Yoga Core Training: Done and Dusted

In preparing for this month’s ride from Seward to Anchorage and onwards to Mt. Denali, half of my preparation was to build up my core strength (and the other half cycle training each morning). Not all of self-contained cycling is just pushing pedals, but includes all sorts of activities including setting up camp, negotiating the confines of a small lightweight tent, wrestling a bicycle when not riding that is loaded with 28 kg of gear and some off-bike activities this month like hiking on a glacier and whitewater rafting on the Nenana River. One of the things that I had noticed doing other Adventure Cycling trips over the last few years is that the non-bike stuff was sometimes as exhausting (and possibly injury producing) as the riding and that the getting up and down, in and out of the tent took a couple of days to get used to… so, this time, I decided to compliment my cycle training with six weeks of yoga classes.

My “kula” (yoga studio) for the last three years has been Yo Yoga http://www.yoyoganyc.com/ , a really cool yoga studio located at 59th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, just under the 59th St. Bridge (as in the 59th Street Bridge Song… “slow down, you move too fast, got to make the morning last” by Paul Simon.”) And, for the last six weeks that I have been home in Manhattan (perhaps a new record for this time of year) I’ve been dedicatedly going to class five times a week.

As you can see from the photo above, Yo Yoga has an outdoor deck for classes when the weather is above 20C and in the morning and afternoon/evenings (not full sun, too hot or too cold.) Otherwise classes are held in an indoor studio,

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Photos from the Yo Yoga webste

So, today (3 July) was the last of my yoga classes. Almost twenty-five sessions on the mat over the last six weeks! Ready to go tomorrow morning.. off to Anchorage from La Guardia, connecting in Houston!