, and hear the competition shouting about insurmountable leads at 3:30. For some, it’s a job: for me, it was a pleasure. It’d been awhile since the top step.


Oh dear. This’ll be the first time some of you see me in the Red Rock Racing team kit. And yes, that’s my teammate, the Sensation, in the old kit. For those of you not from Flag, you might not know that a small town can have lots of teams, and therefore lots of drama. Red Rock’s supporting mountain bike racing right now, and i could use some no-strings support. It shouldn’t be the big deal some people make it. Maybe the 12MV can be a way to get over this.

The waiver for the 12MV had two questions: Why do you ride? and Why did you come?
In response to the former i wrote: because my bike doesn’t burn gas. I came because it was small, southwestern, and not USCF sanctioned, which means it’s cheap and simple. the award was a sweet locally-made Osprey backpack. A shout to all the volunteers and organizers. It was a top-notch event. And i learned about it on DC, like any of y’all. Thanks to Sara for the pics. and feeds. and patience. Thanks to the Sensation for the speed. and laughs. We’re already looking forward to next year.

peace.

Coach's Student nabs a 5th Place at Nationals!

yet another National Podium for a WF Warrior! Sammy Morse, far left in Kansas City at the United States CycleCross National Championships!

El Coache,

Thought I’d pass along to you a couple pictures from my experience at Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City. The conditions were an absolute mud and ice fest! I managed a 5th place and the last place on the podium. By the way this was predicted by student Featherman*! I made a major mistake by only taking one bike to the race, with one to go I lost two places as my poor mud and ice covered bike only had two gears left! That said I’m thrilled with the result. I must tell you WF has been an amazing part of all my preparation for my cycling, especially yoga and morning practice.

However the best part of the weekend was watching my 12 year old son take 6th in a very deep field!

Happy Holidays to you Joy and Dewa,

Sammy

* here, Sammy is referring to my Online Student Mark Featherman who placed 2nd in the PA State CycleCross Championships!


***

The above two cyclists can only train with me via my DVD's,books, and Online Training...YOU can train directly with me two times per week at the:
Northern Arizona Yoga Center

what are you WAITING FOR? your OFF SEASON is running out! NOW IS THE TIME TO GET TO CLASS!

other students who you may recognize; Andy Hampsten, Penny Davidson, Sara Ballantyne, Ned Overend, Nelson Vails, Scott Berryman, Ron Jones, Michael Secrest, Brian Smallwood, and MANY MORE! let's SWEAT TOGETHER!