RealRyder mimics a real bike ride
Full Tilt Cycle opens city’s first exercise cycle studio with tilting bikes
Sadie Cavanagh and Erin Marshall knew when they rode a RealRyder exercise bike the first time they had to bring it to Peterborough.
Full Tilt Cycle opened on Saturday at 188 Hunter St. W and held an open house on Wednesday. Don’t call RealRyder a stationary bike. While its base may remain fixed the articulating frame moves and twists to more realistically mimic a real bike ride.
Cavanagh first tried it at a downtown Toronto gym her sister Amy works at and she took Marshall to check it out. Three months later they opened their 2,000-square foot location with 20 bikes, change and shower facilities and a full range of classes seven days a week.
“I constantly found myself going to classes whenever I could get down to Toronto,” Cavanagh said. “I left feeling so great and so empowered to start my day. I kept thinking to myself, why isn’t there one like this in Peterborough?”
“We don’t have anything in Peterborough like it,” said Marshall. “The bike is totally different than anyone in Peterborough has experienced. People won’t go back to the stationary bike once they’ve come here.”
It’s also a less intimidating environment than a larger chain gym, she said.
“This is a small space with 20 bikes that welcomes everybody,” Marshall said.
Cavanagh is an environmental engineer at Cambium Environmental Services and Marshall a professional network marketer for Isagenix. Both have an entrepreneurial spirit. They’ve hired 14 employees including instructors and administrative staff. They were confident in their product.
“If you go to downtown Toronto in the Bathurst, Wellington and King Street area, you can walk five blocks and hit eight of these boutique studios,” Cavanagh said.
“It’s the type of workout people want. You don’t have to plan it out we have it planned for you. It’s high intensity interval training. We’re going to kick your butt then bring you down for recovery and then kick your butt again. At the end of it your body is so used to burning calories you continue to burn calories.”
That said, each rider goes at their own pace, she said.
“I knew this would fly in Peterborough,” Marshall said. “It’s an addicting, healthy mindset workout.”
Classes feature instructors and music but it’s the bicycles which create a unique experience.
“They move in a 22-degree angle either way so you really have to engage every single muscle in order to get out of the saddle and really push through or else you’re flopping around,” Cavanagh said.
“It ends up being a full body workout that typically burns about 20 per cent more calories than a typical stationary bike.
“You can have a lot of fun on it. You almost feel like you are dancing on the bike.”
The 60-pound fly wheel is behind the seat and it moves with the frame adding to the work required to keep it moving.
“We incorporate turns into our classes. We have you hold a turn and shift to the other side and to do so you have to engage your arms, your core and your back. It focuses all aspects of your body,” she said.
“We have spin classes at the big box gyms but the times never suited me,” Cavanagh said. “We have nine different class times throughout the day and five on weekends. You’re getting the same experience each time.”
They also plan to partner with Fitmetrix which measures clients fitness and provides progress reports.
Workouts range from 30 to 75 minutes. Rather than a membership, clients purchase packages of 10 classes for $180 or 20 for $16 per class or 50 at $14 per class. They are offering an introductory package at $12 per visit.