Miraculously we made it through. Our weekly 90 minutes spin set. I was seriously tempted to mash-up another theme set (being the week of Cinco de Mayo as well) but I resisted. Please remember that I am no big fan of 'cute'.
Regardless, the set (settling on the rock slump known as the Eighties), and the protocol demanding long stretches of standing effort, passed without incident or psychological trauma.
I even had the time to expand on a couple of important themes. Chief among them the three part formula for success (I hereby challenge Malcom Gladwell to disagree - after the 90).
1) KNOW YOUR MISSION. Why (tf) are you doing this?
2) COMMIT TO THE MISSION. No matter what.
3) COMMIT TO THE DEDICATION AND DISCIPLINE NECESSARY FOR CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR PATH. AKA, the quest.
Furthering the theme from earlier this week (Be THAT person, the search for authenticity, etc) is this little gem from Season Four (yes I am already there):
Jack is cornered in a sporting goods store in downtown LA. The bad guys, defense contractors caught selling arms to terrorists have detonated an EMP (electro magnetic pulse) bomb to cripple an eight block radius, have brought in their mercenary special-ops goons to get Jack and the hard evidence he has extradited from their computers. Jack is body guarding Paul, the same guy who wrote the finance program for the contractor and just happens to be Audrey's estranged husband. Jack has given his word to Audrey (the daughter of the Secretary of Defense and Jack's current lover) that he will protect Paul, cause he is a finance geek and not a field ops super hero. Jack has also enlisted the help of the two Middle Eastern brothers who own the gun shop. Jack tells them that he cannot guarantee their safety and gives them a brief of the day's events and the terrorists behind it. They buy in and Jack takes command of the hopeless last stand. They are out-numbered, out-gunned and out of options to save the city from nuclear holocaust. But Jack has out-smarted them by drawing them in to allow Tony and Edgar (yea Edgar) back at CPU to trace the fire fight via infra-red satellite imagery, get their twenty and deploy a CPU strike unit to save the day.
Are you getting all this?
Jack, Paul and the two brothers hold off the mercenaries as long as they can. The strike unit finds them, hits the ground running and gunning and kills the bad guys. Except one is only wounded and in his final desperate despicable act gets off a round that finds Paul as he steps in from of Jack to take the bullet.
Paul has gone out in a blaze of glory, made a final declaration of love for Audrey and proven his mettle and verve with Jack. Jack of course is already two steps ahead and knows that this will probably end his relationship, he not being new to the difficulty of his job and anything resembling anything normal in family matters.
But that is not my point.
As all this is playing out, the two brothers, having pledged their allegiance to Jack, as the face of America, look at each other, nod their heads and exchange a WTG bro moment.
Jack has inspired them to do something they thought they we incapable of.
Jack has allowed them to see a part of themselves previously dormant.
Jack has led them to a new understanding of courage and destiny. What a man must be.
They might re-tell their part in the drama using the same opener I did.
Miraculously we made it through.
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