Aug16

More on Master Cycle–which has nothing to do with bikes

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More on Master Cycle–which has nothing to do with bikes

In another Master Cycle class (my apologies to those I confused about that), I partnered with The Combatives Belt Kid. He started by congratulating me on the new belt. What a polite young man.

Then I uppercut him in the jaw.

To be fair, it was an ACCIDENT! And it was rather light. His braces didn’t cut his mouth or anything.

I apologized, he smiled, said “It’s okay,” then, “Would you like to try again?”

So that time I DID make him bleed.

Kidding, kidding. I did the move properly, no blood involved.

When we switched partners, he told “Pink” I had punched him. She said to me, “That’s okay. I’ve frequently made his nose bleed.”

See? I’m a lamb!

Also while rolling with The Combatives Belt Kid (CBK, anyone?), I tried a cross choke.

Cross choke. Fairly straightforward.

“I feel really bad that I’m actively trying to hurt you,” I said. It seriously felt wrong. But he got away by rolling over his head somehow. It was rather impressive.

“You almost got me, though,” he was kind enough to tell me. “It was really close. [Long pause.] I need a minute.” We waited for the flow of blood to return to his brain.

Why aren’t more people into this stuff???

When I did manage to choke him later, he said, “You’re really good at those chokes.”

“Surfer Dude can be known for his triangles. Maybe I’ll be known for my chokes,” I said.

It would make sense for that to be my thing. Recently SD said he was jealous of my perfect choking arms. What’s the count now for the times I’ve been told my limbs are great for choking? Four? Five?

A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

Later, I was so brazen as to attempt a cross choke on Instructor. My feeble attempt on his loose gi was laughable.

“Maybe it’s easier when your gi is tighter,” I mused.

“Actually, it’s easier when it’s loose,” he told me.

Fiiiiiiiinnnneee!

When I attempted it on SD, he shot his hands up, boom, boom, back and forth, as if each one was saying, “Denied!”

I tried again later, this time faster than he could block. I held on tight and squeezed. I know he can hold out for a long time. Was it actually working? I suspect it was when I snuck a peak at his face. When the timer went off and I released him, he smiled in a, “Heh heh. I outlasted you,” sort of way.

Punk! But it confirmed that I almost had him!

Punk as in Punk Rocker. Surfer Dude should really be renamed Metal Head. I once told him that. He agreed, but at this point, SD is too ingrained to change.

The above is after he played a gig with his band. Several of us from the gym went to support him. I’m not much of a metal head, but if the occasion fits, I will head bang with the rest of them. (Thankfully, I didn’t need to because no one else was. That would just make my head hurt.)

But when I first entered the brewery, SD’s back was to me. Naturally, I slipped my arm around his neck from behind. He grabbed my arm and made like he was going to flip me over his head, but didn’t, of course. I suspect the combination of knowing I was coming, plus possible recognition of my skinny arm, warned him it was only me.

Last question: Frankenstein’s monster “was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance” in the 1818 novel.

New question, and the closest I could find to a geography question in this book. (That’s for TTA.): In 1966, California resident Margot Fraser returned to her native Germany, where she discovered this footwear company, founded in 1774. She came back to California and sold the brand in health food stores.

Betsy trivia: The same friend who told me I simply must drink espresso in Vienna because it’s what you do when in Vienna (That’s for Dave.), also convinced me I simply must buy this item when we were in Munich, Germany. I was hesitant, but since caving, I have continued to buy this ever since, though not in München, sadly. This was also the trip where I only packed my passport, wallet, and toothbrush. (That’s for Wynne.)

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67 responses »

  5. It’s like me to go ‘micro’ sometimes when I love something very specific in a post and that happened just now, Betsy! My fine point observations can be annoying, but I’ve gotta share…this: “SD is too ingrained to change”. I love the melody of that. Or the rhythm? Or the fact that it’s likely a stark truth? LOL. 😜

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  6. Couple thoughts–I am still unclear why it’s called ‘master cycle’. Should I click through the tag or maybe you’d save me time?

    2. Your game face (what a master sgt in my kid’s Shaolin Kempo class called it) still has a touch of smile on it. You are just too nice a person!

    3. My daughter dropped out of martial arts at about 15, despite being a hugely talented black belt and winning competitions because she couldn’t stand fighting with all the guys (the one other girl in the class was a woos). You don’t seem to suffer that. Maybe because you are older?

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    • Hmm. Why it’s called Master Cycle is kind of beyond me. It just… is? They have Bullyproof for the kids, Combatives for the beginners, and Master Cycle for everything beyond. Gracie University developed the system, and it’s universal. I’m afraid that’s all I know about that.

      Funny you should say that about my game face, etc. I’ll need to write about this, but I had my first class with gloves on. I accidentally clipped my female partner three times. She made a comment about how I seem so sweet and kind but am actually vicious–not just because of grazing her with my gloves, but I was taking the experience very seriously.

      I highly doubt I would be so comfortable with this if I were a teenager. I’m so sorry for your daughter’s weird experiences, but it’s great that she stayed with it for as long as she did and became so awesome.

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  7. The health food store as the retailer threw me . . . Earth shoes? I remember coveting a pair of those and I think they were supposed to be good for your feet. But that was well into the ’70’s. Though maybe it took that long to make it to Ohio?

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  10. Back in the day (70’s) all my friends in the SF Bay Area had those fancy tire tread shoes. They were cool. I didn’t have a pair — I was more of a surplus combat boot guy. My theory was if you need to kick someone, you might as well be wearing some ass kicking footwear, not those wimpy, peace loving sandals.

    I’ve mellowed a bit since then, but still I’m more likely to kick you than a choke hold or even an upper-cut.

    Also, if you successfully kick someone, you’re in a better position to start running away than if you get close enough for a choke hold. Yes, I believe in defense by distance …

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    • I cannot at all disagree with you on the boots. I would love boots like that. I do, also, however, enjoy my sandals, particularly on hot days. I guess my thought is: Why not both?

      And, agreed. Kicking has its advantages. But there’s still something so satisfying about a good choke. Lol. Who AM I?

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  11. I remember the Birkenstocks hitting the “natural” wave. Never had a pair but liked seeing sights like German tourists getting out of rented RVs with white socks and the Birkenstocks in place. The sandal sock combo was a second funny sight only to the winner which was a German tourist eating a McDonalds with a knife and fork.

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  13. Too late to the comment section to guess Birkenstocks, since I now know it’s the answer. There is a Birkenstock store in Old Town where I buy my Tevas and Taos shoes so apparently, they have move beyond health food stores.

    I don’t think I’d be very good at chock holds but since I have a pin head, I’d probably be pretty good at slipping out of one.

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  14. It’s nice that you all have a bond with each other that you also trust each other to try these moves on. And how wonderful you also all hang out to support each other outside of the classes too!

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  15. Thank god I got here late and saw the trivia answer, because I was going to say Air Jordans. That would have been pretty embarrassing.

    I’m also not a metalhead, per se, but can bang my head when the mood strikes.

    There are worse things to be known for than having perfect choking arms, I suppose!

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  18. Pingback: Because I am clearly a paragon of femininity… | Motherhood and Martial Arts

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